Bhairab Chandra Mohapatra was born on 4 November 1899 in Rasulpur village near Remuna of Balasore district. His father Purusottam Mohapatra was a teacher in the primary school of his village who spared no effort to provide the best education to his son who proved to be very brilliant and intelligent in his childhood days. After completing their primary education, he successfully completed matriculation from Balasore district school with first division. Thereafter he took admitted to Ravenshaw College, Cuttack. He was not only a good student but also a sportsman and social worker in his high school days who every year moved from the door to door in Balasore to nurse people afflicted with malaria, cholera, and smallpox which made him very popular in the town. While in Ravenshaw college he became interested in the freedom struggle when he read the news about the exploitation of the British government to the people from newspapers and journals like ‘Amrit Bazar Patrika’, ‘Utkal Dipika’, and ‘Utkal Sahitya’ etc. The charged atmosphere in 1919 and the urge of Mahatma Gandhi to join the freedom struggle inspired him to leave his study and join the non-cooperation movement. He, therefore, left the college but instead of returning back to Balasore, he went to ‘Sadakat Ashram’ in Patna started by Mazhrul Haque, where he learned charkha, wooden crafts, weaving of khadi and other constructive programs initiated by Gandhi. There he saw Gandhi for the first time and was acquainted with him and was inspired by his swadeshi outlook. Meanwhile, Harekrushna Mahatab had opened up a ‘Swaraj Mandir’ in Balasore similar to ‘Sadakat Ashram’. Bhairab Mohapatra, therefore, decided to come back to Balasore and dedicate himself to the work of Swaraj Mandir. He became an inmate of that Mandir and picketed before the shops selling foreign liquor and clothes along with other Satyagrahis. As a result, he was arrested and imposed a penalty of twenty-five rupees which he refused to pay. He was therefore imprisoned for two weeks along with Mahtab. But apart from picketing, he also joined in many constructive works for the people like the removal of untouchability, discarding intoxication, spinning of charkha, and settlement of disputes mutually among the people instead of going to court, etc which made the satyagrahis immensely popular. They were also provided food for their sustenance and money for Tilak Swaraj Fund by the people. In 1925, ‘Prajatantra’, the weekly newspaper under the editorship of Harekrushna Mahatab came out from the press of Swaraj Mandir which was also looked after by Bhairab Chandra. This newspaper became a spokesperson for the satyagrahis for which it was under the scanner of the government. In the absence of Mahtab, he was editing the paper. Besides, he was also organising various district-level conferences of the congress from 1922 to 1927. In 1932, for the inmates of ‘Swatantrata Senani Ashram’ started by Sardar Surendra Nath Das, another prominent satyagraha of Balasore, Bhairab Chandra took up the responsibility of arranging rice and vegetable for them by collecting from the town. He was also writing for ‘Ranabheri’ another magazine published in Balasore for propagating the message of freedom struggle. He participated in the Quit India Movement in 1942 and was arrested on a charge of setting fire to the post office in Balasore and sent to Berhampur jail where he remained for one year. He also participated in the Prajamandal movement in Nilagiri which handed over its administration to the union government in 1947. After independence, he however remained himself aloof from power politics. As he was very close to Mahtab, he tried to convince him to accept any post which he politely refused. But he remained busy with the organisational work of the congress. He had set up a high school in Remuna. He passed away on 2 March 1997 at the age of 98.
References :
- Mohapatra, Sanjukta(ed), Swadhinata Sangrami Bhairab Chandra, Bhubaneswar, 2007
- Interview with Bhairab Chandra Mohapatra, Prajatantra Saptahika, 9-15 February, 1992
- Sahoo, Nrusingha Charan, Ame Odia, Vol III, Bhubaneswar, 2017.