Dr Manas Ranjan Nanda
Affiliation: Department of Sociology, Ekamra College, Bhubaneswar, India
Email: [email protected]
Abstract: This article seeks to reveal the highly undocumented work of two Naxalite ideologues in Odisha, Nagbhusan Patnaik and Gananath Patra, whose contributions have been underrepresented within scholarly literature. Utilizing a qualitative, exploratory-cum-descriptive research framework based on narrative and historical methods, the research reconstructs the ideational and mobilizational activities of these leaders, especially within the undivided Koraput district. Based on secondary sources and primary interviews with ex-Naxal leaders, tribal elders, civil society activists, and scholars, the study highlights Nagbhusan Patnaik’s pioneering role in launching the Naxal movement in Odisha and Gananath Patra’s consistent activism against system exploitation of the tribal communities. Inspired by Dr. Ratan Das and other movement specialists, the scholar argues that a complete grasp of the history of Odisha’s Naxalites requires examining closely the lives and legacies of these individuals. The research helps to fill a significant lacuna in the revolutionary violence historiography of eastern India.
Keywords: Tribal; Civil Society; Movement; Violence; Revolution; Land; Forest.