Odisha: Ravenshaw University Name Change -- Historical Fallacy or Historical Illiteracy?

Since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took over power in Odisha in June this year, there has been no noticeable political development. The news is dominated mostly by photo-ops with very few events of substance.

However, suddenly the state is now in the limelight over an issue – name changing -- that cannot be seen in isolation from the realm politics.

Recently, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan created rippled in political circled and among the intellectual fraternity in the state by suggesting that a pioneering institution should be given a new name.

Pradhan said that the name of the 156-year-old Ravenshaw University in Cuttack should be changed on certain grounds.

The minister questioned as to why the name of a foreigner should be continued, given the fact that Thomas Edward Ravenshaw, the then Commissioner of Orissa, was morally responsible for the death of lakhs in the 1866 Na Annka famine. 

“Many Odia people were killed in the famine. The calamity had occurred due to the administrative failure of the British authorities including TE Ravenshaw. Why should a prestigious university of Odisha be named after the British Commissioner? The intellectuals of Odisha should think over this,” Pradhan was quoted as saying in The Telegraph.

Regardless of the allegations made by Pradhan, who is a senior BJP leader, the suggestion (although he cloaked it as his personal opinion) is driving a wedge in Odisha’s society with some supporting and several others opposing it.

Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, alumnus of Ravenshaw University and now owner of the Sambad Media group, has come out sharply against the name change suggestion, saying “that there is no logic in giving a new name to the Ravenshaw University and it should not be done”.

The BJP or Pradhan have managed to whip up sentiments among many, giving the issue a political colour.

“When there is no other issue or any important agenda as regards development, the BJP (or Pradhan) has made the suggestion which is simply a political time-pass for the moment”, observed Rabi Das, a political analyst.

Coming, as it did, at a time when politics in the state is passing through a dull phase, Pradhan has succeeded in stirring up a debate.

While his suggestion for the name change came almost from the blue, in hindsight it may be recalled that Ravenshaw, the then Commissioner of Orissa, had owned up moral responsibility for the tragedy in 1866. So, there appears to be no logical ground to say that he had pushed such a mammoth crowd into the face of death.

“It would be wrong to say that the 1866 famine killed one lakh people”, Anil Biswal, a BJP spokesperson, said, in contradiction of the minister’s statement.

Ravenshaw had, in fact, played a pioneering role in the promotion of education, say several observers. 

“Ravenshaw advocated for women’s education in Odisha after he observed that no one was ready to send their daughters to school. Financial assistance was sanctioned for the initiative which led to the establishment of Cuttack Girl’s School, which initially ran as a primary school. In 1873, the name of this girls’ school was renamed as Ravenshaw Hindu Girl’s School”, recalled Das.

Besides that, in another significant initiative to spread education, Commissioner Ravenshaw and Dr. W.D. Stewart, the civil surgeon of Cuttack, joined hands to expand medical education in the region. Ravenshaw very keenly recommended the sanction of the scheme which led to the government to start an esteemed institution on experimental basis.

A prestigious university in Odisha, Ravenshaw College was established during British rule in Cuttack in 1868. It was granted autonomous status in the 1990s, and was upgraded into a unitary university in 2006, according to PTI.

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Odisha.