New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee will inaugurate the bi-centenary celebrations of the historic Paika Bidroha, also known as Paika rebellion, in New Delhi on July 20, Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan revealed on Thursday.
The Union Minister called on Mukherjee at Rastrapati Bhawan yesterday and invited him to inaugurate year-long festival of the 200 year celebrations of Paika Bidroha being organised by the Union Government .
In his budget speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced that the Union government would organise a year-long national level celebration of the historic rebellion, considered the first war of independence by historians.
Paika Bidroha, under the leadership of Buxi Jagabandhu, was an armed rebellion against the British East India Company’s rule in Odisha in 1817.
Ms Kalinga