Tributes paid to Mahatma Gandhi, Raghunath Nayak

Locals in a remote village of Odisha's Kendrapara district observed Gandhi Jayanti by paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and Raghunath Nayak, who grappled with Gandhi's assassin on January 30, 1948.
People in Jaguleipada village paid tribute to the 'son of the soil' - Raghunath Nayak, who had pinned down Nathuram Godse after he had shot dead the Mahatma on January 30, 1948.
Nayak, who worked as a gardener in the Birla house had wrestled and pinned down Godse after the latter had fired lethal shots.
"Every year on Gandhi Jayanti on October 2 and martyrs day on January 30, we pay tributes to Bapu along with Raghunath Nayak", said Raj Kishore Mahapatra, a villager.

Ragu's act finds mention in "Mahatma Gandhi - The Last Phase", a biography of Mahatma Gandhi written by his private secretary Pyarelal, informed Mahapatra, who heads the local school management committee.
The German automobile giants, Daimner and Chaisler, had installed the busts of Gandhiji and Raghunath in the village school in recognition of Raghunath's heroic deeds.

"Portraits of Bapu and Nayak adorn the premises of Jaya Malavya Nodal Primary School. Gandhi Jayanti was observed yesterday in the school premises. School children flanked by guardians, parents and locals paid floral tributes to Mahatma and Raghunath", Headmaster Harish Chandra Dash said.
"Enthusiastic children thronged the school campus and recited the Ramdhun. Children, teachers and locals garlanded the portrait of both Mahatma and Raghunath Nayak", he said.

Raghunath Nayak had remained unnoticed in his lifetime. He also went unsung after his death on August 13, 1983.
"We the local residents however pay our tributes to Nayak, which he richly deserved", he felt.