Balasore, Sept. 8: The sacrifice of revolutionary Bagha Jatin, who sacrificed his life fighting for Independence, is being remembered with much fanfare at a three-day programme here.

Apart from local residents, admirers from Bengal and Bangladesh paid tribute to the freedom fighter on the first day of the centenary celebrations of his martyrdom. Jatindranath Mukherjee, popularly known as Bagha Jatin, was killed in an encounter with the British on September 10, 1915.

The event was organised by Fakir Mohan University in association with Institute of Social and Cultural Studies, Calcutta.

Singer-turned-politician Babul Supriyo, who is now Union minister of state for urban development and housing and urban poverty alleviation, journalist and writer from Bangladesh Shahriar Kabir, Bagha Jatin's great-grandson Indujyoti Mukherjee and research scholar Bimal Shankar Nanda visited the site of the revolutionary's martyrdom and addressed the gathering. "A committee has been formed in Bangladesh, too, to observe the death centenary of Jatin," said Kabir.

Indujyoti Mukherjee said: "Bagha Jatin and his friends had made unparalleled sacrifices not only for freedom, but for the peace, progress and prosperity of India."

The visitors went to Balasore jail, where Jatin's captured friends were jailed and Desuan Pokhari, where the gun battle took place between Jatin's team and the British, before coming to the meeting venue, Gandhi Smruti Bhavan.

Supriyo said: "It feels great to know that Bagha Jatin had a strong association with Odisha and thus there is a strong bond between Odisha and Bengal." District collector Sanatan Mallick said: "The historians of India have undermined his sacrifices. Some of them even mentioned him as an ultra-activist. Therefore, time has come to place the facts before the people."