Revolutionary communist leader Baidyanath Rath who dedicated his entire life to the rights of the labor class was born on 12 April 1911 in Kalarahang village near Bhubaneswar. He was the son of Swapneswar Mishra but was adopted by his uncle Raghunath Rath as he was childless. When he was in the lower primary school in Patia, he got the opportunity to see Mahatma Gandhi in Cuttack who came there before the non-cooperation movement in 1920 and delivered a speech on the bank of Kathajodi river, urging the people to fight non-violently against the British government. This had an inspiring impact on him. This inspiration stimulated him further in 1929 when he was a student at Ravenshaw Collegiate School. The declaration of Purna Swaraj’ in the Lahore session of the Congress created a sensation in him who decided to take part in the Civil Disobedience movement in 1930 just after completion of his matriculation. But the forceful resistance of his biological father prevented him from physically taking part in the movement. He, therefore, continued his study at Ravenshaw College in Cuttack. When he was a B.Sc. student there he came in contact with Bhagwati Charan Panigrahi who was the president of the Students Union and Baidyanath was the secretary. He along with Anant Charan Pattnaik and Viswanath Passayet formed Odisha Students Union which became the nucleus for the future communist movement in Odisha. After completion of B.Sc, when he was studying law, on the invitation of Harekrushna Mahatab he joined his Vidya Mandir or Congress Ashram in Agarpara as Headmaster where he created consciousness of freedom struggle among the students. But after some months he returned back to Cuttack and formed the Odisha chapter of the Communist Party of India along with Bhagwati Panigrahi, Anant Pattnaik, Viswanath Passayet, Gurucharan Pattnaik, and Ramakrushna Pati. Their motto was to form a society free from exploitation which was the true goal of independence. In 1938, he took part in the Prajamandal movement in Dhenkanal along with his communist friends who created a nationwide sensation after the martyrdom of 12-year-old child Baji Rout.
When the second world war started in 1939, these communist leaders distributed some leaflets opposing the war. Since Communist Party was banned, they were arrested for being members of the outlawed communist party in 1940. They were tried under the Communist Conspiracy case and were sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment. In 1946, he was elected to the Odisha Legislative Assembly as a member of the Communist Party of India. Though he resigned from the Communist Party of India in 1950, he remained communist by heart till his last. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha. After retirement from active politics, he devoted his time to agriculture and worked himself in the firm as a farm laborer. He was also associated with many developmental works in Patia. Dedicating his entire life to the people he died on 2 March 2007.