Unsung Heroes: Freedom Fighters of Bangladesh who fought for India’s Independence.

Robin Kumar Das /Dhaka Diaries /Sep 2020

Episode 1 – The Chittagong Uprising

Across the globe, reminiscing about the life and sacrifice of our freedom fighters and brave soldiers is common way to show the love for nation. We remember their valuable contribution on our National Day Celebrations, they are part of the curriculum in schools and sometimes a very good script for the screens. Whenever I see a story on the freedom struggle, the first feeling that crosses the mind is of being fortunate and lucky. Born in a free country, enjoying all the” Fundamental Rights “, leading a life devoid of any fear. Having the right to pursue a career, live and work for the betterment of family and ability to add value to the society around me. What would life be if I am not born in a “Free Country “? This single feeling increases my respect love and admiration for these brave hearts many folds.

If one reads through the life of these freedom fighter, we can see a pattern in their behaviour. A strong urge to change the status quo- to get liberated at all cost. This cause was so big a thing for them, cost like – sacrificing all the good things in life, leaving family, career and even life seemed to a very small. While they had big dreams, they had the complete realisation that the outcome of their act may have a very minuscule impact on the larger goal. They knew they might not see the fruits of what they are sowing today, still the passion to contribute was so strong, it did not matter.

Apart from the freedom fighters, there is another set of people who played a vital role in defining what would this struggle for independence mean for the generation to come -the Historians. I would rather say that History lies in the eyes of the Historian. And the lens of these historians defines what would future generation interpret from the incidence in times to come. How would historians define an event to be worth elaborating and while others get muted.  This is the very cause that some stories and characters go ahead to become legend, and some gets lost as “untold stories “. Honestly, I missed reading about many such episodes of our struggle for independence, just because somebody thought it was not worth remembering. Why is this Choice, when the passion is the same, struggle is the same, and life at stake is the same?

Today I would like to start series of stories, which probably would fall in the category of "untold stories". I had absolutely no knowledge of this amazing tale in the India’s independence struggle. Ironically this story has been the plot of two Bollywood movies, never known about them before I started to pen down this article. My special appreciation to the producers and directors of these movies who thought that this tale was something this world needs to know. The movie Chittagong released in 2012, the lead role played by Manoj Bajpayee, and other renowned star cast with Rajkumar Rao, Nawazuddin Siddique and few more. In 2010 Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar, starring Abhishek Banchan and Dipika Padukone I another movie on the same plot. I would say it’s a noble attempt by Bedaratta Pain, who made his debut as a director, producer and writer with this movie and winning National Film Award as a debut director.  Ashutosh Gowarikar was also successful in bringing to the screen the tale that is almost unknown to the larger public domain overshadowed by the big names in in the 1947 war of independence and 1971 War of liberation on other side of the border.  There is also a book Do or Die – The Chittagong Uprising 1930-34 by Manini Chatterjee which tells the real story of these revolutionary leaders. This book received the Rabindra Award in 2000.

The Chittagong armoury raid

The Chittagong armoury raid, also known as the Chittagong uprising, was an attempt on April 18th, 1930 to raid the armoury of police and auxiliary forces from the Chittagong armoury under the Britishers. The raiders were members of revolutionary Indian Republican Army, who favoured armed uprisings to achieve India's independence from British colonial rule. They were inspired by the 1916, Easter Rising in Ireland. The man leading the raid was Surya Sen, a schoolteacher by Profession. They made an elaborate plan to capture the two main armories in Chittagong seize the arms and ammunition from the armoury, disrupt the communication system by destroying the telephone, telegraphs and railway lines. The group included Ganesh Ghosh, Lokenath Bal, Ambika Chakrobarty, Harigopal Bal, Ananta Singh, Anand Prasad Gupta, Tripura Sen, Bidhubhusan Bhattacharya, Pritilata Waddedar, Kalpana Dutta, Himangshu Sen, Binod Bihari Chowdhury, Subodh Roy, Monoranjan Bhattacharya. There were 65 people who took part in the raid, that included young boys, as young as fourteen years old.

The plan was put into action at 10 p.m. on 18 April 1930. The police armoury in Police Line in Dampara was captured by a group of revolutionaries led by Ganesh Ghosh, while another group of ten men led by Lokenath Bal took the Auxiliary Forces armoury. Some 65 people took part in the raid, undertaken in the name of Indian Republican Army, Chittagong Branch. They failed to locate ammunition but did succeed in cutting telephone and telegraph wires and disrupting train movements. About 16 of the group captured the European club's headquarters in Pahartali, now the Railway Office next to Shahjahan Field, but there were few club members present because of it being Good Friday. Upon learning of the situation, the Britishers were able to get the alarm out to troops, which the revolutionaries had not expected. After the raids, the revolutionaries gathered outside the police armoury, where Sen took a military salute, hoisted a national flag, and proclaimed a Provisional Revolutionary Government. Chittagong was liberated from the British for four days.

The British were so terrified, that all of them escaped Chittagong, and most of them took refuge in a ship moored some ten to twenty miles off the coast. District Magistrate H.R. Wilkinson, Police Chief DIG Farmer narrowly managed to escape, while Sergeant Major Farrell lost his life. The revolutionaries left Chittagong town before dawn and marched towards the Chittagong hill ranges, looking for a safe place to hide. After a few days, the police traced some of the revolutionaries. They were surrounded by several thousand troops while they took shelter in Jalalabad hills near Chittagong Cantonment on the afternoon of 22 April 1930.Over 80 troops and 12 revolutionaries were killed in the ensuing gunfight in the Battle of Jalalabad Hills. Sen dispersed his men to neighboring villages in small groups and thus some escaped. A few fled to Calcutta while some were arrested. An intense crackdown on the resistance ensued and at the end most were either captured or killed.

The Chittagong uprising symbolizes the formation of a parallel government defying the authority of the British Rule. In India’s struggle for Independence we have four other examples were a parallel Govt was formed during the quit India Movement in 1942, Ballia (Uttar Pradesh), Tamluk (Bengal), Satara (Maharashtra) and Talcher (Orissa). Though the Chittagong movement was apparently crushed by the British Empire , the British Secretary of State for India 1931-34 , Sir Samuel Hoare said  In the battle for India’s struggle for Independence , the Chittagong uprising in 1930 turned the tide, and brought in  its wake a rising clamour for immediate independence. Another British official spoke about how this action “fired the imagination of the revolutionary minded youth and recruits poured into joining these organisation fighting for the independence.

The Chittagong armoury raid: its impression on the freedom movement.

The Chittagong raid and the other guerrilla action could never have defeated the mighty British Empire The revolutionaries including the leader knew that very well, still as they group they decided to achieve the impossible .But just 65 revolutionaries could liberate the city from the British and also hoisted the national flag. At any moment of time, the number of Britishers in India was not more than 93,000, while the population of India was 33 crores at that time. Just imagine if there was just 50 such event happening across other parts of the British ruled India, the story for India’s struggle for freedom would have been a different tale.

During the early phase of Indian freedom movement, there were two very different ideologies working - one the Swadeshi movement and other the revolutionary ideology of the extremist. The extremist wanted self Govt by aggressive means in place of petition and constitution means. They wanted to take freedom by use of force-they believed that force must be stopped by force. And it normally it us seen that wherever there is a leadership crisis, the extremist thought came out into forefront. These revolutionary activities in India can be divided into two phases -early 1900 and then in 1920s. The second wave which stared in 1924-25 made significant impact in the freedom struggle. They were also to create that terror in the British officials. The activities which has been well known in this period are Central Assembly Bomb case- Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw a bomb in the assembly house along with leaflets stating their revolutionary philosophy – 'to make the deaf hear'. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were hanged and several others faced the verdict of imprisonment.

Kakori Train robbery- Chandrasekhar Azad, Ramprasad Bismil, Jogesh Chatterjee, Ashfaqullah Khan, Banwari Lal and their accomplices participated in the robbery of treasury money that was being transported by train.

While names like Bhagat Singha and Chandra Shekhar Azad is known to masses, for some reason the name of Surya Sen and Chittagong armoury raid has got missed out. Probably many would not have ever heard his name, not any building or streets on his name! May be a few in Bangladesh. I strongly advocate that the Chittagong armoury raid is one of the most important events of the phase 2 of the revolutionary activities because of the following:

1.          Like all other phase 2 revolutionary activities, the Chittagong armoury raid advocated radical solution for economic, political and socials ills of the country. The driving force behind the act was to get social justice. Their entire fight against the imperialistic force was to gain social justice for the community. This was as a result of the Communist ideologies gaining ground in various part of the world during that time.

2.         The war was not only against the foreign forces, but also against internal enemies present in society itself. These were the landlords, capitalist, Zamindars who were carrying out various sort of oppression to the under underprivileged in the society.

3.           It showed how a diminutive personality like Surya Sen could pull down the invincible British empire. He was instrumental in building the momentum of Non-cooperation movement that spread to far off places in the country.

4.        After the armoury raid, the gun battle that took place between the armed revolutionary and British army was one of the fiercest battle seen amongst the armed rebellion. This was such a war that possibly the world had never seen before. Only a handful of men armed with Musketry rifles repulsed a major attack by British army armed with machine gun & .303 rifles. This is the glorious story of those indomitable revolutionaries who dared to challenge their destiny. At the end Lewis Machine Guns of the Britishers lost to the Musketeer Rifle used by revolutionaries

5.         The event marked very strong participation from the women. Names of Pritilata Waddedar and Kalpana Dutta also from Chittagong, are associated with the Chittagong armoury raid and later, in 1932, led another raid on the Pahartali European Club.

6.        The Chittagong raid proved to be very effective in channelizing the energy of the youth. In most other events whenever there is leadership crisis, the youth seemed to lose their way. This event was the best example where the power of youth was out to action. Most of the revolution who participated in this armed uprising and later fought in the Jalalabad hills were only in their teens ranging from fourteen to eighteen. Subodh Roy (Jhunku) was just 14 years. After his capture, he was tortured, tried, and sentenced to the infamous Cellular Jail in the Andamans.

7.       This Chittagong raid represented the best example of Communal unity and communities coming together to fight against the British empire. Chittagong was a Muslim dominated region and the British police thought that if they torture the villagers, they will hand over Surya Sen to them. But this was not the case. The Muslim villagers helped the revolutionaries mostly Hindus with foods and whatever they needed. They even hid Surya Sen in their house as that the Britishers could not reach him. 

8.         Bengal continued to be the symbol of armed resistance against the British, proving it wrong that Bengalis are a non-martial race. It started with Khudiram Bose who struck terror in the minds of the Britisher’s and the Chittagong armoury raid was the follow up to it.

9.         Plan to capture the armoury was a very effective plan. In the armoury all the weapons of the British army and police are kept that includes dress material helmets and shoes, bullet proof jackets, and lot of important weapons that can be useful for the revolutionary missions. There was also plans to loot the banks in Chittagong run by the British Govt or their allies. These would have given lot of financial support to run the movement.

10.      The Chittagong raid was an attack on the sovereignty of British as the attack was on the Police and Army, which was the very base if their establishment. The casualties on the British more than 80 troops, whereas only 12 revolutionaries died. It sends a very clear message that the even the mighty British empire is not invincible.

11.      Surya Sen even tried to negotiate with Britisher to release his other comrades arrested in return for his surrender. Most of his comrades who participated in the armoury raid and Jalalabad battles were given death penalty. On Surya Sen’s offer, the Britishers agreed that the revolutionaries will not be hanged but they were sent to Cellular Jail in Andaman Islands.

Let us read a little more about the main revolutionist behind this Chittagong armoury raid:

1.                Surya Sen also called Master Da:

He was a Bengali freedom fighter, the mastermind of the Chittagong armoury raid. A revolutionary at heart, he was the chief architect of the anti-British freedom movement in Chittagong. He was a schoolteacher by profession and hence he was popularly called Master Da. He was influenced by the nationalist ideas in 1916 while he was a student of BA in Behrampore college. In 1918, he was selected as the President of the Indian National Congress, Chittagong branch. By 1923 he spread the revolutionary organisation in various part of Chittagong.

 

Surya Sen was arrested on 16th February 1933 from Gairala village after a tip off from Netra Sen at whose home he was staying. He was brutally tortured after being arrested, there are reports of how his bones, limbs and joints were shattered with a hammer, in addition to eyes taken out and having all his nails torn out. Despite all the torture, Sen’s spirit never broke He was hanged on January 12, 1934, along with Tarakeshwar Dastidar and given a burial in the sea.

 

His last letter was written to his friends and said: "Death is knocking at my door. My mind is flying away towards eternity. At such a pleasant, at such a grave, at such a solemn moment, what shall I leave behind you? Only one thing, that is my dream, a golden dream – the dream of free India. Never forget the date, 18th of April 1930, the day of the eastern Rebellion in Chittagong. Write in red letters in the core of your hearts the names of the patriots who have sacrificed their lives at the altar of India’s freedom."

 

2.                Pritilata Waddedar:

Pritilata has the distinction of being Bengals First Women Martyr. After the 1857 revolution, she is the first women to fall martyr to any armed rebellion against the British. She was among the initial lot of revolutionaries who picked up arms against the British Raj and was the first woman in Bengal to do so. She died just at age of 21 years. Pritilata joined the revolutionary group led by Surya Sen. She played very active part in the Chittagong armoury raid by participating in the attack at the Police line and the telephone exchange. She is known for leading fifteen revolutionaries in the 1932-armed attack on the Pahartali European Club. In 1932, Surya Sen planned to attack the Pahartali European Club which had a signboard that read Dogs and Indians not allowed. Surya Sen decided to appoint a woman leader for this mission. Kalpana Datta was arrested seven days before the event. Because of this, Pritilata was assigned the leadership of the attack. On the day of the attack, Pritilata dressed herself as a Punjabi male while her associates wore lungis and shirts. The revolutionaries torched the club and were later caught by the British police. To avoid arrest, Pritilata consumed cyanide and died

 

Pritilata was born into a middle-class Vaidya-Brahmin family in a village of Chittagong. Her father was a clerk and she had five siblings. Nicknamed Rani, Pritilata’ s original surname was Dasgupta. She was a meritorious student and highly influenced by the freedom fighters of that time. Rani Laxmibai was an inspirational force for Pritilata to sacrifice her life for the liberation of her motherland. She was a meritorious student and In the Intermediate examinations, she was topper among women and in top five among all who appeared in that year's examination from the Dhaka Board. To pursue higher education, Pritilata went to Kolkata and got admitted to the Bethune College. Two years later, she graduated in Philosophy from the college with a distinction. However, her degree was withheld by British authorities at Calcutta University. In 2012, she was conferred their certificates of merit posthumously.

 

3.                Kalpana Dutta:

This is another name that has faded with the sands of time, another woman with iron will and nerves of steel. Kalpana was born on 27th July 1913 at Sirpur a village in Chittagong. She was hardly eighteen years when she joined the armed rebellion led by Surya Sen. She was a member of the group of revolutionists, which carried out the Chittagong armoury raid. After passing her matriculation examination in 1929 from Chittagong, she went to Calcutta and joined the Bethune College for graduation in Science. Soon she joined the Chhatri Sangha, a semi-revolutionary organisation in which Bina Das and Pritilata Waddedar were also active members. In Master Da’s armed group of revolutionaries, she was assigned the responsibility of transporting explosives and other supplies. Besides she also became an expert in preparing gun cotton, an explosive agent. The siege at the European club had initially involved both Pritilata and Kalpana as its key executors, but just a week before the attack, she was caught and detailed by the Police while she was doing a recce for the plot.

 

Kalpana managed to escape, and even when the British finally managed to locate the hideout that captured Master Da in 1933, Kalpana managed to run for her life. Three months later, she was eventually arrested and sentenced to life in the second supplementary trial case of the Chittagong Armoury Raid incident. She was released after six years of imprisonment due to efforts of Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore

 

Kalpana’s memoirs were responsible for bringing every minute detail behind the blood-laced uprising of Chittagong, to the fore. One of the few surviving revolutionaries of the rebellion, she had recounted the entire course of events to her daughter-in-law Manini Chatterjee before breathing her last in 1995.

 

4.                Ganesh Ghosh

Ganesh Ghosh also hailed from Chittagong and participated in the Chittagong armoury raid, along with Surya Sen and other revolutionaries. The police armoury in police Line in Dampara was captured by a group of revolutionaries led by him. After the raid, he fled from Chittagong and took shelter in Chandannagar, Hooghly. After few days police commissioner Charles Tegart attacked the safe house of them in Chandannagar and arrested him. After the trial, Ganesh Ghosh was deported to the Cellular Jail in Port Blair in 1932. After the release from jail in 1946, he joined communist politics and became a member of the Communist Party of India.

 

5.                Lokenath Bal, and his brother Harigopal Bal:

Lokenath Bal is another prominent revolutionary who fought for the independence and active member of the armed rebellion led by Surya Sen. Lokenath Bal was born in Dhorla village of Chittagong District in Bengal Province of British India. His father's name was Prankrishna Bal. Some literature links his forefather’s origin to Orissa in India. On 18 April 1930, a group of revolutionaries led by him took over the AFI armoury. Later, on 22 April 1930, he led another gunfight with a combined force comprising the British army and the British police. Later, on 22 April 1930, he led another gunfight with a combined force comprising the British army and the British police. His younger brother Harigopal Bal was also part of the Chittagong uprising. His younger brother Harigopal Bal nicknamed Tegra and another 11 revolutionaries died in this gunfight. He was able to escape and reach Chandernagore, a French territory. He and Ganesh Ghosh were arrested on 1 September 1930 after a gunfight with the British police.  He was sentenced to transportation for life on 1 March 1932 and sent to the Cellular Jail in Port Blair. After his release in 1946, he joined the Radical Democratic Party founded by Manabendra Nath Roy. Later, he joined the Indian National Congress. After the Indian independence, he worked as an administrative officer in the Calcutta Corporation till his death

 

6.                Ambika Chakraborty:

Ambika Chakrabarty was also born in Chittagong in 1892, and he joined the Anushilan Samiti revolutionary group with the goal of driving the British out of India. In 1930, he took part in the Chittagong armory raid along with Surya Sen. During the armoury raid, Ambika Chakrabarti, and woman revolutionary Pritilata Waddedar snapped off the telegraph and telephone lines, thus cutting communication of Chittagong from the rest of India. This act was a game changer as it cut of British establishment at Chittagong from rest of the world and they could not connect to their headquarters at Kolkata for reinforcement. On 22 April 1930, he was seriously injured in the gunfight with the British army in Jalalabad, but he was able to escape. After a few months, he was arrested by the police from his hideout and sentenced to death. However, the sentence was later changed to transportation for life to the Cellular Jail in Port Blair.After his release from the Cellular Jail in 1946, joined the Communist Party of India.

 

7.                Binod Bihari Chowdhury

Binod Bihari was the last surviving revolutionary from the Chittagong armoury raid and was active in many significant events in the history of Bangladesh. In 2000, he received the Independence Day Award, the highest civilian award in Bangladesh. He was born in North Bhurshi under Boalkhali upzilla in Chittagong in 1911. In 1927, he joined the anti-British revolutionary group Jugantar through a friend in school. During these days he came into contact with Surya Sen and soon became one of his intimate associates. He played an important role both in the armoury raid and the Jallabad battle. He was a valiant fighter in the Battle of Jalalabad where he was wounded as well. He was at that time on the wanted list of the British, and in order to escape being captured he had gone underground; and after moving from one place to another, he finally took refuge in Dhaka. When the police got information about his whereabouts, he returned to Chittagong but was arrested. He was under trial in 1932, was sent to a detention camp in Rajputana. Although he served a jail sentence from 1933 to 1938, he passed his graduation examinations with distinction. In 1939, he completed his Masters in English and had also obtained a degree in Law. He later joined the Indian National Congress, and during the Quit India movement was again sent to prison for various terms. Binod Bihari Chowdhury breathed his last at a hospital in Kolkata on April 10th, 2013. In accordance to his wish his last rites were performed in Chittagong with full national honours.

 

8.                Tarakeshwar Dastidar:

Tarakeshwar Dastidar was also from Chittagong, born in Saroatali, Chittagong. He joined in the Indian Republican Army and worked alongside Surya Sen. In 1930 he was seriously injured by a blast while manufacturing of bombs. In 18 April 1930 he guided a group of youth revolutionaries to raid the police armoury of Chittagong. After the arrest of Masterda, he took charge and directed the movement. Dastidar was arrested on 18 May 1933 after an armed encounter with police force at Gahira village. After the trial he was sentenced to death on 14th August 1933. After severe torture Dastidar was hanged along with Surya Sen in Chittagong jail on 12 January 1934

 

9.                Subodh Roy:

Subodh Roy was born in 1915 in a rich family at Chittagong. At the age of 14, he was the youngest participant in the Chittagong armoury raid. Affectionately called Jhunku, Roy he also took part in the battle on Jalalabad Hill. He was eventually captured, tortured, tried and sentenced, and was among the first batch of prisoners deported to the Cellular Jail in Port Blair in 1932.  After the release from jail in 1940, he joined communist politics. In jail, he got introduced to Communist ideas and literature, and joined the Communist Party of India after his release. When the CPI split in 1964, he went with the CPI(M), and became a member of the West Bengal State Committee. Subodh Roy made a major scholarly contribution to the history of the communist movement. After research in the National Archives, he edited a book "Communism in India: Unpublished Documents.

These are just few names related to Chittagong armoury raid. There would be many who were not lucky to be recorded and be read 90 years later. But “freedom fighters lives matter “. It’s a small tribute from my end to all those who fought, laid down their life so that we are born in a free country, and enjoy all the privileges for which they could only dream till they alive.

Robin Kumar Das

References

Multiple research papers, newspaper articles, movies “Chittagong “and “Khele Hum Jee Jaan Se” in Bollywood and other sources.