Bhupendra Kumar Datta
Encyclopedia
Bhupendra Kumar Dutta (8 October 1892– 29 September 1979) was a Indian
militant
and revolutionary
who fought for Indian independence from British rule. In addition to his other specific contributions as a Jugantar
leader, he holds the record of a hunger strike for 78 days in Bilaspur Jail in December 1917.
, now in Bangladesh
. His father Kailash Chandra Datta was the manager of the nearby Parchar estates in Faridpur
. His mother Bimalasundari was a charitable woman who brought up her children Bhupen, Kamalini, Jadugopal, Snehalata and Suprabha in a God-loving atmosphere.
While reading the Ramayana
, one day young Bhupen learned that the heroic Lakshmana
owed his valour to his control of impulses (brahmacharya
). Having asked his mother what it meant, he declared that he would follow brahmacharya, which he did throughout his life of a bachelor, dedicated to the service of fellow creatures. He joined Anushilan Samiti
in his Faridpur Government High School days, drawn by its humanitarian activities and its anti-Partition
agitations since 1905. The study of the Bhagavad Gita
and of works by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
and Vivekananda opened before him the path he wanted to follow.
of Kolkata, who introduced him to Sachin Sanyal from Benares
, who was desirous to join an active revolutionary party. His prior release from the Howrah Trial and informed him about a forthcoming World War. During this time, Jatindranath Mukherjee or Bagha Jatin
had suspended all violent activity, preparing for an armed insurrection all over India. Discouraged at the suspension of all revolutionary activities, Sachin went to the Dhaka Anushilan Samiti whose leaders did not participate in Bagha Jatin's programme. Led by a faint clue in 1913, Bhupen decided to go to Khulna
and join the Daulatpur Hindu Academy. Encouraged by the liberal spirit reigning in the campus, Bhupen brought together his own group of college-mates interested in social work, raising funds for the poor by offering manual labour, gymnastics, study sessions for the Gita and essays of contemporary thinkers. They founded their own hostel. Several professors of the college and the superintendent himself, like for example Shashibhushan Raychaudhury
(or more commonly known by his nickname) Shashida, who was more famous for his experiments in education, and had been closely associated with Bagha Jatin, used to visit the College.
Introduced by Shashida, after a number of contacts, Bhupen recognised in Bagha Jatin the leader he was waiting for. Invited by his friend Hemanta Sarkar, Bhupen went to Krishnagar and spent a few days in the company of Subhash Chandra Bose
, the future Netaji. Contrary to his habit, during a conversation, Bhupen disclosed to the friends his meeting with Bagha Jatin and informed them that he sensed that there was a big revolutionary preparation going on under Jatin's guidance. Subhash listened to all this and, moved up to his core, retired without dinner. He had a conviction that one had to be a "liberated soul" (mukta-purush) in order to lead a revolution and, the next day, asked Bhupen point blank, "Is Jatin Mukherjee a mukta-purush?" Bhupen told him that he had no idea of what a mukta-purush was, but there was a man who not only quoted the Gita but whose very life was an embodiment of the teachings of the Gita.
Drawn by the relief work organised by the revolutionaries in August–September 1913, in collaboration with the Ramakrishna Mission
during the flood on the Damodar in the districts of Burdwan, Midnapur and Hooghli
, Bhupen met there some of the stalwart collaborators of Jatin Mukherjee. Arun Chandra Guha wrote : "The police had somehow information that behind the facade of relief work, Jatin and other workers were forging a powerful revolutionary organisation." Bhupen was to know later that during the flood relief , at Kalinagar in Medinipur, Atulkrishna Ghosh
, Amarendra Chatterjee
, Jadugopal Mukherjee
and others brought together, under the moral and spiritual caution of Bagha Jatin, the various branches and sub-groups of the secret societies in order to create the rising Jugantar
, which was more a concerted movement than a party.
After returning to Daulatpur, Bhupen learnt from his college mate Gopaldas Majumdar that Bagha Jatin was soon leaving his business as a contractor in order to go back to Kolkata
. After a significant farewell visit to Bhupen, Jatin sent a horse to Dr Amulya Ukil of the campus, apparently for the latter's use; thanks to this gift, Bhupen and the other boys took lessons in riding. Assisted by Bhupen, Dr Ukil in earnest discipline took to training the students in military drill, semaphore
signaling, arms collection, propaganda among military police and the fluvial workers of Khulna
-Jessore regions. On visit to Daulatpur, Subhash Chandra Bose and Hemanta Kumar Sarkar were so impressed by this pageant that during the Kolkata session of the National Congress, in 1928, when Bose organised the Bengal Volunteers
in a fully military style, he was happy to have Bhupen by his side. On visiting India after forty-two years, Dr. Taraknath Das reminded in his tribute to Bagha Jatin : "In Jatinda’s method of working there was a military discipline (…) Throughout the country, inspired by Jatinda’s ideology, one has to create an organisation similar to the military model. That alone will be an adequate homage to Jatinda."
.
For students coming from the districts, Bhupen opened a hostel which counted among its inmates brilliant students like Megh Nad Saha, Sisir Mitra, Sailen Ghosh, Jatin Seth, Jnan Mukherjee, Jnan Ghosh, all of them known to Bagha Jatin and Shashida, all of them more or less involved in the Indo-German plan. Similar other hostels were run by his revolutionary associates, out of which the Eden Hindu Hostel
was to become a permanent reference for years to come. Bagha Jatin was a frequent visitor to these addresses which sheltered a number of future celebrities.
In September 1915, after the self-undoing of Bagha Jatin, massive repression and imprisonment prevailed in India. Stunned by the leader’s sudden death, whereas his top-ranking associates felt helpless and absconded, Bhupen stepped forward to remind them that a revolution could not die with the leader’s death : "Bhupendra Kumar Datta remained the sole moving worker to maintain the links and collect money," admitted Arun Chandra Guha. He was assisted by Charu Ghosh, Kuntal Chakravarti and Jibanlal Chatterjee.. His role was similar to that of Bagha Jatin during the Alipore trial in 1908-09. According to Jadugopal Mukherjee, "In 1917 Bhupen occupied a special place among our leading figures." On 17 May 1917, he was arrested.
On the eve of the visit to India of Montagu
, Secretary of State for India in the British Cabinet, information came that the Government did not want to discuss with the Minister the fate of those accused of any implication in the Indo-German plot. Immediately, the Jugantar group, then led by Jibanlal Chatterjee, published its declaration in December 1917: "But first and last spread the terror. Make this unholy Government impossible. Hide like invisible shadows of doom and rain death upon the alien bureaucracy. Remember your brothers who are perishing in Jails and rotting in swamps. Remember those who have died or have gone mad. Remember, watch and work.". Protesting against the imprisonment of such a number of people without habeas corpus and against the physical and moral torture meted inside the prisons, an eight-page long appeal was written by Jiten Lahiri and Bhupendra Kumar Datta; it was sent to forty-two important personalities to inform the countrymen about the decision of a hunger strike taken by the political prisoners all over India. Transferred to Bilaspur Jail, Bhupen "continued his hunger strike for seventy-eight days, till then the longest ever period of hunger strike in any country." .
, Bhupen wanted to expedite the tempo of the non-cooperation movement
and met Gandhi at the Nagpur session of the Congress Party
. Having the latter’s promise that, if the people responded well, he would convert the Party into free India’s Republican Parliament, Bhupen went to Pondicherry to consult Sri Aurobindo
about the future of the Jugantar
. Diffident about Gandhi’s expectation to win freedom within one year, Sri Aurobindo recognised that Gandhi represented a tremendous force and it would be unwise to resist him; the former advised the revolutionaries to collaborate without, however, making of non-violence a fetish, sticking to their own ethics. After Gandhi’s failure, the Jugantar sided Deshabandhu Chittaranjan Das
in his Swaraj
ya programme as an antidote: by observing overtly, all over India, the eighth anniversary of Bagha Jatin’s death, on 9 September 1923, they intimated their intention to follow their own conviction. Deshabandhu proposed to visit the spot where Bagha Jatin fought and to raise there a memorial.
Arrested again on 23 September 1923, Bhupen was deported to Mandalay
in Burma, where Subhash Bose was to join him soon after and offer him Memories of a Revolutionist by Kropotkin
that he had smuggled for Bhupen during his last trip to Europe. Even inside his solitary prison cell, Bhupen was contacted by some Burmese as well as a few Bengali revolutionaries absconding in Burma and, thanks to his guidance, they formed an important organisation with branches all over the country; they, along with their leader Jiten Ghosh, were arrested only in 1931, during the Burmese revolt.
Released in 1928, Bhupen resumed his usual multifarious role of maintaining contacts with various Jugantar leaders from Surya Sen
in Chittagong to Bhagat Singh in Punjab (who had been in constant touch with Bhupen since 1923), editing the party organ Swadhinata, making bombs, collecting arms and distributing them, looking after the volunteer movement. Busy sheltering the absconding revolutionaries of the Chittagong Armoury Raid
, Bhupen was arrested again in 1930, for a period of eight years. During 1938-41 and 1946-51 he edited the weekly Forward : his editorials were read with interest by patriots of all political trends. In 1946 his collection of essays, Indian Revolution and the Constructive Programme appeared with a foreword by Dr Rajendra Prasad, the first president of future independent India. In the meantime, in 1941, Bhupen was again detained till 1946.
, while claiming support from Quaid-i-Azam declared before the Constituent Assembly that Pakistan was founded with the Muslims’ wish to live the teachings and the tradition of Islam, one of the members, Birat Chandra Mondal reminded that Jinnah had "unequivocally said that Pakistan will be a secular State." Bhupendra Kumar Datta went a step further by commenting the PM’s statement : "...were this resolution to come before this house within the life-time of (...) the Quaid-i-Azam, it would not have come in its present shape." .
According to Dr M. Waheeduzzaman Manik, after Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah
’s protest against imposing of Urdu as the lingua franca of Pakistan
(published in daily Azad on 29 July 1947), on 25 February 1948, member Dhirendranath Datta
demanded Bengali instead (spoken by 55% of the citizens), Members Bhupendra Kumar Datta, Prem Hari Barma and Srish Chandra Chattopadhyay "wholeheartedly supported Dhiren Datta’s historic amendment and vehemently defended the rightful place of Bengali." On 28 March 1971, at the onset of Bangladesh Liberation War
, Pakistani military junta tortured Dhirendranath Datta
to death in Comilla
.
Even in the opposition, Bhupen enjoyed the admiration of the ruling party. Khawaja Nazimuddin
, Prime Minister (1951–53), speaking of Bhupen, once exclaimed : "He knows how to plan, organise and execute." . His articles in the Ittefaq drew the attention of the intelligentsia in the then East Pakistan
. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
was particularly proud to have known Bhupenda.
in 1958, Bhupen waited in vain for four years to renew his activity in Pakistan. In 1962, he bade good bye to Pakistan and to politics, and went back to India, sharing his time between Kolkata
and New Delhi
. During his absence, on 9 September 1947, an imposing Bagha Jatin memorial week was observed in West Bengal
, and the former Jugantar members had chosen Bhupen for writing an authentic biography of their leader. Encouraged by the enthusiasm of a young researcher, Bhupen passed on to him the life-long notes and reflections he had accumulated, accompanied him to interview most of the important associates of Bagha Jatin
and opened before him the access to the archives in India.
..
Bhupendrakumar guided three generations of Indian thinkers and activists. Having celebrated the centenary of Bagha Jatin’s birth, he died quietly in Kolkata, on 29 December 1979.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
militant
Indian independence movement
The term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...
and revolutionary
Revolutionary movement for Indian independence
The Revolutionary movement for Indian independence is often a less-highlighted aspect of the Indian independence movement -- the underground revolutionary factions. The groups believing in armed revolution against the ruling British fall into this category. The revolutionary groups were...
who fought for Indian independence from British rule. In addition to his other specific contributions as a Jugantar
Jugantar
Jugantar or Yugantar was one of the two main secret revolutionary trends operating in Bengal for Indian independence.This association, like Anushilan Samiti started in the guise of suburban fitness club. Several Jugantar members were arrested, hanged, or deported for life to the Cellular Jail in...
leader, he holds the record of a hunger strike for 78 days in Bilaspur Jail in December 1917.
Early days
He was born on 8 October 1894, in the village Thakurpur in JessoreJessore District
Jessore is a district located in the Khulna Division of southwestern Bangladesh. It is bordered by India to the west.The district produces a variety of crops year-round. Date-sugar called patali is made from the sap of locally grown date trees that is cooked, thickened and crystallised using a...
, now in Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
. His father Kailash Chandra Datta was the manager of the nearby Parchar estates in Faridpur
Faridpur District
Faridpur is a district in central Bangladesh. It is a part of the Dhaka Division. Faridpur District has a population of over 1.7 million people and is situated on the banks of the Padma river . It is bordered by Madaripur, Narail, Rajbari, Magura, Shariatpur, Gopalgonj, Dhaka and Manikganj...
. His mother Bimalasundari was a charitable woman who brought up her children Bhupen, Kamalini, Jadugopal, Snehalata and Suprabha in a God-loving atmosphere.
While reading the Ramayana
Ramayana
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
, one day young Bhupen learned that the heroic Lakshmana
Lakshmana
Lakshmana was the brother and close companion of Rama, and himself a hero in the famous epic Ramayana...
owed his valour to his control of impulses (brahmacharya
Brahmacharya
Brahmacharya is one of the four stages of life in an age-based social system as laid out in the Manu Smrti and later Classical Sanskrit texts in Hinduism. It refers to an educational period of 14–20 years which starts before the age of puberty. During this time the traditional vedic sciences are...
). Having asked his mother what it meant, he declared that he would follow brahmacharya, which he did throughout his life of a bachelor, dedicated to the service of fellow creatures. He joined Anushilan Samiti
Anushilan Samiti
Anushilan Samiti was an armed anti-British organisation in Bengal and the principal secret revolutionary organisation operating in the region in the opening years of the 20th century. This association, like its offshoot the Jugantar, operated under the guise of suburban fitness club...
in his Faridpur Government High School days, drawn by its humanitarian activities and its anti-Partition
Partition of Bengal (1905)
The decision of the Partition of Bengal was announced on 19 July 1905 by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon. The partition took effect on 16 October 1905...
agitations since 1905. The study of the Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad Gita
The ' , also more simply known as Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the ancient Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata, but is frequently treated as a freestanding text, and in particular, as an Upanishad in its own right, one of the several books that constitute general Vedic tradition...
and of works by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was a famous Bengali writer, poet and journalist. He was the composer of India’s national song Vande Mataram, originally a Bengali and Sanskrit stotra personifying India as a mother goddess and inspiring the activists during the Indian Freedom Movement...
and Vivekananda opened before him the path he wanted to follow.
Daulatpur College
After joining the Scottish Church College of Kolkata, in 1911, Bhupen came across two significant members of the initial Anushilan SamitiAnushilan Samiti
Anushilan Samiti was an armed anti-British organisation in Bengal and the principal secret revolutionary organisation operating in the region in the opening years of the 20th century. This association, like its offshoot the Jugantar, operated under the guise of suburban fitness club...
of Kolkata, who introduced him to Sachin Sanyal from Benares
Varanasi
-Etymology:The name Varanasi has its origin possibly from the names of the two rivers Varuna and Assi, for the old city lies in the north shores of the Ganga bounded by its two tributaries, the Varuna and the Asi, with the Ganges being to its south...
, who was desirous to join an active revolutionary party. His prior release from the Howrah Trial and informed him about a forthcoming World War. During this time, Jatindranath Mukherjee or Bagha Jatin
Bagha Jatin
Bagha Jatin , born Jatindranath Mukherjee was an Bengali revolutionary philosopher against British rule....
had suspended all violent activity, preparing for an armed insurrection all over India. Discouraged at the suspension of all revolutionary activities, Sachin went to the Dhaka Anushilan Samiti whose leaders did not participate in Bagha Jatin's programme. Led by a faint clue in 1913, Bhupen decided to go to Khulna
Khulna
Khulna is the third largest city in Bangladesh. It is located on the banks of the Rupsha and Bhairab rivers in Khulna District. It is the divisional headquarters of Khulna Division and a major industrial and commercial center. It has a seaport named Mongla on its outskirts, 38 km from Khulna...
and join the Daulatpur Hindu Academy. Encouraged by the liberal spirit reigning in the campus, Bhupen brought together his own group of college-mates interested in social work, raising funds for the poor by offering manual labour, gymnastics, study sessions for the Gita and essays of contemporary thinkers. They founded their own hostel. Several professors of the college and the superintendent himself, like for example Shashibhushan Raychaudhury
Shashibhushan Raychaudhury
Shashibhushan Raychaudhuri , also known as Shashida, was a patriotic educationist connected with the radical revolutionary activities that had their origins in Bengal...
(or more commonly known by his nickname) Shashida, who was more famous for his experiments in education, and had been closely associated with Bagha Jatin, used to visit the College.
Introduced by Shashida, after a number of contacts, Bhupen recognised in Bagha Jatin the leader he was waiting for. Invited by his friend Hemanta Sarkar, Bhupen went to Krishnagar and spent a few days in the company of Subhash Chandra Bose
Subhash Chandra Bose
Subhas Chandra Bose known by name Netaji was an Indian revolutionary who led an Indian national political and military force against Britain and the Western powers during World War II. Bose was one of the most prominent leaders in the Indian independence movement and is a legendary figure in...
, the future Netaji. Contrary to his habit, during a conversation, Bhupen disclosed to the friends his meeting with Bagha Jatin and informed them that he sensed that there was a big revolutionary preparation going on under Jatin's guidance. Subhash listened to all this and, moved up to his core, retired without dinner. He had a conviction that one had to be a "liberated soul" (mukta-purush) in order to lead a revolution and, the next day, asked Bhupen point blank, "Is Jatin Mukherjee a mukta-purush?" Bhupen told him that he had no idea of what a mukta-purush was, but there was a man who not only quoted the Gita but whose very life was an embodiment of the teachings of the Gita.
Drawn by the relief work organised by the revolutionaries in August–September 1913, in collaboration with the Ramakrishna Mission
Ramakrishna Mission
Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission are twin organizations which form the core of a worldwide spiritual movement known as Ramakrishna Movement or Vedanta Movement. The Ramakrishna Mission is a philanthropic, volunteer organization founded by Ramakrishna's chief disciple Swami Vivekananda on...
during the flood on the Damodar in the districts of Burdwan, Midnapur and Hooghli
Hooghly District
Hooghly district is one of the districts of the state of West Bengal in India. It can alternatively be spelt Hoogli or Hugli. The district is named after the Hooghly River.The headquarters of the district are at Chinsura...
, Bhupen met there some of the stalwart collaborators of Jatin Mukherjee. Arun Chandra Guha wrote : "The police had somehow information that behind the facade of relief work, Jatin and other workers were forging a powerful revolutionary organisation." Bhupen was to know later that during the flood relief , at Kalinagar in Medinipur, Atulkrishna Ghosh
Atulkrishna Ghosh
Atulkrishna Ghosh was an Indian revolutionary, member of the Anushilan Samiti, and a leader of the Jugantar movement involved in Hindu German Conspiracy during World War I.-Early life:...
, Amarendra Chatterjee
Amarendra Chatterjee
Amarendranath Chatterjee was an Indian independence movement activist. In charge of raising funds for the Jugantar movement, his activities largely covered revolutionary centres in Bihar, Orissa and the United Provinces....
, Jadugopal Mukherjee
Jadugopal Mukherjee
Jadu Gopal Mukherjee was an eminent Bengali Indian revolutionary who, as the successor of Jatindranath Mukherjee or Bagha Jatin, led the Jugantar members to recognise and accept Gandhi’s movement as the culmination of their own aspiration.-Early life:Jadugopal or Jadu was born at Tamluk in the...
and others brought together, under the moral and spiritual caution of Bagha Jatin, the various branches and sub-groups of the secret societies in order to create the rising Jugantar
Jugantar
Jugantar or Yugantar was one of the two main secret revolutionary trends operating in Bengal for Indian independence.This association, like Anushilan Samiti started in the guise of suburban fitness club. Several Jugantar members were arrested, hanged, or deported for life to the Cellular Jail in...
, which was more a concerted movement than a party.
After returning to Daulatpur, Bhupen learnt from his college mate Gopaldas Majumdar that Bagha Jatin was soon leaving his business as a contractor in order to go back to Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
. After a significant farewell visit to Bhupen, Jatin sent a horse to Dr Amulya Ukil of the campus, apparently for the latter's use; thanks to this gift, Bhupen and the other boys took lessons in riding. Assisted by Bhupen, Dr Ukil in earnest discipline took to training the students in military drill, semaphore
Flag semaphore
Semaphore Flags is the system for conveying information at a distance by means of visual signals with hand-held flags, rods, disks, paddles, or occasionally bare or gloved hands. Information is encoded by the position of the flags; it is read when the flag is in a fixed position...
signaling, arms collection, propaganda among military police and the fluvial workers of Khulna
Khulna
Khulna is the third largest city in Bangladesh. It is located on the banks of the Rupsha and Bhairab rivers in Khulna District. It is the divisional headquarters of Khulna Division and a major industrial and commercial center. It has a seaport named Mongla on its outskirts, 38 km from Khulna...
-Jessore regions. On visit to Daulatpur, Subhash Chandra Bose and Hemanta Kumar Sarkar were so impressed by this pageant that during the Kolkata session of the National Congress, in 1928, when Bose organised the Bengal Volunteers
Bengal Volunteers
Bengal Volunteers was an underground revolutionary group against the British rule of India.The group was functional from its inception in 1928 to the Indian independence.-The beginning:...
in a fully military style, he was happy to have Bhupen by his side. On visiting India after forty-two years, Dr. Taraknath Das reminded in his tribute to Bagha Jatin : "In Jatinda’s method of working there was a military discipline (…) Throughout the country, inspired by Jatinda’s ideology, one has to create an organisation similar to the military model. That alone will be an adequate homage to Jatinda."
Kolkata again
In spite of such a hectic social programme, in March 1915 Bhupen passed his Intermediate Examination securing very high marks, with distinctions for the quality of his Bengali and English prose. Although he joined the Sanskrit College of Kolkata, he attended (along with Subhash Bose) courses in philosophy at the Presidency CollegePresidency College, Kolkata
Presidency University, Kolkata, formerly Hindu College and Presidency College, is a unitary, state aided university, located in Kolkata, West Bengal. and one of the premier institutes of learning of liberal arts and sciences in India. In 2002 it was ranked number one by the weekly news magazine...
.
For students coming from the districts, Bhupen opened a hostel which counted among its inmates brilliant students like Megh Nad Saha, Sisir Mitra, Sailen Ghosh, Jatin Seth, Jnan Mukherjee, Jnan Ghosh, all of them known to Bagha Jatin and Shashida, all of them more or less involved in the Indo-German plan. Similar other hostels were run by his revolutionary associates, out of which the Eden Hindu Hostel
Eden Hindu Hostel
Eden Hindu Hostel , established in 1886, was primarily built for Hindu students of Presidency College, Calcutta. The hostel is now open for students of all religions. It is now meant for students who come from outside Calcutta to study in the Presidency University, Kolkata, and all affiliated...
was to become a permanent reference for years to come. Bagha Jatin was a frequent visitor to these addresses which sheltered a number of future celebrities.
In September 1915, after the self-undoing of Bagha Jatin, massive repression and imprisonment prevailed in India. Stunned by the leader’s sudden death, whereas his top-ranking associates felt helpless and absconded, Bhupen stepped forward to remind them that a revolution could not die with the leader’s death : "Bhupendra Kumar Datta remained the sole moving worker to maintain the links and collect money," admitted Arun Chandra Guha. He was assisted by Charu Ghosh, Kuntal Chakravarti and Jibanlal Chatterjee.. His role was similar to that of Bagha Jatin during the Alipore trial in 1908-09. According to Jadugopal Mukherjee, "In 1917 Bhupen occupied a special place among our leading figures." On 17 May 1917, he was arrested.
On the eve of the visit to India of Montagu
Montagu
- People with the surname :* Alexander Montagu, 13th Duke of Manchester* Ashley Montagu* Charles Montagu , several persons* Edward Montagu , several persons* Edwin Samuel Montagu* Elizabeth Montagu* Ewen Montagu...
, Secretary of State for India in the British Cabinet, information came that the Government did not want to discuss with the Minister the fate of those accused of any implication in the Indo-German plot. Immediately, the Jugantar group, then led by Jibanlal Chatterjee, published its declaration in December 1917: "But first and last spread the terror. Make this unholy Government impossible. Hide like invisible shadows of doom and rain death upon the alien bureaucracy. Remember your brothers who are perishing in Jails and rotting in swamps. Remember those who have died or have gone mad. Remember, watch and work.". Protesting against the imprisonment of such a number of people without habeas corpus and against the physical and moral torture meted inside the prisons, an eight-page long appeal was written by Jiten Lahiri and Bhupendra Kumar Datta; it was sent to forty-two important personalities to inform the countrymen about the decision of a hunger strike taken by the political prisoners all over India. Transferred to Bilaspur Jail, Bhupen "continued his hunger strike for seventy-eight days, till then the longest ever period of hunger strike in any country." .
The Jugantar and Gandhi
Released in 1920, sensing that Gandhi rode the revolutionary tide, as a mouthpiece of the JugantarJugantar
Jugantar or Yugantar was one of the two main secret revolutionary trends operating in Bengal for Indian independence.This association, like Anushilan Samiti started in the guise of suburban fitness club. Several Jugantar members were arrested, hanged, or deported for life to the Cellular Jail in...
, Bhupen wanted to expedite the tempo of the non-cooperation movement
Non-cooperation movement
The non-cooperation movement was a significant phase of the Indian struggle for freedom from British rule which lasted for years. This movement, which lasted from September 1920 to February 1922 and was led by Mohandas Gandhi, and supported by the Indian National Congress. It aimed to resist...
and met Gandhi at the Nagpur session of the Congress Party
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
. Having the latter’s promise that, if the people responded well, he would convert the Party into free India’s Republican Parliament, Bhupen went to Pondicherry to consult Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo , born Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose , was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule and for a duration became one of its most important leaders, before developing his own vision of human progress...
about the future of the Jugantar
Jugantar
Jugantar or Yugantar was one of the two main secret revolutionary trends operating in Bengal for Indian independence.This association, like Anushilan Samiti started in the guise of suburban fitness club. Several Jugantar members were arrested, hanged, or deported for life to the Cellular Jail in...
. Diffident about Gandhi’s expectation to win freedom within one year, Sri Aurobindo recognised that Gandhi represented a tremendous force and it would be unwise to resist him; the former advised the revolutionaries to collaborate without, however, making of non-violence a fetish, sticking to their own ethics. After Gandhi’s failure, the Jugantar sided Deshabandhu Chittaranjan Das
Chittaranjan Das
Chittaranjan Das was an eminent Bengali lawyer and a major figure in the Indian independence movement.-Personal life:...
in his Swaraj
Swaraj
Swaraj can mean generally self-governance or "self-rule", and was used synonymously with "home-rule" by Gandhi but the word usually refers to Gandhi's concept for Indian independence from foreign domination. Swaraj lays stress on governance not by a hierarchical government, but self governance...
ya programme as an antidote: by observing overtly, all over India, the eighth anniversary of Bagha Jatin’s death, on 9 September 1923, they intimated their intention to follow their own conviction. Deshabandhu proposed to visit the spot where Bagha Jatin fought and to raise there a memorial.
Arrested again on 23 September 1923, Bhupen was deported to Mandalay
Mandalay
Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of one million, and is the capital of Mandalay Region ....
in Burma, where Subhash Bose was to join him soon after and offer him Memories of a Revolutionist by Kropotkin
Kropotkin
Peter Kropotkin was a Russian prince and anarchist.Kropotkin may also refer to:*Pyotr Nikolayevich Kropotkin , Soviet/Russian geologist, tectonician, and geophysicist*Mount Kropotkin, a peak in Antarctica...
that he had smuggled for Bhupen during his last trip to Europe. Even inside his solitary prison cell, Bhupen was contacted by some Burmese as well as a few Bengali revolutionaries absconding in Burma and, thanks to his guidance, they formed an important organisation with branches all over the country; they, along with their leader Jiten Ghosh, were arrested only in 1931, during the Burmese revolt.
Released in 1928, Bhupen resumed his usual multifarious role of maintaining contacts with various Jugantar leaders from Surya Sen
Surya Sen
Surya Sen was a prominent Bengali freedom fighter, an Indian independence activist and the chief architect of anti-British freedom movement in Chittagong, Bengal...
in Chittagong to Bhagat Singh in Punjab (who had been in constant touch with Bhupen since 1923), editing the party organ Swadhinata, making bombs, collecting arms and distributing them, looking after the volunteer movement. Busy sheltering the absconding revolutionaries of the Chittagong Armoury Raid
Chittagong armoury raid
The Chittagong armoury raid was an attempt on April 18, 1930 to raid the armoury of police and auxiliary forces from the Chittagong armoury in Bengal province of British India, by armed revolutionaries led by Surya Sen....
, Bhupen was arrested again in 1930, for a period of eight years. During 1938-41 and 1946-51 he edited the weekly Forward : his editorials were read with interest by patriots of all political trends. In 1946 his collection of essays, Indian Revolution and the Constructive Programme appeared with a foreword by Dr Rajendra Prasad, the first president of future independent India. In the meantime, in 1941, Bhupen was again detained till 1946.
Interlude in Pakistan
Feverish attempt to rescue victims of communal riots in Kolkata and of the partition of India led him to be elected as an M.P. in Pakistan, before serving as an M.L.A. Among several reports of his action, it was learnt that on 7 March 1949 when Prime Minister Liaquat Ali KhanLiaquat Ali Khan
For other people with the same or similar name, see Liaqat Ali Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan was a Pakistani statesman who became the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Defence minister and Commonwealth, Kashmir Affairs...
, while claiming support from Quaid-i-Azam declared before the Constituent Assembly that Pakistan was founded with the Muslims’ wish to live the teachings and the tradition of Islam, one of the members, Birat Chandra Mondal reminded that Jinnah had "unequivocally said that Pakistan will be a secular State." Bhupendra Kumar Datta went a step further by commenting the PM’s statement : "...were this resolution to come before this house within the life-time of (...) the Quaid-i-Azam, it would not have come in its present shape." .
According to Dr M. Waheeduzzaman Manik, after Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah
Muhammad Shahidullah
Muhammad Shahidullah , popularly known as Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah was a famous Bengali educationist, writer philologist and linguist.A dormitory in University of Dhaka is named after him .-Early life:...
’s protest against imposing of Urdu as the lingua franca of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
(published in daily Azad on 29 July 1947), on 25 February 1948, member Dhirendranath Datta
Dhirendranath Datta
Dhirendranath Datta was a Bengali lawyer by profession who was also active in the politics of undivided Bengal in pre-partition India, and later in East Pakistan...
demanded Bengali instead (spoken by 55% of the citizens), Members Bhupendra Kumar Datta, Prem Hari Barma and Srish Chandra Chattopadhyay "wholeheartedly supported Dhiren Datta’s historic amendment and vehemently defended the rightful place of Bengali." On 28 March 1971, at the onset of Bangladesh Liberation War
Bangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War was an armed conflict pitting East Pakistan and India against West Pakistan. The war resulted in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh....
, Pakistani military junta tortured Dhirendranath Datta
Dhirendranath Datta
Dhirendranath Datta was a Bengali lawyer by profession who was also active in the politics of undivided Bengal in pre-partition India, and later in East Pakistan...
to death in Comilla
Comilla
Comilla is a city in south-eastern Bangladesh, located along the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway. It is the administrative center of the Comilla District, part of the Chittagong Division. The Eastern Wing of Bangladesh Highway Police is located in Comilla....
.
Even in the opposition, Bhupen enjoyed the admiration of the ruling party. Khawaja Nazimuddin
Khawaja Nazimuddin
Hajji Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin, KCIE , was the second Governor-General of Pakistan, and later the second Prime Minister of Pakistan as well.-Early life:...
, Prime Minister (1951–53), speaking of Bhupen, once exclaimed : "He knows how to plan, organise and execute." . His articles in the Ittefaq drew the attention of the intelligentsia in the then East Pakistan
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a provincial state of Pakistan established in 14 August 1947. The provincial state existed until its declaration of independence on 26 March 1971 as the independent nation of Bangladesh. Pakistan recognized the new nation on 16 December 1971. East Pakistan was created from Bengal...
. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a Bengali nationalist politician and the founder of Bangladesh. He headed the Awami League, served as the first President of Bangladesh and later became its Prime Minister. He headed the Awami League, served as the first President of Bangladesh and later became its...
was particularly proud to have known Bhupenda.
Return to India
Immobilised by the Martial LawMartial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
in 1958, Bhupen waited in vain for four years to renew his activity in Pakistan. In 1962, he bade good bye to Pakistan and to politics, and went back to India, sharing his time between Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
and New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
. During his absence, on 9 September 1947, an imposing Bagha Jatin memorial week was observed in West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
, and the former Jugantar members had chosen Bhupen for writing an authentic biography of their leader. Encouraged by the enthusiasm of a young researcher, Bhupen passed on to him the life-long notes and reflections he had accumulated, accompanied him to interview most of the important associates of Bagha Jatin
Bagha Jatin
Bagha Jatin , born Jatindranath Mukherjee was an Bengali revolutionary philosopher against British rule....
and opened before him the access to the archives in India.
His Approach to History
His first-hand knowledge of events was of a great lesson in historical research : while comparing oral statements with files in the archives and, at times before apparent contradictions, his spirit of synthesis and intuition helped to determine their complementary character. When the pupil completed the first draft, Bhupen revised it minutely and, whilst the biography was being serialised, he went on adding further comments. In addition to his regular contributions in Bengali and English periodicals, Bhupen issued an obituary pamphlet on his erstwhile colleagues, as was needed. In spite of a seriously failing eyesight, this "engaged spectator" entertained a ministerial correspondence with people he was associated with.A Tribute
“Simple, unostentatious but erudite, Bhupendrakumar, with his well-built physique, serious but candid countenance, sparkling eyes and friendly smile, impresses one as an ascetic missionary mellowed by love for man. He is a firm believer in reason, science and progress, and has no patience with casteism, regionalism and communalism, nor with institutional religion that creates isolation and alienation,” wrote Kamala Das GuptaKamala Das Gupta
Kamala Das Gupta was an Indian freedom fighter. She was born in 1907, to a bhadralok Vaidya family of Bikrampur in Dhaka, now in Bangladesh; the family later moved to Calcutta, where she got a Master of Arts degree in history from Bethune College , Calcutta University...
..
Bhupendrakumar guided three generations of Indian thinkers and activists. Having celebrated the centenary of Bagha Jatin’s birth, he died quietly in Kolkata, on 29 December 1979.