Chittaranjan Das (C.R.Das) (
Chittorônjon Dash) (popularly called
Deshbandhu "Friend of the country") (November 5, 1870 - June 16, 1925) was a
BengalBengal , is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent...
i
lawyerA lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person licensed to practice law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain stability, and deliver...
and a major figure in the
Indian independence movementThe term Indian independence movement incorporates various national and regional campaigns, agitations and efforts of both nonviolent and militant philosophy. The term encompasses a wide spectrum of political organizations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending the British...
.
Educated in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, his public career began in 1909 when he successfully defended Aurobindo Ghosh on charges of involvement in the previous year's
Alipore bomb caseThe Alipore Bomb Case was an important court trial, during May 1908 to May 1909, in the history of the Indian Independence Movement....
.
He was a leading figure in
BengalBengal , is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent...
during the
Non-Cooperation MovementThe non-cooperation movement , was the first-ever series of nationwide people's movements of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience, led by Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress...
of 1919-1922, and initiated the ban on British clothes, setting an example by burning his own European clothes and wearing
KhadiThe term khādī or khaddar means cotton. khādī is Indian handspun and hand-woven cloth. The raw materials may be cotton, silk, or wool, which are spun into threads on a spinning wheel called a charkha. It is a versatile fabric, cool in the summer and warm in the winter...
clothes.
He brought out a newspaper called
Forward and later changed its name to
Liberty to fight the
British RajThe British Raj was the British colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; it can also refer to the period of dominion, and even the region under the rule...
.
We stand then for freedom, because we claim the right to develop our own individuality and evolve our own destiny along our own lines, unembarrassed by what Western civilisation has to teach us and unhampered by the institutions which the West has imposed. 
Undelivered presidential address for the session of Indian Congress held at Ahmedabad in December 1921. Source: Collected Works of Deshbandhu.
Chittaranjan Das (C.R.Das) (
Chittorônjon Dash) (popularly called
Deshbandhu "Friend of the country") (November 5, 1870 - June 16, 1925) was a
BengalBengal , is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent...
i
lawyerA lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person licensed to practice law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain stability, and deliver...
and a major figure in the
Indian independence movementThe term Indian independence movement incorporates various national and regional campaigns, agitations and efforts of both nonviolent and militant philosophy. The term encompasses a wide spectrum of political organizations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending the British...
.
Educated in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, his public career began in 1909 when he successfully defended Aurobindo Ghosh on charges of involvement in the previous year's
Alipore bomb caseThe Alipore Bomb Case was an important court trial, during May 1908 to May 1909, in the history of the Indian Independence Movement....
.
He was a leading figure in
BengalBengal , is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent...
during the
Non-Cooperation MovementThe non-cooperation movement , was the first-ever series of nationwide people's movements of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience, led by Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress...
of 1919-1922, and initiated the ban on British clothes, setting an example by burning his own European clothes and wearing
KhadiThe term khādī or khaddar means cotton. khādī is Indian handspun and hand-woven cloth. The raw materials may be cotton, silk, or wool, which are spun into threads on a spinning wheel called a charkha. It is a versatile fabric, cool in the summer and warm in the winter...
clothes.
He brought out a newspaper called
Forward and later changed its name to
Liberty to fight the
British RajThe British Raj was the British colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; it can also refer to the period of dominion, and even the region under the rule...
. When the Calcutta Corporation was formed, he became its first Mayor. He resigned his presidency of the
Indian National CongressThe Indian National Congress is a major political party in India. Founded in 1885 by Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji, Dinshaw Wacha, Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, Surendranath Banerjee, Monomohun Ghose, and William Wedderburn, the Indian National Congress became the leader of the Indian...
at the
GayaGaya is a city in Bihar, India, and it is also the headquarters of Gaya District.Gaya is 100 kilometers south of Patna, the capital city of Bihar. Situated on the banks of Falgu River , it is a place sanctified by both the Hindu and the Buddhist religions...
session after losing a motion on "No Council Entry" to Gandhi's faction. He then founded the
Swaraj PartyThe Swaraj Party was a political party in India that sought greater self-government and political freedoms for the Indian people from the British Raj. It was inspired by the concept of Swaraj...
, with
Motilal NehruMotilal Nehru was an early Indian independence activist and leader of the Indian National Congress. He was the founder patriarch of India's most powerful political family, the Nehru-Gandhi family.-Early life:...
, to express his immoderate opinions .
He was a believer of non-violence and constitutional methods for the realisation of national independence, and advocated communal harmony and championed the cause of national education. His legacy was carried forward by his disciples, and notably by
Subhash Chandra BoseSubhas Chandra Bose , popularly known as Netaji , was a leader in the Indian independence movement.Bose was elected president of the Indian National Congress for two consecutive terms but...
.
He is generally referred to by the
honorificAn honorific is a word or expression that conveys esteem or respect when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes the term is used not quite correctly to refer to a title of honor...
Desh Bandhu meaning "friend of the nation."
He belonged to the famous Das family of Telirbagh, Bikrampur, Dhaka, now in Bangladesh. He was son of Bhuban Mohan Das, and nephew of the Brahmo social reformer
Durga Mohan DasDurgamohan Das was a Brahmo Samaj leader and a social reformer with notable contribution in the field of widow remarriage and women’s emancipation.- Early life :...
. Amongst his cousins the better known were:
Satish Ranjan DasSatish Ranjan Das was the Advocate-General of Bengal and later the Law Member of the Executive Council of the Viceroy; he was sometime treasurer of the Boy Scouts of Bengal and the Lodge of Good Fellowship, and a prominent member of the reformist Brahmo Samaj in Bengal...
,
Sudhi Ranjan DasSudhi Ranjan Das was Chief Justice of India from 5 September 1955 to 31 October 1955 and then again 1 December 1955 to 31 January 1959. He retired from the Supreme Court 30 September 1959.-Background and Education:S.R. Das was born into the prominent Das family of Telirbagh...
,
Sarala RoySarala Roy was an educationist and is remembered as founder of the Gokhale Memorial School at Kolkata , at present the capital of the east Indian state of West Bengal.-Life:...
and
Lady Abala BoseAbala, Lady Bose was a social worker well-known for her efforts in the field of women’s education and her contribution towards the alleviation of the condition of widows...
.
In 1925, Das's health began to fail and in May he withdrew to a mountain home in Darjeeling, where
Mahatma GandhiMohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
visited him. On 16 June 1925, with a severe fever, he died.
The funeral procession in Calcutta was led by Gandhi, who said:
Deshbandhu was one of the greatest of men... He dreamed... and talked of freedom of India and of nothing else... His heart knew no difference between Hindus and Mussalmans and I should like to tell Englishmen, too, that he bore no ill-will to them.
Legacy
A few years before his death Das gifted his house and the adjoining lands to the Nation to be used for the betterment of the lives of women. Today it is a huge hospital called Chittaranjan Seva Sadan and has gone from being a women's hospital to one where all specialities are present including the treatment of cancer.