18th April - this day that age...

The story of Modern India's awakening has always fascinated and inspired me - rise in nationwide political consciousness with Surrender not Banerjee's Indian Association to the "Do or Die" slogan of Quit India Movement, from the Regulating Act of 1773 to the Government of India Act 1935, from Raja Rammohan Roy's Sambad Kaumudi to Sachindranath Sanyal's Bandi Jeevan: all speak volumes of how India suffered but gradually broke the shackles of social, cultural, economic and political bondage, thus, relieving the "White men" of their "burden". Achieving the end was not easy - it came after 200 long years of economic deprivation, poverty, illiteracy, constitutional agitation and bloodshed.

There are certain episodes in these 200 years which I wish, I could be a part of. One of them is the Chittagong Armoury Raid which took place on the 18th of April, 1930 and the second is the Young Bengal Movement of 1830's, started by Henry Vivian Derozio, who co-incidentally was also born on 18th April, 1808. The following section is a small compilation of what these two events were about.

Chittagong Armoury Raid  à

This was a daring revolutionary endeavour led by Masterda Surya Sen. Aware of the limited equipment and other resources of the freedom fighters, he was convinced of the need for secret Guerrilla warfare against the colonial government. His plan was to capture Chittagong’s two main armouries and take down the communications and railway lines. The plan also included assassinating the members of the European Club – military and government officials who were responsible for siding with the British to maintain the Raj.

Masterda Surya Sen

All Six original leaders of the Chittagong Uprising - Surjya Sen, Nirmal Chandra Sen, Lokenath Bal, Ambika Chakrabarti, Ananta Singh and Ganesh Ghosh, were participants in the Congress-led Civil Disobedience movement launched in 1919.They were bitterly disappointed by Gandhi's decision to call off the movement in 1922 in the wake of the Chauri Chaura incident.

The raid would have given them sufficient arms, ammunitions and they thought that would be the prelude to a great uprising. They built up an 'army' amongst teenage recruits who were given physical training in physical training clubs and secret training in arms under cover.

At around 10 pm, around 100 young patriots clad in khaki, marched in military order in several groups in chorus. One of their batches raided the telephone exchanges and Telegraph offices and cut off all communications between Calcutta and Dacca. The second severed rail connections at Nangalkot and Dham, which caused derailment of good trains and blockading of all railway traffic. The third headed the club but failing to find any officials there, they joined the main group. At the same time, leaflets were distributed all over the town explaining the objective of the raid. These were signed by Surya Sen as the President of the "Indian Republican Army, Chittagong branch". The revolutionaries seized gigantic amount of arms and were able to throw back the Government forces.

After the British received reinforcements on the 20^th April and heavy casualties on both sides, the revolutionaries dispersed and continued the guerrilla fight from different locations. The raid shook the English pride of invincibility and in return, they undertook repressive measures and unleashed havoc on the natives. They booked a criminal case called the “Chittagong Armoury Raid Case” and launched a prosecution against 32 revolutionaries for “waging war against the King Emperor”. Some were sentenced and deported to Andaman’s, some were acquitted, few escaped and carried on their attacks.

Kalpana Datta

After 3 long years, Surya Sen was arrested in February 1933 and was hanged on January 12, 1934.

The Chittagong Armoury raid also saw the active participation of women like Kalpana Datta and Pritilata Waddedar. After her release in 1939, Kalpana graduated from Calcutta University in 1940 and became a part of the Communist Party of India. In 1946, she contested for the Bengal Legislative Assembly as a communist candidate from Chittagong but lost. Kalpana Datta died in Calcutta on February 8, 1995.

 

In 1943, Kalpana Datta married Purab Chand Joshi, and had two sons: Suraj and Chand. Chand Joshi was a famous journalist who worked for Hindustan Times. He wrote a book called Bhindranwale: Myth and Reality (1985).  Chand’s wife Manini (nee Chatterjee) wrote a book on the Chittagong Armory Raid: Do and Die, which is the base for Ashutosh Gowariker’s movie Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se.

Henry Vivian Derozio and Young Bengal à

To India, My Native Land:

My country in thy days of glory past

A beauteous halo circled round thy brow,

And worshipped as a deity thou wast –

Where is thy glory, where that reverence now?

The eagle pinion is chained down at last

And groveling in the lowly dust art thou,

Thy ministrel hath no wreath to wear for thee,

Save the sad story of thy misery

- Henry Vivian Derozio

Henry Louis Vivian Derozio

‘Rammohan Roy was the brightest star in the Indian sky during the first half of the 19^th century, but he was not a lone star. Another bright star in the intellectual movement of India was Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, an Anglo-Indian who was born on April 18, 1808. He had deep faith in the French Revolution and English radicalism to which one may add free thinking.

Appointed in 1826 as a teacher of English literature and History in Hindu College, Derozio attracted young students by his wide-ranging knowledge and liberal outlook. Students of Derozio began to question orthodox Hinduisim. In 1828 Derozio founded the Academic Association which organized debates on various topics. Attacking Hindu religion and society, the Young men of the Academy protested vehemently against orthodoxy. Hundreds of students withdrew from the Hindu College. Derozio was dismissed from service on April 25, 1831 on charges of propagating revolutionary ideas against Hinduism.

Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee was 

one of the leaders of the 

Young Bengal group 

He had donated land 

for the Bethune School 

and assisted David Hare 

in his social works

Derozio died in December 1831, but his spirit remained by inspire young generation. The students of Derozio collectively known as Young Bengal took keen interest in social reforms and educational activities. The Derozians advocated the emancipation of women in all its facets: the need for education, the evils of child-marriage and Kulin polygamy and the ban on widow-remariage. The Young Bengal founded a circulating library, a Society for the Acquisition of General Knowledge (1838) and a short-lived Mechanical Institute (1839).

Quite a few journals – Parthenon, Hesperus, Jnananveshan, Enquirer and the Bengal Spectator – were run by the Derozians between 1828 and 1843. The Derozians were connected with the efforts for the introduction of Western medical education in the country which ultimately led to the foundation of the Medical College in 1835. The Derozians were delighted when the Calcutta Public Library was founded. They continued the movement started by Rammohun for the freedom of the press. Rammohun did not live to see its success but the Derozians achieved a major triumph when Lord Metcalfe restored the freedom of the press in 1835.

With the passage of time the Young Bengal Movement underwent a process of transformation. The earlier phase of its aggressiveness was replaced by a more sober attitude. The Charter Act of 1833 opened new avenues of employment to Indians and many brilliant Derozians got appointment as Deputy Collectors and Munsiffs. But the real failure of the Derozians was that their ideas failed at pass beyond the pales of theory. Their outright condemnation of Hindu religion and society and their lack of understanding isolated them from the people in general.


References:


Modern India - by S.N Sen

http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1705/17050790.htm
http://www.indianetzone.com/31/chittagong_armoury_raid_case_indian_freedom_movement.htm


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Indira Mukherjee thought of writing this today morning after she realised that it is the 18th of April. This day is truly a very significant one - in fact, Dr. Albert Einstein also passed away on 18th April, 1955..