Master Da Surjya Sen and the Chattogram Uprising of 1930 Part 2

 The associates of Masterda in the meanwhile had gathered strength and on 5th May a group of six revolutionaries Rajat, Manoranjan, Deviprasad, Phanindra, Swadesh and Subodh went to attack the white dominated area of Chattogram. Police were alerted and they had to take shelter in Rajat's house. Then they escaped to Kalarpol village by crossing Karnaphuli river. The ignorant villagers thought them to be bandits and surrounded them. In the meanwhile police had arrived and a fierce gun battle followed after which three revolutionaries were caught and four escaped. But again their presence was betrayed while trying to take refuge in a Muslim house. Rajat, Swadesh, Devi and Manoranjan died in the gun battle that followed.

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Ananta, Ganesh and two of their associates were caught in the Pheni station by the local police but they could escape by firing at random. Ananta and Ganesh reached Calcutta. In Calcutta they were met by Loknath Bal and took shelter with the Jugantar group. The Jugantar group had sent them to Chandannagore where they took shelter in a house rented by two revolutionaries Shashadhar Acharya and Suhasini Ganguli, who played the role of husband and wife in order to protect the revolutionaries.

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On 28th June Ananta Singh surrendered himself to I.G Lowman. On 1st September a police force reached Chandannagore with Charles Tegart at the helm and raided the house of Shashadhar. In the gun battle that followed Jiban Ghoshal lost his life.

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On 1st December an attack was launched on I.G Craig in Chattogram. Being indisposed Ramkrishna Biswas, a close associate of Master Da could not take part in Chattogram uprising. He took up the responsibility of killing Craig who was notorious for his high handedness in dealing with ordinary citizen in the aftermath of the uprising. In the station Chandpur the train had stopped and the revolutionaries Ramkrishna and Kalipada thought that Craig was sitting in a first class compartment. Unfortunately they had killed Tarini Mukherjee by mistake. Both were caught while escaping. Ramkrishna was sent to the gallows. He was in the condemned cell beside Dinesh Gupta, the daring revolutionary of Bengal Volunteers who had been captured while launching a ferocious attack in the Writers' Building. It was Subhas Chandra Bose who ensured that the two met before departing the world. Ramakrishna was hanged few days after Dinesh courted death. Kalipada was deported for life.

 

The British administration carried out extreme repressive activities to terrorize ordinary population. At its forefront was communal Muslim officer Asanullah, who had carried the terror activities to the extreme by not even sparing school going children and Hindu women. On 30th Aug, 1931, Asanullah was shot dead by a young boy named Haripada Bhattacharya. Haripada was captured and was tortured to the utmost extent, needles were pricked through his finger nails, but the young boy did not budge and did not reveal any name. He was beaten daily for extracting information on the whereabouts of Masterda and his associates. When sever repression failed he was sentenced to deportation for life. The boy belonging to a poverty stricken family accepted the ordeal without batting an eyelid. Another brave son of mother Bengal was sacrificed. The revolutionaries did not stop, magistrate Durno was attacked next by Saroj Guha and Ramen Bhoumik belonging to the Jugantar group. In Kumilla, Ellison, the police super, who was notorious for his repressive measures, was killed by Shailesh Roy.

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Surjya Sen, Nirmal Sen and Apurba Sen of Indian Republican Army took shelter in the family of Savitri Devi of Dhalghat. Police had raided the house and the revolutionaries retaliated. Nirmal Sen and Apurba Sen died. Masterda and Preetilata Wadeddar, the fearless woman revolutionary who would go down in the history book for attacking European Club, escaped. Severe punishment was waiting for Savitri Devi for sheltering the revolutionaries. Her meager property was confiscated, house was broken, she along with her son and daughter arrested and put in terrible condition in Medinipur jail. She lost her son Ramkrishna in jail as he contacted tuberculosis. She was not allowed to even meet her dying son who died owing to a wretched and inhuman condition in British jail. The Hindu widow could endure the various ignominies that she underwent in jail but could not bear the loss of her son in such a terrible plight. Such was the British fairness, British justice and British Governance system in India!

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On 24th September, 1932, Preetilata prepared herself for the final assault on the European Club in Chattogram, to protest against the British repressions. The revolutionaries went inside the heavily guarded club dressed as ordinary cart drivers. By the time military police arrived the operation was complete and the revolutionaries escaped, barring Preetilata, who had consumed cyanide.

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The last episode was unfolded in the Gairala village near Dhalghat. On 2nd February 1933, a local traitor called Netra Sen, being lured of the heavy prize money that police had promised, divulged Surya Sen's position. Masterda and his worker Brajen Sen were arrested. Terrible torture awaited both of them. They were brought enchained all the way on foot from Gairala to the central prison. On the way they were beaten continuously and mercilessly by the British police. Tarakeswar Dastidar and Kalpana Datta could escape in the dark. They were soon captured in a battle in another village where they had taken refuge. Netra Sen, the traitor, received his prize, his head rolled on the food plate in front of him by a revolutionary's dagger. A bullet was too precious for a worthless worm like him.

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A special tribunal was created for the Chattogram revolutionaries. Sarat Chandra Bose, the elder brother of Subhas Chandra Bose, had appeared for the revolutionaries. On 1st March, 1932, the first special tribunal ensured deportation for Ganesh Ghosh, Ananta Singh, Loknath Bal, Ananda Gupta and others. The third tribunal awarded death sentence to Masterda. In jail Masterda was severely tortured in order to break his morale. But he remained unperturbed till the end. As a devotee of the Goddess Kali, he had already sacrificed himself and his associates to her. A eyewitness described in the Bengali book Chattogram Astragar Lunthan, as to how Masterda initiated the newcomers to the revolutionary army in a Kali temple. On 12th January, 1934, Masterda and Tarakeswar Dastidar were taken out of their cells, beaten to the pulp and then hanged unceremoniously before sunrise amidst chants of Bande Mataram. Chattogram lost its hero. As a revenge the young revolutionaries had staged another assault. On 7th January, 1934, during a cricket match of the British officers, four young revolutionaries Nityagopal & Himanshu Bhattacharya, Krishna Choudhury and Harendra Chakrabarty staged a daring attack and courted death.

Adopted from Sabar Alakhye by Bhupendra Kishore Rakshit Roy