Heroes of anti Imperialist  (British) Movement

Biplabi Khudiram Bosu

A lot of blood had flown from the hearts of Bangla to free India from the imperialist fetters. Mothers lost their children and wives their husbands. But none had wept because the stake was too high, the chances too great and the ultimate result too fabulous to dream. At his tender youth, when Khudiram became a martyr every body wept silently but every body were inspired by his courage and took up arms for a battle against all odds.

Khudiram Bosu was born on 3rd December 1889 in Habibpur, Medinipur of Laxmipriya Debi and Troilokya Nath Bosu. He had to move on to Tamlook where he was admitted to Hamilton school. Like many other boys of his generation, he was interested in reading detective novels and loved to play flute. It was in his schooldays he was inspired by the activists, Satyedra Nath and Gyanendra Nath Bosu who headed a secret society to campaign and fight against British imperialism. He played the role of a savior when the Kangsabati river flooded and was responsible for saving a number of lives. On 16th October, 1905 Bengal was divided by Lord Curzon and this event further infuriated the activists. The radicals swore blood. Arabindo and Barin Ghosh, along with Raja Subodh Mallik together formed a secret extremist outfit called the Jugantar.

Meanwhile, in 1906, February, Khudiram was running errands for the Medinipur based outfit of the rebels. He became known in those parts after hitting down a police officer and escaping when he was arrested at Medinipur old jail ground for giving out a nationalist propaganda called 'Sonar Bangla'. He also robbed mailbags to obtain funds for the society's operations. By that time, in Kolkata, the chief presidency magistrate Kingsford had gained notoriety by passing out stiff sentences against the nationalist activists. Things got worse when Kingsford ordered to cane a youth called Sushil Sen held in contempt by the court. Sushil was left more dead than alive and this incident caused furor through out Bangla. The Jugantar passed Kingsford's death sentence and Khudiram and another youth, Prafulla Chaki, were chosen for the job.

Khudiram and Prafulla trailed Kingsford to Majafferpur in Bihar where he had been transferred. They waited for his carriage near the European Club which he frequented. This was the fateful evening of 30th April. They saw a carriage approaching and thinking it was Kingsford's they hurled bombs at it. The carriage with its passengers was destroyed killing unfortunately two European women, Mrs. & Miss Kennedy while the damn Kingsford survived unscratched. A massive manhunt ensued in which Khudiram was arrested on 1st May 1908, Prafulla evaded arrest by shooting himself. Khudiram was tried and was sentenced to be hanged. On 11th August 1908, Khudiram took the noose in his neck in a calm manner. He faced death like a true martyr and embraced it as it came. In the later days the British administration killed many young-blood but was anybody as gallant as Khudiram Bosu?

Master Da Surya Sen (1894-1934)

The greatest revolutionary of Bangladesh Surya Kumar Sen was born on 21 March 1894 in the Noapara village, Rauzan, Chittagong. He was initiated into revolutionary lessons by his teacher at Bahrampur College, Sri Satish Chandra Chakroborty, another great revolutionary against British imperialism. Being an orphan from early in his life, Surya was brought up by his uncle. A dedicated revolutionary since his school life, Surya was determined not to take any employment under the British imperialism. As such Surya chose to teach at a private school after his bachelor's degree. His wife’s name was Puspa Kuntala.

On 18 April 1930 Surya Sen attacked the Chittagong armory. Following the victory in armory attack, IRA guerillas beat the British troops in various fights around Chittagong and kicked them out of Chittagong. Surya Sen then declared to form a provisional revolutionary democratic government. But the British reinforcement launched another series of attack on IRA. In the Jalalabad war held on 22 April 1930 IRA again defeated the British soldiers. But the IRA lost a few of its committed guerillas in the war. Realizing that it would be difficult to fight the British imperial power in regular war, Surya Sen decided to wage guerilla warfare against the British.

The Britsih rulers put 10,000 rupees on Surya Sen's head. They did not have to wait long. A Hindu traitor named Netra Sen betrayed Surya Sen and the British army could finally arrest him on 15 February 1933.

Surya Sen along with his comrade Tarekeshwar Dastidar was hanged by the British rulers on 12 January 1934. Before the death sentence Surya Sen was brutally tortured. It was reported that the British executioners broke all his teeth with hammer and plucked all nails and broke all limbs and joints. He was dragged to the rope unconscious. After his death his death body wasn’t given any funeral. The prison authority, it was found later, put his dead body in a metallic cage and dumped into the bay of Bengal. More.....

Chittagong branch of Indian Republican Army

Core Members: Surya Sen, Anurup Sen, Nagen Sen, Ambika Chakroborty, Charu Bikash Datta

Members: Ashraf Uddin, Nirmal Sen, Loknath Bol, Pramod Ranjan Chaudhury, Nanda Lal Singha, Abani Bhattacharya, Upen Bhattacharya, Ananta Singha, Gonesh Ghosh, Moni Datta, Ambika Chakroborty, Shanti Chakroborty, Sushil Dasgupta, Tarekeshwar Dastidar, Naresh Ray, Tripura Sen,

Names of other revolutionaries from Surya Sen’s memoirs: Ashu, Naresh, Bidhu, Tegra, Tripura, Modhu, Ardhendu, Probhas, Nirmol, Ziten, Pulin, Moti, Shoshanko, Ramkrishna, Bhola, Nirmol Babu, Amorendra, Mona, Razat, Debu, Shwadesh, Makhon

Female revolutionaries (1929): Indu Moti Singha, Priti Lota Waddar, Kalpana Datta, Sarozini Pal, Nolini Pal, Kumudini Raksit, Binodini Sen, Kundo Probha Sengupta, Sabitri Debi, Ayesha Banu

Muslim members: Afsar Uddin, Dolilur Rahman, Meer Ahammad, Abdul Huq, Abdus Sattar, Mohd Harun, Fakir Ahmed, Nawab Miyan, Abdul Mojid, Syedul Huq, Ayesha Banu. Kamal Uddin was one of his chief associates.

Netra Sen betrayed Surya Sen and his group in February 1933. They had a tough fight with the combined military and police forces. On 15 February 1934, Surya Sen and Brozen Sen was arrested but Kalpana and Moni Datta managed to escape.  

Titumeer

Born at the Chandpur village in the Bashirhat (or Hydarpur) sub-division of Chabbish Pargona, West Bangla, Syed Meer Nisar Ali alias Titumeer or  was the first Bangalee Indian to politically fight the British imperialism by erecting a bamboo built fort and with traditional Indian weapons. His father’s name was Meer Hasan Ali and mother’s Abida Rokeya Khatun. Like many aristocrat Indian Muslims, the Syed family claimed Arabian lineage and his family claimed they were the descendants of Ali, the nephew of Mohammed and the fourth Caliph. According to his family history one of the ancestors, Syed Shahadat Ali came to India from Arab to preach Islam. Syed Abdullah, the son of Shahaat Ali, was appointed the Kazi (judge) by the sultan of Delhi and he was later accorded the “Meer Insaf” title. The descendant of Shahadat Ali used both family titles, Syed and Meer. Following his early education at a local Islamic pre-school (Maktab), Titumeer enrolled into a Madrasa (Islamic school). Titumeer memorized Koran, had a good command in Arabic and Persian and was interested in Arabic and Persian literature. His intellectual fields of interest include: Islamic scriptures, Islamic jurisdiction and philosophy. Titumeer was also a to wrestler in school. In 1822, Titumeer went to Mecca for Hajj and met an Islamic leader, Syed Ahmed Berelbhi. Berelbhi motivated Titumeer to lead his people away from unIslamic practices to pure Islam and liberate them from British colonialism. Back home in 1827, Titumeer started preaching Islamic practices among the people of Twenty Fourth Pargana with reinvigorated zeal. His preaching was mainly directed to the cultivators and the weavers. Soon he went into conflict with the Hindu Zamidar Krishna Deb Ray as Ray imposed new taxes on the peasants who were predominantly Muslims. Titumir, in order to defend the poor peasants against the greedy Zamidars who were in alliance with the British colonists, involved in conflict with other Zamidars. His notorious adversaries were: the Zamidar of Gobar Danga Kali Prasanna Mukhopadhyay, the Zamidar of Taragonia Raj Narayan, the Zamidar of Nagur Gauri Prasad Chowdhury, and the Zamidar of Gobra Gobindopur Debnath Ray. With a view to defend the local peasants against the coercive Zamidars Titumeer formed a small defence force and trained them with lathi and other traditional weapons. Titumeer’s nephew Golam Masum was the leader of the newly formed force. The Zamidars united against Titumeer and asked the British rulers to help them against Titumeer. The British Indigo dealer Davies was first to launch an armed campaign against Titumeer and was miserably defeated. In another battle against Titumeer, the Zamidar of Gobra Gobindopur was killed. The collector of Barasat Alexander led another police campaign under the police officer of Bashirhat police station but his forced were also defeated. As a last resort to stop the extortion of the peasants by the local Zamidars, titumeer lodged a formal complain against the Zamidars to the authority employed by the  East India Company. But the East India Company ignored his appeal as it was against their business interest Indigo being one of its top profitable exports from India.

In 1831 Titumeer built a fort with bamboo at Narikel Baria. He recruited many young people into his force and gave them military training. Soon the his force exceeded five thousands. Following his preparation for fight against the  British rulers, Titumeer declared him as a “king’ and asked his people to fight against the British colonists. Soon his forces freed Chabbish Pargona, Nadia and Faridpur districts and brought the large territory under his dominion. Thus Titumeer’s reform movement turned into a peasant movement against the British imperialists. Securing his territory Titumeer demanded levies from the Zamidars of Taki and Gobar Danga. The Zamidars sought help from the East India Company. A force was sent to crush titumeer from Kolkata. But Titumeer’s force defeated the combined British and Zamidar forces. Finally Bentinc sent a battalion of regular British army against Titumeer under Lt Colonel Stuart comprising 100 cavalry, 300 infantry and two heavy artillery guns. On 14 November 1831 the well equipped British army launched attack on Titumeer’s forces. In the battle Titumeer’s force armed with conventional Indian weapons failed to stand against the British fire power and took shelter into the bamboo fort. The British artillery guns demolished the fort killing Titumeer and a large number of his forces on 19 November 1831. The British troops captured 350 of Titumeer’s forces including their captain Golam Masum. Masum was later hanged and his 140 forces were put under bars.

Amarendra Chatterjee (1880-1957): Joined the revolutionary movement in 1907. A Jugantar party stalwart and imprisoned by the British rulers several times. Joined the Congress party during the Non-cooperation movement and moved high in the party hierarchy. Returned to Bengal legislature on congress ticket in 1929 and on Congress Nationalist Party ticket in 1937. Later Amarendra joined MN Roy's Radical Democratic Party in 1945.  

Nirmal Sen

Binoy (Alinda war)

Badal (Alinda war) 

Deenesh (Alinda war)