Chittranjan Das

Chittranjan Das was born on November 5, 1870 in Calcutta. Das descended from a family of "vaidyas" or physicians. His father, Bhuben Mohan Das, was a lawyer and journalist. His mother's name was Nistarini Devi. Das developed a logical mind owing to his father and a liberal outlook and a deep sense of hospitality owing to his mother. As a child, Das was deeply imbued with patriotism and recited patriotic poems.
After school, Das entered the Presidency college. He excelled at English but did poorly in Mathematics. Das developed a keen interest in Bengali literature and read most works of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Rabindranath Tagore. On his father's advice, Das joined the Bar and the Inner Temple in London. He became a barrister in 1893.

Das started practicing in the Calcutta High court and had the opportunity to defend national workers like Bipin Chandra Pal and Arvinda Ghosh. The case against Arvinda Ghosh came to be known as the Alipore Bomb Conspiracy. Two attempts on the life of the Chief Presidency Magistrate of Calcutta, Mr. Kingsford, were made because he was ruthless while handing out punishments. The first attempt through a mail bomb was a failure. The second attempt was made by Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki. The attempt resulted in the death of 2 innocent English women but Lord Kingsford escaped. Prafulla committed suicide and Khudiram was captured and sentenced to death. A witch hunt ensued and A. Ghosh was labelled the master-mind behind the blasts by the British Government. Nobody was ready to defend Ghosh except Chittranjan Das. The entire trial lasted for 126 days, 200 witnesses were examined, 4000 paper exhibits and 500 material exhibits in the form of bombs and explosives were filed in the case. Das's concluding statements alone lasted for 9 days. Arvinda Ghosh was acquitted. Das accepted no fee for defending Ghosh; in fact he incurred a heavy loss of Rs. 15,000 by the time the case was complete.
Besides being an astute lawyer, Das was a literary man. He has works like Mala and Antaryami (poems expressing religious spirit and devotion), and Kishore Kishori (poem expressing the eternal love between Lord Krishna and Radha). Along with Arvinda Ghosh, he founded the famous journal Bande Mataram. He was also the editor in chief of the journal Forward, a mouthpiece of the Swaraj party.
Das was moved by Gandhiji's call for non-violent resistance to the British Government. The Indian Reforms Act, also known as the Montford Reforms were passed in 1919 in Britain. The reforms were aimed at achieving a responsible government in India. Das moved a resolution declaring the reforms "inadequate, unsatisfactory and disappointing." He appealed to the Government to make a conscientious effort for setting up a more responsible government in India. The Congress accepted Das's resolution with a few amendments. A sub-committee recommended a boycott of educational institutions, law courts and legislative councils. Das believed that most effective way to gain freedom was to fight the British from without and within. He favored the boycott of the schools and courts but opposed the boycott of legislative councils.
Das declared that he would give up his practice to set an example for his people. Das played an important role in the boycott of the arrival of Prince of Wales in Calcutta on November 17, 1920. When the Prince stepped into the city he found it deserted. Das did his best to keep the boycott complete and peaceful. He organized the Congress Volunteers Corps for effectively implementing Congress programs. He enrolled one crore volunteers to raise Rs 1 crore for the Tilak Swaraj Memorial Fund. The volunteers were involved in picketing Government offices, shops selling foreign goods, liquor shops. They were also involved in selling khaddar. This led to an unprecedented mass awakening.
The fallout of the boycott of colleges resulted in many students with no educational institution to go to. Das setup the Bengal National College to fulfill the demands of the students.
In December 1921 Das was arrested. Getting into the police car Das told the crowd, "Men and women of India. This is my message to you. Victory is in sight if you are prepared to win it through suffering." Conches were blown and flowers showered on Deshbandhu (literally: friend of the nation) as he was fondly called for the sacrifices he made for the freedom struggle, as the police car started. Deshbandhu was first imprisoned in the Presidency Jail and was moved to the Central Jail where many of his followers were imprisoned. Das was released the following year.
Deshbandhu, along with Motilal Nehru, founded the Swaraj Party in 1923 for maintaining of continued participation in legislative councils. The party was soon recognized as the parliamentary wing of the Congress. In Bengal many of the candidates fielded by the Swaraj Party were elected to office. The Governor invited Deshbandhu to form a government but he declined. The party came to be a powerful opposition in the Bengal Legislative Council and inflicted defeats on three ministries.

The Calcutta Municipal Act of 1923 was a major landmark in the history of local self-government in India. The Swarajists were elected to the Calcutta Corporation in a majority in 1924. Deshbandhu was elected mayor and Subash Chandra Bose was appointed Chief Executive Officer. Greater efficiency was brought to the administration and many welfare projects were implemented. After giving up his legal practice Deshbandhu went from one of the richest men in Calcutta to one of the poorest. His liabilities amounted to one lakh rupees. The only asset he had was his huge building in Calcutta which he wanted to gift to the nation. Deshbandhu set up a fund, which was later made the Deshbandhu Memorial Fund through Gandhiji's intervention to clear his liabilities, build a temple, establish an orphanage and provide education to the masses. establish an orphanage and provide education to the masses. The total amount collected by the fund amounted to eight lakh rupees. Deshbandhu's home was converted to a hospital for women and is called Chittranjan Seva Sadan.
The struggle with the Government became more intense on account of the legalization of the oppressive Bengal Ordinance which authorized arrest of individuals suspected of terrorism without probable cause. Das had returned with a high fever from the Belgaum Congress session of 1925. When he heard that the ordinance was to be legalized on January 7, 1925, Deshbandhu declared from his sickbed, "The Black Bill is coming up for discussion. I must attend at any cost and oppose it." He was taken to the Council on a stretcher attended by two doctors. The bill was defeated.
On June 16, 1925, Deshbandhu's condition worsened. He died while resting in Darjeeling. On Deshbandhu's death, Subash Chandra Bose said, "The death of Deshbandhu... was for India a national calamity... ."

Bidhan Chandra Roy

Bidhan Chandra Roy was born on July 1, 1882, at Bankipore in Patna, Bihar. His father Prakash Chandra was an Excise Inspector. Bidhan was the youngest of five children and was greatly influenced by the simplicity, discipline and piety of his parents. His parents inculcated in him the idea of service by taking care of people other than relatives with affection and understanding.
Bidhan's mother passed away when he was 14. His father played the role of both father and mother to his five children. He promised never to compel them to do anything but to just guide them on their path. All five children were required to do the household chores themselves. This was very helpful for Bidhan in his college days.

Bidhan did his B.A. from Patna College with Honors in Mathematics. He applied for admission to the Sibpur Engineering College and the Calcutta Medical College. He was accepted to both institutions but opted to go to medical school. Bidhan left for Calcutta in June 1901. While at medical school Bidhan came upon an inscription which read, "Whatever thy hands findeth to do, do it with thy might." Bidhan was deeply impressed by these words and they became a source of inspiration for him throughout his life.
Bidhan's term in medical school was fraught with hardships. His father retired as a Deputy Collector after the first year and could no longer send Bidhan any money. Bidhan fended for himself by getting a scholarship and living frugally, saving on books by borrowing notes and relying on books in the library.
The partition of Bengal was announced while Bidhan was in college. Opposition to the partition was being organized by nationalist leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai, Arvinda Ghosh, Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal. Bidhan resisted the immense pull of the movement. He controlled his emotions and concentrated on his studies realizing that he could better serve his nation by qualifying in his profession first.
Immediately after graduation, B.C. Roy joined the Provincial Health Service. He exhibited immense dedication and hard work. He was prepared to prescribe medicine to patients and even serve as a nurse when necessary. In his free time he practiced privately, charging a nominal fee of Rs. 2 only.
Bidhan sailed for England with only Rs. 1,200 in February of 1909 intending to enroll himself at St. Bartholomew's to further his education. The Dean, reluctant to accept a student from Asia, rejected Bidhan's application. Dr. Roy did not loose heart. Again and again he submitted his application until finally the Dean, after 30 admission requests, accepted Bidhan to the college. Within two years and three months, Bidhan completed his M.R.C.P and F.R.C.S and returned home from England in 1911. On his return he taught at the Calcutta Medical College, then the Campbell Medical School and finally at the Carmichael Medical College.
Dr. Roy believed that swaraj would remain a dream unless the people were healthy and strong in mind and body. He made contributions to the organization of medical education. He established the Jadavpur T.B. Hospital, Chittaranjan Seva Sadan, R.G. Khar Medical College, Kamala Nehru Hospital, Victoria Institution, and Chittaranjan Cancer Hospital. The Chittaranjan Seva Sadan for women and children was opened in 1926. The women were unwilling to come to the hospital initially but thanks to Dr. Roy and his teams hard work, the Seva Sadan was embraced by women of all classes and communities. He opened a center for training women in nursing and social work.
In 1942, Yangon fell to Japanese bombing and caused an exodus from Calcutta fearing Japanese insurgency. Dr. Roy was serving as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta. He acquired air-raid shelters for schools and college students to have their classes in, and provided relief for students, teachers and employees alike. In recognition for his efforts, the Doctorate of Science was conferred upon him in 1944.
Dr. Roy believed that the youth of India would determine the future of the nation. He felt that the youth must not take part in strikes and fasts but should study and commit themselves to social work. At his Convocation Address on December 15, 1956 at the University of Lucknow, Dr. Roy said, "My young friends, you are soldiers in the battle of freedom-freedom from want, fear, ignorance, frustration and helplessness. By a dint of hard work for the country, rendered in a spirit of selfless service, may you march ahead with hope and courage... ."

Dr. Roy was both Gandhiji's friend and doctor. When Gandhiji was undergoing a fast in Parnakutivin, Poona in 1933 during the Quit India Movement, Dr. Roy attended to him. Gandhiji refused to take medicine on the grounds that it was not made in India. Gandhiji asked Dr. Roy, "Why should I take your treatment? Do you treat four hundred million of my countrymen free?" Dr. Roy replied, "No Gandhiji, I could not treat all patients free. But I came... not to treat Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, but to treat "him" who to me represents the four hundred million people of my country." Gandhiji relented and took the medicine.
Dr. Roy entered politics in 1925. He ran for elections from the Barrackpore Constituency as an Independent candidate for the Bengal Legislative Council and defeated the "Grand Old Man of Bengal," Surendranath Banerjea. Even though an independent he voted with the Swaraj Party (the Parliamentary wing of the Congress). As early as 1925, Dr. Roy tabled a resolution recommending a study of the causes of pollution in Hoogly and suggested measures to prevent pollution in the future.
Dr. Roy was elected to the All India Congress Committee in 1928. He kept himself away from rivalry and conflicts and made a deep impression on the leaders. Dr. Roy efficiently conducted the Civil Disobedience in Bengal in 1929 and prompted Pandit Motilal Nehru to nominate him Member of the Working Committee (CWC) in 1930. The CWC was declared an unlawful assembly and Dr. Roy along with other members of the committee were arrested on August 26, 1930 and detained at Central Alipore Jail.
During the Dandi March in 1931, many members of the Calcutta Corporation were imprisoned. Congress requested Dr. Roy to remain out of prison and discharge the duties of the Corporation. He served as the Alderman of the Corporation from 1930-31 and Mayor in 1933. Under him, the Corporation made leaps in the expansion of free education, free medical aid, better roads, improved lighting, and water supply. He was responsible for setting up a framework for dispensing grant-in-aid to hospitals and charitable dispensaries.
The Congress Party proposed Dr. Roy's name for Chief Minister of Bengal. Dr. Roy wanted to devote himself to his profession. On Gandhiji's advice, however, Dr. Roy accepted the position and took office on January 23, 1948. Bengal at the time had been torn by communal violence, shortage of food, unemployment and a large flow of refugees in the wake of the creation of East Pakistan. Dr. Roy brought unity and discipline amongst the party ranks. He then systematically and calmly began to work on the immense task in front of him. Within three years law and order was returned to Bengal without compromising the dignity and status of his administration. He told the people,
"We have the ability and if, with faith in our future, we exert ourselves with determination, nothing, I am sure, no obstacles, however formidable or insurmountable they may appear at present, can stop our progress... (if) all work unitedly, keeping our vision clear and with a firm grasp of our problems."
The nation honored Dr. Roy with the Bharat Ratna on February 4, 1961. On July 1, 1962, after treating his morning patients and discharging affairs of the State, he took a copy of the "Brahmo Geet" and sang a piece from it. 11 hours later Dr. Roy died. He gifted his house for running a nursing home named after his mother, Aghorkamani Devi. The B.C. Roy National Award was instituted in 1976 for work in the area of medicine, politics, science, philosophy, literature and arts. The Dr. B.C. Roy Memorial Library and Reading Room for Children in the Children's Book Trust, New Delhi, was opened in 1967

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, born on June 26, 1838, was educated at the Hoogly College and belonged to an orthodox family. He was offered the government post of Deputy Magistrate and Collector which he accepted and held until he retired 1891.
He did for Bengali fiction what Michael Madhusudan Dutt had done for Bengali poetry, that is, he brought in imagination. Chatterjee was more fortunate than Dutt as he did not have to set up his own diction from the very start. The prose style was already standardized; what Chatterjee did was to break its monotony, shear off its ponderous verbosity and give it a twist of informality and intimacy. Chatterjee's own style grew up as he went on writing. Chatterjee, following the discipline of Isvarchandra Gupta, began his literary career as a writer of verse. Fortunately he was not slow to feel that poetry was not his metier. He then turned to fiction. His first attempt was a novel in Bengali submitted for a declared prize. The prize did not come to him and the novelette was never published. His first fiction to appear in print was Rajmohan's Wife. It was written in English and was probably a translation of the novelette submitted for the prize. Durgeshnandini, his first Bengali romance, was published in 1865. The next novel Kapalkundala(1866) is one of the best romances written by Chatterjee. The theme is lyrical and gripping and, in spite of the melodrama and the dual story, the execution is skillful. the heroine, named after the mendicant woman in Bhavabhuti's Malatimadhava , is modelled partly after Kalidasa's Sakuntala and partly after Shakespeare's Miranda.
The next romance Mrinalini(1869) indicates an ameturishness and a definite falling off from the standard. It is a love romance against a historical background sadly neglected and confused. After this Chatterjee was not content to continue only as a writer of prose romances, but appeared also as a writer with the definite mission of simulating the intellect of the Bengali speaking people through literary campaign and of bringing about a cultural revival thereby. With this end in view he brought out monthly Bangadarshan in 1872. In the pages of this magazine all his writings except the very last two works first came out. These writings include novels, stories, humorous sketches, historical and miscellaneous essays, informative articles, religious discourses, literary criticisms and reviews. Vishbriksha (The poison Tree, 1873) was his first novel to appear serially in Bangadarshan.
Chandrasekhar (1877) suffers markedly from the impact of two parallel plots which have little common ground. The scene is once shifted back to eighteenth century. But the novel is not historical. The plot has suffered from the author's weakness for the occult. The next novel Rajani(1877) followed the autobiographical technique of Wilkie Collins' A Woman in White. The title role was modelled after Bulwar Lytton's Nydia in Last Days of Pompeii. In this romance of a blind girl, Chatterjee is at his best as a literary artist. In Krishnakanter Uil (Krishnakanta's Will, 1878) Chatterjee added some amount of feeling to imagination, and as a result it approaches nearest to the western novel. The plot is somewhat akin to that of Poison Tree.
The only novel of Chatterjee's that can claim full recognition as historical fiction is Rajsimha (1881, rewritten and enlarged 1893). Anandamath (The mission house of the Anandas, 1882) is a political novel without a sufficient plot. It definitely marks the decline of Chatterjee's power as a novelist. The plot of the meagre story is based on the Sannyasi rebellion that occurred in North Bengal in 1773. As fiction it can not be called an outstanding work. But as the book that interpreted and illustrated the gospel of patriotism and gave Bengal the song "Bande Mataram" (I worship mother) which became the mantra of nationalism and the national song. Incidentally it gave tremendous impetus to the various patriotic and national activities culminating in the terrorist movement initiated in Bengal in the first decade of the twentieth century. Devi Caudhurani by Chatterjee was published in 1884. The story is romantic and interesting and delightfully told, no doubt. Chatterjee's last novel Sitaram (1886) has for its theme the insurgence of a Hindu chief of lower central Bengal against the impotent Muslim rule. The central figure is well delineated but the other figures are either too idealistic or impalpable.
After the novels, the humorous sketches are the outstanding productions of Chatterjee. Kamalakanter Daptar (The Scribbling of Kamalakanta, 1875; enlarged as Kamalakanta, 1885) contains half humorous and half serious sketches somewhat after De Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium-eater. It shows the writer at his best.
Bankim Chatterjee was superb story-teller, and a master of romance. He is also a great novelist in spite of the fact that his outlook on life was neither deep nor critical, nor was his canvas wide. But he was something more than a great novelist. He was a path finder and a path maker. Chatterjee represented the English-educated Bengalee with a tolerably peaceful home life, sufficient wherewithal and some prestige, as the bearer of the torch of western enlightment. No Bengali writer before or since has enjoyed such spontaneous and universal popularity as Chatterjee. His novels have been translated in almost all the major languages of India, and have helped to simulate literary impulses in those languages.
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee passed away on April 8, 1894.