Where should I start from,
the day of the revolution or the end? It’s tough not to say a single word about
the preparations of the big fat event of Chittagong .On 18th April
in the year 1930 ,a clutch of young brave men most were in their teens
challenged the mighty British Empire with a series of raids in Chittagong.It
created an epic story and the actions stunned the colonial power. It was a
spark which created the voice of rebellion throughout Bengal
Taken from Dr Manini chatterjee’s book
–do or die
Telegram P.No,dated (and received) 19 April
1930
From –Bengal, Calcutta
To- Home Department, simla
CLEAR THE LINE
FOLLOWING TELEGRAM HAS BEEN
RECEIVED FROM DISTRICT MAGISTRATE CHITTAGONG BY WIRELESS TELEGRAM THROUGH FORT
WILLIAM FROM STEAMSHIP “HALIZONES”.BEGINS:SERIOUS ARMED RISING AT CHITTAGONG
STOP ARMOURIES HAVE BEEN RAIDED AND TELEGRAM CUT STOP SEND ST ONCE AT LEAST TWO
COMPANIES TROOPS AND MACHINE GUNS STOP POSITION CRITICAL STOP DITRATE CHITTAGONG
ANCHORAGE CHITTAGONG STOP ENDS’
The armory raid have ensured Chittagong’s
name in the history pages. Picturesque town near karnaphuli river with mountains
and jungles at the edge end of bay of Bengal was a ground of police lines of
imperial British Raj .The lootera’s of Bengal (Brtishers) was the controller of
the area and disgusting as usual ,but this part of Bengal thought differently
and acted in quiet different manner with a lot of young enthusiast was is
written in the pages of history as the uprising of Bengal –the team of thinkers
and doers shook their hands together, planners and executors took a single side,
skilled armed wielders and political thinks joined the same group, this created
the flamboyant group of Masterda
Surja Sen consisting of Lokenath Bal, Ananta
Singh, Kalpana Dutta, Tarakeswar Dastidar, Ardhendu Guha, Subodh
Roy, Nirmal Sen, Charu Bikash
Dutta and many more .
This was the group whose idea
was to free India through a violent overthrow of British rule from the country,
the first step for Bengal renaissance was taken by these heroes. When undivided
India was fighting with British raj for
indepence with different propositions this group had only one notion of “British hatao desh bachao” – they started with
Sadar Ghat physical cultural club and central physical cultural association to
bring bulk of young recruiters and the secret Congress volunteers force was formed.
the young recruiters have to do drills ,exercise, martial arts, lathi tranning,
rock climbing , kusti training and many
more to stay fit. they were introduced to the thought of free India by their
elder heads identifying their notions and attitudes towards country. The group
was a combo of sophisticated men, city dwellers also with Masterda a silent recruiter of boys from neighbouring
village. Death of Jatin Das
changed the notion into to do and die
from do or die in 1929.only top 5leaders of the group knew the exact plan of
uprising and the bulk did not know till the morning of 18th April. the
young warm blood of Bengal roared together with their plan and with the armory
raid, breaking down of police lines, cutting off trains, telegraph office,
killing all European’s officers in the European Club among them most were high
officials in the military post, all was fine till the end but the -word “man
proposes but god disposes” was applied perfectly, it was good Friday and the
officers lot was out from the line and were not seen at the club’s too and
remained unharmed. That was the turning point of the story; they were able to
inform other troops to attack the attackers which ended up with a tragic note
of the end of most young bloods fighting for free India. Twelve revolutionaries
faces their end fighting with over eighty troops in a gunfight in Jalalabad
hills, some fled to Calcutta and some arrested for vigorous trial. Masterda (Surja Sen) was caught and tortured brutally
till he was hanged to death. Though it had a tragic end but the revolution or
the voice of awakening India was raised and the dream to achieve the Golden
dream of free India was established.
The revolutionary outbreak of Chittagong was a bench mark to all
revolutionaries to roar back against the oppressing British rule in India and
the step was taken by these young blood sharing hands with few good men for
freeing their chained motherland.
After this outbreak -
“The Europeans in Chittagong
had lived for two years practically on the edge of a volcano which might at any
moment burst into eruption “ – taken from the book
This was the situation after the raid by
few young hearts of Chittagong.
[BANERJEE PARNA]
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