1928, this
year was quite significant one in the history of Bengal. National Congress summit
was conducted in presence of Chairman Motilal Nehru at Kolkata. Main target was to bring all Bengali
freedom-fighters under congress influence. Congress preferred non-violence as
their weapon whereas youth of the Bengal believed in other way.
Congress understood they won't be able to win heart of Bengalis excluding their
revolutionary associations; whereas all small revolutionary associations of Bengal
found this to be a perfect platform to voice their opinion and impress young
blood towards armed movement. Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das and Subhas Chandra
Bose came forward as the bridge between them. Under Subhas Chandra Bose’s
supervision, extremist revolutionary associations presented their opinion to whole India
in Kolkata summit. Indeed, it was a great opportunity.
[Taken from 'Ami Subhas Bolchi' by Shailesh Dey]
Just a gathering
was not enough. Subhas felt they need a skilled volunteer group to organize
this huge summit. In Major Satya Gupta’s sharp vigilance, a skilled volunteer
group was created. Ladies were not left behind either. Colonel Latika Basu
guided female volunteers. Equestrian forces were trained too.
“Volunteers, fall in! left-right, left-right, left-right,
left…”
Whole
Kolkata was thrived with this thunder roars and it was beginning of Bengal
Volunteers, the revolutionary association which will knock pride of British
empire to dust.
Subhas Chandra Bose continued this volunteer group after
summit was over. After this 43rd National Summit revolutionaries
understood necessity of well trained, disciplined force to derail British
empire. So, they came forward and spread to rural areas of Bengal for awakening
youth. Satya Gupta, Jatin Das, Panchanan Chakrabarty, Pratul Bhattacharjee, Jagadish
Chatterjee, Binod Chakrabarty, Jyotish Jowardar, Benoy Basu, Dinesh Gupta, Nani
Choudhury, Sourabh Ghosh, Ganesh Ghosh, Ananta Sinha, Loknath Bal are
noteworthy names for this work.
Senior Congress Leader Hemchandra Ghosh’s ‘MuktiSangha’
was not left behind. They excelled Bengal Volunteers to a perfect revolutionary
group. Mejor Satya Gupta put an example of excellence efficiency to achieve it.
Muktisangha and Bengal Volunteers merged into one group in no time. Police
named them as B.V in their files.
Hemchandra Ghosh did not commit any mistake in planning.
Very few people knew about his involvement in armed movement against British
Empire. He came in touch of Swami Vivekananda, Shri Aurobindo, Sister Nivedita,
Rash behari Bose, Bagha Jatin in personal life. He took lessons from previous failures.
He understood necessity of perfect plan to strike British. For that, they need
appropriate arrangements of shelters (to hide from Police), own medical team,
lawyers.
Satyendrakumar Dutta, Durgadas
Banerjee, Suren Bardhan, Prabhsh Ghosh, Arun Nandi, Animesh Roy, Jiten Sen etc
came forward at instant for medical support. Renowned lawyers like Chintaharan
Roy, Binoy Sen, Paresh Saha came forward to support.
The First Strike:
1928 to 1930……….
Wasn’t much of delay when B. V. stroke for the first
time. Hemchandra Ghosh’s believed in ‘Do or Die’ so was youth of B.V. They took
oath to achieve target any cost. Fear of death could not stop them. They picked
cruel, high-handed British Officers with utmost care, keeping in mind not to
harm indigenous people.
29th August, 1930, just after four days of Dalhousie
Square attack on Charles Tegart, B.V. got opportunity to take down F. J.
Lowman, Inspector General of Police, a notorious, cruel officer. Plan was
perfect. He, along with Mr. E. Hodson, superintendent of Police came to visit a
senior officer admitted in Dhaka Medical School Hospital. On their way back, a
pistol roared behind deodar tree of courtyard. Both fell on ground. Lowman,
spot dead and Hodson, crippled for lifetime. Govt. Contractor Satyen Bose was
nearby, he tried to catch the revolutionary for reward. The brave soldier
knocked him out with single punch and disappeared. British police tortured
civilians and finally got his name, Benoy Krishna Bose, 4th year
student of Dhaka Medical School. A reward of Rs. 10,000/- was announced. But
Benoy was far from helping someone receiving it. He remained untouched till the
famous Corridor warfare.
Outcome of this attempt was intense. Sir Tej Bahadur
Sapru sarcastically commented regarding Round Table conference held at Britain,
“Half the work of round table conference put through by Benoy Bose”.
When whole Bengal police was searching for Benoy, he was
swiftly moved to Suresh Majumdar’s place, Anathbandhu Das’s place at
Katrasgargh and later on Rajen Guha’s place for safety. Contribution of Suresh
Majumdar and Rajesh Guha’s family is undeniable for providing safe places not
only to B.V. but also other revolutionary groups.
Famous Corridor Warfare:
B.V.
started preparing for its most dangerous mission long before. It was to strike
at Secretariat Building – the Writers' Building in the Dalhousie square in
Kolkata. Lt. Col N.S. Simpson was cruel, example of police repression, didn’t
spare Subhas Chandra Bose too…. So, it was his turn to pay the price.
At
that time, Haridas Dutta, Rasomay Shur, Nikunja Sen, Prafulla Dutta and Supati
Roy was leading B.V. action squad. They agreed on Benoy Bose’s request of
joining this mission. So it was decided, Benoy will lead where Dinesh Gupta and
Badal Gupta will support him.
8th
Dec, 1930…. It’s an unforgettable day in Indian History. Three young lads,
dressed in European clothes went in Writer’s Building. Sepoy standing at doors
thought some higher rank officers are visiting. Their revolvers roared, Simpson was dead. Officers
like Twynam, Prentice and Nelson suffered grievous injuries during the
shooting. Uneven battle started between Police and three fearless young Bengali
boys. Police could not stop them, they called upon Gurkha Force. It started
historical ‘Corridor Warfare’. The roar of ‘Vande Mataram’ overtook sound of
guns. It took a long time before force overpowered them.
They faced the as
usual problem of bullet shortage. Badal ran out of ammunition and one bullet
left for Benoy and Dinesh. The tro refused to surrender. Badal Gupta
immediately ingested Potassium Cyanide, while Benoy and Dinesh shot themselves
point blank with their firearms. Benoy breathed his last on 13th
Dec, 1930 and Dinesh recovered and sentenced to death. He martyred on 7th
July, 1931.
B.V.
did not remain quiet. Youth of Medinipur came forward to avenge their ‘Guru’
Dinesh Da. Youngsters of Medinipur stroke again and again, it made Britishers
so frightened that no one was ready to accept position of District Magistrate
there. That is story for another time.
Ref: Ami Subhas Bolchi by Shailesh Dey, Anandabazar Patrika, Welcome to Midnapore.in - Bengal Volunteers of Midnapore
