Untold story of Bengali Braveheart - Surya Sen



Chittagong Leader and Martyr: Surya Sen



Surya Sen – The Chittagong Hero
(March 22 1894- January 12 1934)
Birth Place: Naopara, Chittagong

On January 12, 1934, British officials entered the cell of their captured revolutionary and brutally tortured him by breaking all his teeth, limbs and joints with hammer. The torture was so cruel and painful that the revolutionary couldn’t even scream. The revolutionary was hanged unconsciously and later his dead body was put in a metallic cage and was thrown into sea. What was such fear in minds of British that they had to brutally hang the revolutionary? This revolutionary was none other than Surya Sen, the valiant Bengali revolutionary who shook the British Empire by simultaneously attacking British cantonment, European club, Telegraph office, railway line and armory in Chittagong. Through this revolt, Surya Sen had created a strong awakening in minds of Indians to lift up weapons against the tyrant British supremacy.

The martyrdom of Bhagat Singh on 23^rd March 1931 has inspired several freedom fighters to plunge themselves in the freedom struggle and Surya Sen was one of them. Surya Sen’s only dream was to make his nation free from the grip of British and his first initiative was to attack the British resources and make Chittagong Independent. A teacher by profession, Surya Sen was fondly known as Masterda (teacher brother) who inspired and motivated students by narrating the stories of famous revolutionaries like Khudiram Bose. He participated in all the freedom movements and activities of Indian National Congress and highly admired the principles of Mahatma Gandhi. But his dreams were short lived. The violent Chauri Chaura Incident not only hurt Gandhiji, but also compelled him to withdraw the non co-operation movement. With the coming times, Surya Sen realized that revolutionary action is only the way to resist the British force.

The initiative and action plan of Surya Sen was supported by his fellow members and colleagues- Ganesh Ghosh, Ambika Chakravarti, Anant Singh, Lokenath Bal, Nirmal Sen and prominent women revolutionaries like Kalpana Dutta and Pritilata Waddedar. With help of bunch of teenagers, Surya Sen devised a strategy to raid the British armoury, cantonment, telegraph office, railway line and European club on the same day – 18 April 1830 and free their homeland Chittagong from British Empire .Though the raid was successful, the revolutionaries later realized that there were weapons, but no ammunition.

Collecting the minimum weapons, Surya Sen and his team confronted the British army and managed to hoist the Indian Flag in police armoury. After the raid, Surya Sen and his group marched to Jalalabad Hills where they again had to face the bullets fired by the British Army. Several teenage revolutionaries lost their lives in the encounter and Tegra, the younger brother of Lokenath Bal was one of them. Later a revolutionary among the group of Surya Sen betrayed him by giving clues and information about their activities to the British. Slowly all the members were captured or killed in the encounter planned by the British. Even Pritilata Waddedar sacrificed her life during the attack on Pahartali European Club.

                                                         A rare photograph of Pritilata Waddedar 

Capture and Death Sentence: Even though Surya Sen managed to escape from the eye of British, he was fatally captured on February 1933 in Gairala Village.  The death sentence to Surya Sen completely shattered the dreams of his members who had cherished a dream to free motherland from clutches of foreign supremacy. Surya Sen was hanged along with another patriot Tarakeshwar Dastidar on January 12, 1934. Though his efforts didn’t succeed, his dream to free India finally came true on 15^th August 1947. It is very sad to know that the effort of the Chittagong martyrs hasn’t been told to young generation in detail.

Literary  Adaptations: The Chittagong armoury raid was been retold into a novel called – Do or Die : The Chittagong Uprising, written by Manini Chatterjee.  Even India Book House published a graphical story book on life, struggle and martyrdom of Surya Sen.

Recently a Hindi motion picture: Khelein Hum jee jaan se, directed by Ashutosh Gowariker was based on life and martyrdom of Surya Sen who played a pivotal role in attacking the British resources with full might.

Even the movie was equally inspiring and retold the legend of Surya Sen whose efforts got dispersed in pages of history. Abhishek Bachchan portrayed the role of Surya Sen with perfection and showcased the patriotic emotions with finesse.

Through this blog post, I have taken a small, humble effort to inform you about the martyrdom of a brave son of motherland who sacrificed everything for sake of our nation’s independence. I am looking forward to write more blog posts on revolutionaries like Khudiram Bose, Veena Das, Jatin Das, Sukhdev, Babu Ghenu and make their efforts informed to the world. Hope you support me in this initiative by reading these blog posts and convey your suggestions.

Vande Mataram
Prashant Badiger