Jugantar
Encyclopedia
Jugantar or Yugantar (English meaning New Era or more literally Transition of an Epoch) was one of the two main secret revolutionary trends operating in Bengal
for Indian independence.This association, like Anushilan Samiti
started in the guise of suburban fitness club. Several Jugantar members were arrested, hanged, or deported for life to the Cellular Jail
in Andaman
. Thanks to the amnesty after World War I, most of them were released and could give a new turn to their political career, mainly: (a) by joining Gandhi's Non-cooperation movement
; (b) Deshbandhu's Swarajya
alternative; (c) the Communist Party of India
; (d) M.N. Roy's Radical Democratic Party
; (e) Subhas Chandra Bose's Forward Bloc.
in April 1906. Barin Ghosh was the main extremist leader. Along with 21 revolutionaries including Bagha Jatin
, he started to collect arms and explosives and manufactured bombs. The headquarters of Jugantar was located at 27 Kanai Dhar Lane, then 41 Champatola 1st Lane, Kolkata
.
and Guran Ditt Kumar
, who, since 1907, were extremely active among the Hindu and Sikh immigrants on the Western coast of North America. These units were to compose the future Ghadar Party
. In Paris Hemchandra Kanungo
alias Hem Das, along with Pandurang M. Bapat
, obtained training in explosives from the Russian anarchist Nicholas Safranski. (Source: Ker, p397.) After returning to Kolkata, he joined the combined school of 'self-culture' (anushilan) and bomb factory run by Barin Ghosh at a garden house in Maniktala suburb of Calcutta. However, the attempted murder of Kingsford, the-then district Judge of Muzaffarpur
by Khudiram Bose
and Prafulla Chaki
(30 April 1908) initiated a police investigation that led to the arrest of many of the revolutioaries. The prisoners were tried in the famous Alipore bomb conspiracy case
in which several activists were deported for life to the Cellular Jail
in Andaman.
In 1908, as a next step, Jugantar chose to censure persons connected with the arrest and trial of revolutionaries involved in the Alipore Bomb Case. On February 10, 1909, Ashutosh Biswas, who conducted the prosecution of Kanai and Satyen for the murder of Naren Gosain (a revolutionary turned approver), was shot dead by Charu Basu in the Calcutta High Court premises. Samsul Alam, Deputy Superintendent of Police, who conducted the Alipore Case was shot and killed by Biren Dutta Gupta on the stairs of Calcutta High Court building on January 24, 1910. Charu Basu and Biren Dutta Gupta were later hanged.
Several including Jatindra Nath Mukherjee were arrested in connection with the Samsul Alam murder case and other charges. Thus started the Howrah conspiracy case that tried the prisoners for treason -- waging war against the Crown and tampering with the loyalty of Indian soldiers, such as those belonging to the Jat Regiment
posted in Fort William
, and soldiers in Upper Indian Cantonments.
to organise an armed uprising with the Indian soldiers in various regiments .During the World War I
the Jugantar Party arranged importation of German arms and ammunitions (notably the 32 bore German automatic pistols) via Virendranath Chattopadhyay alias Chatto
and other revolutionaries residing in Germany. They had contacted Indian revolutionaries active in the United States, as well as Jugantar leaders in Kolkata. Jatindra Nath Mukherjee informed Rash Behari Bose
to take charge of Upper India, aiming at an All-Indian Insurrection with the collaboration of native soldiers in different cantonments. History refers to it as the German Plot. To raise fund, the Jugantar party organized a series of dacoities which came to be known as Taxicab dacoities and Boat dacoities, in order to procure funds to prepare the ground for working out the Indo-German Conspiracy.
The first of the Taxicab dacoities took place at Garden Reach, Kolkata
on February 12, 1915, by a group of armed revolutionaries under the leadership of Narendra Bhattacharya under the direct supervision of Jatindranath Mukherjee. Similar dacoities were organized on different occasions and in various parts of Calcutta. Dacoities were accompanied by political murders in which the victims were mostly zealous police officers investigating into the cases, or approvers who helped the police.
coast, Raimangal in the Sunderbans and Balasore
in Orissa
. The plan was to organize a guerrilla force to start an uprising in the country, backed by a mutiny among the Indian Armed Force.
Unfortunately the whole plot leaked out locally owing to a native traitor and, internationally, through the Czech
revolutionaries who were in touch with their counterparts in the U.S.A., and as soon as the information reached the British authorities, they alerted the police, particularly in the delta region of the Ganges, and sealed all the sea approaches on the eastern coast from Noakhali-Chittagong
side to Orissa. Sramajibi Samabaya and Harry & Sons of Calcutta, the two business concerns run respectively by Amarendra Chatterjee
and Harikumar Chakrabarti which were taking active part in the Indo-German Conspiracy were searched.
Police came to know that Bagha Jatin was in Balasore waiting for a German arms delivery. Police went on to find out the hiding places of Bagha Jatin and associates and after a gun-fight the revolutionaries were either killed or arrested. The German plot thus failed.
In 1920, leaders of the Jugantar Party suspended all violent action, having accepted to follow the Non-Cooperation movement proposed by Gandhi, compatible with their revolutionary hope to organise a mass movement. The Dhaka Anushilan maintained its terrorist programme by raiding post offices, railway cash offices, etc., to build up funds.
Committees, and even in the national committees. Bhupati Majumder and Monoranjan Gupta held the offices of the Secretary and Assistant Secretary of the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee, respectively. Amarendra Chatterjee, Upendranath Banerjee, Bipin Behari Ganguli and Satyendra Chandra Mitra
were elected to the All India Congress Committee from Bengal. Satyendra Chandra Mitra later went on to being elected the Chief Whip of the Swarajya Party in the Central Legislative Assembly
, the lower house of the parliament of British India, in 1927 and later became the President of the Legislative Council of the Bengal Province in 1937.
of Anushilan, represented by Rabindra Mohan Sen and Jadugopal Mukherjee
of Jugantar, represented by Bhupendra Kumar Datta
. However, this merger failed to revive the revolutionary activities up to the expected level.
; destroying the electricity, gas and petrol supplies of Kolkata
; disorganisation of tram services in Kolkata by cutting overhead wires; damaging the communication system by destroying telegraph lines, railway tracks etc.
The outcome of such programmes culminated in several terrorist attacks. The Chittagong armoury raid
by Surya Sen
and his followers deserves special mention in this regard.
The scenario changed with the years. The British were planning to quit India, while communal and religious politics came into play. The basic political background on which revolutionary ideas were founded seemed to evolve towards a new direction. The Revolutionaries can thus be said to have come to an end by 1936. The Jugantar officially merged with the Congress on 9 September 1938.
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
for Indian independence.This association, like Anushilan Samiti
Anushilan Samiti
Anushilan Samiti was an armed anti-British organisation in Bengal and the principal secret revolutionary organisation operating in the region in the opening years of the 20th century. This association, like its offshoot the Jugantar, operated under the guise of suburban fitness club...
started in the guise of suburban fitness club. Several Jugantar members were arrested, hanged, or deported for life to the Cellular Jail
Cellular Jail
The Cellular Jail, also known as Kālā Pānī , was a colonial prison situated in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. The prison was used by the British especially to exile political prisoners to the remote archipelago...
in Andaman
Andaman Islands
The Andaman Islands are a group of Indian Ocean archipelagic islands in the Bay of Bengal between India to the west, and Burma , to the north and east...
. Thanks to the amnesty after World War I, most of them were released and could give a new turn to their political career, mainly: (a) by joining Gandhi's Non-cooperation movement
Non-cooperation movement
The non-cooperation movement was a significant phase of the Indian struggle for freedom from British rule which lasted for years. This movement, which lasted from September 1920 to February 1922 and was led by Mohandas Gandhi, and supported by the Indian National Congress. It aimed to resist...
; (b) Deshbandhu's Swarajya
Swaraj Party
The Swaraj Party, Swarajaya Party or Swarajya Party, established as the Congress-Khilafat Swarajaya Party, was a political party formed in India in 1922 that sought greater self-government and political freedoms for the Indian people from the British Raj. It was inspired by the concept of Swaraj...
alternative; (c) the Communist Party of India
Communist Party of India
The Communist Party of India is a national political party in India. In the Indian communist movement, there are different views on exactly when the Indian communist party was founded. The date maintained as the foundation day by CPI is 26 December 1925...
; (d) M.N. Roy's Radical Democratic Party
Radical Democratic Party (India)
Radical Democratic Party, political party in India which existed at the time of the Second World War. RDP evolved out of the League of Radical Congressmen, which had been founded in 1939 by former Communist International leader M.N. Roy. Roy founded RDP in 1940 with the purpose of engaging India in...
; (e) Subhas Chandra Bose's Forward Bloc.
Notable members
- Aurobindo Ghosh (1872-1950)
- Barin Ghosh
- Raja Subodh MallikSubodh Chandra MullickSubodh Chandra Mullick, Raja, was a nationalist in Calcutta during the British rule of India. He is notable for the substantial monetary contribution for the cause of education...
- Khudiram BoseKhudiram BoseKhudiram Bose was a Bengali revolutionary, one of the youngest revolutionaries early in the Indian independence movement...
- Prafulla ChakiPrafulla ChakiPrafulla Chaki was a Bengali revolutionary associated with the Jugantar group of revolutionaries who carried out assassinations against British colonial officials in an attempt to secure Indian independence.- Early life :...
- Bagha JatinBagha JatinBagha Jatin , born Jatindranath Mukherjee was an Bengali revolutionary philosopher against British rule....
alias Jatindra Nath Mukherjee (1879-1915) - Amarendra ChatterjeeAmarendra ChatterjeeAmarendranath Chatterjee was an Indian independence movement activist. In charge of raising funds for the Jugantar movement, his activities largely covered revolutionary centres in Bihar, Orissa and the United Provinces....
(1880-1957) - Ambika ChakrobartyAmbika ChakrobartyAmbika Chakrabarty was a Bengali Indian independence movement activist and revolutionary. Later, he was a leader of the Communist Party of India and a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.-Revolutionary activities:...
(1891-1962) - Arun Chandra Guha (b.1892)
- Basanta Kumar BiswasBasanta Kumar BiswasBasanta Kumar Biswas was a pro-independence activist involved in the Jugantar group who, in December 1912, is believed to have bombed the Viceroy's Parade in what came to be known as the Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy....
(1895-1915) - Bipin Behari GanguliBipin Behari GanguliBipin Behari Ganguli was a member of Indian independence movement. He was born in Hoogli, now in West Bengal, in 1887.Bipin Behari Ganguli joined the Congress party during the Non-Cooperation Movement and became the secretary of Bengal Congress in 1923....
(1887-1954) - Bhupendra Kumar DattaBhupendra Kumar DattaBhupendra Kumar Dutta was a Indian militant and revolutionary who fought for Indian independence from British rule...
(1894-1979) - Dinesh Chandra Majumdar (1907-1934)
- Ganesh GhoshGanesh GhoshGanesh Ghosh was a Bengali Indian independence activist, revolutionary and politician.-Biography:Ganesh Ghosh hailed from Chittagong, now in Bangladesh. In 1922, he took admission in the Bengal Technical Institute in Calcutta. Later, he became a member of the Chittagong Jugantar party...
(b. 1900 ) - Jadugopal MukherjeeJadugopal MukherjeeJadu Gopal Mukherjee was an eminent Bengali Indian revolutionary who, as the successor of Jatindranath Mukherjee or Bagha Jatin, led the Jugantar members to recognise and accept Gandhi’s movement as the culmination of their own aspiration.-Early life:Jadugopal or Jadu was born at Tamluk in the...
(1866-1986) - Jiban Lal Chattopadhyay (1889-1970)
- Jyotish Chandra Ghose (1887-1970)
- Kalpana Datta Joshi (1913-1995)
- Manoranjan Gupta (b.1890)
- Pritilata WaddedarPritilata WaddedarPritilata Waddedar was a Bengali anti-British revolutionary from what is now Bangladesh, who became a martyr for the liberation of her motherland....
(1911-1932) - Taraknath Das (1884-1958)
- Tarakeswar Dastidar
- Purna Chandra Das (1889-1956)
- Santosh Kumar Mitra (1901-1931)
- Satyendra Chandra MitraSatyendra Chandra MitraSatyendra Chandra Mitra was an Indian freedom fighter, who started his political career as a revolutionary in the Jugantar Party in 1916, to being elected the Chief Whip of the Swarajya Party in the Central Legislative Assembly in 1927 and later became the President of the Bengal Legislative...
(1888-1942) - Santi Ghose Das ( b.1916)
- Suniti Chaudhuri Ghosh (b.1917)
- Surendra Mohan Ghosh alias Madhu Ghosh(1893-1976)
- Upendra Nath Bandopadhyay (1879-1950)
- Binod Bihari Chaudhury
- Ullaskar DuttaUllaskar DuttaUllaskar Dutta was an Bengali Indian revolutionary who manufactured bombs intended for use against British colonial officials.-Early life:...
- Debabrata Bose, later Swami Paragyananda
The beginning
This extremist outfit was established by leaders like Aurobindo Ghosh, his brother Barin Ghosh, Bhupendranath Datta, Raja Subodh MallikSubodh Chandra Mullick
Subodh Chandra Mullick, Raja, was a nationalist in Calcutta during the British rule of India. He is notable for the substantial monetary contribution for the cause of education...
in April 1906. Barin Ghosh was the main extremist leader. Along with 21 revolutionaries including Bagha Jatin
Bagha Jatin
Bagha Jatin , born Jatindranath Mukherjee was an Bengali revolutionary philosopher against British rule....
, he started to collect arms and explosives and manufactured bombs. The headquarters of Jugantar was located at 27 Kanai Dhar Lane, then 41 Champatola 1st Lane, Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
.
Activities
Some senior members of the group were sent abroad for political and military training. One of the first batches included Surendra Mohan Bose, Tarak Nath DasTarak Nath Das
Taraknath Das was an anti-British Bengali Indian revolutionary and internationalist scholar. He was a pioneering immigrant in the west coast of North America and discussed his plans with Tolstoy, while organizing the Asian Indian immigrants in favor of the Indian freedom movement...
and Guran Ditt Kumar
Guran Ditt Kumar
Guran Ditt Kumar, also known as G.D. Kumar Singh, was an Indian revolutionary, associated with the pioneers of the Gadhar movement, involved in the Indo-German conspiracy during the First World War.-Beginning in the North-West of India:...
, who, since 1907, were extremely active among the Hindu and Sikh immigrants on the Western coast of North America. These units were to compose the future Ghadar Party
Ghadar Party
The Ghadar Party was an organization founded by Punjabi Indians, in the United States and Canada with the aim to liberate India from British rule...
. In Paris Hemchandra Kanungo
Hemchandra Kanungo
Hemchandra Kanungo was probably the first revolutionary from India who went abroad to obtain military and political training. He obtained training from the Russian emigre in Paris. He returned to India in January 1908. He opened a secret bomb factory at Maniktala near Kolkata. It was due to...
alias Hem Das, along with Pandurang M. Bapat
Senapati Bapat
Pandurang Mahadev Bapat , popularly known as Senapati Bapat, was a major figure in the Indian independence movement....
, obtained training in explosives from the Russian anarchist Nicholas Safranski. (Source: Ker, p397.) After returning to Kolkata, he joined the combined school of 'self-culture' (anushilan) and bomb factory run by Barin Ghosh at a garden house in Maniktala suburb of Calcutta. However, the attempted murder of Kingsford, the-then district Judge of Muzaffarpur
Muzaffarpur
Muzaffarpur Town is a town in Muzaffarpur district in the Indian state of Bihar. It serves as the headquarters of Muzaffarpur district and Tirhut division....
by Khudiram Bose
Khudiram Bose
Khudiram Bose was a Bengali revolutionary, one of the youngest revolutionaries early in the Indian independence movement...
and Prafulla Chaki
Prafulla Chaki
Prafulla Chaki was a Bengali revolutionary associated with the Jugantar group of revolutionaries who carried out assassinations against British colonial officials in an attempt to secure Indian independence.- Early life :...
(30 April 1908) initiated a police investigation that led to the arrest of many of the revolutioaries. The prisoners were tried in the famous Alipore bomb conspiracy case
Alipore bomb case
The Alipore Bomb Case was an important court trial, during May 1908 to May 1909, in the history of the Indian Independence Movement. The trial involved more than 37 suspects, following a bomb attack, and was held in Alipore Sessions Court, in Calcutta, India, Judge C.P...
in which several activists were deported for life to the Cellular Jail
Cellular Jail
The Cellular Jail, also known as Kālā Pānī , was a colonial prison situated in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. The prison was used by the British especially to exile political prisoners to the remote archipelago...
in Andaman.
In 1908, as a next step, Jugantar chose to censure persons connected with the arrest and trial of revolutionaries involved in the Alipore Bomb Case. On February 10, 1909, Ashutosh Biswas, who conducted the prosecution of Kanai and Satyen for the murder of Naren Gosain (a revolutionary turned approver), was shot dead by Charu Basu in the Calcutta High Court premises. Samsul Alam, Deputy Superintendent of Police, who conducted the Alipore Case was shot and killed by Biren Dutta Gupta on the stairs of Calcutta High Court building on January 24, 1910. Charu Basu and Biren Dutta Gupta were later hanged.
Several including Jatindra Nath Mukherjee were arrested in connection with the Samsul Alam murder case and other charges. Thus started the Howrah conspiracy case that tried the prisoners for treason -- waging war against the Crown and tampering with the loyalty of Indian soldiers, such as those belonging to the Jat Regiment
Jat Regiment
The Jat Regiment is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army and is one of the longest serving and most decorated regiments of the Indian Army. The regiment has won 19 battle honours between 1839 to 1947 and post independence 5 battle honours, Two Ashok Chakras, eight Mahavir Chakras, eight Kirti...
posted in Fort William
Fort William, India
Fort William is a fort built in Calcutta on the Eastern banks of the River Hooghly, the major distributary of the River Ganges, during the early years of the Bengal Presidency of British India. It was named after King William III of England...
, and soldiers in Upper Indian Cantonments.
The German Plot
Nixon's Report corroborates that Jugantar under Jatindra Nath Mukherjee counted a good deal on the ensuing World WarWorld war
A world war is a war affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations. World wars span multiple countries on multiple continents, with battles fought in multiple theaters....
to organise an armed uprising with the Indian soldiers in various regiments .During the World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
the Jugantar Party arranged importation of German arms and ammunitions (notably the 32 bore German automatic pistols) via Virendranath Chattopadhyay alias Chatto
Chatto
Chatto may refer to:* Chatto , Chiricahua Apache chief* Beth Chatto , plantswoman, garden designer and author* Virendranath Chattopadhyaya , prominent Bengali Indian revolutionary...
and other revolutionaries residing in Germany. They had contacted Indian revolutionaries active in the United States, as well as Jugantar leaders in Kolkata. Jatindra Nath Mukherjee informed Rash Behari Bose
Rash Behari Bose
Rashbehari Bose was a revolutionary leader against the British Raj in India and was one of the key organisers of the Ghadar conspiracy and later, the Indian National Army.-Early life:...
to take charge of Upper India, aiming at an All-Indian Insurrection with the collaboration of native soldiers in different cantonments. History refers to it as the German Plot. To raise fund, the Jugantar party organized a series of dacoities which came to be known as Taxicab dacoities and Boat dacoities, in order to procure funds to prepare the ground for working out the Indo-German Conspiracy.
The first of the Taxicab dacoities took place at Garden Reach, Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
on February 12, 1915, by a group of armed revolutionaries under the leadership of Narendra Bhattacharya under the direct supervision of Jatindranath Mukherjee. Similar dacoities were organized on different occasions and in various parts of Calcutta. Dacoities were accompanied by political murders in which the victims were mostly zealous police officers investigating into the cases, or approvers who helped the police.
Failure of the German plot
On receiving instructions from Berlin, Jatindra Nath Mukherjee selected Naren Bhattacharya (alias M. N. Roy) and Phani Chakravarti (alias Pyne) to meet the German legation at Batavia. The Berlin committee had decided that the German arms were to be delivered at two or three places like Hatia on ChittagongChittagong
Chittagong ) is a city in southeastern Bangladesh and the capital of an eponymous district and division. Built on the banks of the Karnaphuli River, the city is home to Bangladesh's busiest seaport and has a population of over 4.5 million, making it the second largest city in the country.A trading...
coast, Raimangal in the Sunderbans and Balasore
Balasore
Balasore is a strategically located city in the state of Orissa, about north of the state capital Bhubaneswar, in eastern India. It is the administrative headquarters of Balasore district. It is best known for Chandipur beach. It is also the site of the Indian Ballistic Missile Defense...
in Orissa
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
. The plan was to organize a guerrilla force to start an uprising in the country, backed by a mutiny among the Indian Armed Force.
Unfortunately the whole plot leaked out locally owing to a native traitor and, internationally, through the Czech
Czech people
Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...
revolutionaries who were in touch with their counterparts in the U.S.A., and as soon as the information reached the British authorities, they alerted the police, particularly in the delta region of the Ganges, and sealed all the sea approaches on the eastern coast from Noakhali-Chittagong
Chittagong
Chittagong ) is a city in southeastern Bangladesh and the capital of an eponymous district and division. Built on the banks of the Karnaphuli River, the city is home to Bangladesh's busiest seaport and has a population of over 4.5 million, making it the second largest city in the country.A trading...
side to Orissa. Sramajibi Samabaya and Harry & Sons of Calcutta, the two business concerns run respectively by Amarendra Chatterjee
Amarendra Chatterjee
Amarendranath Chatterjee was an Indian independence movement activist. In charge of raising funds for the Jugantar movement, his activities largely covered revolutionary centres in Bihar, Orissa and the United Provinces....
and Harikumar Chakrabarti which were taking active part in the Indo-German Conspiracy were searched.
Police came to know that Bagha Jatin was in Balasore waiting for a German arms delivery. Police went on to find out the hiding places of Bagha Jatin and associates and after a gun-fight the revolutionaries were either killed or arrested. The German plot thus failed.
After the First World War
The revolutionaries suffered grievous blows with the death or arrest of some of their important leaders. In effect, they had been divided into two groups with distinct convictions. The Dhaka Anushilan Samiti in Eastern Bengal did not participate in the Indo-German plan that the Jugantar in Western Bengal promoted.In 1920, leaders of the Jugantar Party suspended all violent action, having accepted to follow the Non-Cooperation movement proposed by Gandhi, compatible with their revolutionary hope to organise a mass movement. The Dhaka Anushilan maintained its terrorist programme by raiding post offices, railway cash offices, etc., to build up funds.
Cooperation with Congress
In the 1920s, many members of the Jugantar party took high positions in Bengal's district and Provincial CongressIndian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
Committees, and even in the national committees. Bhupati Majumder and Monoranjan Gupta held the offices of the Secretary and Assistant Secretary of the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee, respectively. Amarendra Chatterjee, Upendranath Banerjee, Bipin Behari Ganguli and Satyendra Chandra Mitra
Satyendra Chandra Mitra
Satyendra Chandra Mitra was an Indian freedom fighter, who started his political career as a revolutionary in the Jugantar Party in 1916, to being elected the Chief Whip of the Swarajya Party in the Central Legislative Assembly in 1927 and later became the President of the Bengal Legislative...
were elected to the All India Congress Committee from Bengal. Satyendra Chandra Mitra later went on to being elected the Chief Whip of the Swarajya Party in the Central Legislative Assembly
Central Legislative Assembly
The Central Legislative Assembly was a legislature for India created by the Government of India Act 1919 from the former Imperial Legislative Council, implementing the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms...
, the lower house of the parliament of British India, in 1927 and later became the President of the Legislative Council of the Bengal Province in 1937.
Unification and failure
Following these major setbacks, in order to stop amusing the colonial observers practising their divide and rule policy, there was an attempt to unify the revolutionary factions in Bengal. Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar were brought close by the joint leadership of Narendra Mohan SenNarendra Mohan Sen
Narendra Mohan Sen was an Indian freedom fighter and revolutionary.-Short biography:Narendra joined Anushilan Samiti - a revolutionary outfit.He played a major role in unifying Jugantar and Anushilan Samiti in the 1920s, after both the parties suffered major setback as most of the senior leaders...
of Anushilan, represented by Rabindra Mohan Sen and Jadugopal Mukherjee
Jadugopal Mukherjee
Jadu Gopal Mukherjee was an eminent Bengali Indian revolutionary who, as the successor of Jatindranath Mukherjee or Bagha Jatin, led the Jugantar members to recognise and accept Gandhi’s movement as the culmination of their own aspiration.-Early life:Jadugopal or Jadu was born at Tamluk in the...
of Jugantar, represented by Bhupendra Kumar Datta
Bhupendra Kumar Datta
Bhupendra Kumar Dutta was a Indian militant and revolutionary who fought for Indian independence from British rule...
. However, this merger failed to revive the revolutionary activities up to the expected level.
Neo-violence
Consult article on Anushilan Samiti. The younger generation of the revolutionaries were frustrated by the failure of the attempted merger. This led to the formation of a new confederation in 1929, called the neo-violence party.Later activities
In 1930, as an antidote promised to Gandhi's policy, Jugantar group prepared programmes for further violent revolutionary acts of opposing British occupation. The plans included murder of Europeans in hotels, clubs, and cinemas; burning of the Dum-Dum aerodromeInternational airport
An international airport is any airport that can accommodate flights from other countries and are typically equipped with customs and immigration facilities to handle these flights to and from other countries...
; destroying the electricity, gas and petrol supplies of Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
; disorganisation of tram services in Kolkata by cutting overhead wires; damaging the communication system by destroying telegraph lines, railway tracks etc.
The outcome of such programmes culminated in several terrorist attacks. The Chittagong armoury raid
Chittagong armoury raid
The Chittagong armoury raid was an attempt on April 18, 1930 to raid the armoury of police and auxiliary forces from the Chittagong armoury in Bengal province of British India, by armed revolutionaries led by Surya Sen....
by Surya Sen
Surya Sen
Surya Sen was a prominent Bengali freedom fighter, an Indian independence activist and the chief architect of anti-British freedom movement in Chittagong, Bengal...
and his followers deserves special mention in this regard.
The scenario changed with the years. The British were planning to quit India, while communal and religious politics came into play. The basic political background on which revolutionary ideas were founded seemed to evolve towards a new direction. The Revolutionaries can thus be said to have come to an end by 1936. The Jugantar officially merged with the Congress on 9 September 1938.
External links
- Article on Jugantar, BanglapediaBanglapediaBanglapedia, or the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh, is the first Bangladeshi encyclopedia. It is available in print, CD-ROM format and online, in both Bangla and English. The print version comprises ten 500-page volumes...