Kalpana Dutta, anti-British freedom fighter and communist revolutionary
Syed Amiruzzaman |
“If we are to live in the world with our heads held high, we must remove the stigma of slavery from our foreheads.” -Kalpana Dutta
Today is the 30th death anniversary of anti-British Indian freedom fighter and communist revolutionary Comrade Kalpana Dutt.
This great heroine passed away on February 8, 1995. I pay my humble tribute to her.
May 1929. At that time, Masterda Surya Sen was the Secretary of the Chittagong District Congress. Under the leadership of Surya Sen, the Chittagong District Political Conference, Youth Conference, Student Conference and Women's Conference were held at the initiative of the Chittagong Revolutionary Party.
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose presided over the Chittagong District Political Conference, led by Masterda Surya Sen and his associates. Through this conference, the political leaders of Chittagong united and expressed their strong determination to continue the Indian independence movement.
The youth conference was presided over by revolutionary leader Professor Jyotish Chandra Ghosh. Through this conference, the youth of Chittagong united and pledged to work for the independence of the country.
Latika Sen presided over the women's conference. Through this conference, the women of Chittagong expressed their determination to stand by and cooperate with the freedom fighters. Through the student conference, the student organizations of Chittagong, the 'All Bengal Students Association' (influenced by the Revolutionary Anushilan Dal) and the 'Bengal Provincial Students Association' (influenced by the Revolutionary Jugantar Dal), united and announced that they would fight for the independence of the motherland, risking their lives if necessary.
At that time, students from schools and colleges in Chittagong served as volunteers in these conferences. At this time, Kalpana Dutta served as a volunteer along with other girls. Kalpana Dutta's political career began through her volunteer work, especially in the women's conference. From the beginning of her school life, she started reading Swadeshi books like 'Khudiram', 'Kanailaler Jiboni', 'Pather Daabi' etc. These books inspired patriotism in her heart.
From the beginning of the revolutionary movement of the Fire Age of the Indian subcontinent, many women were indirectly associated with this movement. Mothers, sisters, aunts, aunts, sisters, and aunts were associated with armed revolutionary groups like 'Anushilan' and 'Yugantar' in every household. They worked for the revolutionary group secretly. Mothers and sisters of many families used to shelter the revolutionaries. Many others supported the revolutionary group by giving money, bracelets, gold, and jewelry. In the first phase of the Fire Age, patriotic women like Swarna Kumari Devi, Sarala Devi, Ashalata Sen, Sarojini Naidu, Nani Bala, Dukari Bala, later Indumati Devi, (Ananta Singh's sister) Leela Roy, Savitri Devi of Patiya Dhalghat, etc. were associated with the revolutionary group. Kalpana Dutta emerged in its continuation. Kalpana Dutta is an unforgettable name in the history of the anti-British revolutionary movement.
Birkanya Kalpana Dutta was born on July 27, 1913, in the peaceful, green, hill-surrounded village of Sreepur in Kharandip Union of Boalkhali Thana, Chittagong. Although her village home was in Boalkhali, her father Binod Bihari Dutta was a sub-registered officer of Bangladesh Railway and she spent her childhood in Chittagong city. Her mother Subhna Dutta was a housewife. They had a large house in Andarqilla, the heart of the city. Her grandfather was Roy Bahadur Durgadas Dutta, a famous doctor in the city.
Kalpana Dutta's education began in the family. After completing her primary education, her father got her admitted to Dr. Khastagir School. Birkanya Pritilata was also a student of this school. Kalpana Dutta studied one class below Pritilata. Dr. Khastagir High English Girls' School was one of the leading girls' schools of that time. Kalpana Dutta was first or second in every class in this renowned school.
Dr. Khastagir School teacher Ushadi used to talk to the students. She used to tell them stories from home and abroad. Kalpana Dutta started reading various Swadeshi books after coming in contact with this Ushadi. Ushadi was a secret revolutionary associate of the Swadeshis. She basically sowed the seeds of patriotism and revolutionary politics in the consciousness of Kalpana Dutta.
In 1929, Kalpana Dutta took the matriculation examination from Dr. Khastagir School in Chittagong. After the examination, she focused on the various events in the turbulent Chittagong. During this time, she read a few revolutionary books. She heard about revolutionary politics and legendary incidents of Swadeshi dacoity from her neighbors. After a few days, the results of the examination were published. Kalpana Dutta passed the matriculation examination by securing fourth place in mathematics and Sanskrit with letters. The government gave her a scholarship of 15 taka per month for doing well in the matriculation examination. Her family had already decided to send her to Calcutta. Kalpana Dutta also agreed. That same year, she got admitted to Bethune College in Calcutta for I.S.C.
A few days after joining Bethune College, he met Pritilata. Kalpana Dutta often saw her in the discussion group of Dr. Ushadi, a teacher at Khastagir School. While studying at Bethune College, the seeds of patriotism that had been dormant in her school life germinated in Kalpana Dutta's consciousness. Pritilata could make girls very close to her through sincerity, organizational skills and behavior. Pritilata studied B.A. in English Literature in the same college. She lived in the hostel. Here, she was conducting organizational activities under the instructions of the master. She formed a revolutionary circle. Many female members joined this revolutionary circle. Kalpana Dutta joined this revolutionary circle. The main task of this circle was to raise money in addition to training revolutionary workers. Pritilata used to collect money and send it to Chittagong.
At the same time, Kalpana Dutta was associated with Kalyani Das's 'Students' Union'. During this time, she actively participated in the strike and other movements at Bethune College. Kalpana Dutta was inspired by the sacrifices of heroic sons for the liberation struggle of the country, the independence of the motherland, and the protection of the dignity of women. She became a revolutionary activist herself while working in the revolutionary trend while being associated with Pritilata. And her revolutionary mind was filled with the desire to join the revolutionary youth and students' group founded by Master Da Surya Sen. She wanted to meet Commander-in-Chief Surya Sen to ask for permission for women to participate in the revolution. At the same time, she came in contact with the revolutionary leader Purnendu Dastidar, who was a close follower of Master Da Surya Sen. It was under the influence of Purnendu Dastidar and Pritilata that Kalpana Dutta decided to join the revolutionary group.
In 1929, the Chittagong District Political Conference, Youth Conference, Student Conference and Women's Conference were held at the initiative of Chittagong revolutionaries. Kalpana Dutta's revolutionary political career began through volunteer work at this conference.
After the conference, Pritilata and Kalpana Dutta went to Kolkata. At that time, bomb shells were being made in a secret factory of the revolutionaries in Kolkata. Pritilata collected the bomb shells as per the instructions of Masterdar. Towards the end of that year, during the Puja vacation, Pritilata, Kalpana Dutta, Sarojini Pal, Nalini Pal, Kumudini Rabit came to Chittagong. On the instructions of Masterdar, they delivered the bomb shells to the revolutionaries.
On April 18, 1930, revolutionaries led by Masterda Surya Sen captured the Chittagong Arsenal through an armed uprising. Historian Ramesh Chandra Majumdar has identified the April 18 Youth Uprising or the looting of the Chittagong Arsenal as 'the most courageous act of revolutionary activity in India'. Which was a very humiliating incident for the British in the history of 150 years. This was the first defeat of the British army. For four days from April 18 to 21, British rule in Chittagong was practically non-existent. This victory of the revolutionaries was a glorious story in the history of the subjugated nation.
After the Battle of Jalalabad Hills, the British government arrested Ananta Singh, Ganesh Ghosh and Loknath Bal and many other leaders for looting the arsenal. Masterda Surya Sen went into hiding. In early May, Pritilata and Kalpana Dutta moved from Kolkata to Chittagong to participate in the revolution. With great difficulty, they were able to meet Masterda. Both of them promised to join the armed revolution directly to Masterda. Masterda made them take the oath of the revolutionary party. From then on, they worked as instructed by Surya Sen, the leader of the revolutionary party. During this time, Pritilata took a job as a teacher at the Chittagong Nandankanan Girls' Middle English School (now Aparnacharan City Corporation Girls' High School). And Kalpana Dutta enrolled in B.Sc. at Chittagong College. In between studies, the activities of the revolutionary party continued secretly.
The capture of the Chittagong Arsenal, the battle at Jalalabad, the heroic struggles at Colorpol, Feni, Dhaka, Comilla, Chandannagar and Dhalghat gave new impetus to the freedom-seeking rebels.
After Captain Cameron was killed in the Dhalghat clash, the whole of Chittagong fell silent. Military and police torture began in villages, towns and cities. Then Kalpana Dutta dressed in men's clothes and left her house in Andarkilla for Kattoli, a secret revolutionary center. But she was trapped on the way. Her political imprisonment began when the revolutionary Kalpana Dutta was caught by the police with the help of some gangster boys at the corner of Veluar Dighi near Pahartali station. After being released in May 1931, she was given the responsibility of strategically bringing high-powered explosives from Kolkata. She had a plan to blow up the Chittagong court building and prison with a dynamite fuse and free the revolutionaries under trial.
In April 1931, a special court (tribunal) began the trial of 32 prisoners accused of sedition (the occupation of the Chittagong Arsenal). Masterda came up with an adventurous plan to free the prisoners. He took the initiative to use mines to blow up the prison walls and free the prisoners and at the same time destroy the court building. Kalpana Dutt played a very important role in implementing this plan. The date of the attack was set for June 3, 1931. All the preparations were done secretly. But at the very last moment, the police caught wind of the last mine and the whole plan failed.
In this incident, the police decided to control Kalpana Dutta's movements as a suspect. She was only allowed to go to Chittagong College to study B.Sc. Despite this strict police surveillance, Kalpana Dutta often went to their secret hideouts late at night to meet leaders like Surya Sen, Nirmal Sen and others and received training in revolutionary work there. Here, she and her teammate Pritilata Waddedar also regularly learned to operate a revolver. One day, Masterda decided to give the two some important responsibilities. The two were supposed to jointly lead the attack on the European Club. But before that, the police arrested Kalpana Dutta while she was going to meet Masterda with her colleague Nirmal Sen disguised as a man. After spending two months in jail, she was released on bail due to evidence. The police filed a case against her under Section 109, i.e. 'Vagaghur'. Masterda ordered her to hide to avoid the suspicion of the police. Then Kalpana Dutta went into hiding on the orders of Masterdar and took refuge with him in the house of Khirod Prabhav Biswas in Goirala. In this hidden state, he continued to carry out important party work.
After the suicide of revolutionary Shailaswar Chakraborty, who had failed twice to attack the Pahartali European Club in 1932, Masterda entrusted the responsibility of attacking the European Club to revolutionary Pritilata. For this reason, Suryasen came to the secret camp in Kattali. Pritilata and Kalpana Dutta left for South Kattali village to meet and talk. Pritilata reached the secret center safely, but the transvestite Kalpana Dutta was caught on September 17, 1932. Masterda Suryasen, upon receiving the news, allowed Pritilata to attack the European Club on September 23, 1932. After being released on bail, Kalpana Dutta hid again in Dev Pahar, west of Chittagong College. She was a B.Sc. student at the time. On February 16, 1933, she was with Masterda and Tarkeshwar Dastidar in a clash with the British army in the coastal village of Gairala. Later, Masterda and Brazen Sen were caught by the police, but Kalpana Dutta managed to escape. But three months later, on May 19, Kalpana Dutta and some of his fellow revolutionaries were captured after an armed clash in the village of Gairala.
On 14 August that year, a special tribunal hanged Surya Sen and Tarakeswar Dastidar and sentenced the others to life imprisonment in the Andaman Cellular Jail. Kalpana Dutta was sentenced to life imprisonment in the second trial of the Chittagong Armoury Robbery Case ('Chittagong Armoury Robbery Second Supplementary Case'). She studied various subjects in jail. After serving about 6 years in prison, this revolutionary leader was released in 1939. In the meantime, while pursuing her case, her father became destitute. He also had to lose the large two-storey house (Roy Bahadur Dr. Durgadas Dutta's house) north of the Chittagong General Hospital. After being released from jail, Kalpana Dutta went to Chittagong and saw that former revolutionaries had joined the Communist Party. Kalpana Dutta joined the Communist Party as she felt that the path on which the Communist Party was struggling for the country's independence was the right path. He worked in Chittagong during the Bengal famine as a Communist Party worker. Many of his reports were published in the People's War newspaper at that time. From November 1940 to December 1941, the police kept him under house arrest. After that, he joined the Communist Party of India and participated in the movement against British imperialism.
In 1940, she passed the graduation examination from Calcutta University. That year, Kalpana Dutta represented Chittagong at a conference in Mumbai. There, she met P.C. Joshi. She married Joshi in 1944. P.C. Joshi was the then secretary of the Communist Party of India. Then she returned to Chittagong and established the women's and farmers' organizations of the party. Despite that backward era, Kalpana Dutta felt that women are half of society. Only through the joint efforts of men and women can poverty be overcome and liberation come. In 1946, she was a candidate from the Communist Party in the legislative assembly elections. She contested the assembly elections from Chittagong constituency. And Neely Sengupta, the wife of the patriotic Jatindra Mohan Sen, stood for Congress.
Even after the partition, he remained in Chittagong for a long time. In 1950, he took a job at the Indian Statistical Institute and later started living in Delhi. There he was involved in various activities. During this time, he learned several languages. Among them, he also learned Russian. He also became known as a linguist. He taught Russian and was appointed the chairperson of the Russian Language Center in New Delhi. The name of the book written by Kalpana Dutt is 'Chittagong Uprising'.
She played a role in the women's movement in India. Kalpana Dutta was also associated with the Women's Association. She had a considerable contribution to the friendly relations between the then Soviet Union and India. She was also the general secretary of the 'All India Institute of National Languages'.
During the 1971 Liberation War, Kalpana Dutta cooperated in many ways. She played an important role in collecting money and food for the freedom fighters. After the country gained independence, Kalpana Dutta came to Chittagong with other revolutionary comrades at the invitation of Bangabandhu in 1972 and 1975. There, the revolutionary party was given a reception in the premises of the 'Municipal School'.
Comrade Kalpana Dutta, the freedom fighter and communist revolutionary of India, lived a very ordinary life. She never retreated from the field of struggle. She lost a lot till the end of her life, but she added some invaluable chapters to the history of the struggle of the people of Bengal. Which will remain unforgettable forever.
References:
1. Chittagong in the struggle for independence: Purnendu Dastidar, published in 1374 Bengali, published by Chittagong Book House. 2. The role of armed revolutionaries in the struggle for independence: Sudhangshu Dasgupta. Published in 1990, Kolkata. 3. The movement for the liberation of the masses: Mahafuza Khanam and Tapan Kumar Dey. Published by Dr. Mahfuz Shafiq, published in 21 February 2009. 4. The seekers of freedom in Bengal: Sabyasachi Chatterjee, Rakhi Chatterjee, published in 2005, Kolkata. 5. Photo: History of the Fire Age, Brajendranath#
Syed Amiruzzaman, researcher, journalist and columnist on the Liberation War; Special correspondent, Saptahik Notunkotha; Editor, RP News; Member of the Central Committee, National Farmers' Association; Member of the Editorial Board, Workers' Party of Bangladesh, Moulvibazar District; Organizer of the great mass uprising of '90 and former member of the Central Committee, Bangladesh Chhatra Maitri. Former member of the Central Committee, Bangladesh Khet Mazur Union. General Secretary, National Committee for Compensation for Magurchara Gas Resources and Environmental Destruction. Former President, Bangladesh Law Students Federation. E-mail: syedzaman.62@gmail.comWhatsApp : 01716599589Mobile: 01716599589Bikash number : +8801716599589 (personal)
