Chitta Ranjan Part 4

At the Special Session of the Congress held at Calcutta Chitta Ranjan was not in favour of withdrawing students from schools and colleges and boycotting Law-courts. But at Nagpur a prolonged discussion with Mahatma Gandhi about the details of the Non-Co-operation movement convinced him of the necessity for adopting the whole programme and at the session of the Nagpur Congress Chitta Ranjan himself moved the Non-Co-operation Resolution. Some of the delegates who did not know Chitta Ranjan well doubted his sincerity, but when he told them bluntly that in his whole life he had never failed to practise what he preached, the non-believers were silenced. In course of the speech he said:--

"I ask you to remember, that when I say anything, I mean it, and in my life on public questions, I have never said anything which I do not believe in."

Chitta Ranjan came back to Calcutta, gave up his unrivalled practice at the call of his mother-country and devoted all his time and energy to the attainment of Swaraj by the peaceful method of non-violent Non-co-operation. The only thought which was uppermost in his mind when he gave up his practice was his solicitude for his poor countrymen. Some time after this one of his friends once asked him what would be the fate of his enormous charities. Chitta Ranjan kept quiet for a while and then replied with a deep sigh:--"What shall I do? A greater call of duty has reached me, I must respond to it. Those whom I have helped so long will be helped now by G.o.d Himself."

About two years ago when Chitta Ranjan was engaged in the Dumraon Raj case an ascetic once said to him:--"My child, this life of worldly enjoyment you shall have to renounce very soon." None could at that time have any faith in that prophecy. Who could have ever dreamt that the time was so near? Mysterious indeed are the ways of G.o.d which the limited intelligence of man fails to fathom.

Chitta Ranjan's sacrifice in the Non-co-operation movement has elicited admiration even from high-souled Englishmen. Sir Michael Sadler, the late President of the Calcutta University Commission wrote in the London Times:--"Chitta Ranjan's wonderful sacrifice is unparalleled in the history of the world. Indians would do well to follow him."

As we have already said Chitta Ranjan is never a politician in the true sense of the term; he possesses none of the diplomatic ways of a thorough-bred politician. He is only a high-souled patriot led by emotions. He has loved his country with all his heart from childhood; in manhood through all activities he has striven hard to keep alive its sacred image in his heart; and now on the threshhold of age that image has became clearer and truer than ever. The late Lokamanya Tilak once said of him, "I believe the time is not very far when Chitta Ranjan will devote all his energy to the services of his country and his love of mother-land will burn as a torch-light to guide his countrymen in the right path." That hope has now been realised.

The People of India also as a mark of their heart-felt grat.i.tude for the n.o.ble sacrifice and selfless patriotism of Deshabandhu Chitta Ranjan Das has unanimously elected him to be the President of the Indian National Congress to be held at Ahmedabad in December 1921. For some time he hesitated to preside over the most momentous session of the Congress of this year, but at last in compliance with the united request of his countrymen he accepted the honour--the highest they had in their power to bestow.

It is after all the great ideal of Chitta Ranjan's sacrifice that has led the young men of Bengal to respond to the call of mother-country when even Mahatma's appeal has failed to move them. The student-community of Bengal came out in a body to rally round Deshabandhu Chitta Ranjan in attaining the object for which we are all fighting. In one of the students' meetings at Calcutta Mahatma Gandhi while addressing the students said:--"I knew that you were waiting for Srijut Chitta Ranjan's leaders.h.i.+p and I hoped the time was not very far when he would sacrifice his all at the call of his country." In an appeal to the students of Calcutta he said:--

"I advocate the method of Non-Co-operation, as every other method has failed. I want you to cling to this method, come what may. This is our last chance and this, at least, will not be in vain. Do you know what Non-Co-operation means? You must withdraw your help in moving the powerful machinery of the Bureaucracy. Do you realise how you can move this machinery? The Bureaucracy works its wicked will through the pleaders, through doctors, through clerks, through their police officers and through Magistrates and Judges. And you now see what the Calcutta University contributes. It contributes all the strength upon which the strength of the bureaucracy depends.

The method that I advocate is the method of sacrifice. If you have to destroy what you consider your chance of success in life, remember, it is only to defeat the bureaucracy, and to attain Swaraj. How can Swaraj be attained unless you realise your own right clearly, unhesitatingly? How can you compel the bureaucracy to recognise that which you yourself do not realise?

I repeat, therefore,--wake up, wake up, wake up. We have slept too long. Realise the sense of your bondage and stand out boldly and firmly on the road to Freedom."

In his Sagar Sangit Chitta Ranjan once sang this song:--

"As thou didst call with the roar of thy thunder In the infinitely musical voice of thy soul, My life over-flooded its banks In the heart-churning torrents of thy sound."

When actually this call came to him, he went forth from place to place to preach the Swaraj mantra. Bengal was already prepared to adopt it.

Wherever he went, the local people responded in a splendid manner and national inst.i.tutions grew up simultaneously. After starting a national college at Dacca when Chitta Ranjan proceeded to Mymensingh in the beginning of March 1921, the Joint Magistrate prohibited him from entering the town. As the Congress had not then sanctioned civil disobedience, he did not break that order. But on that occasion the n.o.ble message that he sent to his countrymen is even now vibrating in the air:--"We are treated like helots in our country. Life is unbearable without Swaraj." He then came to Tangail and in the large compound of Mr. Wajed Ali Khan Pani's house a ma.s.s meeting was held where the labourers and peasants were present in a large number; the large-hearted Zaminder Mr. Khan Pani started a national school and for the benefit of the peasants a granary was proposed. From Tangail Chitta Ranjan came to Sylhet via Maulavi Bazar and Habigunj and presided over the a.s.sam Khilafat Conference. The local people accorded him a splendid ovation, the town was lighted in honour of his visit.

In course of the speech at the Khilafat Conference he said:--"The dawn of a new era has come. It is the dawn of unity among the different sects of the Indian people. This unity is never to be broken. We are all united to attain Swaraj. If in our own home, we cannot preserve our self-respect, if in our own country we are treated like cats and dogs, then where shall we get justice? We starve for want of food, we are turned naked for want of clothing. Our wives and children suffer humiliation at all times and we lose our lives like insects and worms.

To set this right we want Swaraj. This is needed not only for Hindus and Musalmans but by every Indian, by every righteous man."

After completing a long lecturing tour in the Eastern Bengal Chitta Ranjan came to attend the Provincial Conference at Barisal. In one of his lectures he said that Swaraj was urgently needed to get rid of the cultural conquest of the West which has caused the denationalisation of the Indian people. At the Barisal Provincial Conference he delivered a very touching lecture on Swaraj in course of which he said:--

"Swaraj is our birth right, it is a divine gift. When you realise yourself by penances, you shall get freedom from within and without.

We look to others for our education, commerce and government; this is bondage. We must get rid of that. We cannot even clothe our mothers and sisters. What servility! We must be free men and not bondsmen as we are at present. This yearning for Swaraj is meant for our liberation. We are inimical to no body, ours is a peaceful struggle."

Chitta Ranjan came back to Calcutta in April 1921 and shortly afterwards went to Bezwada to attend the meeting of the All-India Congress Committee held in the middle of April 1921 where it was decided that as a first step towards the attainment of Swaraj three things would be necessary:--(1) a crore of rupees to be contributed to the Tilak Swarajya Fund, (2) a crore of persons to be enrolled as members of the Indian National Congress and (3) twenty lacs of spinning wheels to be distributed to the Indian Villages. This first step was to be completed on or before the 30th June 1921.

Chitta Ranjan came back and addressed many meetings at Calcutta and the mufa.s.sil asking the people of Bengal to contribute Bengal's quota.

The Anglo-Indian Press and the Moderate Press with one voice declared that it was beyond human power to work out the Bezwada programme within such a short time. But when the soul of a nation is awakened, everything is done in an unexpected manner. On the 1st of July 1921 the All India Congress Committee declared that contributions to the Tilak Swarjya Fund exceeded one crore of rupees and that the other two parts of the Bezwada programme were also accomplished beyond dispute.

In the mean-time a most deplorable event took place in Bengal. This was the inhuman treatment of the a.s.sam Tea-garden Coolies at Chandpur.

The tea-garden coolies had been for a long time smarting under acute grievances. They did not get sufficient food, were now and then brutally a.s.saulted and even their wives and sisters were subjected to occasional humiliation at the hands of the European managers. These exasperated their feelings to such a pitch that they determined to go back to their own country. In early May 1921 the Coolies of many tea-gardens at a.s.sam went on strike and in spite of many persuasions from the Deputy Commissioner and the proprietors of the tea-gardens they left the gardens for Karimganj. Coolies,--men, women and children began to pour in from different tea-gardens. They were worn out, shattered, half-naked and starving. In fact they presented a most pitiable picture and the local people took charge of their feeding and clothing. They were also making arrangements for the repatriation of the Coolies. But the Railway authorities declined to issue tickets to them. Perhaps they thought that the Coolies would of themselves return to the gardens if they had to face starvation and were refused tickets to go home. But the authorities were mistaken. The inhuman treatment at the gardens had long overstepped the limits of their patience and now they stood at all costs determined to leave the gardens once for all. Even they suspected the Government of being implicated with the managers of the gardens and refused to take food from them when offered. At the request of the people of Karimganj Mr. J. M. Sen Gupta went there and wired to the Traffic Manager to withdraw the unjustifiable order of the local Station Master. The order was withdrawn and the coolies came down to Chandpur in large numbers. The Government declined to make any arrangement for their repatriation.

The coolies were left to their own fate and as it could have been expected epidemic broke out among them. About midnight on the 20th May the most horrible tragedy that was ever enacted in Bengal was witnessed at Chandpur. At the instigation of the local authorities a band of savage Gurkhas fell upon the innocent men, women and children who were starving and dying of epidemic. They butchered the coolies right and left amidst the glee of the Local Magistrate and the Commissioner. The people of Chandpur were so much agitated over this matter, that had not the leaders come in an opportune moment to the place of occurrence there would have ensued a riot of the severest type. Chitta Ranjan was informed of this event and was wired to come to Chandpur as early as possible. He at once sanctioned on behalf of the Provincial Congress Committee 5000 rupees for the relief of the distressed coolies. The Railway employees went on a sympathetic strike and Chitta Ranjan started from Goalundo for Chandpur in a boat. The violent Padma became turbulent and it was most unsafe to face the waves in a boat. Many of Chitta Ranjan's friends tried to desist him from such a rash step. But he was not to be stopped. His heart was moved at the agony of the coolies and go he must to send them back to their home. If it wished G.o.d that he would be drowned, he was ready to court death at the call of duty. He was accompanied in this perilous journey by his wife and constant companion Srijukta Basanti Devi. The wind was raging high, the waves dashed against the boat; cheerfully did Chitta Ranjan proceed on his journey with his wife. It was his firm determination to go to Chandpur and arrange for the repatriation of the coolies. For this he feared not death. After an eventful journey in course of which he was once overtaken by a heavy storm and narrowly escaped being drowned Chitta Ranjan reached Chandpur. There he managed to send a large number of coolies in a special steamer to Goalundo and arranged for the repatriation of the rest. He came back to Calcutta with his wife in a cheerful spirit--cheerful, as he knew that he had been able to do his duty as the leader of Bengal.

Now when the first stage of the Non-Co-operation movement was so successfully pa.s.sed, the Working Committee of the Congress met at Calcutta in the beginning of September to discuss the second step and it was decided that the next step would be boycott of foreign cloth.

This step entailed a great difficulty as it would be necessary to make the people self-reliant and independent of foreign cloth. It necessitated that spinning should be introduced in every house and Indians should be encouraged to weave their own clothes. Chitta Ranjan proceeded on a lecturing tour all over Bengal to preach Swades.h.i.+ to his countrymen and to make it clear to them that the salvation of India lay in hand-spinning and weaving. In course of one of his lectures he said:--

"At this commencement of a new era in the history of India, you must take the Swades.h.i.+ vow. I know Indians can do everything only if they _w_ish it. Their fort.i.tude is unique and determination firm. Once take the vow that you shall not use foreign cloth. If you cannot procure sufficient country-made cloth, cut one cloth into two pieces and use them separately. You have no reason to be ashamed of wearing a short dress. On the other hand if you import fine cloth from Manchester, the whole world will cry shame upon you. To-day at this dawn of national consciousness take the vow that you shall wear only country-made cloth, be it coa.r.s.e or fine. With it is inter-woven the sweet affection of your brothers and sisters. It will help you to develop your manhood."

In another lecture Chitta Ranjan has said:--

"Our national life has become stagnant. We must purify it. This requires penance for our past sins, this means we should give up all our luxuries and strive for the realisation of our national spirit."

In course of one of his mufa.s.sil lectures he once remarked:--"Those who still do not believe in Swaraj, must very soon change their minds.

For they also must strive to attain Swaraj as the only means of developing their manhood. Swaraj is the birth right of a nation. It comes to believers and non-believers as a divine blessing."

When this speech was published in the form of an article, many took it for a visionary statement; but the time was not very far when it was actually verified. People who did never believe in Swaraj have actually joined this movement all on a sudden as if led by Providence.

While the country was being thus prepared step by step for the attainment of its ultimate goal, the complete hartal on the 17th November on the occasion of the Prince's arrival in India unnerved the Europeans and the Anglo-Indians who saw that without any act of violence or intimidation the whole of India obeyed the dictates of the Indian National Congress. Not a murmur was heard, not a complaint lodged. This produced a heart-burning in the Anglo-Indians whose representatives urged the Government by saying that it was Gunda Raj not British Raj on the 17th to take steps in striking the national movement at its very root. The Bureaucratic Government of India, misled by the Anglo-Indian Press thought it fit to crush the movement and the Bengal Government in a fit of frenzy as it were, declared towards the end of November that the Congress and Khilafat Volunteers formed an unlawful a.s.sociation. The Working Committee of the Congress met at Bombay and decided to continue the national service corps in defiance of the Government notification and enjoined upon all Congress-men to enlist themselves as Volunteers. Chitta Ranjan came back to Calcutta from Bombay and convened a meeting of the Provincial Congress Committee which delegated all its powers to him. In that capacity Chitta Ranjan thought it proper to send volunteers who would go from shop to shop requesting the shop-keepers to sell Swades.h.i.+ only and to observe _hartal_ on the 24th December on which day His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales would arrive at Calcutta. He knew that the volunteers were to be arrested; yet he sent his only son Srijut Chira Ranjan Das to lead a batch of volunteers. Chitta Ranjan is a very affectionate father, his heart is all affection; yet the report of Chira Ranjan's arrest and six months, rigorous imprisonment, nay, the cruel a.s.saults on his person did not move Chitta Ranjan in the least for he knew that son was suffering in the cause of justice and righteousness. He sent the following message to the persecuted:--

"What shall I say to those who have suffered, who are suffering, and to those who are prepared to suffer for the cause of freedom? I repeat the message which was delivered by a Persian Poet.

Truth, love and courage:--that is all you need to learn, all that you need to remember. "Faith, Fort.i.tude, Firmness, will they falter and fail and fade at the hour of trial, in the moment of despair", asked the Saqi in a mournful strain, "Or will they, tried and tested emerge from the fire of life radiant, strengthened, enn.o.bled, purified?"

"Not will I forsake them", answered the youth, "not even were the heavens to fall."

"Thine then" said the Saqi, "is the path of glory, thine a nation's grat.i.tude, thine the fadeless crown.

Would that courage unbent, courage such as thine, be the proud possession of all!

For naught but courage winneth life's battle, naught but courage secureth souls' freedom, man's n.o.blest and highest prize. Let, courage, then, be thy gift, O G.o.d, to this wondrous land of love and light."

The day following Chira Ranjan's arrest, Chitta Ranjan's worthy wife Srijukta Basanti Devi and his n.o.ble sister Srijukta Urmila Devi along with Srijukta Suniti Devi came out at the head of the volunteers. They drove in a motor car up to the crossing of Harrison Road and College Street. They got down from the car and walked by the foot path requesting every one to wear khaddar, to discard foreign clothes and to observe hartal on the 24th December. When they came back to the crossing again, they were arrested and sent up to the Jorashanko Police station. They were conveyed to the Presidency Jail from the Lalbasar lock-up. Close upon midnight when they had already retired to bed, they were released unconditionally. The splendid message which they gave to their countrymen on their arrest is worth quoting here:--

"We came out fully prepared for arrest. It was torture for us as mothers to stay away when our young boys were going to Jail gloriously. We entreat all our sisters to take up the work left unfinished. Let them not forget that their place is with their brothers and sisters imprisoned. Let them realize that they are practically living in prison, only a bigger one. It is more honourable to live in a real prison than to breathe the polluted air of the slave-land. We appeal to the students of Government inst.i.tutions to vacate the colleges in a body and take up the struggle for liberty.

Now or never is our last word. This n.o.ble struggle will lead us either to victory or to death. Both are glorious. It must be life or death, not this slavery any more."

The arrest of the n.o.ble ladies produced a profound impression throughout the city. Crowds of volunteers began to pour in, in order to continue Congress and Khilafat work and to court arrest in the act of doing that. The students of the Colleges struck and enrolled themselves in hundreds and in thousands as National Volunteers. Even low cla.s.s people responded to the country's call. The national work went on with a redoubled velocity. Srijut Das issued the following appeal to the people of Bengal:--

"Fear of Jail, fear of a.s.saults and fear of being shot down--these are three fears which every worker must conquer before we can get Swaraj.

We have conquered the fear of Jail; we are about to conquer the fear of a.s.sault. It depends on the Bureaucracy when we shall succeed in conquering the fear of being shot down. In the mean-time I charge every one to remember that our success can only depend on non-violence so real and so perfect that all G.o.d-fearing men must come over to our side."

In the mean-time His Excellency the Governor invited Chitta Ranjan to discuss with him the present political situation of Bengal. The points of view of Chitta Ranjan and his party and also those of the Government were freely discussed, and criticised but no actual result came out of it. The Government decided to take the strictest possible measures and arrest all the prominent leaders. Leaders of other places outside Bengal--leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai, Pundit Motilal Nehru, and others were arrested and tried summarily. On the 10th of December at 4-30 P. M. two Deputy Commissioners went to the house of Srijut Chitta Ranjan Das and there arrested him along with Srijut Birendra Nath Sarmal, while they were taking tea. Srijut Das kept up a dignified and smiling appearance all through. Srijuts Das and Sasmal were taken to Lalbazar in two Motor-cars. The ladies commenced blowing conches and crying _ulu_. A large crowd had a.s.sembled on the road and shouts of "Bande-Mataram", "Gandhi Mahatmaki joy", "Deshabandhu Das's joy" went up from them. The following is the last message sent to his countrymen by Deshabandhu Chitta Ranjan Das, on the day of his arrest:--

"This is my last message to you, men and women of India! Victory is in sight, if you are prepared to win it by suffering. It is in such agony as that through which we are pa.s.sing that nations are born; but you must bear this agony with fort.i.tude, with courage and with perfect self composure. Remember that so long as you follow the path of non-violence, you put the Bureaucracy in the wrong; but move by a hair-breadth from the path which Mahatma Gandhi has mapped out for you, and give away the battle to the Bureaucracy. Swaraj is our goal, Swaraj not in compartments not by installments; but Swaraj whole and entire. Now it is for you men and women, to say whether we shall attain the goal for which we are striving.

To my Moderate friends I say this. Survey the history of the world from the beginning of all times. Has any nation yet won freedom by pursuing the path which you are pursuing? If the appeal should reach any waverer amongst you, I ask him to consider whether he will now stand on the side of India in her conflict with the Bureaucracy? There may be compromise in the matter of details, but there can be no compromise in the essential question that divides us from the Bureaucracy. And if you do not stand for India, you a.s.suredly stand for the Bureaucracy.

To the students, I say this:--You are at once the hope and the glory of India. True education does not consist in learning to add two and two make four; but it lies in the service which you are prepared to give to the Mother of us all. There is work to be done for the mother: Who amongst you is prepared to answer the Call?"