Surya Sen: The revolutionary teacher of Chattogram

Surya Sen was a Bengali independence fighter who led the 1930 Chattogram armory raid against the British colonial rule in India. A revolutionary at heart, he was the chief architect of the anti-British freedom movement in Chittagong, Bengal.

He was instrumental in building the momentum for a nationwide non-cooperation movement that spread to far corners of the country. Independent minded and idealistic from a young age, he first learned about the Indian freedom movement from one of his teachers when he was a college student.

The seed of revolution took root in his heart and he proceeded to join revolutionary organization Anushilan Samity. He also became associated with the Indian National Congress, the most prominent political party at that time. After completing his studies, he embarked on a teaching career and earned much respect in this profession.

Surya Sen, Born in Raozan of Chattogram on March 22, 1894, Surya Sen fought bravely against the British rule in India.It was Surya Sen who spearheaded the Chattogram Youth Revolt. A mentor among the revolutionary youths, Surya Sen was better known as "Masterda".

Masterda led a number of daring raids against British government establishments in Chattogram. On April 18, 1930, he along with his comrades looted the police armoury and established resistance at Jalalabad Hills in Chattogram.Surya Sen was the first revolutionary to isolate Chattogram from the rest of the British Raj.

In the early hours of February 16, 1933, a Gurkha contingent arrested Surya Sen along with Kalpana Dutt, Shanti Chakrabarti,Sushil Das and Monilal Dutt from a hideout in Chattogram. Finally, the great hero was executed at Chattogram Central Jail on January 12, 1934.

He continued his involvement with the freedom struggle with increased intensity and in 1930, led a group of like-minded revolutionaries to raid the armory of police and auxiliary forces from the Chattogram armory. Even though the group had made elaborate plans to completely cut off Chattogram from rest of the British India, they were not able to execute their plan in its entirety. Surya Sen was eventually arrested by the British and tortured and executed.

The British officials entered the cell of the prisoner, and dragged him out. For the next few hours or so, the prisoner would be subjected to the worst possible torture ever. His teeth were broken, his limbs and joints were broken with a hammer. All his nails were pulled out, and his unconscious body was dragged to the gallows, where he was hanged to death. The dead body was later put in a small cage and thrown into the sea.

The prisoner who was so brutally tortured and executed was none other than Masterda Surya Sen, the Bengal revolutionary, who shook the British like none else before. He was the one who led one of the largest ever raids on the British at Chattogram, attacking their armory, cantonment, the exclusive Europeans only club there and the telegraph office there.

Never had the British witnessed such a massive assault on their institutions, in such a coordinated manner.  Though the raid was suppressed and it's perpetrators arrested, the message it had sent out to Indians was clear, take up the arms against the British rule.The man who shook the British so much in Bengal, was born in a small village called Noapara, near Chattogram( now in Bangladesh) in 1894.

 His father, Ramniranjan Sen was a teacher himself. As an intermediate student in 1916, while studying at Chittagong, he learnt about the history of the Indian freedom movement from his teachers. Motivated by one of his teachers, he joined the Anushilan Samiti, one of the noted revolutionary groups in Bengal then.

The Anushilan Samiti was founded by Sarat Chandra Basu, with the encouragement of Sister Nivedita and Swami Saradananda, and it's name came from a Bankim Chandra Chatterjee essay.  The Samiti, swore by revolutionary violence as a way to uproot the British Government. New recruits were asked to swear on the Gita, and practiced arms in front of a Durga idol. When he later joined Berhampore for a BA course, he was attracted to another revolutionary organization Jugantar and their ideals.  He later returned to Chittagong, in 1918, and worked as a teacher there.

It was during his stay in Chattogram, that he began to organize the Jugantar there, and spread it's ideals among the people. His organizational ability, oratory skills, and ability to reach out to people, made him popular, and it was during this time, that he earned the moniker of Master Da. He also joined the Indian National Congress for some time, and was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's ideals.

However, when Gandhiji called off the non cooperation movement, post the infamous Chauri Chaura incident, Surya Sen like many others was disappointed. He realized that the only way to overthrow the British was through violent revolutionary action.

Surya Sen realized the need for a concerted revolutionary strike on the British installations in India. He felt it was the only way to shake their faith in their ability to rule India, and also awaken the masses.

It was then that he devised one of the most audacious plan ever to strike against the British rule. While the Chittagong, armory raid was ostensibly to hit at the twin armories in the city, the objectives were far more wider.  Chittagong was one of the major centers of British rule then, and also a prominent trading center.

Many British oil companies were located there, and strategically the city gave the British a front line of defense in the event of a possible Japanese attack.  Organizing a strike in Chittagong, and securing it, would mean hitting at one of the nerve centers of the British rule in India. It was not just the armories, the raid also targeted, the telegraph office, the exclusive Europeans only club.

While the twin armories in Chittagong would be captured, the telegraph and telephone office would be destroyed cutting off all forms of communication. The exclusive Europeans only club, whose members were high ranking Government or military officials, would be targeted.  There would be a large scale massacre of these officers, while retailers of fire arms

would be raided. All rail, road communications would be cut off, totally isolating the city. What was planned was nothing short of a mini insurrection, which if carried out, would complete sever Chittagong from the British. It was one of the most audacious, ambitious plans ever carried out, mind boggling in it's scope.

Surya Sen was the mastermind behind this audacious plan, supported by fellow revolutionaries Ganesh Ghosh, Lokenath Bal, Ambika Chakraborty, Ananta Singh, Nirmal Sen as well as women revolutionaries like Kalpana Dutta and Pritilata Wadedar.

Ganesh Ghosh led a group of revolutionaries to capture the police armory at Dampara, while Lokenath Bal, led another 10 revolutionaries, to capture the Auxiliary Forces armory, which is now the old Circuit House. The telephone and telegraph wires were cut, railways movement was disrupted.

Around 15 of them captured the European club in Pahartali. However being a Good Friday, most of the members of the club were not in attendance, and word got out of the strike. This gave the British enough time, to alert their troops and send out in full strength to the club. This was not anticipated by the rebels, a bit of a miscalculation here.

Even the armory raid was not much of a success, while there were arms, but no ammunition was present. Collecting the bare minimum, the group headed by Surya Sen, hoisted the Indian flag at the Armory, took a salute,  and proclaimed a Provisional Revolutionary Government. The group of revolutionaries escaped into the nearby Jalalabad Hills, from where they began to conduct their activities. 

The British having got information about their hiding place, attacked the group in the forest. A fierce encounter ensured, where many teenage revolutionaries lost their lives, including the brother of Lokenath Bal. It was a pitched encounter, that saw 12 revolutionaries shot dead, and a considerable number of troops. Some of the revolutionaries who escaped, began to reorganize themselves again.

There was another attack on the European club, on September 24, 1932, by a group consisting of Debi Prasad Gupta, Swadesh Roy, Manoranjan Sen, that was led by Pritilata Wadedar. However the plan backfired, with most of the revolutionaries killed, while Pritilata committed suicide by consuming cyanide. Between 1930-32, the revolutionaries kept striking randomly, killing around 22 British officers, and 220 others. On March 1, 1932, the verdict was given in the mass trial of those arrested.  12 of the defendants were sentenced to deportation for life, 32 were acquitted and remaining were given 2-3 year sentences.

Tarakeshwar Datta , president of the Chittagong branch of Jugantar once again made an attempt to rescue Surya Sen from prison. However the plot was foiled, and both Tarakeshwar, Kalpana Dutta were arrested. Tarakeshwar was sentenced to death by the British, and so was Surya Sen. Before his death, Master Da was tortured in the worst possible manner, with his teeth broken, limbs broken and his unconscious body hanged. His last letter to his friends and associates spoke about his desire for a free India.