Surya sen
[edit] Early life
His father's name was Ramaniranjan. A resident of Noapara in Chittagong, he was a teacher by
profession. He was initiated into revolutionary ideas in 1916 by one of his teachers while he was
a student of Intermediate Class in the Chittagong College and joined the renowned anarchist
group Anushilan. But when he went to Behrampur College for BA course, came to know about
Jugantar and became more inspired with their ideas. On his return to Chittagong in 1918, he
organized Jugantar there. Every revolutionary groups were using Indian National Congress as
umbrella to work. Consequently in 1929, Surya Sen became the president of the Chittagong
district committee of the Indian National Congress[1]. He continued to organize the hardline
patriotic organisations and first became a teacher of the National school in Nandankanan and
then joined the Umatara school at Chandanpura. Hence, he was known as Mastarda (teacher
brother).
By 1923 Surya Sen spread the anarchist organization in different parts of Chittagong district.
Aware of the limited equipment and other resources of the freedom fighters, he was convinced of
the need for secret guerrilla warfare against the colonial Government. One of his early successful
undertakings was a broad day robbery at the treasury office of the Assam-Bengal Railway at
Chittagong on December 23, 1923.
[edit] Chittagong armoury raid and its aftermath
Main article: Chittagong Armoury Raid
His major success in the anti-British revolutionary violence was the Chittagong Armoury Raid
on April 18, 1930. Subsequent to the raid, he marched to the Jalalabad hills along with his fellow
revolutionaries. After the battle with the British troops on April 22, he escaped from there.
Surya Sen, being constantly followed up by the police, had to hide at the house of Sabitri Devi, a
widow, near Patiya. A police and military force under Captain Cameron surrounded the house on
13 June 1932. Cameron was shot dead while ascending the staircase and Surya Sen along with
Pritilata Waddedar and Kalpana Dutta escaped to safety.
Surya Sen was always in hiding, moving from one place to another. Sometimes he used to take a
job as a workman; sometimes he would take a job as a farmer, or milkman, or priest,
houseworker or even as a pious Muslim. This is how he used to avoid being captured.
Either because of money, or out of jealousy, or because of both, Netra Sen told the British
Government that Surya Sen was at his house. As a result, the police came and captured him on
February 16, 1933. This is how India's supreme hero was arrested. But before Netra Sen was able
to get his 10,000-rupee reward he was killed by the revolutionaries .
This is how it happened. Netra Sen's wife was all for Surya Sen, and she was horrified by her
husband's deed. She felt mortified by her husband's betrayal of Surya Sen. She couldn't believe
her eyes; she couldn't believe her ears.
One evening she was serving her husband food when a great admirer of Surya Sen came into the
house. He was carrying a very big knife, which is called a dal. With one stroke of the dal he
chopped off the head of Netra Sen in the presence of his wife. Then slowly and stealthily he went
away.
When the police arrived to investigate, they asked Netra Sen's wife if she had seen who the
murderer was. She said, "I saw with my own eyes, but my heart will not permit me to tell you his
name. I am sorry. I feel miserable that I was the wife of such a treacherous man, such an
undivine man as Netra Sen. My husband betrayed the greatest hero of Chittagong. My husband
betrayed a great son of Mother India. My husband cast a slur on the face of India. Therefore, I
cannot tell the name of the person who took his life. He has definitely done the right thing. You
can do anything with me. You can punish me, you can even kill me, but I shall never tell the
name of the person who killed my husband. Our Master-da will be hanged, I know, but his name
will forever be synonymous with India's immortal freedom-cry. Everybody loves him.
Everybody adores him. I, too, love him and adore him, for he is the brightest sun in the
firmament of Chittagong. Surya means sun and he is truly our sun."
Tarakeswar Dastidar, the new president of the Chittagong Branch Jugantar Party, made a
preparation to rescue Surya Sen from the Chittagong Jail. But the plot was unearthed and
consequently frustrated. Tarakeswar and Kalpana along with others were arrested. Special
tribunals tried Surya Sen, Tarakeswar Dastidar, and Kalpana Datta in 1933.
Surya Sen along with his comrade Tarekeshwar Dastidar was hanged by the British rulers on
January 12, 1934. Before the death sentence Surya Sen was brutally tortured. It was reported that
the British executioners broke all his teeth with hammer and plucked all nails and broke all limbs
and joints. He was dragged to the rope unconscious. After his death his death body wasn’t given
any funeral. The prison authority, it was found later, put his dead body in a metallic cage and
dumped into the bay of Bengal.
His last letter to his comrades, written on 11 January, will remain enshrined in history as the
most eloquent testimony of the excellence of his manhood... "Death is knocking at my door. My
mind is flying away towards infinity ... this is the moment to myself to embrace death as the
dearest of friends. In this happy, sacred and crucial moment, what am I leaving for you all? Only
one thing, my dream, a golden dream, the dream of a Free India. Dear comrades, march ahead;
never retrace your step. Days of servitude are receding. Freedom's illuminating ray is visible over
there. Arise and never give way to despair. Success is sure to come."
