12-07-2004, 10:57 PM
From Statesman, 7 Dec., 2004 in Prespective section. Tribute to Revolutionary Bagha Jatin Mukherjee.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Spiritual roots of terrorism
On his 125th birth anniversary, Bagha Jatin is remembered by historians not just for his terrorist activities and qualities of leadership but also for what he learnt from Vivekananda and Aurobindo.
A tribute by SATYAVRATA BHARADWAJ
A thesis on Bagha Jatin reminded a French historian of a Verdi opera. For MN Roy, the Battle of Balasore was an epic, with the drama woven around the character and personality of the man. Satyajit Ray even thought of a documentary on the legendary Bagha Jatin, born Jatindranath Mukherjee on 7 December 1879.
In September 1923, Bagha Jatinâs sister Vinodebalaâs notes helped Prafulla Sarkar, Amarendra Chatterjee, Upendranath Banerjee and Jadugopal Mukherjee write the proscribed Biplaber Bali (Offering to Revolution). A new daily, the Swadesh, appeared. Deshabandhu contemplated founding a memorial. Bhagat Singh wrote about Jatin in Punjabi. Although several books existed since 1947, none seemed adequate. Interviewing his contemporaries and consulting Indian archives, Bhupendrakumar Datta, Jatinâs follower, passed the data to a young scholar, expecting satisfactory results. <b>Enriched by European and American archives, 50 years of research supplies the groundwork. It is time now to determine Bagha Jatinâs significance.</b>
A fiery and charitable widow who admired Bankim and Vidyabhushan, Mother Sharat-Shashi â the greatest influence on Jatin â had died of contagion while nursing a cholera patient. Vivekananda taught Jatin how indispensable Indiaâs political freedom was for the spiritual deliverance of mankind: âPrepare patriots with iron muscles and nerves of steel, subliming the libido in dedication to the Motherland.â Jatin âowed his pre-eminent position not only to his quality of leadership but in great measure to his being a Brahmachariâ, according to a historian. To his followers, Jatin personified the Gita: equanimity generating the conviction that nothing was impossible.
<b>Jatin decided to win over Indian soldiers with patriotism while concentrating on a two-pronged programme. </b>The first was social service with Nivedita in the late 1890s and, later, raising volunteers, nursing condemned patients, attending fairs and pilgrimages (the Ardhodaya, Dakshineswar celebrations) and organising flood relief. The second was studying the Gita, Bankim and Vidyabhushan, discussions with guest scholars and staging patriotic plays. A gifted actor, Jatin utilised the urban stage and rural operas (jatra and charan) for propaganda. <b>The earliest known attempts in Bengal to promote political objectives began around 1900 and flourished particularly at Kushtia under Jatin Mukherjee. </b>
After meeting Aurobindo and JN Banerji (Niralamba Swami) in 1903, Jatin and his followers threw in their lot. Jatin was Aurobindoâs âdirect contactâ, forming societies in the districts and backing the Jugantar group. <b>Hemendraprasad Ghose â Aurobindoâs cousin and member of the Deoghar centre â held that with individual martyrdom, guerrilla and mass movement, Jatin controlled the extremists for over 10 years. Disapproving centralisation and untimely terrorism, he developed a loose confederation of regional groups. </b>
In 1908, there was massive detention and the demoralising Alipore case. The government banned associations and increased repressive measures. Jatin directed militants towards rural centres. Justice Saradacharan obtained from Daniel Hamilton land in the Sunderbans for agriculture, cottage industries and social service; Jatin trained boys in shooting before enacting an attempt to kill the Governor of Bengal on 7 November 1908, shoot dead the police inspector who had arrested Prafulla Chaki (9 November 1908), murder the public prosecutor (10 February 1909) and the Deputy Superintendent of Police (24 January 1910). The next day, the Viceroy announced, âA spirit hitherto unknown to India has come into existence... lawlessness which seeks to subvert British ruleâ. Arrested on 27 January 1910 along with 46 major suspects, Jatin and the co-accused were released on 21 February 1911. <b>Singling out Jatin as âthe real criminalâ, Lord Hardinge regretted the dismantling of the Jat Regiment: </b>âNothing could be worse⦠than the condition of Bengal⦠Thereâs practically no government.â
Since 1906, Jatinâs emissaries abroad received higher education, technical and military training while stirring sympathy for Indiaâs freedom. Taraknath Das was in this aspect, exemplary. Aided by Guran Ditt Kumar, his endeavour in Canada and California motivated compatriots. From prison, Jatin perceived an imminent war in Europe.
Released, Jatin suspended his involvement in so-called terrorism. The German Crown Prince in Kolkata assured him an arms supply. Leaving Kolkata in the care of Atulkrishna Ghosh, he expedited the districts organisation. Watching Jatin reuniting extremists during the 1913 flood relief, Rasbehari Bose found in in him âa real leaderâ capable of hatching a rising. Uttar Pradesh and Punjab intensified collaboration with Bengal. Sending an emmisary with news of German assistance, Jatin informed Bose about the pistols stolen from British importers (26 August 1914). Witnessing the Gadhar volunteersâ impatience, they chose 21 February for the rising from Bengal to Peshawar, involving various regiments.
Jatin introduced âa new feature in revolutionary crimeâ to collect money: holding up automobile taxi-cabs. Intercepting a Chartered Bank van, militants escaped with the booty (12 February 1915). To minimise Boseâs failure, he extorted a huge sum from a rice merchant (22 February 1915). Surprised during a secret meeting, his men shot dead a spy (24 February 1915). A police inspector who was following an absconding revolutionary was killed (28 February 1915).
<b>The entire international chain was masterminded by Jatin, claims Bhupati Majumdar. </b>In March 1915, Jiten Lahiri returned from Berlin with a plea to contact the German Consul at Batavia for arms delivery. Despatching Naren Bhattacharya immediately, Jatin left for Balasore to receive the shipment. <b>Following Jatinâs plans of a pincer operation, the Berlin Committee left to raise an army and cross the North-west Frontier. In Bangkok, the Gadhar men would await Narenâs arrival from Batavia, train another army and march through Burma, while the rising flared from Peshawar to Kolkata.</b>With four associates by his side, Jatin fought against a detachment of military police on 9 September 1915 and died while opening the path for the mass movement.
<b>Amales Tripathi noticed the added dimensions revealed by the Howrah Case proceedings: acquire arms locally and abroad, raise a guerrilla unit and create a rising with Indian soldiers. </b>Jatin Mukherjeeâs action helped improve (especially economically) the peopleâs status. He wanted a socialist republic.
Consulting chapters on makers of modern India, Le Roy Ladurie â father of the New Wave in History â found in Jatin Mukherjeeâs life âthe first chapter with a great impression of modernityâ. It reminded him of Bolshevik organisations. Knowing Plekhanovâs influence on Marxism, MN Roy, on meeting Lenin, revealed the similarity between the Russian populist-cum-socialist revolutionaries and Jatinâs men: practice of terrorism, encouraging young men to return to the village and temporarily denouncing capitalism, a Western vice, though Lenin held it to be inevitable as a social revolutionary force.
(The author is a retired Paris-based academic.)
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
So Bagha Jatin's work laid the first foundations for the Indian National Army in WWII? He seems to have a clear cut vision on armed insurrection to achieve Independence in WWI itself. Wonder if he had any connections to the 1857 movement? I mean inspiration or near relatives involved in the war. Also this is first time I am hearing about the Jat regiment being disbanded.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Spiritual roots of terrorism
On his 125th birth anniversary, Bagha Jatin is remembered by historians not just for his terrorist activities and qualities of leadership but also for what he learnt from Vivekananda and Aurobindo.
A tribute by SATYAVRATA BHARADWAJ
A thesis on Bagha Jatin reminded a French historian of a Verdi opera. For MN Roy, the Battle of Balasore was an epic, with the drama woven around the character and personality of the man. Satyajit Ray even thought of a documentary on the legendary Bagha Jatin, born Jatindranath Mukherjee on 7 December 1879.
In September 1923, Bagha Jatinâs sister Vinodebalaâs notes helped Prafulla Sarkar, Amarendra Chatterjee, Upendranath Banerjee and Jadugopal Mukherjee write the proscribed Biplaber Bali (Offering to Revolution). A new daily, the Swadesh, appeared. Deshabandhu contemplated founding a memorial. Bhagat Singh wrote about Jatin in Punjabi. Although several books existed since 1947, none seemed adequate. Interviewing his contemporaries and consulting Indian archives, Bhupendrakumar Datta, Jatinâs follower, passed the data to a young scholar, expecting satisfactory results. <b>Enriched by European and American archives, 50 years of research supplies the groundwork. It is time now to determine Bagha Jatinâs significance.</b>
A fiery and charitable widow who admired Bankim and Vidyabhushan, Mother Sharat-Shashi â the greatest influence on Jatin â had died of contagion while nursing a cholera patient. Vivekananda taught Jatin how indispensable Indiaâs political freedom was for the spiritual deliverance of mankind: âPrepare patriots with iron muscles and nerves of steel, subliming the libido in dedication to the Motherland.â Jatin âowed his pre-eminent position not only to his quality of leadership but in great measure to his being a Brahmachariâ, according to a historian. To his followers, Jatin personified the Gita: equanimity generating the conviction that nothing was impossible.
<b>Jatin decided to win over Indian soldiers with patriotism while concentrating on a two-pronged programme. </b>The first was social service with Nivedita in the late 1890s and, later, raising volunteers, nursing condemned patients, attending fairs and pilgrimages (the Ardhodaya, Dakshineswar celebrations) and organising flood relief. The second was studying the Gita, Bankim and Vidyabhushan, discussions with guest scholars and staging patriotic plays. A gifted actor, Jatin utilised the urban stage and rural operas (jatra and charan) for propaganda. <b>The earliest known attempts in Bengal to promote political objectives began around 1900 and flourished particularly at Kushtia under Jatin Mukherjee. </b>
After meeting Aurobindo and JN Banerji (Niralamba Swami) in 1903, Jatin and his followers threw in their lot. Jatin was Aurobindoâs âdirect contactâ, forming societies in the districts and backing the Jugantar group. <b>Hemendraprasad Ghose â Aurobindoâs cousin and member of the Deoghar centre â held that with individual martyrdom, guerrilla and mass movement, Jatin controlled the extremists for over 10 years. Disapproving centralisation and untimely terrorism, he developed a loose confederation of regional groups. </b>
In 1908, there was massive detention and the demoralising Alipore case. The government banned associations and increased repressive measures. Jatin directed militants towards rural centres. Justice Saradacharan obtained from Daniel Hamilton land in the Sunderbans for agriculture, cottage industries and social service; Jatin trained boys in shooting before enacting an attempt to kill the Governor of Bengal on 7 November 1908, shoot dead the police inspector who had arrested Prafulla Chaki (9 November 1908), murder the public prosecutor (10 February 1909) and the Deputy Superintendent of Police (24 January 1910). The next day, the Viceroy announced, âA spirit hitherto unknown to India has come into existence... lawlessness which seeks to subvert British ruleâ. Arrested on 27 January 1910 along with 46 major suspects, Jatin and the co-accused were released on 21 February 1911. <b>Singling out Jatin as âthe real criminalâ, Lord Hardinge regretted the dismantling of the Jat Regiment: </b>âNothing could be worse⦠than the condition of Bengal⦠Thereâs practically no government.â
Since 1906, Jatinâs emissaries abroad received higher education, technical and military training while stirring sympathy for Indiaâs freedom. Taraknath Das was in this aspect, exemplary. Aided by Guran Ditt Kumar, his endeavour in Canada and California motivated compatriots. From prison, Jatin perceived an imminent war in Europe.
Released, Jatin suspended his involvement in so-called terrorism. The German Crown Prince in Kolkata assured him an arms supply. Leaving Kolkata in the care of Atulkrishna Ghosh, he expedited the districts organisation. Watching Jatin reuniting extremists during the 1913 flood relief, Rasbehari Bose found in in him âa real leaderâ capable of hatching a rising. Uttar Pradesh and Punjab intensified collaboration with Bengal. Sending an emmisary with news of German assistance, Jatin informed Bose about the pistols stolen from British importers (26 August 1914). Witnessing the Gadhar volunteersâ impatience, they chose 21 February for the rising from Bengal to Peshawar, involving various regiments.
Jatin introduced âa new feature in revolutionary crimeâ to collect money: holding up automobile taxi-cabs. Intercepting a Chartered Bank van, militants escaped with the booty (12 February 1915). To minimise Boseâs failure, he extorted a huge sum from a rice merchant (22 February 1915). Surprised during a secret meeting, his men shot dead a spy (24 February 1915). A police inspector who was following an absconding revolutionary was killed (28 February 1915).
<b>The entire international chain was masterminded by Jatin, claims Bhupati Majumdar. </b>In March 1915, Jiten Lahiri returned from Berlin with a plea to contact the German Consul at Batavia for arms delivery. Despatching Naren Bhattacharya immediately, Jatin left for Balasore to receive the shipment. <b>Following Jatinâs plans of a pincer operation, the Berlin Committee left to raise an army and cross the North-west Frontier. In Bangkok, the Gadhar men would await Narenâs arrival from Batavia, train another army and march through Burma, while the rising flared from Peshawar to Kolkata.</b>With four associates by his side, Jatin fought against a detachment of military police on 9 September 1915 and died while opening the path for the mass movement.
<b>Amales Tripathi noticed the added dimensions revealed by the Howrah Case proceedings: acquire arms locally and abroad, raise a guerrilla unit and create a rising with Indian soldiers. </b>Jatin Mukherjeeâs action helped improve (especially economically) the peopleâs status. He wanted a socialist republic.
Consulting chapters on makers of modern India, Le Roy Ladurie â father of the New Wave in History â found in Jatin Mukherjeeâs life âthe first chapter with a great impression of modernityâ. It reminded him of Bolshevik organisations. Knowing Plekhanovâs influence on Marxism, MN Roy, on meeting Lenin, revealed the similarity between the Russian populist-cum-socialist revolutionaries and Jatinâs men: practice of terrorism, encouraging young men to return to the village and temporarily denouncing capitalism, a Western vice, though Lenin held it to be inevitable as a social revolutionary force.
(The author is a retired Paris-based academic.)
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
So Bagha Jatin's work laid the first foundations for the Indian National Army in WWII? He seems to have a clear cut vision on armed insurrection to achieve Independence in WWI itself. Wonder if he had any connections to the 1857 movement? I mean inspiration or near relatives involved in the war. Also this is first time I am hearing about the Jat regiment being disbanded.