Chittaranjan Das

An eminent lawyer

Barrister Chittaranjan Das in 1909 while defending Sri Aurobindo in Alipore bomb case 

Alipore Bomb Case 1908-09 Trial Room at Alipore Sessions Court, Kolkata 

In 1894 in a stunning move Chittaranjan Das gave up his lucrative practice, and plunged headlong into politics during the non-cooperation movement against the British^[5]. Chittaranjan Das again took the brief and successfully defended Aurobindo Ghosh on charges of involvement in the Alipore bomb case in 1909. In his Uttarpara speech, Sri Aurobindo gratefully acknowledged that Chittaranjan Das broke his health to save him.

In the historic trial of the Alipore bomb case in 1908, Chittaranjan Das, the defense counsel of Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, made this last statement after a eight day long deliberation:

"My appeal to you therefore is that a man like this who is being charged with the offences imputed to him stands not only before the bar in this Court but stands before the bar of the High Court of History and my appeal to you is this: That long after this controversy is hushed in silence, long after this turmoil, this agitation ceases, long after he is dead and gone, he will be looked upon as the poet of patriotism, as the prophet of nationalism and the lover of humanity. Long after he is dead and gone his words will be echoed and re-echoed not only in India, but across distant seas and lands. Therefore I say that the man in his position is not only standing before the bar of this Court but before the bar of the High Court of History. The time has come for you, sir, to consider your judgment and for you, gentlemen, to consider your verdict..."^[6]

A Statesman and a National Leader

Chittaranjan Das was actively involved in the activities of Anushilan Samiti^[7]. When Pramatha Mitter organised the Samiti as its President to produce hundreds of young firebrands who were ready to sacrifice their lives for the cause of the Nation, Chittaranjan became his associate. Anusilan Samiti was maintained by P. Mitter with the assistance of Chittaranjan Das (1894), Haridas Bose (1895), Suren Haldar (1900) and Jnanendra Nath Roy (1901)^[8].

He was a leading figure in Bengal during the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1919-1922, and initiated the ban on British clothes, setting an example by burning his own European clothes and wearing Khadi clothes. At one time, his clothes were tailored and washed in Paris and he maintained a permanent laundry in Paris to ship his clothes to Calcutta. He sacrificed all this luxury when he became attached to the Freedom Movement.

He brought out a newspaper called Forward and later changed its name to Liberty to fight the British Raj. When the Calcutta Municipal Corporation was formed, he became its first mayor. He was a believer in non-violence and constitutional methods for the realisation of national independence, and advocated Hindu-Muslim unity, cooperation and communal harmony and championed the cause of national education. He resigned his presidency of the Indian National Congress at the Gaya session after losing a motion on "No Council Entry" to Gandhi's faction. He then founded the Swaraj Party, with veteran Motilal Nehru and young Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, in 1923, to express his uncompromising opinion and position .

His legacy was carried forward by his obedient disciple and follower Subhas Chandra Bose.

A poet

Chittaranjan Das emerged as a distinguished Bengali poet, when, during the troubled days of National movement, he published the first two volumes of his collection of poems titled "Malancha" and "Mala". In 1913 he published "Sagar Sangeet" (The Songs of the Sea). Sri Aurobindo was in Pondichery and when he was in dire need of financial support. Chittaranjan offered him one thousand rupees as a token of his support for an English translation of the poem^[9], a few verses of which are given below:

Chittaranjan started a monthly journal named Narayana, and many eminent writers such as Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Bipin Chandra Pal and Hariprasad Shastri contributed their writings in the journal^[2].

Death

Chittaranjan Das with Mahatma Gandhi and Anne Beasant at the Hill Cart Road near Kakjhora, Darjeeling in 1925 

Residence of Chittaranjan Das in Darjeeling West Bengal 

Chittaranjan's funeral procession in 1925 

In 1925 Chittaranjan's health began to fail due to overwork. Chittaranjan went to Darjeeling to recuperate his health staying at Sir N. N. Sircar's house "Step Aside" in May 1925. Mahatma Gandhi visited him and stayed with him for some days^[10]. Gandhiji wrote,

"When I left Darjeeling I left much more that I had ever thought before. There was no end of my affection for Deshbandhu and my warm feeling for such a great soul."^[10]

Chittaranjan's health did not recover. On 16 June 1925 he died with a severe fever. A special arrangement was made to bring his cortege by train to Calcutta.

The funeral procession in Calcutta was led by Gandhi, who said:

Deshbandhu was one of the greatest of men... He dreamed... and talked of freedom of India and of nothing else... His heart knew no difference between Hindus and Mussalmans and I should like to tell Englishmen, too, that he bore no ill-will to them^[11].

Thousands of people accompanied Deshbandhu's funeral cortege to the burning ground at Keoratala crematorium in Calcutta. The mass gathering and the manner in which people paid their last respects to this beloved leader, whom many described as "the uncrowned king of Bengal", evoked a feeling in Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) who penned a couplet that has immortalised the person to whom these words were offered : "এনেছিলে সাথে করে মৃত্যুহীন প্রাণ / মরণে তাহাই তুমি করে গেলে দান" (Enechhile sathe kore mrityuheen praan/ Marane tahai tumi kore gele daan..) [You had brought with yourself a life-without-an-end/As you depart, you donate the same.."].