Anupama Nair
Our great Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the Amrit Mahotsav or celebration of India’s 75th year of Independence. We will be celebrating this event till 2022. I am going to write a feature on all those great men and women who fought against foreign invasion not just against the British. Today I am going to write about the great but unknown Bina Das, who shot the Governor of Bengal at a young age of 21.
To understand the story of, Bina Das, I need to take you back many centuries before. India was ruled by the cruel Mughals. It is a credit to the British, how the merchants who came to do trade with India, within 300 years became the masters of the entire land from Khyber to Chittagong and from Kashmir to Comorin (now Kanya Kumari), i.e., entire Sub-Continent. The English East India Company was formed by merchants of England to trade with Asia and India the “golden bird” in particular and America. It was formed by Royal Charter on New Year’s Eve on 1600. They landed in the Indian subcontinent on August 24, 1608, in Surat (Gujarat).
The Battle of Plassey (1757) and Battle of Buxar (1764) , smoothened their path to conquer the sub-continent. Robert Clive became the first Governor General of British India. By spinning a web of deceit, and many laws like Subsidiary Alliance (Lord Wellesley) and Doctrine of Lapse (Lord Dalhousie), they succeeded in ruling the entire sub-continent by 19th century. Jawaharlal Nehru in his book Discovery of India quoted “British rule in India had an unsavory beginning and something of that bitter taste has clung to it ever since”.
Bina Das was the daughter of a well-known teacher, Beni Madhab Das and a social worker, Sarala Devi. Both her parents were followers of Brahmo Samaj. Did you know Netaji Subash Chandra Bose was her father’s student? Her elder sister Kalyani Das was also a freedom fighter. She was a student of St. John's Diocesan Girls' Higher Secondary School and later Bethune College, Calcutta. Sarala Devi, established a hostel dedicated to the freedom struggle. Bombs were stored and distributed amongst its members.
The change in her life came when Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyaya wrote a novel ‘Pather Dabi’ in 1926. The book was very popular, but unfortunately banned by the British Government for its nationalist content. Bina was lucky enough to get a copy of the book. Instead of studying for her English examination, she was reading the book. She was asked to write about her favorite novel, and she wrote about ‘Pather Dabi’. When the result was announced, she did not get good marks. She soon realized it was because she wrote about a banned book. She soon made a vow to fight for India’s Independence and said “the marks I lost in the examination is my offering for the country”. It was expected that Bina too would inherit
the revolutionary instinct from her family.
In her own memoir, translated from Bengali by Dhira Dhar, Das mentioned how “Subhas babu” was intensely inspired by her father and was a frequent visitor to her parents’ home. Her first meeting with Bose is mentioned in the memoir. Her mother told “Subhas, my daughter is a great admirer of yours.” Bose’s political beliefs appealed to a young girl, who dreamt of serving her motherland.
In her memoir, Das recalled an incident that occurred when she was still a student. “One day we heard that the wife of the Viceroy was coming to visit our school. The day before that we were called from class to rehearse the programme of welcome,” wrote Das. “We would have to carry baskets of flowers and scatter the flowers at her feet as she entered the premises. I was revolted by the idea and walked out of the rehearsal. The plan was so insulting. I sat quietly in the corner of the classroom with tears in my eyes. Two other girls also walked out and joined me.”
Das said “much perturbed, we took a vow that we would sacrifice our lives for the freedom of the motherland. Later in life I often remembered this vow, and in moments of weakness it gave me strength and hardened my resolve.”
Netaji still continued to play the role of a mentor in her life, especially when she joined Bethune College, under Calcutta University as a student. “The college library and books that urged theories of revolution and freedom further encouraged her beliefs and hopes for an Independent India”.
Das, along with her group of fellow students, protested against the Simon Commission in 1928. Simon Commission, under John Simon was appointed to study the implementation of the Government of India Act 1919, also called the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms (advocated the need to emancipate the local governments and legislatures from central control). Lala Lajpat Rai, a freedom fighter and educationist (opened National College in Lahore, where Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev studied) held a rally in Lahore protesting against the Simon Commission with placards “Simon Go Back”. The British police began to lathi-charge and unfortunately Lalaji breathed his last. Bina Dass and her friends were threatened by the authotities and asked to apologize.
Her first taste of victory against British oppression — the students’ protests against the Simon Commission and refusal to submit to the college’s demands, led to the “overbearing Englishwoman” resigning from service and leaving the institution.
The revolt laid the foundations of what came to be known as the ‘Chhatri Sangha’, a women student organization which was semi-revolutionary in its activities. Das’ sister Kalyani, was the secretary of this organization. Like other revolutionary groups that came up across Bengal during the time, “the members of the Chhatri Sangha were taught basic self-defense including lathi lekha”, where the women were taught to use batons. This student group also served to recruit other members and was directed by great revolutionaries like Dinesh Majumdar.
The full extent of Netaji’s role as a mentor and individual who deeply inspired Das can only be understood through the readings of her memoir. Their conversations and meetings when Das was a college student involved reflection of their beliefs and discussions between the mentor and mentee on the future of their beloved motherland. “How do you think our country will get freedom? Through violence or non-violence?” asked Bina. Netaji replied “you must want something madly before you can achieve it. Our nation must want freedom passionately. Then the question of violence or non-violence will not be important.”
This conversation, changed her life. On 6th of February 1932, Bina Das walked into the convocation hall of her ‘sacred alma mater’ with five bullets loaded onto a revolver, hidden under her skirt. She was planning to assassinate the Governor of Bengal, Stanley Jackson as an act of defiance against the British Raj. However, the attempt was unsuccessful. Bina came close to the stage where Stanley Jackson was delivering his speech and she shot two bullets. He managed to dodge both the bullets. The Vice Chancellor of the University, also leapt to shield him by overpowering Bina. Even as she was being overpowered, she fired three shots. Stanley Jackson’s ear was grazed by one of the bullets, but he was otherwise unharmed. Bina was sentenced to nine years in federal imprisonment.
In her statement, Bina made an interesting distinction between “Stanley Jackson as a person and Stanley Jackson as a Governor. My grudge was never personal, and claimed I would have opened fire on any person who stood on the podium and held the title of Governor of Bengal. My action was a symbol of the protest against the British colonial system, which has kept enslaved 300 million of my countrymen and countrywomen”.
After Das was released from prison, “she returned to a world she felt was different from one that she had been made to leave nearly a decade ago”. She then met Bose, for the last time. As the struggle for freedom progressed, Das along with her contemporaries, like Suhasini Ganguly, Shanti, and Neena Dasgupta, found themselves driven by slogans like, “karenge ya marenge”; is mentioned in her memoir. “The mantra….inspired the boys and girls of Bengal long before it became a slogan in 1942.”
In the early 1940s, she was imprisoned again, this time in Presidency jail, till she was released in 1945. She decided to continue her fight against the British, and “witnessed more despair and bloodshed in the run-up to independence”. In 1947, she married a fellow revolutionary, Jatish Chandra Bhaumik, who was a member of the Jugantar group.
Unfortunately, not much is known about her life after India became Independent. In 1960, the Government of India awarded her the Padma Shri for her contributions in social work. According to some reports, she died in destitution and poverty in December 1986, her body having been recovered from a ditch in Rishikesh, decomposed so severely that it took authorities weeks to identify.
Due to her revolutionary activities, the British authorities of Calcutta University had denied her graduation degree. She got her Bachelor of Arts Degree only in 2012, nearly sixty years after Independence!. Is this the way to remember a great revolutionary? That is not surprising as when had Congress Governments for 65 years respected any other freedom fighter than Gandhi and Nehru. With the Netaji statue in front of the Parliament is a fitting tribute to her and others for whom Netaji is a source of administration.
