After watching the interview of Binod Bihari Chowdhury, participant in the Chittagong Armoury Raid, I hang my head in shame as a mere caricature of a patriot and I include many others with it, insincere souls who are today clamouring in the name of so-called nationalism.
The nation had been betrayed then by spies and informers and conformists to colonial control or agitators in halfhearted opposition to it but not by these valiant sons of Bengal who on 18 April, 1930 stormed the Chittagong Armoury and other control lines of the Raj to liberate the city for a week before the might of the Empire crushed their fledgling force to regain imperial control over the city. The British had been routed fair and square in the Battle of the Jalalabad Hills with 54 revolutionary musketeers repulsing 22000 Lewis sub-machine gun armed troops for an entire day till they beat retreat in defeat at dusk. The uneven battle was lost the following day and boys martyred for the motherland's freedom. Many escaped and fled the scene only to fight on a later day till all were either captured or killed and the leader, Masterda Surya Sen, was apprehended through betrayal of a relative hosting him at his house. Masterda was hanged on 12 January, 1930.
Most of the young boys who had participated in this epic battle of liberation died in the struggle but a few survived the rigours of the day to recount their tale witnessed at first hand. One such was Binod Bihari Chowdhury. He was not a good shot. His hands trembled as he pulled the trigger of the gun. He was, thus, not included in the front line of the Indian Republican Republican Army on the fateful day of 18 April, 1930 but was inducted in the operation subsequently owing to the incidence of unforeseen events. After the revolution was crushed, the boy Binod Bihari escaped to Kumira where he lived incognito. Thus began his protracted life as a fugitive.
The 97 soldiers of the Indian Republican Army had been divided into five contingents, each with a specific mission. They had to respectively gain control of the Pahartali Auxiliary Force Armoury, the Dampara Police Armoury, the Telephone and Telegraph Centre, attack the Pahartali European Club and uproot the rail-track at the Laksam Junction so as to disconnect Chittagong from the rest of Bengal.
After watching the interview of Binod Bihari Chowdhury, participant in the Chittagong Armoury Raid, I hang my head in shame as a mere caricature of a patriot and all others with it who are today clamouring in the name of so-called nationalism. The austere simplicity, the spirit of sacrifice, courage of conviction and strength of character along with deep reserves of feeling for the motherland that are easily evident in this centenarian revolutionary even through the medium of celluloid makes me wonder what material these men were made of who dared the British eye to eye and ousted them from Chittagong for that fateful week dated 18-25 April, 1930.
The nation had been betrayed then by spies and informers and conformists to colonial control or agitators in halfhearted opposition to it but not by these valiant sons of Bengal who on 18 April, 1930 stormed the Chittagong Armoury and other control lines of the Raj to liberate the city for a week before the might of the Empire crushed their fledgling force to regain imperial control over the city. The British had been routed fair and square in the Battle of the Jalalabad Hills with 54 revolutionary musketeers repulsing 22000 Lewis sub-machine gun armed troops for an entire day till they beat retreat in defeat at dusk. The uneven battle was lost the following day and boys martyred for the motherland's freedom. Many escaped and fled the scene only to fight on a later day till all were either captured or killed and the leader, Masterda Surya Sen, was apprehended through betrayal of a relative hosting him at his house. Masterda was hanged on 12 January, 1930.
Most of the young boys who had participated in this epic battle of liberation died in the struggle but a few survived the rigours of the day to recount their tale witnessed at first hand. One such was Binod Bihari Chowdhury. He was not a good shot. His hands trembled as he pulled the trigger of the gun. He was, thus, not included in the front line of the Indian Republican Republican Army on the fateful day of 18 April, 1930 but was inducted in the operation subsequently owing to the incidence of unforeseen events. After the revolution was crushed, the boy Binod Bihari escaped to Kumira where he lived incognito. Thus began his protracted life as a fugitive.
The 97 soldiers of the Indian Republican Army had been divided into five contingents, each with a specific mission. They had to respectively gain control of the Pahartali Auxiliary Force Armoury, the Dampara Police Armoury, the Telephone and Telegraph Centre, attack the Pahartali European Club and uproot the rail-track at the Laksam Junction so as to disconnect Chittagong from the rest of Bengal.
After watching the interview of Binod Bihari Chowdhury, participant in the Chittagong Armoury Raid, I hang my head in shame as a mere caricature of a patriot and all others with it who are today clamouring in the name of so-called nationalism. The austere simplicity, the spirit of sacrifice, courage of conviction and strength of character along with deep reserves of feeling for the motherland that are easily evident in this centenarian revolutionary even through the medium of celluloid makes me wonder what material these men were made of who dared the British eye to eye and ousted them from Chittagong for that fateful week dated 18-25 April, 1930.
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