WE HAVE FORGOTTEN YOU, MASTERDA
Masterda Surjya Sen, leader of the Indian Republican Army that liberated Chittagong (Chattagram) in 1930 for 3 days and set the Indian National Flag flying on the liberated landmass. The subsequent Battle of the Jalalabad Hills saw an epic encounter between the IRA and the British Indian Army in which the IRA suffered heavy casualties and was scattered therefrom to the different parts of Bengal. Masterda escaped along with his comrades who had survived the battle, roamed about in multiple disguise in different parts of East Bengal, masterminded the Pahartali European Club Attack in which Pritilata Waddedar was martyred, but was eventually betrayed into the hands of the British by a cousin called Netra Sen.
Trial over, he was sentenced to death by the noose. The valiant leader wrote a final inspirational letter to his comrades from prison. Hours before his hanging, he was beaten with a hammer, his bones broken at the joints, his teeth hammered in and nails pulled out as he kept on raising the chant of Vande Mataram. Unconscious, he was dragged to the scaffold where his body was dispatched to the other world.
The British authorities then found it expedient to ship his corpse into the Bay of Bengal where British officers abused and kicked it before Indian soldiers vehemently objected and stopped any further insult. Masterda's body was then unceremoniously cast into the salty waters of the sea.
And what did our Government do to him and his memory? I wonder. May you wonder, too. Let us hang our heads in shame if we cannot raise it in pride and restore the memory of Masterda.
Written by Sugata Bose
Photo: Masterda Surjya Sen (courtesy, Sourav Saumya Das)
Masterda Surjya Sen, leader of the Indian Republican Army that liberated Chittagong (Chattagram) in 1930 for 3 days and set the Indian National Flag flying on the liberated landmass. The subsequent Battle of the Jalalabad Hills saw an epic encounter between the IRA and the British Indian Army in which the IRA suffered heavy casualties and was scattered therefrom to the different parts of Bengal. Masterda escaped along with his comrades who had survived the battle, roamed about in multiple disguise in different parts of East Bengal, masterminded the Pahartali European Club Attack in which Pritilata Waddedar was martyred, but was eventually betrayed into the hands of the British by a cousin called Netra Sen.
Trial over, he was sentenced to death by the noose. The valiant leader wrote a final inspirational letter to his comrades from prison. Hours before his hanging, he was beaten with a hammer, his bones broken at the joints, his teeth hammered in and nails pulled out as he kept on raising the chant of Vande Mataram. Unconscious, he was dragged to the scaffold where his body was dispatched to the other world.
The British authorities then found it expedient to ship his corpse into the Bay of Bengal where British officers abused and kicked it before Indian soldiers vehemently objected and stopped any further insult. Masterda's body was then unceremoniously cast into the salty waters of the sea.
And what did our Government do to him and his memory? I wonder. May you wonder, too. Let us hang our heads in shame if we cannot raise it in pride and restore the memory of Masterda.
Written by Sugata Bose
Photo: Masterda Surjya Sen (courtesy, Sourav Saumya Das)
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