Bhupendra Kumar Datta - Daulatpur College

Daulatpur College

After joining the Scottish Church College of Kolkata, in 1911, Bhupen came across two significant members of the initial Anushilan Samiti of Kolkata, who introduced him to Sachin Sanyal from Benares, who was desirous to join an active revolutionary party. His prior release from the Howrah Trial and informed him about a forthcoming World War. During this time, Jatindranath Mukherjee or Bagha Jatin had suspended all violent activity, preparing for an armed insurrection all over India. Discouraged at the suspension of all revolutionary activities, Sachin went to the Dhaka Anushilan Samiti whose leaders did not participate in Bagha Jatin's programme. Led by a faint clue in 1913, Bhupen decided to go to Khulna and join the Daulatpur Hindu Academy. Encouraged by the liberal spirit reigning in the campus, Bhupen brought together his own group of college-mates interested in social work, raising funds for the poor by offering manual labour, gymnastics, study sessions for the Gita and essays of contemporary thinkers. They founded their own hostel. Several professors of the college and the superintendent himself, like for example Shashibhushan Raychaudhury (or more commonly known by his nickname) Shashida, who was more famous for his experiments in education, and had been closely associated with Bagha Jatin, used to visit the College.

Introduced by Shashida, after a number of contacts, Bhupen recognised in Bagha Jatin the leader he was waiting for. Invited by his friend Hemanta Sarkar, Bhupen went to Krishnagar and spent a few days in the company of Subhash Chandra Bose, the future Netaji. Contrary to his habit, during a conversation, Bhupen disclosed to the friends his meeting with Bagha Jatin and informed them that he sensed that there was a big revolutionary preparation going on under Jatin's guidance. Subhash listened to all this and, moved up to his core, retired without dinner. He had a conviction that one had to be a "liberated soul" (mukta-purush) in order to lead a revolution and, the next day, asked Bhupen point blank, "Is Jatin Mukherjee a mukta-purush?" Bhupen told him that he had no idea of what a mukta-purush was, but there was a man who not only quoted the Gita but whose very life was an embodiment of the teachings of the Gita.

Drawn by the relief work organised by the revolutionaries in August–September 1913, in collaboration with the Ramakrishna Mission during the flood on the Damodar in the districts of Burdwan, Midnapur and Hooghli, Bhupen met there some of the stalwart collaborators of Jatin Mukherjee. Arun Chandra Guha wrote : "The police had somehow information that behind the facade of relief work, Jatin and other workers were forging a powerful revolutionary organisation." Bhupen was to know later that during the flood relief, at Kalinagar in Medinipur, Atulkrishna Ghosh, Amarendra Chatterjee, Jadugopal Mukherjee and others brought together, under the moral and spiritual caution of Bagha Jatin, the various branches and sub-groups of the secret societies in order to create the rising Jugantar, which was more a concerted movement than a party.

After returning to Daulatpur, Bhupen learnt from his college mate Gopaldas Majumdar that Bagha Jatin was soon leaving his business as a contractor in order to go back to Kolkata. After a significant farewell visit to Bhupen, Jatin sent a horse to Dr Amulya Ukil of the campus, apparently for the latter's use; thanks to this gift, Bhupen and the other boys took lessons in riding. Assisted by Bhupen, Dr Ukil in earnest discipline took to training the students in military drill, semaphore signaling, arms collection, propaganda among military police and the fluvial workers of Khulna-Jessore regions. On visit to Daulatpur, Subhash Chandra Bose and Hemanta Kumar Sarkar were so impressed by this pageant that during the Kolkata session of the National Congress, in 1928, when Bose organised the Bengal Volunteers in a fully military style, he was happy to have Bhupen by his side. On visiting India after forty-two years, Dr. Taraknath Das reminded in his tribute to Bagha Jatin : "In Jatinda’s method of working there was a military discipline (…) Throughout the country, inspired by Jatinda’s ideology, one has to create an organisation similar to the military model. That alone will be an adequate homage to Jatinda."