Bhupendra Kumar Datta - Kolkata Again

Kolkata Again

In spite of such a hectic social programme, in March 1915 Bhupen passed his Intermediate Examination securing very high marks, with distinctions for the quality of his Bengali and English prose. Although he joined the Sanskrit College of Kolkata, he attended (along with Subhash Bose) courses in philosophy at the Presidency College. For students coming from the districts, Bhupen opened a hostel which counted among its inmates brilliant students like Megh Nad Saha, Sisir Mitra, Sailen Ghosh, Jatin Seth, Jnan Mukherjee, Jnan Ghosh, all of them known to Bagha Jatin and Shashida, all of them more or less involved in the Indo-German plan. Similar other hostels were run by his revolutionary associates, out of which the Eden Hindu Hostel was to become a permanent reference for years to come. Bagha Jatin was a frequent visitor to these addresses which sheltered a number of future celebrities. In September 1915, after the self-undoing of Bagha Jatin, massive repression and imprisonment prevailed in India. Stunned by the leader’s sudden death, whereas his top-ranking associates felt helpless and absconded, Bhupen stepped forward to remind them that a revolution could not die with the leader’s death : "Bhupendra Kumar Datta remained the sole moving worker to maintain the links and collect money," admitted Arun Chandra Guha. He was assisted by Charu Ghosh, Kuntal Chakravarti and Jibanlal Chatterjee. His role was similar to that of Bagha Jatin during the Alipore trial in 1908-09. According to Jadugopal Mukherjee, "In 1917 Bhupen occupied a special place among our leading figures." On 17 May 1917, he was arrested. On the eve of the visit to India of Montagu, Secretary of State for India in the British Cabinet, information came that the Government did not want to discuss with the Minister the fate of those accused of any implication in the Indo-German plot. Immediately, the Jugantar group, then led by Jibanlal Chatterjee, published its declaration in December 1917: "But first and last spread the terror. Make this unholy Government impossible. Hide like invisible shadows of doom and rain death upon the alien bureaucracy. Remember your brothers who are perishing in Jails and rotting in swamps. Remember those who have died or have gone mad. Remember, watch and work.". Protesting against the imprisonment of such a number of people without habeas corpus and against the physical and moral torture meted inside the prisons, an eight-page long appeal was written by Jiten Lahiri and Bhupendra Kumar Datta; it was sent to forty-two important personalities to inform the countrymen about the decision of a hunger strike taken by the political prisoners all over India. Transferred to Bilaspur Jail, Bhupen "continued his hunger strike for seventy-eight days, till then the longest ever period of hunger strike in any country.".