M. P. T. Acharya - Europe Again

Europe Again

A large number of Indian nationalists had (as explained above) moved to Europe in the aftermath of Curzon Wyllie's assassination. Among them were Shyamji Krishna Varma, Virendranath Chattopadhyaya, Har Dayal, Bhikhaji Cama. Madame Cama founded the Bande Mataram in Paris in September 1909. From Paris, Madame Cama arranged for Indian students to be supported in Russia, Germany, Japan and other countries where they could train in explosives, military tactics, arrange for arms shipments to India and also facilitate continental connections.

After Savarkar's arrest in 1910 Acharya and V.V.S. Iyer took the prudent decision of leaving for Paris, where Acharya worked for Madame Cama's publication. He continued to maintain contacts with revolutionaries in India, including Subramanya Bharathi with whom he had worked in Pondicherry, and with M.S. Acharya. Significantly, at this time, in addition to his works in promoting and clandestine distribution of the Bande Mataram, Acharya, in a train of thought that arose among Indian revolutionaries at this time, began efforts to spread nationalist sentiments amongst the British Indian Army. The influx of seditious literature from Europe was quickly noted by the British Indian authorities. A report by the Director of Criminal intelligence bureau described the effects and sentiments that these literature were promoting amongst the "ignorant peasantry", urging the ban on such publications emanating in Europe from entering India. The result was the Indian Press Act, 1910 which restricted publication of sedtious material in India and the entry of such literature from outside. A number of newspaper proprietors, journalists and editors within India were imported or transported under the act. The publication found their way in nonetheless. Among Acharya's ploys was to send these literature from different countries and use different secret code numbers to prevent Indian postal authorities from deciphering or tracing them.