Pritilata Waddedar - Revolutionary Activities

Revolutionary Activities

In her college days, Pritilata used to visit Ramkrishna Biswas, another anti-British revolutionary who later was hanged. His life greatly inspired her. In the early 1930s, Pritilata joined Surya Sen's armed resistance movement, and received combat training from Nirmal Sen.

Pritilata was involved in multiple operations of Surya Sen's group, including an attack on the Telephone & Telegraph office and the capture of the reserve police line.

She took part in the Jalalabad battle, in which her responsibility was to supply explosives.

Pursued by the police, the revolutionaries went into hiding at a house owned by one Savitri Devi. A police party led by Captain Cameron surrounded the house on 13 June 1932. In the ensuing skirmish, Captain Cameron and Nirmal Sen were killed. Surya Sen and Pritilata Waddedar escaped and took shelter in the Katani village.

Some days later, Surya Sen planned an attack on the Pahartali European Club, which bore the notorious sign ‘Dogs and Indians not allowed’. He assigned Pritilata to lead a team of 10-12 persons that would attack the Club on 23 September 1932. The members of the team were instructed to carry potassium cyanide with them so that in case they were caught by police they could swallow it before the arrest. Kalpana Datta, a fellow revolutionary of Pritilata said, "Surya Sen told us he does not support suiciding. But he took potassium cyanide from me before he went". During the raid, Pritilata, dressed as a man, was injured and trapped without a way of escape. In order to avoid capture, she committed suicide by swallowing cyanide. Another theory says that Pritilata committed suicide voluntarily to convey the message that women can, and have to, sacrifice their lives for securing the freedom of India from British colonial rule.