Bina Das the young revolutionary influenced by Netaji

Anupama Nair

www.mediaeyenews.com

Our great Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the Amrit Mahotsav or celebration of  India’s 75^th year of Independence. We will be celebrating this event till 2022. I am going to write a feature on all those great men and women who fought against foreign invasion not just against the British. Today I am going to write about the great but unknown Bina Das, who shot the Governor of Bengal at the young age of 21.

To understand the story of, Bina Das, I need to take you back many centuries before. India was ruled by the cruel Mughals. It is a credit to the British, how the merchants who came to do trade with India, within 300 years became the masters of the entire land from Khyber to Chittagong and from Kashmir to Comorin (now Kanya Kumari), i.e., the entire Sub-Continent. The English East India Company was formed by merchants of England to trade with Asia and India the “golden bird” in particular and America. It was formed by Royal Charter on New Year’s Eve on 1600. They landed in the Indian subcontinent on August 24, 1608, in Surat (Gujarat).

The Battle of Plassey (1757) and Battle of Buxar (1764), smoothened their path to conquer the sub-continent. Robert Clive became the first Governor General of British India. By spinning a web of deceit, and many laws like Subsidiary Alliance (Lord Wellesley) and Doctrine of Lapse (Lord Dalhousie), they succeeded in ruling the entire sub-continent by 19^th century. Jawaharlal Nehru in his book Discovery of India quoted “British rule in India had an unsavory beginning and something of that bitter taste has clung to it ever since”.

Bina Das was the daughter of a well-known teacher, Beni Madhab Das and a social worker, Sarala Devi. Both her parents were followers of Brahmo Samaj. Did you know Netaji Subash Chandra Bose was her father’s student? Her elder sister Kalyani Das was also a freedom fighter. She was a student of St. John's Diocesan Girls' Higher Secondary School and later Bethune College, Calcutta. Sarala Devi, established a hostel dedicated to the freedom struggle. Bombs were stored and distributed amongst its members.

The change in her life came when Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyaya wrote a novel ‘Pather Dabi’ in 1926. The book was very popular but unfortunately banned by the British Government for its nationalist content. Bina was lucky enough to get a copy of the book. Instead of studying for her English examination, she was reading the book. She was asked to write about her favorite novel, and she wrote about ‘Pather Dabi’. When the result was announced, she did not get good marks. She soon realized it was because she wrote about a banned book. She soon made a vow to fight for India’s Independence and said “the marks I lost in the examination is my offering for the country”. It was expected that Bina too would inherit

 the revolutionary instinct from her family.

In her own memoir, translated from Bengali by Dhira Dhar, Das mentioned how “Subhas babu” was intensely inspired by her father and was a frequent visitor to her parents’ home. Her first meeting with Bose is mentioned in the memoir. Her mother told “Subhas, my daughter is a great admirer of yours.” Bose’s political beliefs appealed to a young girl, who dreamt of serving her motherland.

In her memoir, Das recalled an incident that occurred when she was still a student. “One day we heard that the wife of the Viceroy was coming to visit our school. The day before that we were called from class to rehearse the programme of welcome,” wrote Das. “We would have to carry baskets of flowers and scatter the flowers at her feet as she entered the premises. I was revolted by the idea and walked out of the rehearsal. The plan was so insulting. I sat quietly in the corner of the classroom with tears in my eyes. Two other girls also walked out and joined me.”

Das said “much perturbed, we took a vow that we would sacrifice our lives for the freedom of the motherland. Later in life, I often remembered this vow, and in moments of weakness it gave me strength and hardened my resolve.”

What a brave young girl and how could not Netaji, whose words inspired an entire country to fight for freedom fail to inspire a young girl!

(to be continued….)