July 1st, 2001

In today’s or 21st Century India “politician” means “crook”. A hundred years ago when political life was just beginning for Indians after the lull following the massacres of 1857/1858 getting involved meant great idealism, suffering and sacrifice. Today talk of martyrs and patriots is likely to be ignored. Or dismissed a la Wodehouse as “piffle and Moonshine”. As irrelevant as talk of true love in a brothel.

But one has to survive. Dilleewaalaas survived Nadir Shahi in 1739 Spring and British massacre in Autumn 1857. We shall surely survive the rule of Gandhi killers. We shall talk of the good and the glorious martyrs who gave up their todays for our tomorrows.

For a start we shall examine how political consciousness comes about in the uninitiated.

How does an individual become sensitized?

Faiz Ahmad “Faiz” states that the spark is provided by example, the sight and sound of lovers of liberty being led to the gallows.

Daar kee russiyoan kay guloobund gurdun meiyn pehney huway
Ganeywaaley hureyk roaz gaatey ruhey,
Paayaleiyn beidiyoan kee bujaatey ruhey:
Hum joa iss suff meiyn thhey awr naa uss suff meiyn thhey
Raastey meiyn khudey unkoa tuktey ruhey
Awr chupchaap aansou buhaatey ruhey.

Lawt kur aakey deykhaa toa phooloan kaa rung, joa kubhee surkh thhaa zurd hee zurd hey
Upnaa pehloo tatoalaa toa eiysaa lugaa dil juhaan thhaa wuhaan durd hee durd hey

 Hear Akhilesh recite this

Sporting nooses as if they were a garlands
and sounding fetters like dancers tinkling ankle bells, the condemned going to their deaths.
We the onlookers neither oppressors nor resisters watched silent,
shedding helpless tears.

On return we found everything changed, different
The blossoms which had been crimson had turned sere and yellow-
When we felt our breast chest it seemed that where once there was a heart only pain could be felt

Susil Kumar Sen plunged into the freedom movement in 1907 like a flame. His heroic example kindled the fire of freedom in many a breast in the India of the first decade of the 20th Century. Susil showed that the brute rulers could be defied.

We talk of Susil in the India of today as lovers talk of lost loves. Today the freedom won by the sacrifices of the Susil Kumar Sens and the Bhagat Singhs is being sold by corrupt politicians. It is time to remind the reader of the sacrifices which won freedom for India.

On April 28th 1915 two boats appeared at Pragpur in Nadia District. The young men aboard were strangers to the local villagers and appeared to have come from a long way off. Soon thereafter, on 30th April and 2nd May, two dacoities were committed. Suspicion fell upon the new arrivals. When next seen the villagers questioned them. They refused to answer and crossed over to Khalilpur where they tried to cook food in a cowshed.

A man noticed them and came up to question them. When they refused to identify themselves the villagers informed the police and a posse was sent to apprehend them. On seeing the police they fled to the river with the police in hot pursuit. When fired upon they returned the fire. It was dark and, providentially, a storm broke which gave them the cover to escape.

On the 6th of May 1915 a policeman patrolling the banks of the river noticed something which appeared unusual and suspicious. An unoccupied boat attached to a long bamboo pole was stuck in the mud at the river bank.
The area was searched most meticulously and a spent cartridge found. A dragnet was used to scour the river bed. Pieces of cloth were found but no body could be discovered.

Later, when the story was pieced together it was discovered that the empty shell was of the bullet which had killed Susil Kumar Sen.

Susil hit the headlines when he took on a brutal sergeant who was beating all bystanders outside the Laal Baazaar Police station in Calcutta. He returned blow for blow although he was a mere stripling and the sergeant a huge beefy fellow. Susil was arrested and tried and awarded fifteen stripes. Susil was the man who delivered a book bomb to the house of the notorious Magistrate, Kingsford. He was also one of the group that killed Police Inspector Suresh Mukherjee at the busy crossing of Manicktolla and Cornwallis streets.

On the 3rd May 1915 when these young men were able to escape the police under cover of the darkness of the night and the storm that swept the area a great tragedy had occurred. As they were clambering onto the boat with pistols on the ready one missed a step and stumbled.

The revolver went off and the bullet hit Susil Kumar Sen. He was mortally wounded. His companions lifted him onto the boat and the group fled. The police chased them in the boats they had requisitioned but lost them.

As Susil lay dying his only thoughts were for the others. He asked that his head be severed from his body as that would make identification impossible. The head and the body were to be separately disposed off in a manner which would make piecing together impossible.

This was done and when the police found the boat at Kristopur Char [Khalilpur] no trace of the body or the head could be found.

The instructions of Susil had been carried out by his comrades.

We hope that this story will warm the hearts of those who hope for a revival of idealism in India and the world and believe that everything should not be driven by the market economy or greed.

[Followup on earlier article on Sulil Kumar Sen.]

Ear icon by Gregor Cresnar from the Noun Project