Revolutionary Nationalism in Bihar

First Phase of Revolutionary Nationalism

• Among the early leaders of revolutionary ideology in Bihar were Gyanendra Nath, Kedarnath Banerjee and Babaji Thakurdas.
• In 1906, Babaji Thakurdas established the Ramakrishna Society in Patna and started publishing a newspaper with revolutionary ideas called
• Even before the Swadeshi movement, Indranath Nandi and some other revolutionaries came to Bihar and propagated revolutionism in various settlements with the help of magic lanterns.
• On April 30, 1908, an attempt was made to kill the infamous Judge Kingsford of Muzaffarpur by Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chandra Chaki but by mistake the wife and daughter of lawyer Pringle Kennedy were killed.
• Kingsford had previously been the Chief Presidency Magistrate of Calcutta and was notorious for handing out severe punishments to young Bengali political activists. In response, the revolutionaries planned to assassinate him, which failed.
• Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chandra Chaki fled overnight after the Muzaffarpur bomb blast. Sent from Muzaffarpur, constables Shiv Prasad Mishra and Fateh Singh arrested Khudiram Bose at Pusa Road Station (Vaini or ancient Voinpuri).
• Prafulla Chaki shot himself on May 2, 1908 in an encounter with the police.
• The trial of Khudiram Bose under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code was held from June 9, 1908 to June 13, 1908, before the Special Judge Karandak. Kalidas Basu of Muzaffarpur was the advocate on his behalf.
• According to the sentence given by the court, 18-year-old Khudiram Bose was hanged on 11 August 1908.
• Nandlal Banerjee, the Bengali constable responsible for Prafulla Chaki’s suicide, was shot dead on 9 November 1908 in Serpentine Lane, Kolkata.
• It is noteworthy that in November 1907, Shanti Narayan brought out a newspaper named ‘Swaraj’ from Allahabad. Shanti Narayan was sentenced to long imprisonment for publishing an essay on the Muzaffarpur bomb case in ‘Swaraj’. Khudiram Bose was associated with a secret revolutionary organization called Yugantar.
• The first session of Congress in Bihar was held in Bankipur (Patna) in 1912, which was presided over by N. Madholkar.
• In 1913 AD, Shachindranath Sanyal established a branch of Anushilan Samiti in Patna. At that time N. College of Patna had become the center of revolutionary ideology.
• Atul Chandra Mazumdar, who came from Purnea Zilla School, was arrested under the Defense of India Act.
• Sudhir Kumar, Prafulla Kumar Vishwas, Shyamnarayan Jha, Shivkumar Sinha and B.N. College Principal Nripendranath Basu were considered a ‘suspicious person’ by the government.
• Some members of Dhaka Anushilan Samiti were active in Bhagalpur. Revati Nag was the most prominent among them.
• Yadunath Sarkar, a member of the Dacca Anushilan Samiti, took measures to train young revolutionaries in Buxar.
• Swami Satyadev, influenced by Shyamji Krishna Verma, an active revolutionary in America at that time, also tried to spread revolutionary ideology in Bihar.
• Swami Satyadev was a staunch Arya Samaji with progressive thoughts.
• In Bhagalpur, a Bengali youth named Anath Bandhu Chowdhary was arrested in December 1918 under section 12 (a) of the Defense of India Act.
• Rabindranath Tagore protested against his arrest.
• Bankimchandra Mitra distributed ‘Liberty Leaflets’ in September 1915, in which he was supported by Akhilchandra Das Gupta of Bihar National College and Raghubir Singh of TK Ghosh Academy. Bankimchandra was arrested and later sentenced to 3 years’ rigorous imprisonment under the Banaras Conspiracy Case.
• A document titled ‘Establishment was found in Bihar, containing instructions for the chosen person to establish an institution at a new location.
• Another booklet titled ‘Message of Salvation’ was also found which was sent from Kolkata to Arrah to Mukhtar Shamsul Joha, one of the signatories to the Ara Satyagraha Pledge. In this pledge, Indian Muslims pledged to struggle in the effort to achieve independence through revolution.

Second Phase of Revolutionary Nationalism

• Due to the abolition of the non-cooperation movement by the suppression cycle of the British government, the youth were dissatisfied and as a result revolutionary nationalism started gaining momentum again.
• Revolutionary activities gained momentum in Bihar in the years after 1924.
• On January 19, 1927, Shachin Baksi was arrested in Bhagalpur on the charge of being the leader of the revolutionary movement while traveling to Bihar.
• On November 9, 1928, a dacoity took place at Dalsinghsarai in Darbhanga (Samastipur) district. In the eyes of the government, it was a political robbery.
• On June 7, 1929, dacoities took place at a place named Maulania in Champaran district.
• Yogendra Shukla, a prominent leader of the revolutionary movement in
• Bihar, was considered by the police as the main absconding accused in the Maulania dacoity.
• Yogendra Shukla was arrested by the Saran police on June 11, 1930. They were prosecuted in the Tirhut Conspiracy Case.
• After the Assembly bomb incident (1929), copies of Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt’s pictures and posters were sold in Patna. Its author was Professor Gyan Saha.
• The British government considered Gyan Saha as a ‘revolutionary of extremist ideology.
• Professor Saha was closely associated with Manindra Narayan Rai, the leader of the Patna Krantikari Party and Shri Jaichand Vidyalankar, the leader of the Punjab branch of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA).
• Bihar Naujawan Sammelan was held on December 12, 1929 in Munger.
• In the absence of Subhash Chandra Bose, Pandit Prajapati Mishra presided over it.
• In Bihar since 1930 many revolutionary youth were working as members of Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA).
• Chhapra center leader Ramdeni Singh tried to loot the mail bag at Hajipur station. Ramdeni Singh was sentenced to death for this.
• In 1906, Dr. Rajendra Prasad organized the Bihar Students’ Conference in Patna.
• Orissa was separated from Bihar on 1st April, 1936.
• Barindra Kumar Ghosh established the Golden League in Deoghar to promote the Swadeshi movement.
• During the Swadeshi movement against the partition of Bengal, the Tata Iron and Steel Company in Jamshedpur refused to take government and foreign aid.
• The Patna bomb incident on June 28, 1931 was carried out by Hazarilal and Prakash alias Suryanath Choubey.
• On November 9, 1932, Phanindranath Ghosh, the official witness in the Lahore Conspiracy case, was stabbed to death in Bettiah. Baikunth Shukla was hanged on April 14, 1933 for this murder.