Balasore: Chasakhanda, situated on the banks of Budhabalanga, evokes the memory of a bloody shootout that took place 101 years ago September 9 when revolutionary freedom fighter Jatindranath Mukhopadhaya, famous as Bagha Jatin, was riddled with bullets fired by the British police.
His friend Chittapriya Ray Choudhray died on the spot while Bagha Jatin was critically wounded and admitted to Army Hospital (now it is a Girls’ High School) at Barabati.
Being a great patriot, he bluntly refused medical treatment of the British and did not take medicines September 10. He himself removed the cotton bandages from his wounds and on that day itself breathed his last.
One of his friends Jyotish Pal was condemned to life imprisonment while othe friends Manoranjan Sengupta and Naren Bhattacharya were hanged to death at Balasore.
Bagha Jatin was born to Umesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya and Sharadasashi December 7, 1879 at Koya village in Jashohar district of East Bengal. His family was religious. When he was five, his father died while his mother passed away when he was nine.
His elder sister Binodbala brought up Bagha Jatin. At the age of 19, he had killed a Royal Bengal Tiger in a valiant fight. This feat earned him the name Bagha Jatin.
He took part in the Banga Bhanga movement in 1905. While he was studying at Central College in Kolkata, he chanced to meet Swami Vivekananda. Not only that, he used to dwell on poetry and literature with Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.
During the great famine, Bagha Jatin, on the call of Sister Nivedita, had served the poor and the afflicted people. After coming in contact with several freedom fighters and revolutionaries at that time, he fostered a dream about freedom of the country from the British.
With his revolutionary friends – Chittapriya, Manoranjan, Jyotish and Naren – Bagha Jatin was involved in a violent struggle against the British government, which had declared them extremists.
He along with his friends had looted an armoury and made away with 50 German-made guns and a huge cache of weapons and distributed them among the people.
The group had maintained secret contacts with the Germans and had conspired against the British at Balasore Emporium to overthrow the government.
When the British intelligence came to know about the armoury loot incident, the group of revolutionaries fled from Bengal to Balasore.
They along with local revolutionaries hatched a conspiracy at a cycle emporium at Motiganj. However, as the British intelligence also got tip-off about their activities, they sneaked into Kaptipada area in Mayurbhanj and set up an ashram with help of a landlord Manindra Nath in the disguise of saints.
Tipped-off by a curd seller, deputy general EC Railand along with armed police moved to Kaptipada.
When the revolutionaries got to know of the arrival of police, some of his friends wanted to move to Meghasan hill, but Bagha Jatin and others wanted to return to Calcutta.
With a plan to return to Calcutta, September 9, 1915, he and his friends gathered on the banks of Budhabalanga and ate bloated rice from an elderly woman. They paid her Rs 10 for shortage of change.
However, the woman assumed that they were robbers and intimated the villagers. Police then got information about their escape bid.
A boatman too assumed that they were dacoits and did not ferry them across the river. By then, the British police had arrived there, leading to an encounter with the revolutionaries. The gun-battle ensued till their bullets exhausted.
Chittapirya died on the spot while Bagha Jatin received bullet injuries on belly, armpit and right hand. He fainted, but found himself in a hospital by the time he gained his sense.
When he came to know that he has been surviving on the medicines given by the British, he removed the bandages and cotton from wounds, leading to profuse bleeding. Finally he attained martyrdom.
The great sacrifice of the patriot drew applauds from Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subash Chandra Bose and other leaders. Revolutionary Bhagat Singh had then got his photograph.
The administration Friday observed the 101st anniversary of the incident and paid tributes to the martyrs. PNN
