Remembring heroes of Indian freedom struggle: Bipin Chandra Pal

New Delhi: Bipin Chandra Pal was a patriot, an orator, a teacher, preacher, writer and critic, and one of the leaders of Bengal Renaissance movement. Born on November 7, 1858 in village Poil in Sylhet district, which now lies in Bangladesh. He was a prominent leader of the Indian nationalist movement. He was a lover of truth and freedom, Bipin Chandra was a staunch opponent of hypocrisy. He was a serious political, social, philosophical and religious thinker.His father Ramchandra Pal, a village zamindar and a prominent member of the Sylhet Bar was influenced by Hindu rituals and Islamic thought though he was a follower of Vaishnavism. He was the only son of his parents, Bipin Chandra Pal took his early education from a Maulvi in Sylhet town. He had his formal education at Sylhet Government High School from where he passed the Entrance Examination. He was admitted to Kolkata's Presidency College, but gave up his studies before graduating. At a very early age, he led protests against social evils, regardless of the fear of being denounced by his near and dear ones. He stopped believing in the caste system when he was only fourteen, and later on married a widow of a higher caste. He expressed support to the Age of Consent Bill of 1891. Pal started his career in early 1879 as a Headmaster of a High School and served in this capacity in different schools in and outside Sylhet. For sometime (1890-91) he worked as the librarian and secretary of the Calcutta Public Library. He started the weekly Paridarshak when he was only 22 years old. His journalistic career saw him in the editorial staff of the Bengal Public Opinion, Calcutta, as the editor of the Tribune in Lahore from 1887-88, as founder editor of the English weekly, India in 1901, and as the founder editor of the English daily Bande Mataram in 1906, which was later banned by the government. He also published the English weekly Swaraj in London during his exile in 1908-11, founded the English monthly Hindu Review in 1912, edited the daily Independent and the weekly Democrat from 1919 to 1920 and the Bengali in 1924, 25. He also regularly contributed to the Modern Review, the Amrita Bazaar Patrika and the Statesman. Surendranath Banerjea inspired Bipin Pal to take part in active politics. Soon, however, he became a convert to the extremist ideas of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Aurobinda Ghosh, though he could not accept Tilak's concept of Hindu nationalism. He was an exponent of 'composite patriotism' which, he thought, was suitable for a country like India.Bipin Chandra Pal was connected with the progressive force of the Congress since 1885 and attended the second and the third annual sessions of the Congress held in Calcutta and Madras in 1886 and 1887 respectively. He compelled the Congress to take up the cause of the Assam tea-garden labourers who were cruelly treated by the planters.Pal was one of the architects of the Swadeshi movement, which swept India during the days following the partition of Bengal. He suffered imprisonment for six months in 1907 for his refusal to give evidence against Aurobindo Ghosh in the so-called Bande Mataram Sedition Case. On his release, Pal went to England in 1908 'to lead the life of an enforced exile' and stayed there for three years.After the First World War, he visited England for the third time in 1919 as a member of the Home Rule League deputation led by Tilak. He presided over the Bengal Provincial Conference held at Barisal in 1921. He preferred not to be involved with Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement, because it was merged with the Khilafat cause. He criticised the Bengal Pact (1923) of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das. He could not share the views of Maulana Mohammad Ali on the nature of the communal problem in India (1920-25). From 1925 onwards, he, however, retired from active politics. Bipin Chandra Pal occupies a unique place in the history of the freedom movement of India. He took his last breath in Kolkata on May 20, 1932.

Remembring heroes of Indian freedom struggle: Bipin Chandra Pal

New Delhi: Bipin Chandra Pal was a patriot, an orator, a teacher, preacher, writer and critic, and one of the leaders of Bengal Renais­sance movement. Born on November 7, 1858 in village Poil in Sylhet

New Delhi: Bipin Chandra Pal was a patriot, an orator, a teacher, preacher, writer and critic, and one of the leaders of Bengal Renaissance movement. Born on November 7, 1858 in village Poil in Sylhet