Chittagong uprising
The Chittagong uprising began on April 18, 1930 and was a futile attempt by the Bengali revolutionary movement to drive the British out of India . The fighters of the Indian Republican Army (Chittagong Branch) were quickly defeated by means of repression , but there were still isolated guerrilla activities against symbols of British rule in the region for years. Overall, the first collective attack against the British in Bengal contributed to the radicalization of nationalist circles.
prehistory
After the death of the Bengali leader of the Indian National Congress , Chittaranjan Das (1870–1925), the organization split into two wings. Of the existing rival revolutionary violent secret societies, the Anushilam Samiti joined the wing under Subhash Chandra Bose . The more radical Jugantar the circles of Jatindra Mohan Sengupta . Another radicalization came with the death of Jatin Das after a 64-day hunger strike on September 13, 1929 in Lahore prison .
From the younger members of both groups, the Indian Revolutionary Army (Chittagong Branch) (IRA) around Surya Sen formed in Chittagong around 1930 . Their leaders were Anant Singh, Ganesh Ghosh and Lokenath Baul. The choice of name, with the abbreviation of the same name, should, as well as the start of the uprising on Good Friday , honor the Irish models of 1916 . They met in the Sadarghat Physical Outline Club, raised by Anant Singh , disguised as a sports club, which also served to recruit new qualified members, many of them 14 to 16 year old students. Most of the recruiting took place among members of the Hindu middle class. The non-violent goals of the Gandhian Salt March were rejected; the armed revolutionary action was intended to stimulate the masses nationwide to further uprisings.
revolt
71 of the approximately 500 to 600 members were selected for the campaign, each with 16 handguns and small-caliber weapons, as well as 17 hand grenades.
The plan was to occupy the two arsenals in Chittagong and to destroy the city's post, telegraph and rail links. It was clear to the revolutionaries from the start that their plan - unlike their Irish role models, who had had a minimal chance of success - would by no means be guaranteed to be permanent.
The carefully planned attack began on Good Friday, April 18, 1930, at 10:00 p.m. The first part, the murder of the leading British in the city in retaliation for the Amritsar massacre , failed. The European Club, the central meeting place for Europeans every evening, was stormed. However, it was not taken into account that almost all whites spent that day at home. Nobody fell into the hands of the "revolutionaries".
Six men, led by Ganesh Ghosh, successfully stormed the arsenal of the Assam-Bengal Railway Battalion (AFI ), a Lewis MG , 54 muskets, revolvers and Enfield 303 rifles fell into their hands. There were seven deaths among the police officers. However, the insurgents failed to locate the associated ammunition cabinet before setting fire to the buildings and most of the weapons and pulling them away to unite with the others.
A group of six managed to burn down the telegraph office. In the surrounding area near Dhum (today in Chittagong , Bangladesh ) the tracks of the railway line to the north were destroyed. The aim of these measures was to cut off Chittagong from communication with the outside world, which only partially succeeded.
At the barracks of the Armed Police (Police Armory) in the northwestern district Parhatalli Surya Sen had initially with ten men, the Indian tricolor flag raised as the national flag and let salute. Thereupon he proclaimed a "provisional revolutionary national government". These uniformed rebels stormed the barracks, which were inhabited by 500 to 600 men, while smaller groups waited as reinforcements in the nearby jungle.
It was clear to the insurgents that they would not be able to withstand the counterattack of the British colonial army in the city. So they left Chittagong before sunrise and gathered in the nearby mountains.
At the same time, the colonial government evacuated European women and children onto a ship and dispatched 112 men from the Eastern Frontier Rifles regiment , commanded by Lt. Col. Dallas Smith, who were soon increased to 575 men. About 80 to 100 "revolutionaries" were pinned down on April 22nd on Jalalabad Hill and took part in the final battle against several hundred soldiers. Over 80 British troops and twelve freedom fighters were killed in the heavy fighting. When Sanya Sen realized the hopelessness of the position, he ordered the troops to be dispersed. 23 muskets, smaller weapons and ammunition were left behind. The corpses were doused with gasoline in a pit on the 23rd and burned. Smaller groups seeped into the surrounding villages and started guerrilla warfare in the region. They were particularly supported by the Muslim population.
Soon after, the colonial administration issued some twenty counter-terrorism ordinances. The police stepped up against nationalist activity. Raids, some of them violent, were carried out in several villages. In 1930 there were 56 terrorist acts in Bengal.
At Feni station it happened on 22./23. April to a shooting in which three police officers were injured. On May 6, six insurgents were arrested in the village of Juldhagram ( Kalarpole ), of which two were captured. The other four violently resisted their arrest and were shot dead by the police. Some insurgents managed to flee to the French possession of Chandernagore , where four were caught by British troops invading in breach of international law on September 1, 1930 and deported to Calcutta.
Those who remained in freedom planned to blow up the prison and judicial building in order to free their comrades. After about 40 kg of dynamite had already been deposited in the institution and mines at various locations in the city, the plan, the Dynamite Conspiracy, became known; there were more arrests.
Despite massive repression by the colonial government, several managed to carry out attacks for two years. In the district of Midnapore alone , three magistrates were killed in 1931/32 . Two inspectors general of the police also died, and there were also unsuccessful attacks on two governors. The active participation of numerous women in this phase is remarkable. The attack on the Parthali Railway Club (for Europeans) on September 24, 1932, which resulted in several deaths, caused a stir . On January 5, 1934, four freedom fighters attacked a cricket match between two European teams and shot at the stands. Those involved were executed on June 5th. The last leader to be arrested was Benode Bihari Dutta (* 1908) in Durgapur in 1941 .
consequences
On March 1, 1932, the thirty defendants in the first Armory Raid Case were sentenced . There were 16 acquittals, but those acquitted were immediately arrested and detained without trial under the terms of the Bengal Ordinance (1924) . Most of the 14 prisoners sentenced to prison were brought to the Circular Goal in the Andaman Islands , which is notorious for its extreme prison conditions . One defendant received three years of strict prison, a minor three years in a reformatory.
In the parallel Dynamite Conspiracy Case , none of the sentences were in prison for more than five years. In both cases, the police and the accused had come to an agreement regarding the verdicts.
Surya Sen was betrayed and captured on February 16, 1933. On January 12, 1934, after brutal mistreatment, he and Tarakeshwar Dastidar were executed by the colonial rulers. Both bodies were thrown in the Bay of Bengal .
Numerous other members and supporters of the IRA (Chittagong Branch) were interned from 1933 to 1938 without a trial. The survivors on the Andaman Islands were released in a few cases in 1938/39, the rest were transferred to the Alipore Central Jail of Calcutta, from where they were released on August 31, 1946. Many subsequently worked for the communist movement and therefore spent many more years underground or in custody in East Pakistan .
literature
- Ardhendu Guha (Ed.): Chittagong Uprising Golden Jubilee. April 18, 1980 - April 18, 1981. Souvenir. Chittagong Uprising National Golden Jubilee Committee, Calcutta 1980.
- HW Hale: Terrorism in India, 1917-1936. Compiled in the Intelligence Bureau, Home Department, Government of India. India Press, Shimla 1937 (reprint: Deep Publications, Delhi 1974).
- David M. Laushey: Bengal Terrorism and the Bengal Left, aspects of regional nationalism in India. 1905-1942. Mukhopadhyay, Calcutta 1975, ISBN 0-88386-467-3 (also: Richmond VA, Univ., Diss., 1969).
- I. Mallikarjuna Sharma (Ed.): Easter Rebellion in India. The Chittagong Uprising. Marxist Study Forum, Hyderabad 1993 ( Marxist Study Forum. Publication 16), (numerous sources in the appendices, including approx. 100 short biographies of freedom fighters).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Chandra, Bipan; India's Struggle for Independence; New Delhi 1989; ISBN 0-14-010781-9 , pp. 250-8.
- ^ Proclamation printed in: Sharma (1993), app. 9
- ^ Communique Government of Bengal April 19, 1930 and Wilkinson's Report (April 21) reprinted in: Sharma (1993), app. 10, 18 and 29
- ↑ Report by a Captain, 1st Bat., 4th Bombay Grenadiers; (April 22nd); printed in: Sharma (1993), app. 21 and 26
- ↑ Sarkar, Sumit; Modern India 1885-1947; New Delhi 1998; ISBN 0-333-90425-7 , pp. 287f.
- ↑ Sharma (1993); App. 35; P. 167.
- ↑ Interview in Sharma (1993), pp. 59-85.
- ^ Judgment of September 29, 1931 reprinted in: Sharma (1993), app. 32
- ↑ confirmed judgment of November 14, 1933, printed in: Sharma (1993), app. 31
- ↑ cf. Short biographies of freedom fighters in: Sharma (1993), Ext. 33 and 34