History News Desk !!! Jatindranath Mukherjee or Bagha Jatin (English: Jatindranath Mukherjee, born- 7 December, 1879; died- 10 September, 1915) was a Bengali revolutionary against British rule. His father died at a young age. His mother took all the responsibility of the house on herself and fulfilled it very carefully. Jatindranath Mukherjee’s childhood name was ‘Jatindranath Mukhopadhyay’. Due to his bravery in killing a tiger, he also became famous as ‘Bagha Jatin’. Jatindranath was a working philosophical revolutionary against British rule. He was the main leader of the ‘Yugantar Party’. At that time, the Yugantar Party was the main organization of revolutionaries in Bengal.
Introduction
Jatindranath Mukherjee was born in Jessore, Bengal in British India on 7 December 1879. His father died when he was just five years old. His mother raised him with great difficulty. Jatindranath passed the matriculation examination at the age of 18 and joined the ‘Calcutta University’ after learning stenography to earn a living for the family. He was very strong since childhood. Another true fact about him is that once at the age of 27, while passing through the jungle, he encountered a tiger.[2] He killed the tiger with his cleaver. After this incident Jatindranath became famous as Bagha Jatin.
Revolutionary life
During these days, the British made a plan for the partition of Bengal. Bengalis opposed it openly. At such a time, Jatindranath Mukherjee’s blood started boiling. He kicked the imperialist job and took the path of agitation. In 1910, while working in a revolutionary organization, Jatindranath was arrested in the ‘Howrah Conspiracy Case’ and had to spend a year in jail. After being released from jail, he became an active member of the ‘Anushilan Samiti’ and started handling the work of ‘Yugantar’. In one of his articles during those days, he had written – “The goal of the revolutionaries is to end capitalism and establish a classless society. Our demand is to free us from domestic and foreign exploitation and to give us the opportunity to earn a living through self-determination.”
Robbery
The main means of raising funds for the movement was robbery. During a fierce robbery at a place called Dularia, revolutionary Amrit Sarkar was injured by a bullet of a colleague of his own group. A difficult problem arose whether to run away with the money or save the life of his companion! Amrit Sarkar told Jatindranath to run away with the money, you don’t worry about me, but when Jatindranath was not ready for this task, Amrit Sarkar ordered – “Cut off my head and take it away, so that the British cannot identify me.” Among these robberies, the ‘Garden Reach’ robbery is considered to be very famous. Its leader was Jatindranath Mukherjee. World War had started at this time. In those days, ‘Rada Company’ used to trade guns and cartridges in Calcutta. A vehicle of this company was made to disappear from the road, in which the revolutionaries got 52 Mauser pistols and 50 thousand bullets. The British Government had come to know that Jatindranath was involved in the dacoities of ‘Ballia Ghat’ and ‘Garden Reach’.
Encounter with police
On 1 September 1915 the police raided Jatindranath’s secret hideout ‘Kali Poksh'[3] They found him. Jatindranath and his companions were about to leave that place when an officer named Raj Mahanti tried to catch them with the help of the villagers. Jatindranath fired a bullet to disperse the growing crowd. Raj Mahanti died on the spot. This news was conveyed to the District Magistrate of Balasore, Kilvi. Kilvi reached there with his force. A revolutionary named Yatish was ill. Jatindranath was not ready to leave him alone. A revolutionary named Chittapriya was with him. Bullets were fired from both sides. Chittapriya was martyred on the spot. Other revolutionaries named Virendra and Manoranjan were holding the front.
attainment of martyrdom
Meanwhile, Jatindranath’s body was also riddled with bullets. He fell on the ground. At this time he was feeling thirsty and was asking for water. His companion Manoranjan picked him up and started taking him towards the river, then the British officer Kilvi ordered to stop firing. While being arrested, Jatindranath Mukherjee told Kilvi – “Only I and Chittapriya were firing the bullets. My other three companions are completely innocent.” The next day, on September 10, 1915, this great soldier of India’s freedom closed his eyes forever in the hospital.
