History News Desk !!! Pritilata Waddedar (English: Pritilata Waddedar, born- 5 May 1911; self-sacrifice- 23 September 1932) was a nationalist revolutionary of Bengal. She was a talented student. Pritilata Waddedar had completed her graduation from Calcutta University. Influenced by the incident of ‘Chittagong Armory Case’, she joined the group of revolutionary Master Surya Sen. On 24 September 1932, Pritilata Waddedar along with Surya Sen attacked the European Club.
Pritilata Waddedar, a great revolutionary of the Indian freedom struggle, was born on 5 May 1911 in a poor family of Chittagong, then in East India (now Bangladesh). Her father was a municipal clerk. She passed the matriculation examination in first division in 1928. After this, in 1929, she took admission in Eden College, Dhaka and came fifth in the entire Dhaka Board in the intermediate examination. Two years later, Pritilata passed the graduation examination in philosophy from Bethune College, Kolkata. The British authorities of Kolkata University withheld her degree. She was awarded this degree posthumously 80 years later. After education, she started working in a school to help her family.
Pritilata was enrolled in school at the age of 10. Before that, her parents used to teach her at home. While she was learning the alphabet, a man was preparing to start a movement for the independence of the country. That man’s name was Surya Sen. He was also fondly called ‘Master Da’ (Master Saheb). Master Da started working for the independence of the country when he was in college. After completing graduation, he also worked as a teacher. But, he could not work for long and started working with freedom fighters like Chittaranjan Das, Sharat Chandra Bose. But, till then he was anonymous. He came into the limelight when he was arrested in 1926 for anti-British activities. He was later released.
It was during her release that Pritilata saw Surya Sen for the first time and being influenced by him, she too started preparing to sacrifice herself for the freedom of the country. But, secretly. Pritilata started collecting literature related to the movements. Along with studying, she also started taking part in revolutionary activities secretly.
Surya Sen had a deep impact on Pritilata, whose complexion was becoming brighter day by day. When she reached Bethune College in Calcutta for her graduation degree, her activities increased further. While staying in Calcutta, she met freedom fighter Ramakrishna Biswas, who was imprisoned in Alipore Jail, several times. These meetings also inspired her towards armed movement. Pritilata started sending weapons from Calcutta to the revolutionaries of Chittagong secretly.
After graduation, she got a job as a teacher in Chittagong, which was like a wish coming true for her. Pritilata had only seen Master Da Surya Sen. They had never met. Since she (Pritilata) was also secretly involved in the movement and later returned to Chittagong, Surya Sen used to hear her name from time to time, but was not in favour of including her in his group. However, when Surya Sen realized Pritilata’s dedication towards the country, he included her in his group. Under Pritilata’s leadership, the revolutionaries attacked the British several times and achieved success. But, the biggest attack was yet to happen.
The revolutionaries were surrounded by the police in Ghalghat of East Bengal. The surrounded revolutionaries included Apurba Sen, Nirmal Sen, Pritilata and Surya Sen. Surya Sen ordered to fight. Apurba Sen and Nirmal Sen were martyred. Captain Cameran was killed by Surya Sen’s bullet. Surya Sen and Pritilata ran away while fighting. A reward of 10 thousand rupees was declared on the revolutionary Surya Sen. Both of them stayed secretly in the house of a woman named Savitri. That woman became the target of the British’s anger for giving shelter to the revolutionaries. Surya Sen made a plan to take revenge for his comrades. The plan was to attack the European Club at the foot of the hill and take revenge by giving death penalty to the British who were busy in dancing and singing.
Some revolutionaries reached there under the leadership of Pritilata Waddedar. The night of 24 September 1932 was fixed for this task. Armed with weapons, Pritilata had also kept a poison called potassium cyanide for self-defense. She reached the club with full preparation. She put a bomb in the window from outside. The club building started shaking with the sound of the bomb explosion and the gunshot. Suddenly screams started to be heard in the atmosphere of dance and music.
13 Britishers were injured and the rest ran away. A European woman was killed in this incident. After some time, firing started from that club. A bullet hit Pritilata’s body. She ran away in an injured state, but then fell down and consumed potassium cyanide. She was 21 years old at that time. At such a young age, she followed the path of Jhansi ki Rani and like her, she chose death herself while fighting the British till the last moment.
After the self-sacrifice of Pritilata Waddedar, when the British officers searched the house, they found a printed letter. This letter said – “The path that will be adopted after the Chittagong armory incident will be the primary form of future rebellion. This struggle will continue until India gets complete independence”.
,
