Panchanan Chakraborty
This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2021) |
Panchanan Chakraborty | |
---|---|
পঞ্চানন চক্রবর্তী | |
Calcutta | |
Monuments | Statue of Panchanan Chakrabarty |
Other names | Chakraborty |
Height | 6 ft (183 cm) |
Panchanan Chakravarti (or Chakraborty,
Formative years
Panchanan Chakraborty was the third child of Chandrakanta and Saralasundari; he had two elder sisters, Manorama and Sarojini, and his sister Subhashini and brother Haripada Chakraborty [Triple MA in Bengali, English, Sanskrit] were born after him. Completing his primary schooling at the Kalibari Pathshala and Guru Training Pathshala of Madaripur in the district of Faridpur in Bengal Presidency (now in Bangladesh).[1]
Panchanan Chakraborty under his mother's initiative went to Madaripur High School, this establishment was looked down upon by the police since it had produced fiery revolutionaries like
Obstinate by nature, Panchanan Chakraborty was further influenced by his father's cousin Jagadamba Devi who rattled the ancestors of the British during the Great Indian Freedom Movement and happened to be uncompromising, truthful, and a daredevil. Swami Vivekananda’s instruction of "leading a man’s life worth the name" counted much for Panchanan. He decided to consecrate his life for the freedom of the Motherland. While joining volunteers for social service, his passion was to measure his force with that of the police.[2]
In 1913, during a house-search, when the police broke the padlock of a tin suitcase containing Panchanan Chakraborty's stationery, the boy pounced on the inspector, caught him by the collar and demanded an explanation. Soon, when he was arrested during a skirmish with the River Police, the S.D.O., Mr Doneham, praised the student's attachment to law and order, and censured the group of inspectors, before Panchanan was released. As a schoolboy, once with his classmates, he demolished a stage to protest against a morally injurious play proposed by a magistrate; this served as a pretext to rusticate him.
Panchanan Chakraborty grew into a formidable and strong willed Man, 6 feet in height with the temperament of a tiger and affectionate in heart.
Once a British India police Officer was interrogating Panchanan Chakraborty at his home to gather information about the source of the finances for The Great Indian Freedom Movement. He was threatened that his toe nails would be plucked out which was a basic procedure of torture then, if he did not come out clean and hand over all the financial details to the British India police. Responding to the threat, Panchanan Chakraborty ordered one of his innumerable servants to get a knife and right in front of the officer of the British India police chopped off his right toe thumb and offered as a gift to the officer. The interrogation was over and the officer left for his own good.
Open politics
In about 1919, when Purna Das was released, Panchanan Chakraborty joined his party and having participated in
Gandhi reported this incident in his Young India, while Motilal Nehru placed Panchanan's photo on his desk. (Source: Pabitrakumar, p9). Transferred to Alipore Central Jail, Panchanan came close to Deshabandhu
The Revolt Group
At this juncture, inside the prison, Panchanan Chakraborty was among those who encouraged the under-trial State prisoners of the
Released in 1928, Panchanan Chakraborty learnt that the
When Panchanan Chakraborty learned that a consignment of firearms was available for five thousand rupees, he urged his friend, the revolutionary poet
The New Era
On coming out of the prison in 1938, Panchanan Chakraborty and his friends like
On coming out of the Prison in March 1946, Panchanan Chakraborty conceived the socio-cultural association
Panchanan Chakraborty was fond of exchanging letters regularly with people he loved. In form of a message for the future, he wrote about
"Jatin the Leader obsessed my heart and my mind. Neither for his battle, nor for his patriotism, nor even for his skill in organisation; he became my idol exclusively because of his dauntless audacity to sacrifice his life. In my conscious and even subliminal mind I have searched for him through my actions, throughout my life…" -(Pabitrakumar, p29).[2]
Death
Panchanan Chakraborty died in his home in Calcutta, India in 1995 of natural causes.
The funeral and later the unveiling of the statue of Panchanan Chakrabarty was attended by Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, the then Information and Broadcasting Minister of Government of West Bengal [he also became the Chief Minister later] under the Chief Minister-ship of Jyoti Basu who as a learner of Politics spent his initial years at the residence of Panchanan Chakrabarty.
References