Surendranath Banerjee

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Rashtraguru,
President of the Indian National Congress
In office
1895–1896
Preceded byAlfred Webb
Succeeded byRahimtulla M. Sayani
Succeeded byLalmohan Ghosh
Personal details
Born(1848-11-10)10 November 1848
British India (present-day West Bengal, India)
CitizenshipBritish Raj
Political partyIndian National Congress (1883–1919)
Indian National Liberation Federation (1919–1925)
Alma mater
OccupationAcademician •
politician •
Known forFounder of Indian Liberation Federation, Indian National Association,
Co-founder of Indian National Congress

British Rule. He founded a nationalist organization called the Indian National Association to bring Hindus and Muslims together for political action. He was one of the founding members of the Indian National Congress. Surendranath supported Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms, unlike Congress, and with many liberal leaders he left Congress and founded a new organisation named Indian National Liberation Federation in 1919.[1]

Banerjee on a 1983 stamp of India

Early life

Dr Durga Charan Banerjee

Surendranath Banerjee was born in Calcutta, in the province of

University College, London. He took his final exams in 1871 and returned to India in August 1871. In 1874, Banerjee returned to London and became a student at the Middle Temple.[6]

Banerjee was soon dismissed for making a minor judicial error. He went to England to appeal his discharge, but was unsuccessful because, he felt, of racial discrimination. He would return to India bitter and disillusioned with the British.[7] During his stay in England (1874–1875), he studied the works of Edmund Burke and other liberal philosophers. These works guided him in his protests against the British. He was known as the Indian Burke.[8] For his tenacity he was called 'Surrender Not Banerjee' by the British.[9]

Surendranath was influenced by the writings of Italian nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini. He studied the writings of Mazzini in his stay in England (1874–1875) on Anandmohan's suggestion.[10]

Political career

Upon his return to India in June 1875, Banerjee became an

Free Church Institution[11] and at the Rippon College, now Surendranath College, founded by him in 1882 [12] and he inspired his students with a new spirit of nascent Indian nationalism. He began delivering public speeches on nationalist and liberal political subjects, as well as Indian history. He founded the Indian National Association with Anandamohan Bose, one of the earliest Indian political organizations of its kind, on 26 July 1876.[13] In 1878 in a meeting to preach the Indian people he said 'The great doctrine of peace and goodwill between Hindus and Muslims, Christians and Paresees, aye between all sections of our country's progress. Let the word "Unity" be inscribed therein characters of glittering gold... There may be religious difference between us. There may be social difference between us. But there is a common platform where we may all meet, the platform of our country's welfare'. He used the organization to tackle the issue of the age-limit for Indian students appearing for ICS examinations. He condemned the racial discrimination perpetrated by British officials in India through speeches all over the country, which made him very popular.[citation needed
]

In 1879, he bought the newspaper

Congress President in 1895 at Poona and in 1902 at Ahmedabad.[15]

Surendranath was one of the most important public leaders who protested the partition of the

better source needed
]

Later career

The declining popularity of moderate Indian politicians affected Banerjee's role in Indian politics. Banerjee supported the

Calcutta Municipal Corporation a more democratic body while serving as a minister in the Bengal government.[21]

He is remembered and widely respected today as a pioneer leader of Indian politics — for being among the first treading the path for Indian political empowerment. [

A Nation in Making, published in 1925. After Surendranath died at Barrackpore
on 6 August 1925.

Statue of Surendranath Banerjee

Commemoration

His name is commemorated in the names of the following institutions:

Ripon College) and the Surendranath Centenary School in Ranchi
and the Surendranath Banerjee Road (popularly known as S. N. Banerjee Road).

References

  1. ^ Sitaramayya, B. Pattabhi (1935). The history of the Indian National Congress (1885–1935). Working Committee of the Congress. pp. 12–27.
  2. ^ Mukherjee, Soumyen (1996). "Raja Rammohun Roy and the Status of Women in Bengal in the Nineteenth Century". Sydney Studies in Society and Culture. 13: 44.
  3. ^ "S.N. Banerjea epitomized the brahmanical numbness to injustice". 3 May 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Sir Surendranath Banerjea | Indian politician". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  5. ISBN 9788171569298
    .
  6. ^ "Surendranath Banerjee profile". The Open University website. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  7. ISBN 1-58868-080-0
    . In the end, Banerjea lost his job by committing a serious judicial mistake, dismissing a case recording the complainant and his witnesses absent while whey were actually present in his court. Banerjea went to England to lodge an appeal ... He concluded that his appeal failed because he was an Indian. This was the basic reason for his becoming a nationalist.
  8. ^ "Remembering Surendranath Banerjee, the second Indian to pass Indian Civil Service examination". India Today. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  9. ^ "Unforgettable 'Surrender Not' Banerjee forgotten". NDTV.com. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  10. ^ Asoka Kr. Sen, The Educated Middle Class and Indian Nationalism, (Progressive Publishers, 37 A college street, Cal- 73, 1988), p. 102.
  11. ^ Staff List: Free Church Institution and Duff College (1843–1907) in 175th Year Commemoration Volume. Scottish Church College, April 2008. page 570
  12. ^ "Brief History | Surendranath College". www.surendranathcollege.org. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  13. ^ Mittal, Satish Chandra (1986). Haryana, a Historical Perspective. Atlantic Publishers & Distri. p. 80.
  14. ISBN 978-81-7764-715-0
    .
  15. ^ "Indian National Congress". Archived from the original on 20 April 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  16. ^ Chattopadhyay, Suhrid Sankar. "Monarchy as model". Frontline. Retrieved 1 August 2020. The author cites a unique instance in India's colonial history when Surendranath Banerjea, one of India's most prominent nationalist leaders, tried to have himself anointed and crowned in 1906 at the height of the Swadeshi movement
  17. ISBN 9781351968898
    .
  18. ^ Surendranath Banerjee. A Nation in Making: Being the Reminiscences of Fifty Years of Public Life. p. 302.
  19. ^ http://www.galaxyiasacademy.com/uploads/Modern-India-by-Bipan-Chandra-XIIOld-Edition-NCERT.pdf, pg 263
  20. PMID 26540860
    .
  21. ^ "Kolkata – A Municipal History". Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Retrieved 26 January 2016. Democracy was ushered into the Municipal Government of Kolkata by making provision for election of a Mayor annually, by Sir Surendranath Banerjee, who as the first Minister of Local Self-Government in Bengal was the architect of Calcutta Municipal Act of 1923.
  22. ^ "Sir Surendranath Banerjea | Indian politician | Britannica".

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