STRONG NATIONALIST REACTION

 The policy of repression adopted by the Government, especially after the partition of Bengal, gave rise to a new party later on KNOWN AS THE REVOLUTIONARY PARTY, whose declared object was the independence of the motherland for the attainment of which they would not hesitate to use arms. Secret societies and physical culture centres had already been established in the latter half of the 19th century in some parts of the country especially in Bengal and Bihar, on the model of Carbonari organizations in Italy.

Most important of these was the secret organization of VASUDEO BALWANT PHADKE IN MAHARASHTRA, who gathered around him a band of Ramosis and Dhangars to wage war against the British Government. He was however, arrested and sentenced to transportation for life and died in prison at Aden in 1883. There is also a reference to a secret society founded by the two brothers, DAMODAR CHAPEKAR AND BALKRISHNA CHAPEKAR.

THE SECRET REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT

        The next phase of The Secret Revolutionary Movement was developed through the efforts of AUROBINDO, WHO SENT JATINDRANATH BANDOPADHYAYA to Calcutta for organizing revolutionary activities in Bengal. Soon a network of these societies was set up throughout Bengal, and at some places in Orissa. Most prominent among them was The Anushilan Samiti or the ‘Society for the Promotion of Culture and Training’ which was established by Barindra Kumar Ghose (brother of Aurobindo Ghose) and his friends in 1906.

The anti-partition agitation, with its insistence on enforcing a boycott of foreign goods and supplanting them entirely by swadeshi products, as also its enlistment of school and college students in picketing operations gave ample opportunity for the preaching of revolutionary doctrines.

The rout of the Greeks by the Turks the massacre of Christians in West Asia and the resounding victories of Japan over Russia further emboldened the nationalists. Arms were collected and bombs manufactured.

Revolutionary doctrines spread rapidly among the youth and on December 6, 1907, an attempt to blow up the train of SIR ANDREW FRASER, THE LIEUTENANT – GOVERNOR OF BENGAL, was made near Midnapore. On 23rd December, B.C. Allen a former District Magistrate of Dacca, was shot in the back though not fatally at a railway station. On April 30, 1908, at Muzaffarpur in Bihar a bomb was thrown into a carriage in which two ladies, Mrs. and Miss Kennedy were driving, both of them were killed.

The bomb was intended for D.H. Kingsford, a judge who had incurred the displeasure of the revolutionaries. Of the two young men arrested Khudiram Bose was hanged while Prafulla Chaki shot himself dead. The discovery of a secret manufacture of bombs and explosives in the outskirts of Calcutta in 1908 led to the trial of a number of persons in the famous ALIPORE CONSPIRACY CASE.

THE DACCA CONSPIRACY CASE

In August 1908, KANAI LAL DUTT AND SATYEN BOSE, shot dead in jail a comrade who had turned approver. In THE DACCA CONSPIRACY CASE, PULIN BEHARI DAS and two of his associates.

ASHUTOSH DAS GUPTA AND JYOTIRMOY ROY figured prominently and were awarded heavy sentences. The movement continued and its most spectacular act before 1914-1918 was done in 1912 when THE VICEROY, LORD HARDINGE, was riding an elephant in a state procession through Delhi.

A bomb was thrown which wounded him and killed the attendant just behind him. AMIR CHAND, AVADH BEHAIR, BAL MUKAND AND BASANTA KUMAR BISWAS were arrested in this connection and sentenced to death. RASH BEHARI BOSE, said to be brain behind the conspiracy, could not be apprehended.

        The arrest the deportation of the Punjab leaders, LAJPAT RAI and AJIT SINGH, IN 1907, and the passing of the unpopular Punjab Colonization Bill led to riots at Lahore, Rawalpindi and Lyallpur. Endeavors were even made to incite the troops at Ferozepore and

Lyallpur to revolt. In Madras, disturbances followed after a series of public lectures by BIPIN CHANDRA PAL AND CHIDAMBARAM PILLAI.