15 Revolutionary Facts About The Chittagong Uprising

In the mid twentieth century, few brave men and women decided to gong the city of Chittagong (now Chattogram in Bangladesh then British India) with their audaciousness. Their only motive was freedom; freedom from the British imperialism. And they did this through launching the attack on the Chittagong armoury, which was then under the control of the British. Though they couldn’t achieve what they thought. But, in the annals of history these brave people became immortal. And these facts about the Chittagong Uprising, or, The Chittagong Armoury Raids tell us about that incident and the people who were behind it.

The Chittagong Uprising, or,The Chittagong armoury raids Facts

1. It’s an irony that the leaders of the Chittagong Uprising participated in the Mahatma Gandhi’s, non-cooperation and Khilafat movement of the 1920s. But, later on, when they realised that satyagraha, or civil disobedience, wouldn’t be able to help Hindustan to gain its freedom, only then they decided to launch the arm struggle against the British Raj. And most importantly, even after all of this, they respected Mahatma Gandhi a lot.

2. The death of Bhagat Singh’s comrade and Indian revolutionary, Jatin Das, after the 63 days of his hunger strike in September 1929, in Lahore Jail, was the turning point for the Chittagong revolutionaries. They decided that it was time to act against the British Raj. And in April 1930, they launched the infamous Chittagong Armoury Raids.

3. The four targets of the Chittagong revolutionaries were T. O. (Telegraph Office), VB (Volunteer Barracks, i.e. the AFI Armoury), PB (Police Barracks, i.e. the Police lines armoury) and the C. H. (Club House, or the European Club building). Except for the latter target, all the other three targets were successfully carried out by the Chittagong revolutionaries.

4. Only sixty-four young men participated in the Chittagong Armoury Raids. Only a handful of brave Indian revolutionaries shook the British Raj to the core.

5. Hato, bhago, Jan bachao, Gandhiji ka raj ho gya ( Run, flee, save your lives, Gandhiji’s raj has arrived); Bande Mataram, Inquilab Zindabad, were some of the slogans used by the Chittagong revolutionaries.

Master Da Surya Sen of the Chittagong Uprising, or The Chittagong armoury raids

Master Da Surya Sen, The Chittagong uprising

6. The Chittagong revolutionaries adopted the slogan, to do and die, rather than, do or die. Because, all of them were aware that for the freedom of their motherland they had to perish their lives.

7. The leaders of the Chittagong Armoury Raids were inspired by the Easter Rising and the Irish struggle for independence against the British. And they emulated the same in Chittagong.

8. The important leaders and the brains behind the Chittagong uprising were, Ananta Singh, Ganesh Ghosh, Ambika Chakrabarti, Nirmal Sen, Lokenath Bal and Master Da Surya Sen.

9. The Chittagong revolutionaries comprised largely of The Bengalis Hindu bhadralok youth. However, during the uprising they had received the support of the Muslim peasantry also.

10. One of the most significant aspects of the Chittagong Uprising was the element of secrecy and surprise which the revolutionaries maintained till the last moment. Even the British Raj acknowledged their intelligence failure.

11. Kalpana Dutt and Pritilata Waddadar, the two fierce women revolutionaries of the Chittagong armoury raids.

12. During one of the raids, Pritilata Waddadar decided to choose martyrdom instead of being captured alive by the British Raj. And after Rani Laxmibai she became the second woman martyr in the struggle for Indian independence.

13. The plan of the Chittagong revolutionaries was that after capturing the armouries and securing all the arms and ammunitions, the first group would attack the jail and free all the prisoners, take over the Imperial Bank, capture the only private armaments store in the town, and set up a provisional government with the Police Lines as their headquarters.

14. The mastermind behind the recruitment, fund-raising and the leader of the Chittagong Uprising was Master da Surya Sen.

15. After the Chittagong armoury raids, British took control of the Chittagong. But, for almost two-three years they couldn’t find the head of the Chittagong Armoury Raids, Surya Sen. And later on he was caught. And in January 1934, the man behind the audacious Chittagong uprising, was hanged to death in Chittagong Jail. And instead of giving his body to his family for the cremation. The British Raj threw the body of Surya Sen into the Bay of Bengal.

I hope you like these facts about the Chittagong uprising. Thanks for reading. Jai Hind.

You can also connect with me on my Instagram- dontbignorant

Yash Sharma

Namaste reader, My name is Yash, and books for me are like a medicine, which removes my ignorance and also helps me in behaving more like a human.Though I live in the world’s largest democracy, India, but when I look around, I realized that this democratic nation of mine has turned into a kind of feudal oligarchy or kleptocracy, where people from a particular community or I would say particular surname has hijacked this democracy, and the political parties in India has turned itself into a kind of family enterprises where the family members are the only shareholders. And I want to change this, and books are a weapon which is helping me, so that I can help others and my nation.Shukriya for reading this Thought of mine.

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