Batukeshwar Dutt: An Inspiration to Many

An Article by Hrithik.M

The Land of Bengal is Known for its rich history, Geography, Poetic Language and culture from ancient Vedic period till date. The land was once ruled by many great empires like Vanga, Samatata, Pala, Sena, Deva etc… and was in the forefront during the freedom movement and regarded as centre for all the revolutionary activities and it also gave birth to Anushilan Samiti. Its is the birth place for many great freedom fighters like Subhash Chandra Bose, Khudiram Bose, Chittaranjan Das, Surya Sen, Rashbehari Bose etc… who relentlessly fought for the nations freedom from the invaders.

Here let us remember The Great freedom fighter from Bengal who participated in the freedom movement through his revolutionary activities along with Sardar Bhagat Singh and raised the slogan Inquilab Zindabad and got disappeared from our History Books and his name was “Batukeshwar Dutta”.

Childhood, Early life:-

• Batukeshwar Dutta was born on 18th November 1910 at Onari in Khandaghosh village, Burdwan district in present day West Bengal to Goshtha Bihari Dutta and Kamini Devi in a Bengali kayastha family. He completed his graduation from Pandit Prithi Nath High School in Kanpur . This place shaped him to participate in the freedom struggle through revolutionary activities and he also came in close contact with freedom fighter Sardar Bhagat Singh.

• Joining H.S.R.A:-
• Hindustan Republican Association (H.R.A) was a revolutionary freedom group founded by  Ram Prasad Bismil, Sachindra Nath Sanyal, and Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee with an intention to free the country from the clutches of British through armed struggle and the most remarkable incident is Kakori conspiracy case of 1925 taken out by this organization which made a great impact and saw as a turning point in India’s freedom struggle.
• After they sensed in the decline of enthusiasm of the workers and indifference of the unquestioned leadership the need for the change within the organization policies and working style made all the representatives of the organization assemble in a fixed place in Firoz Shah Kotla on 8th and 9th September 1928. During this meeting Sardar Bhagat Singh moved a resolution of the new organization and all the members will work under one banner name with Socialist idea. Hence, The new organization was named as Hindustan Socialist Republican Association or Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (H.S.R.A).
• Batukeshwar Dutta came in contact with Sardar Bhagat Singh during his stay in Kanpur and his inspiration towards revolutionary ideas and his will to participate in the freedom struggle and free our nation from the British rule through armed struggle made him to join H.S.R.A which saw as a turning point in his life and also made a way for him to carry out the greatest task in the future which marked as a greatest event in our freedom movement.
• 1929 Throwing Bomb in assembly along with Sardar Bagat Singh:-
• The British Government drafted two bills Public Safety Bill and the Trade Dispute Bill with the intention to suppress rising labor movements and to deport any foreign agitators who are raising their voice for India’s Freedom which in simple to reduce civil liberties of all the people and remove freedom dream in peoples mind and this bill was opposed by all the elected representatives of then Congress party, all the freedom fighters and various organizations working for our nations freedom.
• In order to show protest against this bill H.S.R.A. Planed to throw bomb in central assembly on 8th April 1929 where the leadership of H.S.R.A proposed that the person who are involved in this task should make a good escape after throwing the bomb which is low intensity bomb and won’t create any huge impact or loss of lives except their might be some minor injuries to the people present in the assembly.
• At first Sardar Bhagat Singh and another revolutionary Vijay Kumar Singh was given the task to carry out but this time their was a slight change in the plan after throwing the bomb instead of escaping need to surrender because just throwing Bomb and leaflets in the assembly will show only sign of protest but not serve the greater purpose of the spread of freedom idea to the large section of the public and also get a chance to present their voice in the judiciary which will reach the entire country and outside the country.
• Batukeshwar Dutta a fearless youth who was little inactive after the Kakori incident saw this opportunity to serve the country and teach a lesson for the British sent a word to the leadership of H.S.R.A that if he is not taken in for this task he would cut off all the ties with the organization and after a long discussion it was decided that the task will be taken out by Batukeshwar Dutta and Vijay Kumar Singh but Sardar Bhagat Singh insisted to go on himself and at last it was decided both Batukeshwar Dutta and Sardar Bhagat Singh will do this task.
• On 8th April 1929 a discussion was been held on various issues including about both the Bills where Motilal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Madan Mohan Malaviya, John Simon (of the Simon Commission) were present in the assembly and it was decided that this day will be suitable for the task and already background work of studying the Central assembly, escape routes and studying the visitors gallery and how to enter and exit routes of the assembly and passes for the entry everything was done and checked twice before the great day in order their would not be any confusion while implementing the task.

Both Batukeshwar Dutta and Sardar Bhagat Singh equipped themselves with the Revolvers , Bomb and Leaflets and with their passes they got into the Central Assembly and managed to get seated in the Visitors Gallery and got rid of the passes in order to avoid the names who helped them in getting those passes…and then suddenly the bombs were thrown in the empty area of the assembly which exploded and shook the entire assembly even before coming to know what is happening both duos started throwing leaflets and shouting Slogans :- “Inquilab Zindabad , DOWN WITH IMPERIALISM “ even though they had a chance to escape they both surrendered to the British authority in order to make their statement in the court which will reach to the large section the people inside and outside the country and help them in order to free this country from the clutches of the British rule.

• Court trail and Judgement:-
• Both Batukeshwar Dutta and Sardar Bhagat Singh underwent trail in Delhi session court under Section 307 of Indian Penal Code and Section 3 under Explosive Substances Act where both of them made their joint statement and On 12 June 1929, Sessions Judge Leonard Middleton sentenced both of them to life sentence. However both of them went for another appeal which was dismissed and upholded the judgement . Where Sardar Bhagat Singh was transferred to Lahore jail to undergo trial in the Lahore Conspiracy Case and Batukeshwar Dutta was sent to the Andaman cellular jail i.e. kala Pani to serve his life sentence.
• Hunger strike , Release from jail and participation in Quit India Movement :-
• Batukeshwar Dutta was sent to Andaman cellular jail and was shifted to many other jails during his course of life sentence and saw the harsh conditions of the prisoners and inhuman torture done by the British. So, he along with other prisoners went for a hunger strike demanding various things from the British government like to provide news journal, healthy food ,book and pen etc ..and his hunger strike was lasted for 63 days and after seeing his deteriorating health condition by the prison authorities he was sent forcefully to undergo treatment and also to stop the widespread of the protest in other jails and all over the country.
• In 1938 he was released from Bankipur Jail in Patna on health ground after contracting tuberculosis.
• After Mahatma Gandhi gave a call for the entire country to participate in the Quit India Movement to end the British rule in India even Batukeshwar Dutta participated in the movement and was arrested and sent again for four years prison to Motihari Jail in Bihar. 
• Later Day’s and Death:-
• After India Gaining Independence from the British on 15th August 1947 all the freedom fighters were released from the prison even Batukeshwar Dutta was also released from the prison and later got married to Anjali Dutta and had a daughter named Bharti Dutta Bagachi. He started a transport business for his livelihood.
• After some years his health condition started to worse and was admitted in AIIMS Delhi where he underwent treatment which made no impact on him and passed away on 20th July 1965 at the age of 54 years leaving behind a great legacy and inspiration to many youths today who are studying our freedom movement.
• Legacy:-
• Government of India named a locality in Delhi after him  B. K. Dutt Colony.
• Anil Verma wrote a book titled Batukeshwar Dutt: Bhagat Singh ke Sahyogi, which was released on his centenary.
• A statue was erected in patna and named as Amar Shaheed Batukeshwar Dutt Statue.
• Conclusion:-
• He dedicated his entire life for our country’s freedom struggle and took out many remarkable task to free our country from British along with Sardar Bhagat Singh and many other revolutionaries but we failed to recognize him and forgot his name and legacy and his contribution in freedom movement due to which he was disappeared from our history books slowly.
• Now I wanna conclude by telling let us all revisit our history and bring out many such people to the limelight who relentlessly fought for our freedom and give them the place they deserved and also take inspiration from such great people and contribute in the development of our nation to “Viksit Bharat”.