Shaheed Dhirendranath Datta: Glimpses of His Early Life and Political Struggle
manik
LIFE AND GLIMPSES OF HIS POLITICAL STRUGGLE
M. Waheeduzzaman Manik
(Here is the entire article in one piece):
INTRODUCTION
Shaheed (Martyr) Dhirendranath Datta (1886-1971) was the harbinger of
the formative phase of the Bengali language movement, and he had made
history on February 25, 1948 by demanding Bengali to be recognized as
one of the State languages of the new nation of Pakistan even though
his proposal was meant to be an amendment permitting the use of
Bengali along with Urdu and English in the Constituent Assembly of
Pakistan (CAP). During the early years of Pakistan, he had remained
an ardent defender of the Bengali language both in the CAP and the
East Bengal Legislative Assembly (EBLA). He was a martyr of the
liberation war of Bangladesh. Despite his pivotal role in
jumpstarting the formative phase of the Bengali language movement
during the most defining moment of Bangladesh's quest for freedom and
self-determination, his name has thus far remained essentially
forgotten and neglected. It is also ironic that there exists a
serious paucity of literature on the various phases of his life and
political struggle.
Dhirendranath Datta had a long and eventful life, spanning over more
than eight decades. Given the fact that he had also a long career as
a lawyer-politician both before and after 1947 (from 1911 till he was
mercilessly murdered in April, 1971 by the genocidal Pakistani
military), it is not possible to assess all of phases of his life
within the parameter of a single article. Therefore, no effort will
be made to provide any detailed discussion of his role as a
parliamentarian in the Bengal Legislative Assembly (BLA) from 1937 to
1947, the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan from December 1946 till its
dissolution on October 24, 1954, and the East Bengal Legislative
Assembly (EBLA) from 1947 to 1958 within the scope of this paper. His
struggling life in Pakistan from August 1947 through early April 1971
will not be brought within the parameter of this article. Rather, the
main intent of this article is to appraise the making of the formative
phase of his life (1886-1917) and to provide glimpses of his political
struggle (1919-1947) with special reference to his participation in
the Non-Violent and Non-cooperation Movement in early 1920s, the Civil
Disobedience Movement in early 1930s, and the Satyagrah and 'Quit
India' movements in early 1940s.
GLEANINGS FROM THE FORMATIVE PHASE OF HIS LIFE
Dhirendranath Datta was born on November 2, 1886 (16 Kartik, 1293,
according to Bengali year) in a village named Ramrail, approximately
three miles away from Brahmanbaria, a sub-divisional town of the then
Tripura (then spelled as Tipperah) district (later renamed as Comilla
district). His father, Jagabandhu Datta (1846-1932), worked in
different parts of the then Tripura district as a 'serestadar' in the
Munsif Court. There is no doubt that Ramrail was the birthplace of
Dhirendranath Datta, and his father, Jagabandhu Datta, was also born
in that village. However, his grandfather Padmalochan Datta (whose
father's name was Ramlochan Datta) was born in a village of the
Maheshwardi Pargana of the then Dhaka district.
In his unfinished autobiography in Bengali, Shaheed Dhirendranath
Datter Atmakatha (Memoirs of Shaheed Dhirendranath Datta, Editors:
Anisuzzaman, Rashid Haider, and Minar Mansur, Publisher: Shaheed
Dhirendranath Smirtiraksha Parishad, 1995; henceforth referred to this
book as Dhiren Datta's 'Memoir." With the exception of a few lines
here and there, freehand translations of the excerpts from
Dhirendranath Datter Atmakatha are mine], Dhirendranath Datta recalled
his lost family roots with the following words: "My grandfather,
Padmalochan Datta, had moved to Ramrail village in the early decades
of the 19th century. .... His paternal home was in a village in the
Maheshwardi pargana of Dhaka district. His parents died when he was a
young boy. So he had taken shelter in the house of his elder sister's
in-laws at Ramrail village. Since his elder sister and her husband
(Roghunath Das) had no children of their own, they raised my
grandfather [Padmalochan Datta] as their own son. With his brother-in-
law's support, he could also learn to read and write in Bengali. In
those days, there was no opportunity to learn English in the rural
areas. My grandfather had landed a job with the then Tripura state
and decided to permanently settle in Ramrail. ..... My grandfather died
at an early age leaving behind four young sons [Gaganchandra Datta,
Jagabandhu Datta, Dinabandhu Datta, and Ananda Datta] and a daughter
[Bamashundhori Datta-Sengupta]." Dhiren Datta's 'Memoirs,' p.160).
Dhirendranath Datta did not mention the name of the village of his
ancestors other than indicating the name of a Pargana that was located
in the then Dhaka district. Now the question is: what was the location
of Maheshwardi Pargana? In fact, Mahasharwardi Pargana was located on
the eastern side of Sitallakhhya river (which originated from
Brahmaputra river) consisting most of the areas of Shibpur, Monhardi,
and Raipura Thanas, and parts of Palash Thana of today's Narsingdi
district. Since the main flow of the Old Brahmaputra River in those
days used to flow through this area, Maheshwardi Pargana was located
on both sides of that lost flow of Brahmaputra River. Most probably,
Dhirendranath Datta's grandfather (Padmalochan Datta) was born in an
illustrious 'Datta family' who lived in the affluent village of
'Datter-Gaon' under Shibpur Thana of today's Narsingdi district.
Dhirendranath Datta was very intimate with his father (Jagabandhu
Datta), and he was very inspired by his father's idealism. To him,
"his father was a symbol of friendship to all around you." Although
he was greatly motivated by his father's sense of idealism and duty,
he did not subscribe to his father's religious orthodoxy even when he
was in his youth. As he recalled many years later, "There was no
doubt in my mind that my father was a symbol of all goodness. Yet he
was very superstitious and a blind supporter of the practices of
untouchability and caste system of Hindu religion. He was also a
believer of the ritual of animal sacrifices to the altars of Gods and
Goddesses even though I found him to be a very compassionate person in
his various daily activities. He did not feel that the ritual of
animal sacrifice was a cruelty to animal" (Dhiren Datta's 'Memoirs,' p.
18).
Dhirendranath Datta inadvertently did not mention his mother's name in
his memoirs. However, he mentioned that his father got married with a
daughter of Bhubanmohan Rakhhit of Chapitala village under Sadar
subdivision of Tripura district. As he recalled in his 'Memoirs': "My
mother gave birth to four children. While my elder brother,
Jatindranath Datta (died in 1905) was her first born, my elder sister
was her second child. I was her third child. I had one younger
sister. At the age 9, I was at Nabinagar with my father. My mother
used to reside in our village home at Ramrail. After hearing the news
about my mother's serious illness, I was rushed to our village home. I
found my mother in her deathbed. On next day, just before my mother
had breathed her last, I was asked again and again by my respected
relatives who were near her deathbed to call her 'Ma' (Mother) for the
last time. Unfortunately, I could not do that because I was choked
with emotion at that moment. My mother left us for good after uttering
the name of 'Bhagaban' on July 20, 1895" (Dhiren Datta's Memoirs,' pp.
162-163).
Although Dhirendranath Datta was very young when his mother died, he
could hardly erase the sad memory of her untimely death. He became
very intimate with his elder brother (Jatindranath Datta) who died at
a very young age in 1905. Dhirendranath Datta's father got married
again after his mother's death. As he recalled in his memoirs, "My
father got married again. He married the daughter of Mathuranath
Datta of village Kumbha under Nasirnagar Thana of Brahmanbaria sub-
division. This mother of mine gave birth to two daughters." (Dhiren
Datta's Memoirs, p.163). It is evident from his 'Memoirs' that he
treated his stepmother as his own mother. In fact, Dhirendranath
Datta's household included not only his wife and children but also his
father (till he died on April 1, 1932), his stepmother (till her death
on November 28, 1948), and his stepsisters (till they got married).
He also provided opportunities for formal education for his
stepsisters.
At the age of 21, when he was a first year student of B.A. class at
Ripon College in Calcutta, Dhirendranath Datta got married on December
7, 1906 with Surabala Das (her date of birth is unknown. Since she was
approximately 14 years old at the time of her wedding in December
1906, she might have been born no later than 1892). As he recalled
about his own wedding in his words: "On December 7, 1906, I got
married when I was a student of B.A. class. Marriage during student
life was a common practice in our society. In my instance, there was
some financial predicament on my part. My father-in-law, Munshi
Krishnakamol Das was a financially solvent person of village Purbadhoi
of Muradnagar Thana under Comilla subdivision of the then Tripura
district. He was a Bengali literate pleader. I also needed some
monetary assistance to defray the expenses of my textbooks. However,
early marriage was a social problem of our society. During our
wedding, I was merely 21 years old and my wife had just turned
14" (Dhiren Datta's 'Memoirs' pp. 163-164).
>From the very beginning of his happy married life of approximately 42
years, Dhirendranath Datta demonstrated his love and admiration for
his wife, and his deep affection for his wife can be gauged from his
own words: "I had the misfortune of having seen the nature of
superstition in our society after I fell sick due to Cholera within
seven days after our wedding. My revered female members of our family
called my newly wed wife 'unlucky' and blamed her for my cholera
infliction. In reality, my wife was 'embodiment of all goodness.' In
my entire life, I never heard her speaking ill of others. She had
absorbed all goodness of others, and she was always eager to offer her
services. She had empathy for people in distress. She could not
pursue any formal education because the conservative family in which
she was born used to consider female education as a sin. However, she
had some modest amount of literacy as she could read and write in
Bengali. Her thoughts and ideas were extraordinary. Despite her
modest level of literacy, she could express herself in beautiful
language. Her elder brother Late Lalitchandra Das used to tell me, 'it
is unfortunate that your wife Surabala was born in our family as a
female member. If she would have been born as a male member, she
would have adorned our family as she was the best and the brightest
amongst us'" (Dhiren Datta's 'Memoirs, p.164).
Dhirendranath Datta and Surabala (Das) Datta had seven daughters (the
seventh daughter died in her childhood) and two sons (Sanjeeb Datta
and Dilip Datta). With the exception of his first daughter Ashalata
Datta (born in 1911), all of his daughters had received formal
education. His eldest son, Sanjeeb Datta, a writer and a journalist,
was born in 1919 and died on April 27, 1991. Sanjeeb Datta's wife
Protitee (Ghatak) Datta and their daughter Aroma Datta and son Rahul
Datta live in Bangladesh. (Proteeti Datta, born in Dhaka on November
4, 1925 happened to be the twin sister of famous film director Ritwik
Ghatak). Dhirendranath Datta's youngest son, Dilip Datta, was born in
1926. He was abducted along with his father on March 29, 1971 and
later murdered in late March or in early April 1971 by the genocidal
Pakistani military. Surabala Datta, wife of Dhirendranath Datta, had
breathed her last on August 12, 1949.
At the age of 7, Dhirendranath Datta was brought from Ramarial to
Kasba in 1893 to live with his father. He moved to Nabinagar in the
autumn of 1894 due to his father's transfer to Nabinagar Munsif
Court. At the age of only 9, he was devastated due to his mother's
sudden death on July 20, 1895. Initially he was a student of
Nabinagar Middle (English) School and later studied in the newly
established Nabinagar High (English) School, and he passed the
Entrance Examination from Nabinagar High (English) School in 1904. It
is evident from his own recollections that he was a mediocre student
but he never failed any examination during his entire student life in
schools and colleges. Nobody can claim to be born as a patriot or a
nationalist. However, there exists credible evidence to suggest that
Dhirendranath Datta, right from his boyhood days, was known for his
patriotic fervour and a genuine concern for his country and other
human beings. During his school days, he was greatly inspired by
reading stories about Iswarchandra Vidyasagar's fearlessness,
selflessness, and respectfulness to his mother. Ashinikumar Datta's
'Bhaktiyoga' and Rangalal Bondhopdhay's patriotic poems were also
great sources of inspiration for him (Dhiren Datta's 'Memoirs,' p.
18).
Soon after passing the Entrance exam, Dhirendranath Datta went to
Calcutta at the end of June 1904 to pursue higher education, and in
early July 1904, he got himself admitted into F.A. class
(Intermediate) at Ripon College in Calcutta. In his F.A. class, he
studied many subjects including English, Sanskrit, Mathematics,
Science, Chemistry, History, and Logic etc. From the outset of his
college days, he was greatly charmed by Surendranath Banerjee
(1848-1925), the founder of Ripon College. As he recalled in his
'Memoirs', "I took admission into Ripon College to be in contact with
a teacher of Surendranath Banarjee's stature and caliber. After
entering the College compound, I discovered that the college was
housed in a makeshift thatched house that seemed to be inferior, in
many ways, to my rural high school building (at Nabinagar). However,
soon after the professors started teaching, it seemed to me that the
dark classrooms were filled with light of knowledge and wisdom. My
head still bows down out of respect and gratitude to the dedicated
teachers who were recruited by Surendranath Banarjee" (Dhiren Datta's
'Memoirs' p. 19).
Although Ripon College did not have impressive buildings of any kind
in those days, Dhirendranath Datta was deeply impressed by the
dedication and teaching quality of the distinguished instructional
staff of the college. At that time, Ramendrasunder Trivedi was the
Principal of Ripon College. Among the luminaries of the teaching
staff of Ripon College who seemed to have left a lasting impression on
him had included: Surendranath Banarjee (English), Ramendrasunder
Trivedi (Chemistry), Janakinath Bhattacharya (English), Lalgopal
Chakravarti (Philosophy), Haran Bandhopadhay (Mathematics),
Khetramohan Bandhopadhay (Mathematics), Bipinbihari Gupta (History),
Narendra Roy (English), and Jitendranath Banarjee. As he recalled in
his memoirs: "All of them were the outstanding products of Calcutta
University. Instead of accepting lucrative jobs elsewhere at higher
salary, they had voluntarily joined the teaching staff of Ripon
College with a token remuneration in order to facilitate higher
learning among the poor but meritorious students. Each of those
professors was a great symbol of sacrifice and dedication. I was
deeply impressed by their simple style of living, their simple dress,
and their scholarly approach to teaching. Each of those distinguished
teachers of Ripon College was a living symbol of plain living and high
thinking" (Dhiren Datta's 'Memoirs,' p. 20).
Despite his keen interest in continuing his education in Calcutta,
Dhirendranath Datta had to seek transfer from Ripon College to
Jagannath College in Dhaka city in 1905 due to his illness and due to
some unforeseen financial difficulties of his joint family. After
studying in Dhaka's Jagannath College for a couple of months in 1905
(his health was not getting well in Dhaka), he got himself transferred
to Comilla Intermediate College (while Ananda Roy was the founder of
this College, and at that time, the Principal of this college was
Sattendranath Bose) as a second year student of F.A. class. Despite
his illness, he had passed the F.A. Examination from Comilla
Intermediate College in 1906. Dhirendranath Datta quickly returned to
Calcutta in 1906 to pursue a B.A. degree at Ripon College, and he felt
elated after he could resume his studies in Calcutta among his
favorite teachers. Among his former teachers who were still in the
teaching staff of Ripon College included: Surendranath Banerjee,
Lalgopal Chakravarti, and Janakinath Bhattacharya. After receiving his
B.A. degree from Ripon College in 1908, he also studied law for two
more years in the same college, and received a B.L. degree in 1910. In
his memoirs, he fondly recapitulated this phase of his student life at
Ripon College with the following words: "I felt myself enormously
fortunate after I got another rare opportunity to be in touch with the
dedicated and learned teachers of the college" (Dhiren Datta's
'Memoirs,' p. 25).
Dhirendranath Datta often characterized Surendranath Banerjee as the
'Father of the Indian Nationalism.' His admiration for Surendranath
Banerjee can be gauged from his own words: "Then started the anti-
partition (of Bengal) and Swadeshi movement in 1905. Surendranath
Banarjee, my teacher, was in the vanguard of the anti-partition
movement who declared, 'We shall unsettle the settled fact.' In those
turbulent days, a lot of protest meetings used to be held in Calcutta,
and I used to attend each of those meetings. There were no
loudspeakers to be used in the public meetings in those bygone days.
If I could somehow know that Surendranath Banarjee was scheduled to
address the meeting, then I used to arrive at the meeting spots three
to four hours before the scheduled time just to sit in the front row.
In those days, I was engrossed with the idea of liberating our country
from the subjugation of the colonial rulers" (Dhiren Datta's
'Memoirs,' pp. 27-28).
Although Dhirendranath Datta was a great admirer and an astute
supporter of Surendranath Banrejee, he did not subscribe to his
teacher's collaborative support for the British Government during the
First World War. In fact, Surendranath Banarjee's pro-British speech
at the Comilla conference of the Bengal provincial Congress in 1914
had seriously anguished him. Dhirendranath Datta's deep sense of shock
due to his former teacher's pro-British stance can be gauged from his
own words: "I felt a sense of intolerable pain and frustration after I
heard Surendranath Banerjee's advocacy for the British Government. I
was greatly shocked to hear that the same person was asking us to
render our support and assistance to the British during this war who
was once characterized by the people as 'the Father of the Indian
Nationalism', and 'the leader of the anti-partition [of Bengal]
movement.' It was ironic that he was the same Surendranath Banerjee
who was characterized as 'the greatest orator of India' and 'Surrender
Not.' I felt deeply hurt to see that he was requesting the people of
our country to offer assistance to the war efforts of the British
Government" (Dhiren Datta's 'Memoirs,' p.37).
Dhirendranath Datta received a life-long commitment to social service
during his student life in Calcutta from Barrister Abdullah Rasul [the
name should be ABDUR RASUL (1872-1917), not Abdullah Rasul as
indicated in Dhirendranath Datta's Memoirs. Since Dhirendranath Datta
had the deepest regards and admiration for Barrister Abdur Rasul, this
writer (M. Waheeduzzaman Manik] wants to take this opportunity to add
a little more information on this forgotten hero of the Indian
nationalist movement. There hardly exists any credible information on
Abdur Rasul, a worthy son of our soil. However, there is a short write-
up on Abdur Rasul in the Banglapedia (authored by Golam Kibria
Bhuiyan). Barrister Abdur Rasul was born in 1872 in a zaminder family
of a village named Guniauk under the jurisdiction of Nasirnagar Thana
of the then Brahmanbaria sub-division of Tripura district. According
to the Banglapedia, Abdur Rasul "lost his father Golam Rasul in his
childhood but his mother raised him well. He was sent to England for
higher studies after he had passed the Entrance Examination in 1888.
He took the BA degree in 1896 and the MA degree in 1898 in England.
Abdur Rasul was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1898. While
in London, he became acquainted with noted Indians like Ali Imam, Syed
Hasan Imam, Aurobindo Ghosh and others. Returning to India he got
himself enrolled at the Calcutta High Court in 1899. Abdur Rasul was
made an honorary lecturer in International Law at the University of
Calcutta." There is no doubt that Barrister Abdur Rasul was a
nationalist leader before his premature death only at the age of 45 in
1917.
As noted in the Banglapedia, "Abdur Rasul was opposed to the Partition
of Bengal, 1905. He presided over the Bengal Congress Conference held
at Barisal in 1906. In collaboration with Abdul Halim Gaznavi, Abul
Kashem and Mujibur Rahman Khan, he published the Weekly Mussalman in
1906. In 1909 Abdur Rasul joined the Bengal Provincial Muslim League
and in 1912 presided over the Bengal Provincial Conference at
Chittagong. He attended the annual session of the All India Muslim
League at Lucknow and presided over the annual session of the Bengal
Presidency Muslim League at Burdwan. He was elected to the Bengal
Legislative Council from the Muslim Constituency of Chittagong
division. In 1917 Abdur Rasul was elected the Secretary of the Bengal
Presidency Muslim League but he died in the same year at the early age
of 45"].
It seems that Barrister Abdur Rasul had also made a lasting impression
on Dhirendranath Datta. He acknowledged even in his old age that
Abdur Rasul was his 'political guru' and a 'role model' for instilling
a passion for social service in him. His love and admiration for
Abdur Rasul can be gleaned from his own words: "I came in close
contact with Mr. Abdur Rasul when I became the Secretary of the
Tripura Hitashadhanee Shava. His residence was at 14, Royal Street.
Educated [in England] in English language and literature, this learned
man (Abdur Rasul) led a very plain and simple life, and he had earned
deep respect in his legal profession for his honesty and integrity.
Although he lived in Calcutta, his mind used to wander around his
village. His daughter was his only child, and he used to tell me
quite often, 'Dhiren, once my daughter gets married, I will give up my
practice in Calcutta to start a rural living in my own village home
which is located in a remote village named Guniauk of Nasirnagar Thana
of Tripura district.' His cherished desire was to offer assistance to
the distressed people, and to better understand their problems he
wanted to develop intimacy with the poor, distressed, and illiterate
cultivators and laborers. His nick name was 'Kanchan Mia,' and indeed
he glittered like a 'kanchan.' He was a true lover of common masses,
and my own commitment to service to the people was greatly inspired by
him. Indeed, he was my true political guru'' (Dhiren Datta's
'Memoirs,' pp. 28).
After finishing his education at Ripon College, Dhirendranath Datta
decided to go back to his home district to live and work, and he made
this determination instead of seeking a job or pursuing a legal career
in Calcutta, a city where he lived and studied for almost six years.
He left Calcutta on February 27, 1910 to start a teaching job in a
high school that was located in a remote village named Bangra under
the jurisdiction of Muradnagar Thana of the then Tripuara district. He
worked there as the Assistant Headmaster of Bangra Umalochan High
(English) School from March 1, 1910 through February 2, 1911. Although
he enjoyed his teaching job in that rural high school, he decided to
quit this job to pursue a law practice at Comilla town. Given the
fact that he got married when he was a student of B.A. class on
December 7. 1906, he had a family to take care. He might have also
realized quite early that a pittance from a teaching position in a
rural high school was inadequate to defray the minimum expenses of an
extended family.
Dhirendranath Datta formally started his law practice on February 8,
1911 at Comilla town, and he continued to be a distinguished lawyer
there till his brutal murder in early April 1971 in the hands of the
murderous Pakistani army. His public service ethos and motto of life
were conditioned by his social service orientation, concern for his
country, and compassion for common masses. In his old age,
Dhirendranath Datta fondly recalled the advice that he had received
from his political mentor Barrister Abdur Rasul: "I started my law
practice at Comilla town on February 8, 1911. Late Abdur Rasul advised
me: 'you will serve the common people through practicing your chosen
legal profession. Social service should be your motto of life, and
legal profession will provide you the opportunity to achieve that
goal.' In those days, there were many dedicated souls in legal
profession. I also started my legal career with a promise to serve
the people through my profession with a great deal of dedication. ....
Before I embarked my legal practice, I had promised to adhere to two
fundamental principles: first, I will try my level best to offer
social service to the people through a fair practice of my legal
profession, and second, my professional duty and responsibility, as a
lawyer, will not be to encourage litigation but to prevent it" (Dhiren
Datta's 'Memoirs,' pp. 34-35).
GLIMPSES OF HIS POLITICAL STRUGGLE
Dhirendranath Datta's debut in Bengal politics dates back to his
student days at Ripon College. His subsequent political life was also
enormously conditioned by life experiences and insights that he had
gained during his student days in Calcutta from 1904 to 1910. He was
a first year F.A. student in 1905 when he got involved with the anti-
British movement to annul the partition of Bengal. In those turbulent
years, both the Indian National Congress and the Bengal provincial
Congress were dominated by two groups of leaders. While Bal Gangadhar
Tilak (1856-1920), Bipin Chandra Pal (1870-1932), and Aurobindo Ghosh
(1872-1950) led the extremist group, Surendranath Banerjee was the
leader of the moderates. Dhirendranath Datta was the supporter of the
moderate group in the Congress. However, he was also deeply inspired
by the dedication and oratory of Bipin Chandra Pal, the leader of the
extremists. Although he empathized with the goals and objectives of
the revolutionary and extremist groups of the anti-British movement,
he seems to have shunned the violent methods and means of achieving
those lofty goals. He was a true believer of constitutional path for
achieving nationalistic goals even though he often doubted whether or
not the independence could be readily achieved only through
constitutional means. He remained a life-long member of the Congress
party till the partition of India in August 1947.
Dhirendranath Datta worked as a volunteer at the annual meeting of the
Indian National Congress which was held in Calcutta in December, 1906,
and he was deeply inspired by Dadabhai Naorojee's demand for Swaraj
(self-rule) for India. In 1908, he also attended the annual
conference of the Bengal provincial Congress at Boharampur. Although
he was deeply inspired by the Congress demand for boycotting foreign
goods, he had protested when some delegates to the Congress conference
at Boharampur proposed for the creation of the so-called 'Bentwood
Chair'. As a budding politician, he took active part at the annual
conference of the Bengal provincial Congress that was held at Comilla,
his hometown, in 1914 (March-April), and among other top Congress
leaders, Surendranath Banarjee also addressed that meeting.
Dhirendranath Datta actively participated in the deliberations of the
social conference that was also concurrently held at Comilla during
the 1914 provincial Congress meeting, and he had opposed a proposal
for 'widow marriage.' He regretfully recapitulated that incident in
the following words: "I am saying this with a sense of shame that I
had opposed the question of widow marriage even though I completely
changed my view later about widow marriage." In fact, he became a
champion of various social reforms even within his own religion
throughout his political career especially during the years between
the two World Wars.
Whenever there was a natural disaster or other emergency situation,
Dhirendranath Datta was always willing to be there to volunteer his
services. For instance, he worked as a volunteer during the
devastating flood in 1914 and distributed relief materials among the
flood victims of various villages of Tripura district. Since the anti-
British movement had gained momentum in 1915, many Congress leaders
including Dhirendranath Datta started facing police harassment and
intimidation. The police searched his house and confiscated all of his
books and reading materials on 'home rule.' However, he was not
willing to be bullied around by the police. As he recalled that
incident in his own words: "Many Congress leaders were put behind bars
in 1915. I was not arrested but my house was searched by the police,
and they took way my books and papers on home rule. A Deputy
Superintendent of Police (DSP) was leading the search and seizure in
my house. He was promoted to the present rank from the position of an
ordinary constable. After seeing my books and papers on home rule, he
quipped, 'Dhiren Babu, you seem to be an agitator.' I quickly
responded, 'But for my agitation, you would not have been the Deputy
Superintendent of Police (DSP). You enjoy the benefit of the
agitation; we receive the brunt of it.' I think my sarcastic comments
made him speechless" (Dhiren Datta's 'Memoirs,' p.39).
Dhirendranath Datta could not attend the Bhabanipur conference of the
Bengal provincial Congress in 1917 that was presided over by
Chittaranjan Das (C.R. Das). However, he was greatly motivated by
perusing the presidential speech which was delivered by C.R. Das in
Bengali underscoring the paramount importance of redressing the vexing
problems of the Bengal peasantry. As a delegate from Tripura
district, he attended the Bengal provincial Congress in April 1919 at
Mymensingh, and on his back to Comilla, he was devastated after
hearing the news about the barbaric massacre of many innocent and
unarmed civilians by the brute British force on April 13, 1919 at
Jalianwalabagh.
It is worth noting that the Jalianwalabah massacre of 1919 was a
turning point in the history of the nationalist movement in India. In
response to this infamous massacre, Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) had
launched a Non-violent and Non-cooperation movement against the
British Government, and he appealed to the distinguished leaders of
all provinces to make this movement a success. The gist of Gandhi's
Non-violent and Non-cooperation movement was that all Indians must
cease to render any type of co-operation to the British Government.
Initially, Chittaranjan Das (C.R. Das 1870-1925), the most popular
leader in the then Bengal, had some reservations about the relevance
and usefulness of Gandhi's passive non-cooperation movement. However,
C.R. Das decided to fully support Gandhi's Non-violent and Non-
cooperation movement in the Calcutta session of the Indian National
Congress in 1920. Chittaranjan Das gave up his lucrative law practice
as a gesture of his full-blown support to the historic Non-violent and
Non-cooperation movement, and until his arrest in later part of 1921,
he sincerely worked hard to make this movement a success. He started
touring various districts of the then province of Bengal for enlisting
support for the movement.
In a mammoth public meeting at Comilla town on March 6, 1921,
Chittaranjan Das gave a clarion call to the people of Bengal province
to render their full support to the Non-cooperation movement.
Specifically, he urged the lawyers to boycott their legal practice for
at lease three months, and requested them to tour various villages in
order to: enlist mass support for the Congress by spreading its goals
and objectives, generate mass enthusiasm for the Non-violent and Non-
cooperation by explaining the implications of the movement, launch a
membership drive for the Congress party among the masses, and collect
money for the 'Million-Rupee Tilak Fund.' He also urged the people to
develop food programs and garner mass support for eradication of the
practice of untouchability. Dhirendranath Datta was present in that
historic meeting on August 6, 1921, and he was deeply impressed by the
mesmerizing speech of C.R. Das.
Dhirendranath Datta was already an admirer of Gandhi's non-violent
approach to political struggle, he was greatly inspired and motivated
by personal sacrifice and commitment of C.R. Das. In response to the
instructions of C.R. Das, he decided to give up his law practice in
1921 for three months to work for the non-cooperation movement. As he
recalled in his 'Memoirs,' "I was present in that historic meeting on
March 6, 1921 at Comilla in which C.R. Das urged the lawyers to give
up their practice for at least three months to make the non-
cooperation movement a success. I could not respond to this request
right away but my friend and a fellow lawyer, Haldhar Das-Gupta
instantly decided to give up my law practice. However, I decided on
next day at the residence of Akhilchandra Datta to give up my law
practice, and I voluntarily agreed to give up my legal practice for at
least 3 months in order to disseminate the messages of the non-
cooperation movement" (Dhiren Datta's 'Memoirs,' p. 42).
During that turbulent time, a large public meeting was held at
Brahmanbaria that was presided over by Akhilchandra Datta in which
fiery speeches were delivered by many leaders including Dhirendranath
Datta's friend and a fellow Congress party worker, Bipin Bihari Gosh
(of village Patai), and the revolutionary leader Lalitmohan Barman.
Dhirendranath Datta attended that meeting with a corp of volunteers.
As per the party directive, he was given the responsibility of
organizing the support for the Congress-led non-violent and non-
cooperation movement in and around Chandura area of the then
Brahmanbaria subdivision.
Dhirendranath Datta described the experiences of those turbulent days
in his own words: "First I started to work in Chandhira area of
Brahmanbaria subdivision, and Sri Jogeshchandra Roy, a revolutionary
leader of that area, was my special assistant. After having some
light breakfast in the morning, we used to go out for the entire day
to spread the messages of the Congress party among the people of
various villages and localities through holding meetings and
discussion forums. Our principal tasks were as follows: unity between
Hindus and Muslims, giving up of untouchability (unsociability), the
introduction of 'Khadi,' non-cooperation with the British, and
membership drive among the rural people for the Congress party. I
fully realized that no lofty goal could ever be accomplished without
the conscious and spontaneous support and cooperation of the common
masses. Although we often confronted resistance against our daunting
task of disseminating the party messages, we tried our best to tackle
that kind of situation in a non-violent way. In fact, these grass
root activities had enhanced our practical experiences. We tried to
establish Congress party committees in various rural areas. Before
this effort, the Congress party was confined within the city
intellectuals, especially among the Hindu intellectuals. Our effort
for mass contact [in 1921] was the first attempt to forge Hindu-Muslim
unity" (Dhiren Datta's 'Memoirs,' pp. 43-44).
There were numerous instances of police brutalities, harassments,
arrests, incarcerations, and jail terms during the non-cooperation
movement. Like many political activists, Dhirendranath Datta was also
subjected to harassment. As he narrated many years later: "Mr. T.
Ellis was the Sub-divisional Officer (SDO) of Brahmanbaria (who later
became the Chief Justice of the Dhaka High Court and Governor of East
Pakistan), and at his behest, many political activists were arrested
and jailed. In fact, 'Bande-matorom' slogan used to make him crazy.
Mr. Ellis used to pry for secret information about my political
activities, and I came to know from a former President of the Union
Board that he was looking for an opportunity to get me arrested and
then put me on trial in his court under section 124 (A). Since I
used to hold meetings in the remote villages, it was difficult for the
police intelligence branch to collect accurate information about my
political activities. .........People in Chandura area used to call me
'Swadeshi Babu.'.........After working and staying for some days in Chandura
area, I came to my own village Ramrail. Ghandhiji started publishing
the "Young India' during the non-cooperation movement, and every
morning I used read this journal. I used to be greatly moved and
encouraged by Gandhijis's message, and his language uplifted my hope,
and I used to imagine that freedom from the alien rulers is on our
doorstep. I felt like thinking that as if the stigma of colonial
subjugation was withering away" (Dhiren Datta's 'Memoirs,' p. 44).
During the non-cooperation movement, the workers of the Assam-Bengal
Railway and the teagarden workers in Assam had staged strikes, and
those two separate strikes had caused serious problems for the British
Government. In spite of various stringent measures against the
striking workers, most of them left their places of employment.
However, many of those striking workers had to endure untold miseries
on their way to their respective homes. Many of them were stranded in
various places. For instance, while many of them had assembled at
Chandpur, one such displaced group of striking workers got stranded at
Akhaura Railway junction. Dhirendranath Datta was tasked to provide
food and shelter to those who were stranded in and around Akhaura.
With the assistance of local people, he had arranged food and shelter
for those displaced workers. Indeed, he had provided a yeoman's
service during that crisis even though he himself had to endure
physical hardship due to the stoppage of train communication at that
time.
As he recalled many years later: "The country was passing through a
period of excitement, and I felt really elated and proud to be part of
that tumultuous time. I still remember that I had to go to Comilla
from Akhaura but no train was plying due to strike. Finding no other
means of communication, I decided to walk to Comilla, and I left
Akhuara early in the morning. I walked for the whole day, and on the
wayside I had also arranged food for some tea garden coolies. I
reached my home at Comilla in the evening but I was very tired. I
walked thirty miles on that day literally in empty stomach. Yet I did
not feel any pain due to my exhaustion. Rather, my mind was full of
hope and inspiration" (Dhiren Datta's 'Memoirs,' p. 45).
At a personal level, Dhirendranath Datta's direct participation in the
Non-cooperation movement gave him a rare opportunity to practice
politics at the grass root level in the rural areas even though his
extended family endured untold financial difficulties. He went
through a social and political transformation during this historic
movement. In fact, his participation in the non-cooperation movement
was his first experience in a political struggle that involved a great
deal of personal risks and sacrifices. As he recalled about his
participation in the non-cooperation movement: "This was my first
experience of struggle in politics. My extended family had experienced
tremendous financial difficulties due to the fact that I had given up
my legal practice to join the movement. At that time, my family that
included my [step] mother, [retired] father, my wife, our four
children, and two sisters had to depend on my income. My father,
however, used to receive 32 Rupees per month as his pension. Despite
the desperate pecuniary circumstance of the family, my family members
never stood in the way of my participation in the [Non-cooperation]
movement. All of my family members felt proud for enduring those
financial difficulties. I and my family had really enjoyed the
pleasure of sacrifice for achieving some lofty goals. Initially I
gave up my law practice for three months but I did not resume my
practice for more than six months" (Dhiren Datta's 'Memoirs,' p. 46).
As a delegate from Tripura district, Dhirendranath Datta attended the
Goya session of the Indian National Congress in 1922. By mid-1920s,
Dhirendranath Datta had emerged as a champion of various social
reforms even within his own religion. Throughout his political
career, especially during the years between the two World Wars, he was
an avowed critic of the practice of untouchability and the caste
system, and in his personal life, he also shunned all forms of
religious orthodoxies. In 1921, he was instrumental in founding the
'Mukti Sangha' at Comilla, the principal aim of which was to eradicate
untouchability and caste system from the Hindu society. In 1923, he
was also involved in the establishment of 'Abhoy Ashram' at Comilla.
During the 1924 election to the Bengal Legislative Council, he
actively supported and campaigned in various parts of Tripura district
in favour of the Congress nominee Akhilchandra Datta. He also worked
hard to forge a durable unity between Hindus and Muslims. He was
greatly inspired by many admirable efforts of C.R. Das and his
Swarajja party toward forging Hindu-Muslim unity. He was deeply
shocked after he heard the news about the sad and sudden death of C.R.
Das on June 16, 1925. He was very concerned about the deteriorating
communal situation in various regions of Bengal in 1926 and 1927.
During a communal riot in 1927 at Comilla, he worked relentlessly to
halt the march of communal antagonism between Hindus and Muslims.
During early 1930s, Dhirendranath Datta directly participated in the
historic Civil Disobedience Movement for which he was imprisoned for
several times. In fact, he was in the vanguard of the civil
disobedience movement in the then Tripura district. In its historic
Lahore Session in late December 1929, the Indian National Congress had
demanded 'Purna Swaraj' (full independence) for India, and it was
stipulated that if the British Government failed to grant full
independence to India by January 26, 1930 then a Civil Disobedience
movement would be launched by all provinces of India for achieving
full independence. Dhirendranath Datta made a conscious determination
to follow through the Congress directives at any cost. When the time
for real action against the British came on January 26, 1930, he
wholeheartedly supported and followed all directives of the Congress
through his direct participation in the freedom movement.
Like many cities and townships throughout India, Comilla town was also
filled with much excitement and enthusiasm. Dhirendranath Datta had
played a leadership role in organizing protest marches on that
momentous day. In fact, Dhiremdranath Datta was committed to the cause
of the Civil Disobedience movement even before January 26, 1930. For
instance, his commitment to the cause of freedom of his country can be
gauged from his own conversation that he had on January 20, 1930 with
the then District Judge of Tripura: "Mr. N.L. Hindley, the District
Judge, used to live in a Bunglow that was located just on the west
side of my own residence. He told me, 'today you have declared a war
against the British the way we had declared war against the Germans in
1914.' In response, I said, 'this is our non-violent war, and this is
a war to win our independence for which we are ready to sacrifice our
lives but we are not taking anybody's life.' He [Mr. Hindley],
however, expressed his doubt whether or not we could remain non-
violent in our freedom struggle. In response to this comment, I said,
our leader Mahatmaji has given us order to carry on the movement in
non-violent ways, and we are determined to demonstrate to the whole
world that we can successfully lead and sustain a non-violent freedom
movement." (Dhiren Datta's 'Memoirs,' p. 54).
The Civil Disobedience movement took a new twist in March 1930 when
Mahatma Gandhi decided to violate the so-called 'Salt Law.'
Characterizing the 'Salt Tax' as "the most inhuman tax the ingenuity
of man can devise," and declaring the 'Salt Law' as a 'lawless law,'
Mahatma Gandhi embarked a long-march on March 12, 1930 from his
Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi (popularly known as Dandi March).
Dhirendranath Datta went to Noakhali to organize protest meetings and
demonstrations in support of the civil disobedience movement. In the
midst of the volatile political situation, he also attended the Bengal
provincial Congress session at Rajshahi in April 1930 as a delegate
from Tripura district. During that time, he also decided to give up
his legal practice for the time being.
Dhirendranath Datta had organized a huge mass procession at Comilla
town on July 2, 1930 protesting Motilal Nehru's arrest. In defiance
of the police order, the protestors under his leadership had refused
to disperse the procession. On that day, Dhirendranath Datta was
mercilessly lathi charged by the then British Superintendent of Police
of Tripura district. Yet he was not willing to disperse the protest
march. Dhirendranath Datta and a host of other protestors were
arrested on July 2, 1930 for defying the police orders. After keeping
him for several hours in the police station, the law enforcement
authority presented him and his fellow protestors at the Deputy
Magistrate's Court in the afternoon of the same day. As a gesture of
good will, the presiding Magistrate had expressed his desire to
release them on bail on the condition that they have to attend the
Court on the scheduled dates for trial. Dhirendranath Datta firmly
replied, "I refuse to recognize you as a Court." The entire Court was
filled with 'Bande Matoram' slogans. He was then sent to Comilla jail
in the evening of July 2, 1930. After 15 days, he was summarily tried
by a Court inside the Comilla jail on July 17, 1930 in which he had
again refused to recognize the legitimacy of the Court. This summary
Court, presided over by the then S.D.O. of Comilla, Nepalchandra Sen,
who was his former roommate and classmate, had sentenced him to three
months' rigorous imprisonment. This was his first experience of
imprisonment. After he served his prison term in Comilla and Dum Dum
jails, he was released in mid-October, 1930.
On his return to Comilla, Dhirendranath Datta found out that the
ferocity of the first phase of the Civil Disobedience movement started
waning by that time even though there were instances of secret
killings, revolts, and even armed rebellions against the British. In
fact, the unconditional release of Gandhi and other top leaders of the
Congress from jails on January 25, 1931, the so-called dialogue
between Lord Irwin and Gandhi, and the signing of the Gandhi-Irwin
Pact in March 1931 brought some kind of a truce between the British
Government and the Congress. In view of such circumstance, Gandhi
agreed to suspend the civil disobedience movement for the time being.
Gandhi's willingness to attend the 2nd Round Table Conference that was
to be convened in London in September 1931 also slowed down the
intensity of the civil disobedience movement. Like many freedom
fighters, Dhirendranath Datta also decided to support his party's
stand on the anti-British movement even though he had serious
reservation about the sincerity of the British Government. In good
faith, he had resumed his law practice in November 1931, and during
that winter, he also contested an election to be a member of the
Comilla Municipality in which he was overwhelmingly elected from a
Muslim dominated constituency. This was his first gesture of holding
an elective position in a local body.
The dismal failure of the Second Round Table Conference in December
1931 and the arrest of Gandhi immediately after his return to India on
January 4, 1932 had given birth to the final phase of the Civil
Disobedience Movement. Dhirendranath Datta was arrested from his
Comilla residence on January 9, 1932, and he was kept in jail for one
month without any trial. This was his second jail term. He was
released on February 8, 1932 but to his utter surprise, however, he
was served with a notice at the jail gate that stipulated serious
restrictions on his civil liberties. He was required to report to the
police station on a daily basis and he was banned from addressing any
kind of public gathering. After coming home from jail, he found his 86-
year old father in deathbed, and seeing his father's deteriorating
condition he fully understood that his father's days were numbered.
Although it was a really heartbreaking moment for him, he decided not
to follow the conditions of his release from jail.
Aimed at violating the conditions of the notice, Dhirendranath Datta
addressed a meeting in the evening at the Bar Library on the same day
he was released from jail. Nor did he report to the police station.
He was arrested at 8 p.m. on February 8, 1932. After he was kept in
jail for a couple of days, he was put on trial in front of a
magistrate inside the Comilla jail. Dhirendranath Datta demonstrated
his uncompromising commitment to the cause of the civil disobedience
movement by refusing to take part in that trial but he had issued a
pungent statement in which he stated the following: "The notice that
has been served upon me is intended to kill the man in me and I have
prevented this murder by disobeying the notice." He was sentenced to
rigorous imprisonment for one year. This was his third jail term. He
was immediately transferred to Dum Dum jail. During this jail term,
he had endured a great deal of personal tragedies and family
hardships. His father breathed his last in the early hours of April 1,
1932. He was grief-stricken inside jail after receiving the sad news
of his father's passing away on April 2, 1932. His family also went
through severe financial crisis during his imprisonment.
Dhirendranath Datta was released from jail in February, 1933 after he
had served the full term of his sentence. On his return to Comilla in
February, 1933, he found out that his family had to move out of his
Comilla residence and started living in his village home under extreme
financial difficulties. By 1933, the Civil Disobedience movement died
out. He was trying to rise up from the ashes by resuming his law
practice. At the beginning of 1936, Dhirendranath Datta contested and
won a membership of the Comilla District Board. This was his second
experience of seeking and winning an elective office in the local
body.
During the historic provincial legislative election in 1937,
Dhirendranath Datta was overwhelmingly elected to the Bengal
Legislative Assembly (BLA). He had courted arrests twice during his
first tenure as a Member of the Bengal Legislative Assembly, and he
was imprisoned for nine months on each occasion. He took active part
in the Satayagrah movement that was launched by Mahatma Gandhi as a
protest against the War Policy of the British Government. His
determination to fight for a principled cause is obvious from the fact
that it was him who gave an advance notice to the then District
Magistrate of Tripura that he would loudly speak against the British
war policy on December 14, 1940 in front of the post office at
Brahmanbaria to generate public opinion against the British
Government. In fact, he was the first prominent Satayagrahi of the
then Brahmanbaria subdivision who had courted such an arrest. As
expected, he was arrested as soon as he started shouting anti-war
slogans at the scheduled place on December 14, 1940. After being
interned in the sub-jail at Brahmanbaria for a few days, he was put on
a trial there in which he did not participate. He was jailed for nine
months, and he was shifted from Brahmanbaria sub-jail to Comilla
jail. This was his fourth jail term. He was released in September
1941 after he spent nine months in Comilla, Dum Dum, and Alipur
jails.
Dhirendranath Datta also courted arrest during the historic 'Quit
India Movement' that demanded the immediate granting of independence
to India after the Cripps mission had failed. He was arrested when he
was on his way to preside over a protest meeting at Comilla on August
16, 1942. He was put on a trial in which he refused take part, and
like the previous time, he was awarded a nine-month prison term. This
was his fifth and last imprisonment under the British Government
before the partition of India in 1947. He was interned in Comilla
jail for the entire period of his jail term. However, he fell
seriously ill during his imprisonment and he was bed-ridden in the
jail hospital for three months. He was released from Comilla jail at
the end of April 1943. He was greatly distressed to see the
deteriorating economic situation in the then Bengal, and from mid-1943
he started collecting and distributing food, medical services, and
other humanitarian relief materials among the famine victims in
various villages of the then Tripura district.
Although Dhirendranath Datta had to spend 18 months behind the bar as
a political prisoner during his first tenure (1937-1945) as the member
of the Bengal Legislative Assembly, he was one of the most articulate
and committed parliamentarian at a critical juncture of the history of
the Indian subcontinent. Despite the fact that he was in the
opposition in the provincial legislature, he was actively involved in
the passage of the Bengal Tenancy Act, the Bengal Debtors' Act, and
the Bengal Money Lenders' Act. In 1940, he was elected as the Deputy
Leader (Kiran Shankar was elected as the Leader) of the Congress
parliamentary party in the Bengal Legislative Assembly. It was
Dhirendranath Datta who brought a 'Cut Motion' during the budget
session in June 1945 that literally led to the downfall of Khwaja
Nazimuddin's provincial Government. Pursuant to the fall of Khawja
Nazimuddin Ministry, the then Governor of Bengal had dissolved the
provincial assembly in November 1945 and declared to hold the assembly
elections during early (February-March) 1946. As a Congress
candidate, Dhirendranath Datta was reelected in 1946 to the Bengal
Legislative Assembly. On behalf of the Congress party, Kiranshankar
Roy and Dhirendranath Datta were elected to be the Leader and Deputy
Leader respectively of the opposition party in the assembly. Since
the possibility of partition of India and the province of Bengal was
gaining ground in 1946, he had to take some of the most critical
decisions of his entire political career.
A life-long champion of Hindu-Muslim unity, Dhirendranath Datta was
horrified to see the rise of communalism and the Hindu-Muslim riots in
1946. On the eve of the division of India, he had several options.
As the Deputy Leader of the Congress parliamentary party in the Bengal
Legislative Assembly, he could choose to opt for India where his
political career would have been protected. He could realize that his
future was at best problematic in a Muslim majority country if he
opted for Pakistan. Yet Dhirendranath Datta made a conscious
determination to opt for the new nation of Pakistan. On a matter of
principle, he was unwilling to abandon his constituents. He became a
member of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan (CAP) in December 1946
and continued to be a member of the CAP till this body was arbitrarily
dissolved in October 1954. He attended the first session of the
Constituent Assembly of Pakistan (CAP) on August 12, 1947. He also
attended the historic session of the CAP on August 14, 1947 in which
Lord Mount batten, the last Viceroy of India, had transferred power to
M.A. Jinnah, the newly appointed Governor General of the new nation of
Pakistan.
It was Dhirendranath Datta who had moved an amendment at the CAP on
February 25, 1948 for adopting "Bengali" as one of the official
languages of the CAP. It is clearly evident from his speech that he
also demanded Bengali to be one of the "State" languages of Pakistan.
Among many others who were in the vanguard of the formative phase of
the Bengali Language Movement, his role was seminal in the process of
jumpstarting our resistance against those anti-Bangalee forces that
were engaged in repudiating the rudiments of Bengali language and
culture through the imposition of Urdu.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
In order to fully comprehend the factors that motivated Dhirendranath
Datta to opt for Pakistan where he was to be treated as an alien in
his own homeland, one has to appraise the nature of his political
struggle before the partition of India. It is evident from
Dhirendranath Datta's memoirs that his political philosophy and his
commitment to freedom struggle during the British period were
enormously conditioned by his early political socialization process
and the insights that he had gained during his student days from 1904
through 1910. He was also greatly influenced by Surendranath Banerjee,
his teacher at Ripon College, and Barrister Abdur Rasul (1872-1917), a
follower and supporter of Surendranath Banerjee and a practicing
Barrister who happened to hail from Tripura district. Both of these
remarkable men were in the vanguard of the anti-partition movement
during the period from1905 to 1911. It seems that his political
philosophy and social orientation, and his life-long commitment to
social justice and fairness might have been greatly moulded by these
two distinguished gentlemen of extraordinary merit and dedication.
Dhirendranath Datta was an outstanding lawyer-politician with an
impeccable record of professional integrity. It is evident from
whatever scanty literature is available on the formative phase of his
life that his motto of social service was greatly shaped by his
concern for the country and for his compassion for the common masses.
However, the most distinctive quality of this extraordinary man of
integrity and honesty was that numerous opportunities could not add
luster to his reputation even when he became a provincial minister in
the then East Pakistan in 1950s. He never shunned the code of ethics
of his legal profession. Nor did he ever deviate from his cherished
life-long motto of social service. He was regarded as a person of
amiable disposition, and it is fair to suggest that he was a gentleman
par excellence. His was a graceful and courteous presence both inside
and outside of the courtrooms or legislative chambers, and humility
was the hallmark of his character. However, on a matter of principle,
he was not willing to demonstrate any kind of timidity or ambiguity in
front of the most powerful.
There is no doubt that Dhirendranath Datta went through a social and
political transformation during the Non-violent and Non-cooperation
movement in early 1920s. His participation in this historic movement
also gave him a golden opportunity to practice politics among the
common masses of various remote villages of the then Tripura
district. Notwithstanding his personal risks and sacrifices, his
activities during the non-cooperation movement can be characterized as
the on-the-job training for a budding nationalist leader.
His political life was also seriously impacted by his involvement in
the historic Civil Disobedience Movement that was launched by the
Congress in early 1930s, and during different phases of this movement,
he had suffered three separate prison terms totaling a period of
sixteen months. As a participant in the Satyagraha and the 'Quit
India' movements that took place in early 1940s, he was put behind bar
twice for a total period of eighteen months. The way he had courted
arrests and jail terms during those tumultuous years of Bengal
politics is an exemplary testimonial of a true freedom fighter and a
patriot. Since his direct participation in various anti-British
movements involved a great deal of personal risks and sacrifices, his
deep sense of patriotism and selflessness, and his commitment to his
constituents can be identified as the chief incentives behind his bold
decision of staying back in Pakistan for which he had to endure
humiliation and various forms of hardships. Even after the black
night of 25th March in 1971, he had refused to move out of his modest
Comilla residence for a taking a safe haven in neighboring Tripura
state of India. Due to his refusal to leave his beloved motherland,
he had to sacrifice his life at the age of 85 in the hands of the
brutish Pakistani genocidal army.
Dhirendranath Datta, a forgotten martyr of our liberation war, has
remained unwept. It is indeed Bangladesh's national shame that a hero
of the Bengali language movement of Dhirendranath Datta's stature has
essentially remained unsung even though marginal roles of many self-
declared language activists have often been embellished, magnified,
and glorified in recent years. However, his sacrifices did not go in
vain. Shaheed Dhirendranath Datta's profile in courage that was
demonstrated both before and after the partition of India and his role
as a dauntless defender of the Bengali language and culture will be
remembered beyond the boundaries of time.