History still remembers and praises him and it will, but the people of his country for whom he fought, had forgotten him. His name is Batukeshwar Dutt, fondly known as Mohan or Battu was born on 18 November, 1910 in Oari village, Bardhaman district, in West Bengal in a Kayastha family. His parents were Goshtha Bihari Dutt and Kamini Devi.
Batukeshwar Dutt was a revolutionary member of HSRA(Hindustan Socialist Republican Army), and he came to be popularly known as the 'compatriot' of Bhagat Singh in the Assembly Bombing Case of 1929. Dutt along with Bhagat Singh threw bombs in the central assembly (now parliament), to protest the Trade Disputes Bill and Public Safety Bill - introduced by the British government to curtail working class politics in India. The Meerut Conspiracy Case, whereby three British communist activists were arrested along with 27 trade union leaders, had alerted British authorities about the collaboration between Indian leaders who leaned towards socialism, and Communist International.
The aforementioned bills were thus aimed at curtailing the activities of socialists and communists among the Indian working class.
Dutt spent his early childhood in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur and studied at the Theosophical High School and Prithvinath Chak High School. He married Anjali Dutt in 1937 and became father to a girl, Bharati, soon after he was released from the Andaman Jail - where he had continued his fight for the right of prisoners against callous treatment - in connection with the legislative assembly attack.
An 'unrecognized life'
Dutt's desire for revolutionary activism was sparked when he witnessed the British beat an Indian child for standing on a road they were not supposed to. Both Dutt and Bhagat Singh were part of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army, which was founded in 1924 and became Hindustan Socialist Republic Association in 1927 to factor in its socialist ideology.
Unlike his comrades such as Chandrashekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh, who died during the freedom struggle, Dutt led an "unrecognized life in Independent India, while finding it extremely difficult to make ends meet". He ferried between varying jobs - from a cigarette company agent to trifling in the transport business and even returning to politics for a brief four months.
The national capital has many roads and inroads named after India's revolutionaries, and this was one token of recognition extended to Dutt as well.
In 1964, he fell severely ill and was in urgent need of a hospital bed in Patna. when the news made headlines owing to a passionate letter written by Dutt's friend and fellow comrade, Chamanlal Azad, to the then President of India, the Punjab government offered him an aid of Rs. 1000 and free treatment in Delhi or Chandigarh. But the Bihar government did not allow him to go to Delhi until he was at the verge of death, reports note.
On 22 November 1964, when Dutt arrived in Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital, he reportedly said, "I had never imagined that I would be carried like a cripple to the city where I had thrown a bomb and shouted slogans of 'Inquilab Zindabad'.
In December, he was shifted to AIIMS and he breathed his last breath on 20 July 1965 after being diagnosed with cancer. He was cremated at Hussainiwala on the India-Pakistan border, alongside Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru (it was his last wish to be cremated with his comrades).
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| Batukeshwar Dutt |
Early life as a revolutionary
The friendship between Dutt and Bhagat Singh only grew as they spend time in Kanpur. When Kanpur was flooded in 1924, both Singh and Dutt volunteered to be a part of 'Tarun Sangh' - formed to help the flood victims. Dutt writes:
"...both of us were assigned duty together. Both of us stood by the side of Ganga in night, holding Lanterns so that, somebody who went into the stream made an attempt to reach the shore could be saved..."
Dutt also helped Bhagat Singh learn Bengali and introduced him to the poetry of Kazi Nazirul Islam, which he would often sing.
After the Kakori conspiracy case in 1925, the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association(HSRA) was in total disarray with the arrest of several of its leaders and activists. During this time Batukeshwar Dutt moved to Bihar and later to Calcutta where he participated in the activities of Workers and Peasant Party.
Dutt's good knowledge of Hindi came in handy for the nascent party which was working among a lot of Hindi speaking migrant labourers in Calcutta. Dutt used to write pamphlets and posters for the party and was also briefly engaged with the Howrah branch of Scavengers' union of Bengal.
But as the HSRA began to re-organise due to the efforts of Chandrashekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh, Dutt moved back to Kanpur. Dutt often volunteered eagerly to be a part of any 'action' that the party was planning to undertake.
Assembly Bombing : 8 April, 1929
The Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) in its post 'Kakori' era, was rapidly moving from individual heroic actions towards mass politics. Earlier armed struggle, terrorism and retaliatory strikes were the favoured tactics to challenge the British empire. In 1927, its name was changed to Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), identifying socialism as one of the primary goals to be achieved in the struggle for independence.
The leadership was eager to let the people know about their changed objectives, and the need for a revolution by the masses. It was during these times that reading of socialist literature became a popular practice among its members. It was the result of the percolation of such ideas among revolutionary groups of north India, that along with 'Long live the motherland', 'Long live the revolution' and 'Down with Imperialism' came to become commonly used slogans.
To subdue the rise of revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh, Batukeshwar Dutt, Chandrashekhar Azad etc. the British government decided to implement the Defence of India Act 1915, which gave the police a free hand. Influenced by a French anarchist who bombed the French Chamber of Deputies, Bhagat Singh proposed to the HSRA his plan to explode a bomb inside the Central Legislative Assembly, to which it agreed. Initially it was decided that Dutt and Sukhdev would plant the bomb while Singh would travel to the USSR. However, later the plan was changed and Dutt was entrusted with planting it alongside Singh. On 8 April 1929, Singh and Dutt threw two bombs inside the assembly rushing from Visitor's Gallery. The smoke from the bomb filled the Hall and they shouted slogans of "Inquilab Zindabad!" and showed leaflets. The leaflet claimed that the act was done to oppose the Trade Disputes and the Public Safety Bill being presented in the Central Assembly and the death of Lala Lajpat Rai. Few sustained injuries in the explosion but there were no deaths; Singh and Dutt claimed that the act was intentional. Singh and Dutt were arrested, as planned.
Along with Singh and Sukhdev, Dutt was tried in the Central Assembly Bomb Case, and was sentenced in 1929 to life imprisonment by the Sessions Judge of Delhi under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 4 of the Explosive Substances Act. He was deported to the Cellular Jail, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In jail, B.K. Dutt and Bhagat Singh started one of the longest ever hunger strikes in modern political history. The strike, which ran for 114 days, was meant to demand better living condition for political prisoners.
Batukeshwar Dutt later also participated in the Quit India Movement in 1942 and was subsequently arrested, only to be released in 1947 i.e. after independence.
Post-Independence Life
Dutt withdrew himself from active political life after independence, mainly because of his disappointment from the state of affairs of mainstream politics at the time, but he continued his engagement with socialist literature.
Written by : Aditya Pandey
Inquilab Zindabad! - Bhagat Singh
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