Surya Sen

On the night of 18 April 1930, a group of young revolutionaries seized two armouries in Chittagong. Their leader was a schoolteacher, Surya Sen.

People called him “Master da”. He stayed free for nearly three more years before he was betrayed and hanged.

1Who was Surya Sen?

He was a teacher who became a revolutionary organiser.

• He was born on 22 March 1894 at Noapara, near Chittagong.
• Chittagong is now in Bangladesh.
• His father, Ramaniranjan Sen, was also a teacher.
• He came from a Bengali Baidya family.
• As a B.A. student at Berhampore he learned about the freedom movement from a teacher.
• That teacher was Shatishchandra Chakrabarti.
• In 1918 he came to Chittagong and began teaching at the National School.
• Students called him Master da.
• In 1918 he also became president of the Congress branch in Chittagong.
• He took part in the Non-Cooperation Movement.
• He is said to have looted the Assam-Bengal Railway treasury to fund the movement.
• He was jailed with a comrade, Ambika Chakrabarty.
• He was jailed for about two years, from 1926 to 1928.

2What happened on 18 April 1930?

A small group tried to cut Chittagong off from British rule.

• Sen led the Chittagong Armoury Raid on 18 April 1930.
• The plan was to seize arms and cut the city’s links to the outside world.
• The group raided the police armoury and the auxiliary-force armoury.
• They cut telegraph and telephone lines.
• Ganesh Ghosh led the assault on the police armoury.
• Lokenath Bal led the attack on the auxiliary-force armoury.
• Ananta Singh was another key leader.
• The raiders hoisted the Indian flag.
• They declared a provisional revolutionary government.
• They captured weapons but not ammunition.
• Most of the raiders were very young.
• For his comrade, read Ganesh Ghosh.

3What happened at Jalalabad Hill?

The British caught up with the group days later.

• The raiders left the town and went to the hills.
• On 22 April 1930, troops cornered a large part of the group on Jalalabad Hill.
• In the fight, twelve revolutionaries were killed.
• Some were arrested.
• Accounts differ on how many British-led soldiers died, so exams rarely ask about that figure.
• Sen and others escaped.
• Without ammunition, the group could not hold ground.
• Those who escaped scattered across the district.
• They broke into small groups instead.
• These groups hid in nearby villages.

4How did he stay free?

He lived underground for almost three years.

• Sen kept moving from one place to another.
• He took on many disguises, such as a workman, a farmer or a priest.
• Villagers sheltered him.
• He sometimes even posed as a devout Muslim.
• This helped him avoid the British for years.
• His groups raided government property and personnel.
• Young women also joined the network.
• Pritilata Waddedar joined his group in June 1932.
• In September 1932 she led an attack on the Pahartali European Club.
• Kalpana Dutta was another woman in the network.
• Read more in Pritilata Waddedar.

5How did his life end?

A relative gave him away.

• He was arrested on 16 February 1933.
• He was hiding at a relative’s house at the time.
• Another relative, Netra Sen, told the police where he was.
• Sen was tortured in custody.
• He was hanged on 12 January 1934, with Tarakeswar Dastidar.
• The British reportedly disposed of his body at sea.
• That would prevent a grave from becoming a place of memory.
• His last letter urged friends to remember 18 April 1930.
• He called his dream a “golden dream” of a free India.
• He asked friends to write the names of the fallen in their hearts.
• Halls at the universities of Dhaka and Chittagong carry his name.
• A Kolkata metro station is also named after him.
• A park in Chittagong holds a bust of him.
• Films have been made about the raid, including Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey in 2010.

6What are the exam traps?

Two famous raids are easy to mix up.

• The Chittagong Armoury Raid was in 1930, in Bengal.
• The Kakori case was in 1925, in north India.
• Sen was not part of the Kakori case.
• Bismil, Lahiri and Ashfaqulla Khan were Kakori figures.
• Pritilata Waddedar joined Sen after the raid. She did not take part in it.
• The raid captured arms, not ammunition.
• It was a Bengal event, led by a teacher.
• Sen was hanged, not killed at Jalalabad Hill.
• Another trap is the leader’s name. Rash Behari Bose and Hemu Kalani were not linked to this raid.