He was one of the highest-paid barristers in Bengal. He gave up the practice, gave away the house, and died at fifty-four with almost nothing left.
✊ The Barrister Who Defended Aurobindo
1. Born, and usually known as C.R. Das
- Fact Chittaranjan Das was born on 5 November 1870 in Calcutta. He is usually called C.R. Das.
2. “Deshbandhu”
- Fact His honorific was Deshbandhu, meaning “friend of the country.”
3. Trained at the Middle Temple
- Fact He studied law at the Middle Temple in London, between 1890 and 1894.
4. A large, wealthy practice
- Fact He built one of the largest legal practices in Bengal, and became a wealthy man.
5. The Alipore Bomb Case
- Fact His defining case was the Alipore Bomb Case, tried in 1908-09.
6. Defending Aurobindo Ghose
- Fact He defended Aurobindo Ghose in that trial, and secured his acquittal.
7. No fee taken
- Fact He took the case without payment. He also defended other accused revolutionaries for no fee.
8. A national reputation
- Legacy That defence made his national reputation, and tied his legal career to the nationalist cause.
✊ Gaya and the Swaraj Party
1. Giving up his practice
- Fact Das gave up his legal practice for the Non-Cooperation Movement around 1920-21.
2. Burning European clothes
- Fact He burned his own European clothes and switched to khadi.
3. Congress divided after Chauri Chaura
- Context Non-Cooperation was suspended after Chauri Chaura in 1922. That left Congress divided about what to do next.
4. Pro-changers vs. no-changers
- Fact The split was between pro-changers and no-changers.
5. Das wanted council entry
- Fact Pro-changers, led by Das, wanted to enter the legislative councils and obstruct the government from inside.
6. No-changers’ position
- Fact No-changers wanted to continue the constructive programme outside the councils.
7. The Gaya session, 1922
- Fact Das presided over the Gaya session of Congress in December 1922, and put council entry to a vote.
8. He lost, and resigned
- Fact He lost. He then resigned the Congress presidency.
9. A new party forms
- Fact Within days he moved to form a new party with Motilal Nehru.
10. Becoming the Swarajya Party
- Fact It was first called the Congress-Khilafat Swaraj Party, and was renamed the Swarajya Party in February 1923.
11. Das and Motilal Nehru’s roles
- Fact Das led it; Motilal Nehru was among its secretaries.
12. The policy finally carries
- Fact At the Bombay AICC meeting in May 1923 the council-entry policy finally carried, by 96 votes to 71.
📘 The Bengal Pact of 1923
1. An agreement with Muslim leaders
- Fact Das negotiated an agreement with Bengali Muslim leaders, approved on 16 December 1923.
2. What the Bengal Pact tried to do
- Fact It is known as the Bengal Pact, and it tried to settle communal power-sharing in concrete terms.
3. Legislative Council representation
- Fact Representation in the Bengal Legislative Council would follow population, with separate electorates.
4. Local-body power split
- Fact In local bodies, the split would be 60% to the majority community and 40% to the minority.
5. A government-post quota
- Fact Muslims were eventually to hold 55% of government posts in the province.
6. New appointments favoured
- Fact Until that share was reached, 80% of new appointments would go to Muslims.
7. Music restrictions
- Fact The pact also barred music in processions passing in front of mosques.
8. Cow slaughter left to community
- Fact On cow slaughter, it kept the matter out of Council legislation and left it to community agreement.
9. Congress rejects the pact
- Fact Congress rejected the pact at its Coconada (Kakinada) session, in December 1923.
10. Abandoned after his death
- Fact After Das died, his own supporters abandoned it.
11. The Independent Muslim Party, 1926
- Fact Disappointed Muslim politicians formed the Independent Muslim Party in 1926.
12. A road not taken
- Analysis This is why historians treat the pact as a genuine road not taken in Bengal politics.
📘 Mayor of Calcutta
1. Winning the Corporation elections
- Fact The Swaraj Party contested the Calcutta Corporation elections in 1924, and won a majority.
2. Das becomes the first Mayor
- Fact Das became the first Mayor of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation under the new arrangement.
3. Deputy Mayor
- Fact Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy served as Deputy Mayor.
4. Subhas Chandra Bose’s first post
- Fact Subhas Chandra Bose was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation.
5. Bose’s first serious role
- Analysis That appointment matters. It gave the young Bose his first serious administrative role.
6. Das as Bose’s mentor
- Analysis Das was Bose’s political mentor, and Bose’s early career runs directly through Das’s circle.
7. Launching Forward
- Fact Das also launched the newspaper Forward, whose first issue appeared on 23 October 1923.
8. Later renamed Liberty
- Fact He was its editor-in-chief. The paper was later renamed Liberty.
Test Yourself
🏆 The Poet and the Patron
1. A working poet
- Fact Das was a working poet, not just a politician who wrote verse occasionally.
2. Malancha and Mala
- Fact His collections include Malancha and Mala.
3. Sagar Sangeet, 1913
- Fact Sagar Sangeet, “The Songs of the Sea,” was published in 1913.
4. Aurobindo’s translation
- Fact He paid Aurobindo Ghose to translate that work into English.
5. Founding Narayana
- Fact He founded the monthly journal Narayana.
6. Its contributors
- Fact Its contributors included Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and Bipin Chandra Pal.
7. Financing Bande Mataram
- Fact Earlier, he had helped finance the nationalist paper Bande Mataram.
8. Basanti Devi
- Fact His wife, Basanti Devi, was herself active in the movement and long outlived him, dying in 1974.
🏆 What He Left Behind
1. Giving away his house
- Fact Before his death he gave away his house and its grounds for a women’s welfare institution.
2. Chittaranjan Seva Sadan
- Fact It became the Chittaranjan Seva Sadan.
3. A cancer institute today
- Fact The site later housed a cancer hospital founded in 1950, now the Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute.
4. Illness at Darjeeling
- Fact His health broke down in May 1925. He went to Darjeeling to recover.
5. Death, 16 June 1925
- Fact He died there on 16 June 1925, aged 54.
6. Gandhi leads the funeral
- Fact Gandhi had visited him at Darjeeling shortly before, and led his funeral procession through Calcutta.
7. Places named after him
- Legacy His name is now attached to a great deal: Chittaranjan Avenue in Kolkata, Chittaranjan Park in Delhi, and the town of Chittaranjan in West Bengal.
8. Chittaranjan Locomotive Works
- Fact The Chittaranjan Locomotive Works takes its name from that town.
9. A career in fifteen years
- Analysis Notice what the career actually traces. He moved from courtroom defence, to mass agitation, to contesting elections, in about fifteen years.
10. One life, the wider story
- Analysis That arc — revolutionary defence, then non-cooperation, then working the councils — compresses the wider story of Indian nationalism in this period into one life.
📝 Previous Year Questions
UPSC Mains 2019, GS Paper I, Q11: Many Voices in the Gandhian-Phase Movement
- Mains PYQ Asked about the many voices that strengthened the nationalist movement in the Gandhian phase — Das’s Swaraj Party brought a constitutional strand into that movement.
- View this Mains question →
Beyond the answer
Browse all modern-indian-history topics →
📚 Keep reading
Lord Dufferin: The Founding of the Indian National CongressModHist0100 — Subhas Chandra Bose and the Forward Bloc, 1939Governors-General and Viceroys of India (1773-1947)ModHist0351 — The Founding of the Hind Mazdoor SabhaModHist0088 — The Lucknow Pact, 1916❓ Practice this topic
The 1966 Punjab reorganisation left one major issue unresolved and recurring between Punjab and Haryana, involving the sharing of what?In 1969, Sikh leader Darshan Singh Pheruman died after a 74-day fast unto death. What was he protesting?In August 1965, Akali Dal leader Sant Fateh Singh announced he would self-immolate if his Punjabi Suba demand wasn't met after a 15-day fast. What made him postpone this fast?In the 1966 Punjab reorganisation, Chandigarh, the shared capital city, was made what, instead of being given to either new state?🎲 Take a Modern Indian History Quiz
Leave a Reply