People's Democracy

Centenary Of Khudiram Bose’s Martyrdom Commemorated

THE 100th year of the martyrdom of the young freedom fighter Khudiram Bose was remembered all over Bengal where the students and the youth took a pledge to advance and widen further the anti-imperialist struggle. The commemoration included marches, jathas, blood donation camps, and rallies.

Khudiram Bose met a martyr’s death while participating in the anti-colonial struggle against British imperialism. He is remembered in Bengal especially among the young generation, as a soldier in the battle against imperialism in pre-independence India. Khudiram was hanged at the Muzaffarpur jail on 11 August 1907.

Born on December 3, 1889 in the village Mohobony in Medinipur district of Bengal, Bose was one of the youngest revolutionaries early in the Indian independence movement. He joined Jugantar - the party of revolutionary activists.

At the nascent age of sixteen, Bose was defying police after planting bombs near police stations and targeting government officials. He was arrested on charges of conducting a series of bomb attacks and sentenced to death. He was hanged on August 11, 1908.

To remember the martyr’s death, four large jathas called ‘brigades’ started to converge on the ‘Khudiram Anushilan Kendra’ near the indoor stadium in downtown Kolkata. The brigades were named Bhagat Singh, Mangal Pandey, Khudiram, and Plassey (where the last sovereign nawab of Bengal was defeated by the British colonialists, completing the conquest of Bengal). Incessant rain pouring from a grey sky overhead would not deter the thousands of the DYFI marchers who shouted anti-imperialist slogans all the way, waving banners, festoons, and flags.

In the rally held in the ‘Khudiram Anushilan Kendra’, CPI(M) MP Mohd Salim said that the menace of imperialism was on the rise day by day. The role of the UPA government in leaning closer to the US while cutting the ground from under the feet of an independent foreign policy spelled danger for the country’s economic and political sovereignty.

The joint naval exercises and the 123 deal would serve to enmesh the country in the world wide web of US imperialist machinations, said the speaker, a former youth leader himself. The way to pay tributes to the martyrdom of the young patriot Khudiram, said Salim, would be to unite and motivate the masses of the people against imperialism through an intense campaign movement and lead them into an ever-widening anti-imperialist struggle. In a blood donation camp that followed at the Kendra, no less than 335 youth participated.

The SFI ran a strong campaign-movement on the centenary of martyrdom of Khudiram Bose all over Bengal with rallies and marches held in educational institutions. Badges were worn by the students condemning imperialism while remembering the martyrdom of Khudiram Bose. The SFI also organised a large anti-imperialist convention at the Panihati College that was attended by a large number of students.