Das, Chitta Ranjan

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DAS, CHITTA RANJAN

DAS, CHITTA RANJAN (1870–1925), Indian nationalist leader Popularly known as Deshabandhu (Friend of the Land), Chitta Ranjan (C. R.) Das emerged in the early decades of the twentieth century as a prominent moderate nationalist leader. One of the high-profile barristers at the Calcutta High Court, C. R. Das achieved instant fame and name recognition throughout Bengal for successfully defending Aurobindo Ghose (Sri Aurobindo), who was charged with sedition. The Ghose case not only greatly boosted Das's reputation as a trial lawyer, it also inducted him into the public arena and nationalist politics. By the time he passed away in 1925, Das and Motilal Nehru were the two leading "moderates" among the increasingly extreme and cacophonous voices of the Indian nationalist movement.

Das was born in Kolkata in 1870 to an upper middle class Brahmo (reformed Hindu) family. Originally from Bikrampur in the Munshiganj district of Bangladesh, Bhuban Mohan Das, C. R. Das's father, was a solicitor at the Calcutta High Court. Educated at the London Missionary Society School in South Calcutta, C. R. Das passed the entrance examinations in 1885, and graduated from Presidency College in 1890. Thereafter, he went to England to join the Inner Temple and was called to the Bar in 1894. He returned to Kolkata and started practicing law as a barrister at the Calcutta High Court. His reputation soared as a professional and as a nationalist politician in the aftermath of the swadeshi movement in Bengal (the first major phase of a militant nationalist movement protesting against the British authorities' decision in 1905 to divide the province of Bengal in two parts—one with a Muslim majority, the other Hindu); he proved a staunch and successful defender of swadeshi activists imprisoned by the British.

Das joined forces with Surendranath Banerjea and Bipin Chandra Pal in opposing the partition of Bengal. After the partition plan was abandoned in 1911, Das appeared not to be politically active, except for presiding over the Bengal Provincial Conference in 1917, until 1921. In that year, he promptly responded to Mahatma Gandhi's call for noncooperation with the government. He took an active part in the boycott of the visit of the prince of Wales to Kolkata in 1921. However, he opposed, even condemned, Gandhi's move to withdraw the noncooperation movement following the outbreak of violence in the country. He called it a "serious mistake."

He opposed the Congress Party's policy decision to boycott the legislative councils. Instead, he proposed in his Council Entry Program to seek noncooperation from within the councils. He resigned from his position as president of the Congress Party in 1922 as his voice and vote did not appear to count. He joined Motilal Nehru, Hakim Azmal, and the Ali brothers (Muhammad and Shaukat) to form the Swarajya Party. As a leader of the new party, he devoted his energies to bringing about Hindu-Muslim amity and unity. He and the Swarajya Party offered to give Hindu-Muslim collaboration a concrete shape with an agreement, signed by leaders of the two communities in Bengal, which became known as the Bengal Pact. However, the Congress Party rejected it, as did some of the senior Hindu Bengali leaders, including Surendranath Banerjea and Bipin Chandra Pal.

During his last years, Das served as the mayor of Kolkata. His death at age fifty-five was mourned by crowds of Hindus and Muslims. It was indeed a blow to the potential of Hindu-Muslim unity in Bengal. He is fondly remembered to this day in Bangladesh and India's West Bengal for his anticolonial and nonsectarian beliefs and policies, and for the personal sacrifice he made for the great cause in which he fervently believed. Known for his lavish sartorial style (he had the reputation of getting his suits tailored and laundered in Paris) and high living, he renounced that lifestyle in 1921 in favor of simple swadeshi comportment and living.

Dilip K. Basu