Jatindra Nath Das

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Jatindra Nath Das: Relevance for UPSC

Jatindra Nath Das, widely known as Jatin Das, was a revolutionary freedom fighter from Bengal, born on this day in 1904.

Jatindra Nath Das worked at a very young age for the cause of political prisoners in the Indian freedom struggle.
Being an inspirational freedom fighter, human rights activist and a fervent revolutionary, he joined the AnushilanSamiti (a 20th century Indian revolutionary organization).
He collaborated with Bhagat Singh and other members from the Hindustan Republican Socialist Association (HRSA).
While he was 17 years old, he got actively involved in the Non-Cooperation Movement launched by Gandhiji.

Jatindranath Das was born on 27 October 1904 in Calcutta.
When Das was 9 years old, his mother Suhasini Devi said goodbye to this world.
Jatindra was raised by his father. During his studies, Gandhi started the non-cooperation movement and Jatindra also jumped into the freedom struggle for which the British government put him in jail.
When the movement slowed down, Das was released along with the rest of the revolutionaries. Jatindra then completed his further studies. However, even during that time the zeal and passion to liberate the country had not diminished.

Jatin met revolutionary leader Shachindranath Sanyal who greatly influenced Jatindranath Das.
He kept in constant touch with him. When Shachindranath formed the Hindustan Republican Association’, Das played an important role in its formation and strengthening.
Soon Jatindra achieved a crucial position in the organization with his sacrifice and courage.
Apart from Shachindranath Sanyal, he came in contact with many other revolutionaries.
During that time, he learned to make bombs. Further, in 1925, he was arrested and sent to jail for the Kakori incident.

Jatindra Nath Das was one of the close friends of great revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh.
He also had a lot of closeness with Subhash Chandra Bose. In 1928, Jatindra worked with Netaji to strengthen the party while in the Congress in Kolkata.
Bhagat Singh was planning to destabilize British rule. He wanted to make himself heard to the deaf government by throwing bombs in the assembly, for this he chose Jatindranath Das who was invited to Agra to make bombs.
Accepting the call of Bhagat, Jatindra came from Kolkata to Agra. The bomb made by him was used by Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt in the assembly bomb case of 1929.

On June 14, 1929, Jatin was arrested for revolutionary activities and was imprisoned in Lahore jail along with Bhagat Singh and others to be tried under the supplementary Lahore Conspiracy Case.
In the Lahore jail, Das began a hunger strike along with other revolutionary fighters on June 15, 1929, demanding equality for Indian political prisoners with those from Europe
Bhagat Singh and other imprisoned freedom fighters also undertook this hunger strike at the Lahore Central Jail. Jatindra Das had to face several atrocities and hardships done by the British authorities. These atrocities led to damaging of his lungs, and paralysis began to spread to his body parts. Still he continued his hunger strike.
A jail committee was formed keeping in mind his condition into consideration and immense popularity amongst people. A proposal was made for his release but it was rejected by the committee.
Jatindra Nath Das breathed his last in 1929 following a 63-day-long fast fighting for the rights of political prisoners at the young age of 25 years.
Subhas Chandra Bose called him the ‘young Dadhichee’ of the nation (the ancient Indian sage who sacrificed his life for a noble cause).