Chittaranjan Das: Life, Role as Lawyer, Political Activities

Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das was a nationalist leader, lawyer, and literary figure. While he demonstrated exceptional skill as an eminent and successful lawyer, his role in India’s independence movement was also immense. Through his high intelligence, he managed to control many difficult political situations of that time. The most important event in his political life was the formation of the ‘Swaraj Party’ on January 1, 1923. After the failure of the Non-Cooperation Movement, when the country was bewildered and the momentum of the independence movement had slowed down, it was Chittaranjan Das and the leaders of his Swaraj Party who maintained the continuity of the independence movement. Below is a discussion of Chittaranjan Das’s legal expertise, political skills, and literary works.

Chittaranjan Das Early Life and Education

• Chittaranjan Das was born on November 5, 1870, in Telirbagh village, located in present-day Tongibari upazila of Munshiganj (Bikrampur) district, Bangladesh, into a well-known upper-middle-class Bengali Hindu family. The Das family were members of the Brahmo Samaj. Chittaranjan was the son of Bhuban Mohan Das and nephew of Brahmo Samaj reformer Durga Mohan Das. His father served as a journalist and lawyer. Chittaranjan Das married Basanti Devi, who also participated with him in the non-cooperation movement.
• Chittaranjan Das went to school at the age of nine and passed the entrance examination of Calcutta University in 1886. Shortly after, he joined Presidency College and received his bachelor’s degree from there in 1890. Then in 1890, he went to London for the I.C.S. examination, and his friend J.N. Gupta, who later became a member of the Indian Civil Service, went with him. In 1892, Chittaranjan took the Civil Service test, but he did not complete all of the papers because he was afraid, he would perform poorly. Then again, he sat for the exam in 1893. Although Chittaranjan Das passed the I.C.S. examination that year, only 42 people were taken, and his name was at number 43. After this, he joined the Inner Temple in London and became a barrister in 1894. He went back to India that same year and registered at the Calcutta High Court as a barrister.

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Role of Chittaranjan Das as a Lawyer

• Chittaranjan Das’s contribution to India’s history as a successful lawyer was immense. He began his professional life in December 1893 (according to some sources, 1894) by taking oath as an advocate of the Calcutta High Court in front of Mr Justice Sale.
• Like other young lawyers, he faced difficult struggles and many crises in the early phase of his career. This was because he had become entangled in his father’s debts. Chittaranjan Das fought to survive for at least four years. However, these hard times and financial difficulties couldn’t remain his companion for long. Within just a few years, he quickly reached the peak of fame.
• Cross-examining witnesses and twisting the evidence in favour of his client were two areas in which he excelled. His friend Sarat Chandra Sen, a successful vakil (lawyer) at the Alipore Criminal Court, was of immense assistance to him.
• A significant turning point in Chittaranjan’s legal career occurred in 1907. By this point, he had made a name for himself as a prominent criminal and civil lawyer. From 1907 to 1918, he won one case after another. In 1907, sedition charges were brought against Brahma Bandhob Upadhyaya in front of the Chief Presidency Magistrate of Calcutta. As a skilled and knowledgeable lawyer, he defended Bipin Chandra Pal and him.
• The case where he demonstrated his prowess as the finest lawyer was the ‘Alipore Bomb Conspiracy Case’ of 1908, also known as the Manicktolla Bomb Conspiracy or Muraripukur Conspiracy. The Alipore Sessions Court held this trial from May 1908 to May 1909. In this case, Khudiram Bose was hanged, while Prafulla Chaki committed suicide by shooting himself. In addition, 34 persons were taken into custody by the police, including Hemchandra, Ullaskar Dutta, and Aurobindo Ghosh. Although Aurobindo Ghosh was eventually freed through his legal expertise, Barindra Kumar Ghosh, Ullaskar Dutta, and many others were exiled to the Andaman Islands for life imprisonment. He advocated in court for this imprisoned freedom fighter, Aurobindo Ghosh. Chittaranjan put a lot of effort into defending his client. To support his brief, he researched every case that was accessible and gave the subject all of his focus.
• Chittaranjan focused solely on Aurobindo’s case for ten months. In addition to doing everything for free, he had to sell his horse and carriage and take out a personal bond loan. His income stopped, but his spending remained unchanged. When the case ended, he was in debt of about Rs. 50,000. Finally, due to Chittaranjan Das’s expertise, Aurobindo Ghosh was freed on May 6, 1909.
• If he became known as one of the best lawyers after the Alipore Bomb Case, on the criminal side, the well-known “Dumraon Case” demonstrated Das’s expertise as a civil law lawyer. The Second Dumraon Case took place in 1914, and the Third Dumraon Case occurred between 1917 and 1920. He won these cases as well.
• However, he was best as a lawyer in political cases. In the ‘Dacca Conspiracy Case’ of 1910, he defended Pulin Bihari Das, the leader of Dacca Anushilan Samiti, and his associates. Under Pulin Bihari Das’s leadership, the Dacca Anushilan Samiti was established in Dhaka in November 1905 after the partition of Bengal in that year. This Samiti was accused of being a secret organization working illegally to overthrow the British government. Chittaranjan Das argued against this claim, stating that the Anushilan Samiti was formed to develop the mental, moral, and spiritual qualities of its members.
• Nevertheless, among the 44 people arrested, three were sentenced to life imprisonment, and the rest were given prison terms of various lengths. He appealed to the Calcutta High Court and managed to significantly reduce the sentences of the accused in this case. Those who had received life sentences had their punishments changed to six years of rigorous imprisonment, and only 11 people were ultimately found guilty.
• Another notable political case was the ‘Alipore Trunk Murder Case’ of 1918, where he managed to save five young men convicted of political crimes. The incident in this case was such that one of their fellow revolutionaries, suspected of being a spy, had been killed by five young revolutionaries. After that, the body was packed in a trunk and sent out as a railroad package. Within a day or two, things started to decompose, and no one seemed to accept delivery. Here, Chittaranjan Das defended all the accused, including a young man named Panchanon, and after 28 days of sessions, all the accused were acquitted.
• A somewhat unusual case was the ‘Kutubdia Detenu Case,’ where 17 prisoners were accused of leaving their place of detention to go to Chittagong under the Defense of India Act. Chittaranjan Das spent his own money to help these detainees without charging any fees. He spent nearly a fortnight in Chittagong to conduct the case and argued that the detainees had not escaped but rather had gone to the District Magistrate to present their legitimate complaints about food, drinking water, accommodation, and allowances. As such, they could not be accused of violating any legal order. However, despite Chittaranjan Das’s appeal, the judge found the accused guilty.
• One of the most important cases in Chittaranjan Das’s life was the ‘Amrita Bazar Patrika Contempt Case’ of 1918. The incident in this case was such that, according to a bench of the Calcutta High Court, the Calcutta Improvement Trust was unable to purchase private land at will. Meanwhile, another High Court judge had ruled in an analogous case on the original side that the Improvement Trust had the authority to make such an acquisition. To resolve this conflicting case, a special bench was formed, consisting of Chief Justice Sir Lancelot Sanderson, Justice Sir John Woodroffe, and Mr Justice Chitty.
• Regarding the creation of a special bench, Amrita Bazar Patrika had stated that Mr Chitty should have been replaced with an Indian judge who owned land. After making this statement, the Chief Justice sent a notice to the newspaper requesting that it provide justification for not facing contempt of court charges. The case was presented for hearing to the High Court’s entire bench.
• Amrita Bazar Patrika had appointed talented lawyers for this case, including Messrs, Jackson, Norton, Chakraborty, and Chittaranjan Das. Mr. Jackson initially started the case, but from the beginning, there was conflict between him and the Chief Justice. Then Mr. Norton tried to present the case with arguments before the Chief Justice. But ultimately, he failed. Byomkesh Chakraborty also couldn’t achieve much.
• Then Chittaranjan Das presented the case from a completely new perspective with logical arguments. He argued that there was no intention to disrespect or criticize the High Court. The writer of the articles had merely brought up various points of controversy and addressed them according to his perspective. Some expressions of the article’s writer were unfortunate, but it seems that the real purpose was to have a full bench hear the case. In this respect, the article may be inappropriate, but it does not fall into the category of contempt of court. In this way, through his analytical skills and intelligence, he won the case, and the judges were convinced and ruled in favour of the newspaper.

Political activities of Chittaranjan Das

Chittaranjan Das was interested in politics since his student life, and politics played an important role even in his professional life. As a lawyer, he had some extraordinary success in political cases. From the first day in politics, he fought for the people and self-rule. He was closely associated with Bipin Chandra Pal in the political field. Below is a discussion of his political activities.

Anushilan Samiti

• The first notable revolutionary organization in Bengal in the twentieth century was the Anushilan Samiti. This organization was established by Satish Chandra Bose and Barrister Pramathanath Mitra at 12 Madan Mitra Lane. Pramathanath Mitra was appointed as president of this newly formed organization, and Chittaranjan Das and Aurobindo Ghosh were appointed as the first vice presidents. However, although Chittaranjan Das joined the secret society, he did not believe in any terrorist ideologies. He believed in the ideology of passive resistance.

Anti-Partition Swadeshi Movement

• He entered politics in the early twentieth century. As an associate of Surendranath Banerjee, Bipin Chandra Pal, and Aurobindo Ghosh, he indirectly participated in the anti-partition Swadeshi movement in 1905. In 1906, he became a member of the Indian National Congress. He actively participated in politics from 1917 to 1924.
• A Swadeshi group formed in Chittaranjan Das’s home in 1904. A few chosen friends were part of the small group. The objective of this group was to spread Swadeshi ideology and self-determination.
• Another significant year in Chittaranjan Das’s political career was 1906. Chittaranjan Das wrote the conference’s major resolution during the Bengal Provincial Conference that year, which was hosted in Barisal and chaired by Mr A. Rasul.

Non-Cooperation Movement

• Chittaranjan Das’s role as the driving force of the Non-Cooperation Movement in Bengal was most notable. The Non-Cooperation Movement began on August 1, 1920, and centered around events such as the reaction to World War I, the Khilafat Movement, the denial of self-governance rights to India through the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms of 1919, the passing of the Rowlatt Act of 1919, and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
• A special Congress session was held in Calcutta in September 1920 under the presidency of Lala Lajpat Rai to pass the Non-Cooperation Movement proposal. The proposals adopted for the non-cooperation movement at this Congress session were boycotting government titles or honours, boycotting schools, colleges, and courts, boycotting government meetings and functions, and boycotting elections to legislative bodies. However, although Chittaranjan Das, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Bipin Chandra Pal, and several other provincial leaders did not support the proposal to boycott legislative councils, Gandhi’s proposal was adopted by a large majority.
• When these movement proposals were passed in this Congress session, Chittaranjan Das suggested that a Congress session should be held in Nagpur to finalize the ultimate program of the upcoming movement. When Gandhi accepted this proposal, the Non-Cooperation Movement’s program was re-endorsed at the regular annual session of Congress in Nagpur in December 1920, under the presidency of C. Vijayaraghavachariar. Although Chittaranjan Das opposed Gandhi here as well, after much negotiation, he eventually accepted the demands of this movement.
• The Non-Cooperation Movement became powerful in Bengal under Chittaranjan Das’s leadership. Under his leadership, Hindu-Muslim unity in Bengal was strengthened. Chittaranjan Das’s three associates; Birendranath Sasmal in Medinipur, Jatindra Mohan Sengupta in Chittagong, and Subhas Chandra Bose in Calcutta strengthened this movement. To make this movement a success, prominent figures including Chittaranjan Das, Motilal Nehru, MR Jayakar, Saifuddin Kitchlew, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, and others left the profession of lawyer. The highest number of lawyers resigned from Bengal.
• This movement was most successful in the education sector. Under his leadership, the education boycott movement was most successful in Bengal. Almost all colleges in Calcutta were closed. Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das said, “Education can wait, Swaraj cannot.” During the Non-Cooperation Movement, Chittaranjan Das was the first leader to be imprisoned for 6 months as a political offender in 1921. His wife, Basanti Devi, also played an active role in this movement and was imprisoned. His sister Urmila Devi was also associated with this movement.

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Swaraj Party Formation

• The failure of the Non-Cooperation Movement created a void in India’s freedom struggle. However, even in this disappointing situation, the national movement did not stop. Chittaranjan Das and Motilal Nehru infused new energy into the movement. They had ideological conflicts with Gandhi before, but after the withdrawal of the Non-Cooperation Movement, this conflict became more apparent. Due to this conflict, another split in Congress became inevitable. On January 1, 1923 AD, the ‘Swaraj Party’ was established as a result of their combined efforts.
• While one group in Congress, particularly Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, and S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar, though not supporting the civil disobedience movement, emphasized boycotting councils. On the other hand, Chittaranjan, Motilal, Ajmal Khan, and Vithalbhai Patel opposed this. They argued that instead of abandoning the legislative assembly, they should continue the anti-government movement by participating in it. They aimed to harass the government from within the legislative assembly and render all government reforms ineffective from the inside by entering the assembly.
• On the other hand, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari and other Gandhi followers argued that if Congress entered the legislative assembly and engaged in conflict with the government, Congress’s constructive program would be significantly hampered. The connection with the people would be severed. In short, the plan to withdraw the non-cooperation movement, that is, the plan to prepare people for a larger civil disobedience movement, would fail.
• In December 1922, a Congress session was organized in Gaya to settle this dispute. Chittaranjan Das was the President of this Congress session. However, although he strongly opposed the legislative assembly boycott, Rajagopalachari’s group ultimately prevailed. Vallabhbhai Patel and Rajendra Prasad were in his group.
• Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das resigned from the position of President and, with the cooperation of Motilal Nehru, Madan Mohan Malaviya, Vithalbhai Patel, Jayakar, Narasimha Chintaman Kelkar, and others, formed the “Congress-Khilafat-Swaraj Party” or, in short, the “Swaraj Party.” Chittaranjan Das was elected as the president of the Swaraj Party, with Motilal Nehru serving as one of the secretaries. Within the Congress itself, the Swaraj Party was established. From then on, Congress was divided into two factions; those who favored boycotting councils were called ‘No-Changers,’ and those who favored joining councils were called ‘Pro-Changers.’
• When elections were held in November 1923, the Swaraj Party achieved unexpected success. In the Central Legislative Assembly, they secured 45 out of 101 seats. In Bengal, they captured 47 seats out of 85, of which 21 were Muslim seats. The reason for this victory of the Swaraj Party in Bengal was the strong leadership of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das.

Bengal Pact

• From the time Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das entered politics, he had been striving to establish unity between the Hindu and Muslim communities. This is because he believed this unity was an essential step towards India’s independence. Under his strong leadership, the ‘Swaraj Party’ agreed with the Muslims of Bengal. This agreement, made in December 1923, is known as the ‘Bengal Pact.’
• The pact stated that after achieving Swaraj, 55 percent of administrative positions in Bengal would be reserved for Muslims, music would be stopped in front of mosques, and no one would question cow slaughter on Bakra Eid. Although these conditions were sincerely followed in Bengal, the Congress annual session held at Kakinada in late 1923 did not endorse this pact. However, it is undeniable that the Bengal Pact did not reflect any issues related to the interests of the common people.

Activities of Swaraj Party in Calcutta Corporation

• Along with the Central Legislative Assembly, the Swaraj Party under Chittaranjan Das’s leadership achieved notable success in municipal elections as well. He was chosen to be the Mayor of Calcutta Municipality. Subhas Chandra Bose became the Chief Executive. This event became a cause of concern and anxiety for European merchants and industrialists. Vithalbhai Patel was chosen as the President of the Bombay Municipality. Vallabhbhai Patel held a municipal role in Ahmedabad.
• Jawaharlal Nehru was elected as the mayor of Allahabad and Rajendra Prasad as the mayor of Patna. This gave the Swaraj Party a rare opportunity to help the people. The leaders of this party carried out various social service works and gained popularity, such as free primary education, free medical treatment for the poor, improved sewerage systems in densely populated areas, housing for the poor, and improvement of transportation systems, etc. This success of the Swaraj Party was remarkable, with the main credit going to Chittaranjan Das.

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Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das Books

Patriotism was the guiding force of his literary work. In every writing of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, his deep love for the country and respect for the country’s culture and heritage were evident. Along with patriotism, he was deeply influenced by Vaishnav poets; hence, spiritual feelings can also be observed in his writings. He was even inspired by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. Some of his notable works are described below.

‘Malancha’ and ‘Mala’, the first two volumes of his collection of poems, were published in 1904 during the Indian independence movement. He then released the poetry collection ‘Sagar Sangeet‘ in 1913. He wrote this while returning from England by sea. This poetry book was translated into English by Rishi Aurobindo Ghosh. Additionally, his writings ‘Antaryami and Kishore Kishori,’ ‘Narayana’ (a famous monthly magazine) in 1914, India for Indians (1917), and Freedom through Disobedience (1922) are particularly noteworthy.

Chittaranjan Das Death

On June 16, 1925, Chittaranjan Das died of a heart attack in his favourite tourist destination, Darjeeling. He was only 54 years and 7 months old at the time of his death. The house in Darjeeling, where Chittaranjan Das spent his final days with his wife and which became the site of his passing, was later preserved as the Deshbandhu Museum. His personal belongings, clothes, books, and letters are displayed here, which allows knowing him from a close perspective.

His untimely death cast a shadow of deep grief across the country. He had a deep place in the hearts of contemporary society for his extraordinary leadership qualities and his contribution to the Indian freedom struggle. Lakhs of people attended Chittaranjan Das’ funeral, which was a reflection of the immense love of the people of the country for him.

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