In the freedom struggle, the trio of ‘Lal-Bal-Pal’ i.e. Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal had given sleepless sleep to the British rule. The names of these three freedom fighters are taken with great pride in Indian history. Today we are going to tell you about the life of Bipin Chandra Pal.
Bipin Chandra was a prolific nationalist leader as well as a teacher and journalist. Pal was born on 7 November 1858 in Poili village of Sylhet (now Bangladesh) into a small landowner family. His father was a great scholar of Persian. His mother’s name was Narayani Devi.
Being born in a happy family, Pal did not face any difficulty in his studies. But, he was rebellious from the very beginning and was never afraid to go against whatever he felt was wrong.
quit job
Pal’s early education took place at home, in Persian language and later went to Presidency College in Kolkata to pursue higher education, but, he left his studies in the middle and in 1879 started working as head master in a school. . After this, he also worked as a librarian in the Public Library of Kolkata.
During that time he met leaders like Shivnath Shastri, VK Goswami and SN Banerjee. He was greatly influenced by the ideas of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Arvind Ghosh and in view of the brutality of the British rule on the countrymen, he decided to leave headmastery and enter politics.
After becoming a part of the Congress in 1886, he went to England in 1898 to study comparative ideology and stayed there for a year. After returning to the country, he raised his voice against the colonial powers.
appeal for boycott of foreign goods
Bipin Chandra Pal along with Lala Lajpat Rai and Bal Gangadhar Tilak appealed to the countrymen to boycott foreign goods and promote indigenous goods. He also laid emphasis on national education for Purna Swaraj. For this he also held many public meetings.
He believed that due to the use of foreign goods in India, the economy is getting badly affected and the problem of unemployment is increasing in the country. Pal believed that freedom could not be achieved through non-violent movements. Despite this, he supported moderate leaders like Surendranath Banerjee and Krishna Kumar Mishra during the dissolution movement in 1905 and raised his voice against the divisive policies of Viceroy Lord Curzon.
jailed for not giving testimony
Actually, this thing is from 1906. Then Aurobindo Ghosh, the editor of the weekly magazine ‘Vande Mataram’, was sued by the British government for sedition and asked Bipin Chandra Pal, who wrote for the same newspaper, to testify in the case.
But Pal did not approve of this and did not testify against Ghosh. After this the British government sentenced him to 6 months imprisonment. Pal clearly believed, “Slavery is against the soul, God has made all beings free.” This is the reason why Pal is considered the father of revolutionary ideas in the history of Indian freedom struggle.
After this, Bipin Chandra Pal moved to London and joined India House there. This organization was founded by Shyamji Krishna Varma. It was the effort of those dedicated youth who wanted to see India free.
Critics of Mahatma Gandhi
Pal was known as an outspoken leader. He used to present his side immediately on any idea. In this episode, he also did not miss to criticize Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent attitude against the British rule and called Gandhi ji with ‘magical ideas instead of being realistic’.
Bipin Chandra Pal was a man of ideas. He had knowledge of many texts like Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Upanishads. In his life, he wrote many stories like ‘The Studies in Hinduism’, ‘Nationalist and Empire’, ‘New Spirit’, ‘Indian Nationalism’, ‘Swaraj and the Present Situation’, ‘The Basis of Reform’, ‘The Soul of India’. Made compositions.
Had to face strong opposition from the family
He started his writing with the magazine ‘Paridarak’ which was published from Sylhet. His editorial column appeared in many publications like Bengal Public Opinion, The Independent India, The Hindu Review, Lahore Tribune, The New India, Swaraj the Democrat, Vande Mataram.
He was also associated with Brahmo Samaj. He openly opposed social evils and orthodox traditions. He even remarried a widow, Birjamohini Devi, in 1891, after the passing of his first wife, Nrityakali Devi. His family members were also very angry with his decision. But Pal stood firm in his decision and did not compromise in the face of social pressure.
Pal retired from politics in 1920. Despite this, he always raised the problems of the people. Pal lived in Kolkata during the last days of his life. On May 20, 1932, he said goodbye to this world and India lost a great warrior of freedom.
The Better India Salute to this true son of the country.
Editing – G N Jha
Also Read – Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das: Know about the person whom Netaji considered his Guru
If you’ve been inspired by this story, or want to share any of your experiences with us, write to us at hindi@thebetterindia.com, or Facebook & Twitter Twitter Contact on
