Bina Das

Bina Das (24 August 1911 – 1986) was an Indian revolutionary and nationalist from West Bengal.

Biography

Participation in India's freedom struggle

Das was a member of '' Chhatri Sangha'', a semi-revolutionary organisation for women in Kolkata. On 6 February 1932, she attempted to assassinate the Bengal Governor Stanley Jackson, in the Convocation Hall of the University of Calcutta. The revolver was supplied by another freedom fighter Kamala Das Gupta. She fired five shots but none hit him. Her confession, which ran to five pages long and was written in English, was censored by the British colonial administration, but still found itself widely circulated. In it, she wrote that: The Special Tribunal convened to judge her sentenced her to nine years of rigorous imprisonment on charges of attempted murder under section 307 of the Indian Penal Code.

After her release from jail, she became active in the Indian National Congress, participated in the Quit India Movement and was imprisoned till 1945.  After independence, she was elected to the provincial assembly, but Bina Das left the Congress due to ideological differences.

In 1947, she married Jatish Chandra Bhaumik, an Indian independence movement activist of the Jugantar group.

Though she didn't join the Communist Party, the revolutionary Bina Das was attracted to socialist and communist ideals. She believed that Marxism should be re-established according to the needs of the country.

She was a friend of Suhasini Ganguly, a freedom fighter.

Death

After the death of her husband, Das led a lonely life in Rishikesh and died in anonymity. Her dead body was recovered from the roadside on 26 December 1986 in a partially decomposed state. It was found by the passing crowd. The police were informed and it took them a month to determine her identity.Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Anjali Basu (ed.) (1988) ''Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan'' (in Bengali), Kolkata: Sahitya Sansad, p.663 An alternate report by the current relatives of Bina Das says she was found unconscious at a bus stand and was taken to hospital by the police, where she died the next day. This was stated in a documentary on Bina Das broadcast on 26 December 2021 on DD Bangla.

Legacy and awards

Her sister Kalyani Bhattacharjee edited a book called ''Bengal Speaks ''(published in 1944), and dedicated it to her.

Das won the Padma Shri award in 1960 for her "Social Work".

In 2012, Das and Pritilata Waddedar were conferred the Graduation Certificates posthumously by Calcutta University, nearly 80 years after British government withheld them.

Works

Das wrote two autobiographical works in Bengali: ''Shrinkhal Jhankar'' and ''Pitridhan''.

References

External links

Biography by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

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* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20141218090806/http://stjohnsdiocesanschool.org/ St. John's Diocesan Girls' Higher Secondary School Official Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Das, Bina
1911 births
1986 deaths
Revolutionary movement for Indian independence
Brahmos
Indian National Congress politicians from West Bengal
Bethune College alumni
University of Calcutta alumni
Recipients of the Padma Shri in social work
20th-century Indian women politicians
20th-century Indian politicians
20th-century Indian educators
20th-century Indian women educators
People from Krishnagar
Women members of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly
Social workers from West Bengal
Prisoners and detainees of British India
Female revolutionaries
Indian independence activists from Bengal
Bengal MLAs 1946–1947
West Bengal MLAs 1947–1951