In 1905, at the Benares session of the Indian National Congress, Smt. Sarala Devi Chaudharani, a niece of Rabindranath Tagore sang the 'Vande Mataram Song', despite the ban imposed on its singing by the British government. It was a hymn of love of Motherland sublimated into an ecstatic devotion to the DIVINE MOTHER BHARAT. In that exalted vision of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (1838-1894), the composer of this great national song, was manifest the trinity of Saraswathi (The Goddess of Knowledge and Culture), Lakshmi (The Goddess of Beauty and Wealth), and Durga (The Goddess of Strength and Energy). 'Vande Mataram' became the national battle cry for freedom from British Rule and Oppression during the Freedom Movement. In 1905, the Freedom Movement had taken an organized shape and in the same year our national politics took a new revolutionary turn with the announcement of Swadeshi Movement on 7 August 1905 at Calcutta.
The partition of Bengal was announced by Lord Curzon (1859-1925), the then Viceroy of India, on 16th October, 1905 in the teeth of opposition of all Bengalis to the whole scheme of partition. The Nation as a whole was galvanized into a violent mood and extremist groups, not only in Bengal but the rest of India, came into the open to spearhead the nationalist movement. At the suggestion of his brother Barindra Ghose, Sri Aurobindo started a paper, 'Yugantar', which preached open revolt and absolute denial of the British Rule and included such items as a series of articles containing detailed instructions in guerilla warfare.
The times were indeed feverish. The hegemony of the British establishment had to be challenged. Education had to play a new role in this changed scenario. It had to become a new form of resistance through which the emergent nationalist spirit could be propagated. With this national objective in mind the National Council of Education (NCE) came into being in 1906. Sir Rash Behari Ghosh became the first President of NCE. The other members of this Council were Subodh Chandra Mallik, Brajendra Kishore Roychowdhury, Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo.
They established the Bengal National College on 14th August, 1906. Its primary aim was to impart education�literary, scientific and technical' on national lines exclusively under national control. Its sole aim was to achieve self-reliance through education. Sri Aurobindo resigned the teaching post which he was holding at Baroda on a monthly salary of Rs 750 in order to serve as the first Principal of the newly founded Bengal National College on a monthly salary of Rs.75/-. He was ably assisted by Satis Chandra Mukherjee, who devoted his life to the cause of national education.
Though Satis Chandra Mukherjee was nominally the Superintendent of the National College, yet really the heart and soul of the institution was Sri Aurobindo. From now on for nearly four years till 31 March, 1910 when he left Chandernagore for Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo was the main spirit behind the Revolutionary Movement in Bengal and the rest of India.
In March, 1906, a peoples' organisation called the Barisal Parishad was created to fight against the Partition of Bengal. A big Provincial Conference was held at Barisal in March 1906. The rising star of the new Age, Sri Aurobindo was to adorn this Conference. The Government took advance action to ban the singing of Vande Mataram Song at this Conference.
The delegates were furious at the ban and they decided to defy it. A massive public procession chanting 'Vande Mataram' was organized to march through the city of Barisal. Surendra Nath Banerjee (1848-1925), a veteran leader was leading the vanguard of this huge procession. The Police let loose violence through a lathi charge against all who participated in that procession. The procession was broken up by the Police. Thousands were injured.
Many historians have viewed this episode as a precursor to the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre of April, 1919. After participating at the broken up Provincial Conference at Barisal in 1906, Sri Aurobindo toured the whole of East Bengal along with Bepin Chandra Pal (1858-1932) and both of them gave rousing and inspiring anti-British speeches, calling upon the people of Bengal to rise in armed revolt against the British Rule in India.
In August 1906, Bepin Chandra Pal founded the 'Bande Mataram', a Nationalist Daily. Sri Aurobindo was intimately associated with it, and soon virtually, though not in name, became its editor. 'Bande Mataram' became the organ of New Nationalism of the extremist party forged ahead by the forward group of young men under the proclaimed leadership of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856 - 1920). Sri Aurobindo became his second in command in this nationwide extremist movement.
Besides Sri Aurobindo and Bipin Chandra Paul, some other very able writers like Shyam Sunder Chakravarti, Hemendra Prasad Gosh and Bejoy Chatterjee were on the staff of 'Bande Mataram'. The creation of 'Bande Mataram' daily was indeed unique in journalistic history, unique in the radical influence it played in converting the mind of a people and preparing it for armed revolution. Historically it is very important to note that almost simultaneously, Lala Lajpat Rai (1865-1928), the Lion of the Punjab, also started a journal called 'Vande Mataram' from Lahore in 1906
Referring to the revolutionary impact of 'Bande Mataram'and the catalytic role played by Sri Aurobindo in that process, Bipin Chandra Pal , the founder of the daily wrote as follows : 'A new paper was started. Aravinda ( Sri Aurobindo )was invited to join its staff. A joint-stock company was shortly floated to run it, and Aravinda became one of the directors. This paper "Bande Mataram" at once secured for itself a recognized position in Indian journalism. The hand of the master was in it, from the very beginning. Its bold attitude, its vigorous thinking, its clear ideas, its chaste and powerful diction, its scorching sarcasm and refined witticism, were unsurpassed by any journal in the country, either Indian or Anglo-Indian.
It at once raised the tone of every Bengali paper, and compelled the admiration of even hostile Anglo-Indian editors. Morning after morning, not only Calcutta but the educated community almost in every part of the country, eagerly awaited its vigorous pronouncements on the stirring question of the day. It even forced itself upon the notice of the callous and self-centred British press.
Long extracts from it commenced to be reproduced week after week even in the exclusive columns of the 'Times' in London. It was a force in the country which none dared to ignore, however much they might fear or hate it, and Aravinda was the leading spirit, the central figure, in the new journal. The opportunities that were denied to him in the Bengal National College he found in the pages of the 'Bande Mataram,' and from a tutor of a few youths in that College he thus became the teacher of a whole nation'.
Sri Aurobindo's articles in 'Bande Mataram' were emitting fire and fury against the British Government all the time. On 8 June, 1907, the Government issued a formal warning to the Editor of the 'Bande Mataram' �for using language which is a direct incentive to violence and lawlessness'.
The Government started a campaign of repression against newspapers in Bengal and the rest of India in July 1907 and on 30 July, 1907, the Bande Mataram Office was raided by the Police. Sri Aurobindo was charged with sedition in August 1907. But as no evidence was forthcoming that he was the editor of the newspaper, he was acquitted, though the printer was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment.
There was an interesting episode in connection with this trial. Bipin Chandra Pal, the great revolutionary leader and an intimate associate of Sri Aurobindo, was called by the Government as a prosecution witness in the case to prove Sri Aurobindo's editorial association with 'Bande Mataram'. Everyone knew that Sri Aurobindo was the heart and soul of the paper and no one knew it better than Bipin Chandra Pal and yet he was unwilling either to tell a lie in open court or to harm Sri Aurobindo in any way. He refused to give evidence, as in his opinion the prosecution case was injurious to the larger interests of the country at that time. Therefore Bipin Chandra Pal cheerfully offered to accept the prescribed penalty for his conduct and was duly sentenced to six months' simple imprisonment.
Sri Aurobindo told Satis Chandra Mukherjee that he might be taken away to Prison at any moment and that his continued association with the Bengal National College might cause great damage to the institution. Sri Aurobindo resigned from the Bengal National College on 23 August, 1907.
We get a glimpse of his agitated but very clear mind from the following extract of his reply to the farewell address given him by the students of the Bengal National College on 23 August, 1907: 'There are times in a nation's history when Providence places before it one work, one aim, to which everything else, however high and noble in itself, has to be sacrificed. Such a time have now arrived for our Motherland when nothing is dearer than her service, when everything else is to be directed to that end. ... Work that she may prosper. Suffer that she may rejoice. All is contained in that one single advice.'
(To be contd...)
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