Chapter 2
PARTICIPATION POLITICS AND DEPORTATION
While at Barreily I thought of developing connections with the king of Nepal With this end in view and accompanied by my brother, Sardar Kishen Singh, we decided to occupy land near the Nepal border so that in case of need revolutionary workers from India could escape into Nepal territory. We were then preparing ground for revolutionary work. [I] had already made up my mind to become a revolutionary and all these plans were in furtherance of this idea.
About that time Lord Curzon1 held a durbar in January 1903. We went to that durbar with a view to bringing about solidarity among the Indian Princes to create a solid front against the British? We saw Maharaja of Baroda. Baroda was then the most progressive state in India. He wanted to make national education compulsory, and I informed him that we could procure for him Arya Samajist teachers [I] suggested to Baroda that the Princes should invite each other to develop closer contacts and friendship. For this purpose we elicited cooperation of the Gurus of Kashmir and Jodhpur states. We contacted them before the durbar and requested them to act as messengers between the various princes or act as liaison. They helped us a lot. Kashmir and Baroda invited each other there. We went to Dalhousie and the Guru of Kashmir was there to meet us. He took us to Chamba and there we met the Maharaja of Chamba. My elder brother, Sardar Kishen Singh, helped me a lot in this plan. My plan was a joint revolt by the Indian Princes against the British rule and people of India giving a lead. The main-spring of this organization were my elder brother and myself. He had dedicated his life to the cause of humanity. He used to help a lot the famine-stricken people. We had a success at Curzon durbar. We arranged that the Princes should invite each other and that there should be inter marriages among them. The only Punjab slate we approached was Kashmir. We did not trust Sikh states. Swami Parkasha Nand (though not openly) helped us a lot by visiting states as a Vedic missionary. Swami Shankara Nand also did some thing in the line. I had arrived at secret understanding with some of the states for the supply or arms and ammunition to Indian revolutionaries. I had also considered at what time the Indian stales would openly enter into the struggle begun by tile revolutionaries ill British India. Moti lal Ghosh (Proprietor, Amrita Bazar Patarika)
was aware of the arrangement with the states. He used to be our associate. The only other person who knew of this arrangement was Kali Parson Chatterjee Editor of The Tribune.
The Congress, we felt at that time, was going on a wrong path. It confined only to petitions to Government. I left Barreilly college to devote more time to revolutionary work. In order to prepare myself for revolutionary work against the British Government, I Considered it necessary to understand the British mind and mentality fully and intimately. For this purpose I thought it useful to engage myself in some profession where I would come into close contact with the British. I. therefore, took up the profession of teaching Urdu and Punjabi to British officers and missionaries, forest Officers military personnel and civilians joined my school.
About that time the Congress held its biggest session in Calcutta--1906. Romesh Chandra Dutt (who was Professor of History at Oxford University and who was the first Indian to write a book on how the British ruined Indian Industry and how they captured India and Dadabhai Naoroji also participated in that session. I also went to Calcutta with the idea or gathering all those who were in opposition to the existing Congress policy with a view to having it changed. At Calcutta Congress we had decided to launch simultaneous agitation, just as there was agitation in Bengal, wherever some basis could be found, similar or different. On returning to Punjab we formed Bharat Mata Society. To start with we were three, my elder brother, Sardar Kishen Singh, Ghasita Ram and myself. The idea originated with me. This was formed to propagate our ideas. Only trustworthy persons were taken in as it was a secret society, no announcement was made for its formation, no publicity was undertaken, nor were any publications or membership forms or registers kept.Excessive land revenue increase in Rawalpindi districts Doab Beri Act and Colonisation Act provided us ground to arouse public feelings against the British rule in India in the Punjab and to launch a campaign of agitation to exploit these acts for using them against the government. This was a means to bring about and political consciousness among the public and to these measures cancelled. I informed my eider Sardar Kishen Singh, and L. Ghasita Ram of my and explained to them how I wanted to bring revolution in the Punjab and I was assured of their My brother was of the opinion that it would better to enlist L. Lajpat Rail’s support as also that of other leaders in the Punjab. I acquiesced and commended the idea but was very doubtful whether their support forthcoming, but thought that there would at harm in trying. My brother (S. Kishen Singh) to do this and he contacted L. Lajpat Rai and him of our ideas and explained to him how could be brought about in the Punjab to shake foundations of the British Empire in India. L. Lajpat receive the proposition well: he was afraid that this would bring suffering to and imprisonment of all prominent; leaders; he considered it a rash step and me a hot-headed person. He refused to participate in the movement but promised to consider the proposal and let us know if it was feasible for him as also for us to start such a movement. In fact, he tried to discourage my brother also.
When my brother told me of L. Lajpat Rai's reaction to the proposal, I asked him and L. Ghasita Ram if they were firm in their conviction of the efficacy of this movement and if they were prepared to give their whole-hearted and unflinching support to it. They assured me of their whole hearted support.
We chalked our plans. The first was to study these bills and understand them fully. Thus, we studied the bills in detail and fully acquainted ourselves with the implications of these acts and their determental effect on the peasantry. This done, we organised meetings at different centres in Lahore, morning and evening. These meetings were addressed by my brother and L.Gbaslta Ram. At the end of each meeting announcements were made that those who wanted to know more about these Bills should come to Bharat Mata Mandir on Sunday, where these bills would be explained in fuller details. Just at that time when these meetings were taking place in Lahore, peasants from adjoining villages waited ulpon L.Lajpat Rai in deputation and solicited Congress help in getting these bills cancelled. L.Lajpat Rai disappointed them by saying that Congress was helpless in doing anything for them and that these bills could not be got cancelled. These deputationists came to know from Lahore public about the meetings taking place daily in Lahore against these bills and that a large meeting was to take place on Sunday in Lahore in Bharat Mata Mandir. They also came to Bharat Mala Mandir on Sunday. People in thousands gathered at that meeting. There was a lot of enthusiasm among the gathering. Never before in Lahore had there been so much gathering for a political meeting for which no publicity had been undertaken. This baffled the police and the authorities, and a wave of terror went through their veins. They sent for military from Mianmir cantonment as they considered police force in Lahore insufficient to cope with the situation. Bharat Mata Mandir could not contain the entire audience. All roads and approaches to the Mandir were full of people. The number was ever increasing: Sunday being a holiday it also helped in swelling the audience There was no arrangement for a loud-speaker and although all the people could not listen me, their enthusiasm kept them to stay on. A day before the meeting Sufi Amba Pershad reached Lahore. He was posted at the gate to control the crowd. In the centre of the Mandir compound was placed a table from where I spoke, when I got up to speak I looked around and said that I knew there were among the audience C.I.D. people. Wherever these persons were we too had our own people alongside them and that lf tbey try to create any disturbance they would be dealt with severely; perhaps it might cost them their lives. This declaration caused the C.I.D. people to betray themselves and to expose their identity by looking round and the result was that during my speech they had not the courage even to lift their eyes. I spoke for about two hours and explained to the audience bow the new bills were harmful to their interests, and that how the British had always acted against the people, bow the British had always tried to plunder this country by the mischievous ways. Throughout my speech enthusiasm went on increasing and there was no sign of fatigue in the public. In detail I explained Doab Bari revenue enhancement because Lahore and adjoining areas were affected by the measure. Increase of land revenue in Rawalpindi district and Colonisation Act also came under review, but Ilhese] were not so fully explained. I laid stress on the injustices of British Raj, Indigo Act and how they destroyed Indian industry. This proved an eye-opener to the public who had always considered the British just and fair-minded people. British prestige was shaken; nobody after that considered the British just or even humane. British people were much inferior in number, that police was ours, most of the military was ours and that if we moved unitedly we could drive the British out. This brought awakening and political consciousness among the public and they lost terror of the British. After finishing my speech I announced that on Sunday next there would be another meeting, the public could go now, only those should stay who wanted to participate in the movement and were prepared to undergo sufferings and make sacrifices. About 180 persons stayed, the rest left and they assured me of their willingness to make any sacrifice in the cause of the country. I allotted them duties and sent some of them to Lyallpur district and asked them to tour villages and explain to the public the harm these measures would do them. I chose Lyallpur district as our centre for agitation because of it being a nearly developed area. It had people from almost all parts of the Punjab as also retired military people. Retired military people, thought, could be useful in bringing about a revolt in the army. These men in their tour of Lyallpur district explained to the people how injustice was being dolce to the public in the shape of Doab Bari Act, Colonisation Act and increase of land revenue. After baying prepared this ground an epoch-making meeting was held in Lyallpur on 3rd March 1907. At this meeting Mr. Banke Dayai, Editor of Jhang Sayal, read the historic poem "Pugree Sambhal Oh Jatta".
It became very popular and it was heard everywhere in the Punjab resounding the skies. People, however, mistook this poem as mine.
It was our desire that L. Lajpat Raj and other prominent leaders should participate in this meeting, but we knew that they would refuse if they came to know that I was organiser of this meeting. So we deputed Ram Bhuj Dut to encourage and persuade L. Lajpat Rai and other leaders to come to Lyallpur and address the meeting. From Lahore to Lyallpur, Lala and his party and myself traveled in the same train but I took care not to allow Lala to become aware of this fact. We had arranged that Lala should be given a warm reception at the Lyalpur station, and people gathered in huge numbers to receive him. He was given a tremendous ovation and profusely garlanded, and taken out in a procession. His carriage was drawn by men instead of animals to show public esteem and regard for him. I availed of this opportunity to my advantage and straight from the railway station I went to the meeting and addressed it. As soon as Lala reached the meeting I finished my speech. Lala on seeing me there shuddered. I explained to the public about our strength, that police and military were ours, that instead of paying enhanced land revenue we should not pay a penny to the Government.
Lala was first hesitant in addressing the meeting but people shouted that they were anxious to listen to Lala ji in fact Lain was compelled to do so, because I winked at Rani Bhuj Dutt and he stood up and announced that Lalaji would now address the meeting. Lalajl at first started in restraint but seeing the public enthusiasm, he made one of his finest speeches, full of eloquence and spirit. His speech over, two or three other speakers spoke and then again I spoke. When I was making my second speech the organizers of the meeting did not like me to speak and they said that they were not responsible for the meeting and they left. But the public continued listening me. In this speech I stressed that the police and military ware composed of zamindars, and that these men should resign and come back to their homes. Land revenue should not be given. Government
servants and officials should be completely boycotted.
1907 being the 5ffih anniversary of 1857 revolt, the Government got terrified. Maltreatment of Indians in army helped in bringing unrest and sudden signs of revolt ia the army. The British Government itself helped in winning army support for me by issuing circulars that they should not listen to Ajit Singh. This proved their contribution (sic)in alienating army trust and feelings for them. The Sudden change in the treatment of Indian soldiers, which (sic) were hitherto mis- treated, also created doubts in the minds of Indian soldiers. The more the Indian soldiers were asked not to listen to me, the more the Indian soldiers drew towards me, if not for anything else only through curiosity.
After Lyallpur meeting I undertook a hurricane tour of the Punjab and visited prominent cities such as Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur, Ambala, Jullunder, Kasur. Multan, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi. etc. At Ferozopore a deputation of Indian soldiers waited on me and assured me of their support. I explained to them how their loyalty was exploited by the British Government and how their own people were being put to repression and that their first allegiance and loyalty was to their country and their countrymen. The organisers of the Rawalpindi meeting were all arrested18 and the public there arranged another meeting on 2nd April to which Lala Lajpat Rai was invited.
I was of the firm conviction that the meeting would be banned and that Lalaji would not be allowed to speak at the meeting. I also hoarded the same train in which Lala was travelling but took care that Lala did not come to know of it. When we reached Rawalpindi, we came to know that the meeting had been banned and Lain was served [with a ] notice by the police that he could not speak at the meeting. Lain from Railway station went to district Courts to plead the case of arrested lawyers. They were the organizers of the previous meeting which I had addressed and I took this opportunity of addressing the crowd which had assembled at' the railway station. The police on seeing that Lala had left for District Courts went for relaxation, considering that there would be no meeting for speeches now and left the field open to me. The military was called out and the commander of the military asked us to disperse failing which he would order shooting. Nobody moved from his place and he ordered for shooting, but Indian soldier instead of directing their guns at the public aimed them at their commander and said if he gave a similar order again they would shoot him. Seeing this he asked the Indian soldiers to return to the cantonment and himself also left with them. The meeting was over and I came back, but the mob went astray and manhandled many Britishers on their way, burnt offices and churches. The Britishers became harassed and terrified to such an extent that they began mistrusting police, C.I.D., their domestic and even military and all Government servants. At Rawalpindi, Indian military personnel wanted to wait upon L,Lajpat Rai in deputation but he refused to receive them. Then the deputation waited on me and I explained
to them their duty towards their country and countrymen.
There were riots in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore etc. British personnel were manhandled, mud was flung at them, offices and churches were burnt, telegraph poles and wires cut. In Multan Division Railway workers went on strike and the strike was called off only when the acts had been cancelled. The Superintendent of Police,
Mr. Phillips, in Lahore was beaten by rioters. British civil servants sent their families to Bombay and ships were chartered to take them to England if the situation got worse. Somefamilies were transferred to forts. My elder brother. S.Kishen Singfi and younger brother S. Swaran Singh, were arrested in this connection. Such was the terror that Britishers stepped apppearing in public places or going to cinemas or coming to bazars.
Lord Kitchener got terrified since peasantry was becoming rebellious, military and police were unreliable. Morely made a statement in the House of Commons that in all 33 meetings took place in the Punjab, out of which 19 were addressed by S. Ajit Singh. That increase in land revenue was not the cause of this unrest. It was with a view to finishing British rule in India that it was being used as a political stunt.
The result of all this agitation was that all the three bills were cancelled. Lala Lajpat Rai was arrested before the cancellation of the bills on 9th May, 1907.This irritate the public further and riots again broke out in Lahore.Guns were installed at Lawrence Garden and other places in Lahore to stop public [from] attacking Government offices. On hearing L. Lajpat Rai arrest I went underground and re-appeared on 2nd June when I gave myself up for arrest. It was in Amritsar. I wrote to police authorities that at a certain time I would go out for a walk when they could come and take me in custody. This I did to avoid public demonstration and to avoid breaking [out] of riots etc. While underground I spent most of time in a small mandir in Lahore, the priest of which was one of our enthusiastic workers.
From Amritsar they took me to Baj Baj taking care not to stop the train. It was a special train by which I was traveling. On any railway station whenever it stopped it stopped in jungles. From Baj Baj they took me to Rangoon and from there to Mandalay. While at Mandalay I had a dream in which a friend of mine, S. Kartar Singh of Kasur, appeared and talked to me. He informed me that I would be released from there on 1lth November, 1907 and that the entire country was awaiting my return anxiously and they wanted to honour and reward me befittingly. Although not a believer in dreams, somehow i was convinced that this dream would be true. Certain other factor lent support to my conviction. Lala Lajat Rai was arrested on 9th and I on 2nd and these two figures added came to 11. In Mandalay jail there was a cat with eleven kitten and all of them were taken away one by one, this was by October. I thought when animals had left this place there was no reason why we should not be released.
It was on the 11th November, and coincidentally [at] 11 a.m., when the Commissioner called on us. As soon as I saw him I asked him, "Have you come to serve us release orders?" He was nonplussed. But I said, "You can ask your sergeant whom I had told some time earlier that we would be released on November 11." On my return to India I came to know that S. Kartar Singh who had met me in dream died a few days after I had dreamt. This pained me very much.
Unlike L. Lajpat Rai I did not put in a petition about my arrest and confinement at Mandalay.
On 16th April, 1907 there was a riot in Lahore in which my eider brother, S. Kishen Singh and younger brother S. Swaran Singh were involved. S. Kishen Singh alongwith Sufi Amha Pershad and Mehta Nand Kishore fled to Nepal. S. Swaran Singh was arrested and sentenced to one and half years imprisonment. Nepal did not agree to surrender the above three, but on being promised that British Government would take no action against them Nepal surrendered them. It was after three or four months. The British, however, did not keep zip their word and they were tried. Sufi Amba Pershad and Mehta Nand Kishore were acquitted but S. Kishen Singh was sentenced.
I started a paper in Allahabad, Swaraj. Nine editors of this paper, one by one, were tried and punished, one of which 5 were Punjabis.
There was [both] an open and secret work carried out by Bharat Mata Society people. As it was necessary to make a division of Iabour I [entrusted] Har Dayal Singh with the secret work and kept the open work to myself. He did his work pretty successfully. Of course some of the people selected were involved in some trouble after our departure from India as one can see from the people who were involved in Delhi Conspiracy Case such as Master Amir Chand who was selected for his capacity of good revolutionary writer to devote his time wholly for writing and secretly publishing necessary literature. He did his work with success. The news of his martyrdom was a cause of spiritual pleasure to me and Sufi Saheb who communicated to me hew he along with his companions Avdh Bihari, Bhai Bal Mokand, Basant Kumar Biswases valiantly stood the trial and proved to be true patriots and lovers of a sacred cause up to the last breath of their lives. They died to live in the hearts of the people to be remembered with veneration and infinite love.
In all seditious cases between 1907-1911 disclaimers were put forward of having no connections what so ever with Sardar Ajit Singh. There were 25 such cases. In my absence from India, there was a case against me . A search was once made of Bhai Parmanand's house and certain papers along with a map showing various cantonments, strength of armies and dispositions were discovered. These were given to him by me and there was also a mention about myself in those papers. Disclaimers were put up by prominent persons in the Punjab.
Reference
George Nathauiel Curzon (1859-i925); Under Secretary of State for India, 1891-92; Viceroy of india, 1898-1905: Lord President of the council and member of the War Cabinet, 1916-18; Foreign Secretary, 1919- 24.
Some of the early Indian revolutionary idealists, obviously inspired by Italian unification under the banner of Ihe King of Sardinia Piedmont. Victor Emmanuel Il (1820-78), hoped that Indian liberation too could be brought about by the active participation and help of Indian rulers. It may be recalled here that Swami Dayanand (1824-1883}, founder of the Arya Samaj, too placed great hope on the Indian Rajas for bringing about country's socio-religious regeneration.
Sayaji Rao III Gaekwad; b. 1863; ruler of Baroda, 1881-1939; imbued with progressive and reformist ideas, he was the first in the whole of country to introduce compulsory anti free primary education in 1906; on account of his love of his country, Swadeshi. Indian heritage and his association with the nationalists he was suspected by the government of having anti British tendencies. The British bureaucracy considered him as a "Patron of Sedition".
B 1847; founder and editor of the Calcutta Amrita Bazar Patrika and a prominent nationalist; a fearless writer, he did not cam for official disfavor ; one of the guiding spirits of the agitation against the partition of Bengal (1905); joined Home Rule league in 1915; d. 1922.
B. 1863; joined the staff of The Tribune, Lahore, in 1885; he played a pioneering role in the early years of the Indian National Congress; he was an ardent supporter of the anti-Partition agitation and Swadeshi programme for which he was threatened with government order of expulsion From the Punjab; in 1907 he him self left Punjab and joined the editorial staff of Calcutta's Amrita Bazar Patrika : d. 1919.
B. 1848; joined I C, S. in 1869; President, Indian National Congress, 1899; R. C. Dut was never Professor of History at Oxford; be was lecturer for some time in Indian history at the University of London; the books referred here are India Under Early British Rule, 1757-1857 and The Economic History of India in Victorian Age, 1837-1900; d, 1909.
B. 1825; prominent early Indian nationalist and social reformer; first Indian Member of British Parliament, 1892-95; President of the indian National Congress 1886,1893 and 1906; d. 1917.
Land revenue in Rawalpindi district was increased by 25%
In November 1906 the government enhanced the rates for water from the Bari Doab Canal and this affected the landowners in the district of Amrilsar. Gurdaspur and Lahore. They greatly resented this increase.
IheChenab colony was mostly inhabited by the peasants and military personnel of the central districts of Punjab. They had secured the land either free or on very nominal rates. The new colonies were carefully planned and controlled by local officials.The Punjab Land Colonization Bill (1906) aimed at strengthening the "irksome system o f regulations"; it was also proposed to introduce inheritance by primogeniture in order to check the process of sub-division of land-holdings. As it touched off widespread discontent in rural areas, the Viceroy, Lord Minto, Vetoed the Bill in May 1907.
B. 1865; social reformer and Congress leader editor of Young India {New York), Bande Mataram (Lahore) in Urdu and The People (Lahore); President of Ihe Indian National Congress special session at Calcutta) 1920; d 1928.
B. 1858; a revolutionary journalist, founded and edited Jami-ul-Ulm in 1896; sub-editor of the Hindustan; look part in the Bharat Mata Movement, Bharat Mata Book Agency and Tilak Ashram; visited Nepal in 1907 to enlist support of the Nepalese for the freedom of India; fled to Iran where he died in 1915.
The reference is to the exployment of force and oppression by European indigo planters to compel the Indian cultivators to sow indigo when it was not remunerative.
Perhaps the reference here is to the mass meeting held at Lyallpur on 21/22 March, 1907.
Pagrhi sambhaal oh jatta; pagrhi sambhaal oh Faslaan nu kha gaye keerhe, tan te nahin lere lirhe
Bhukaan ne khhoob nachorehe, ronde ne bal oh Pagrhi
Bande ne tee leader, raje te khan bahadur
Tenu le khaavan khafir, vlchh de ne jaal oh- Pagrhi
Hind hal tera Mandir, usda pujari tu
Challega kadon tak, apni khumari tu
Larhne te marne di, kar le tayari tu - Pagrhi
Seene te khaave teer, Ranjha tu desh hai heer
Smbhal ke chal tu vir--Pagrhi
Tussi kyoon dabde veero, uski pukar oh
Ho-ke ikathe veero, maro lalkaar oh
Tarhi do hattharh bajje, chhatiyan nun tarh oh
Pagrhi sambhaal jatta, pagrhi sambhaal oh.
(A translation is attempted below :)
Gaurd your self respect O' farmer
Your crops am being destroyed by insects, you suffer forbeing ill clad
Famines have taken a heavy toll, your dependents are made to weep in anguish
Jagirdars and Khan Bahadurs set themselves up as your leaders
They are setting traps to exploit you
India is your temple and you are its worshipper
How long will you remain under the spell of lethargy?
Prepare yourself for a fight to death
You may have to face repression
Love your country as Ranjha loved Heer
Tread cautiously courageous one
Your motherland wants you to shed thoughts of cowardice
Be united and give a threatening challenge.
Join hands and put up a brave front
O' farmer guard your self-respect.
B. 1866 in the Gurdaspur district of the Punjab; member of the Indian National Congress, 1888-1923; journalist; married to Sarla Devi, a revolutionary & Bengal; composed a famous song "Kadi Nahin Harna, Bhaven Sadi Jan Jave"; (We shall never given in even if we have to die); participated in the non-cooperation movement and Khila fat movement; d. 1923.
Here meaning peasant-proprietors.
A public meeting was held on 21 April, 1907 at Rawalpindi to protest against the Colonisation Bill. Here Ajit Singh delivered a highly "Seditious" speech, The Deputy Commissioner sent notice to the organists of the meeting including well known and respectable lawyers, (Hans Raj Sawhney. Amolak Ram, Gurdas Ram) and summoned them to his court for an enquiry. A large crowd gathered at the court to express sympathy with the pleaders, and when informed that the proposal enquiry would not be held they committed act violence. Sixty eight persons, including the lawyers, were arrested on charges of rioting, arson and sedition. Later the lawyers were acquitted of the charges.
The public meeting was fixed for 2 May 1907, at Rawalpindi.
B. 1850; British soIdier; Governor General of Sudan (1899); Commander in-chief India. 1902-1909; Field Marshal (1909); d. 19l6.
B. 1838; English statesman and man of letters; Secretary of State for India (1905-10). Among his notable works are Life of Gladstone (1903) and Recollections (1917); d. 1923.
Lala Lajpat Raj in a memorial to the Secretary of State, 22 September 1907 pleaded that he had not taken part in or advocated violent or illegal methods and that was always within the bounds of law and constitution in expressing his disapproval of certain government's measures which agitated public mind before his arrest.
Revolutionary; secretary of the Bharat Mata Sabha.
B. 1884; founder of the Ghadar Party in the U.S.A.; staunch revolutionary; started journals like Ghadar (U.S.A.) and Bande Mataram (Switzerland); widely traveled man; Professor of Sanskrit and Philosophy at the Berkeley University (California); d. 1939.
A staunch revolutionary ; in I908 he brought out an Urdu weekly, the Akash; involved in a bomb throwing case at Lord Hardinge, the Viceroy. in Delhi, (1912); hanged in 1915.
A staunch revolutionary; close to Hardyal and Master Amir Chand; active in the revolutionary movement, 1906-11; involved in the Lahore conspiracy case and hanged.
B. 1891; revolutionary; implicated in bomb throwing at Lord Hardinge in 1912 and hanged.
28 Basant Kumar Biswas was a staunch revolutionary. He had thrown bomb at Lord Hardinge in I912, dressed as a woman, at the signal of Rash Behari Bose, from the roof of the Punjab National Bank building as the Viceregal procession was passing near Chandni Chowk.
B. 1874 ;member of the Arya Samaj; implicated in the first Lahore Conspiracy case and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1915; released in 1920; elected to the Central Legislative Assembly in 1931 and again in 1934; social reformer prolific writer: d. 194
