Son of
Bankim Behari and Suhashini Das, Jatindra Nath
was born in Shyambazar in the northern part of
Calcutta on 27 October 1904. It was an ordinary
middle-class family, belonging to the Kayastha
caste. Jatindra Nath had one brother and two sisters.
Jatin was admitted in the Mitra Institution, bhowanipore,
at the age of eight. He passed the Matriculation
examination from this school in the first division
in 1921, and the I.A examination from the Suburban
(later Asuthos) College in 1924, also in the first
division. He joined the Vidyasagar College for
his B.A but was arrested in 1925 for his political
activities. Released in 1928, he joined the Bangabasi
College and enrolled himself as a cadet in the
University Training Corps.
The prevailing political atmosphere inspired
Jatin, at the age of 17, to join politics. He
participated in the Non-Cooperation movement
and was sentenced to six months rigorous imprisonment
for picketing. He showed early promise of leadership
and was chosen as Assistant Secretary of the
South Calcutta Congress in 1925 and also a member
of Bengal Provincial Congress Committee.
On 25 November 1925, he was arrested under the
Bengal Criminal Law Amendment Act. At the Mymensingh
Central Jail Jatin refused food for 20 days
for ill-treatment to political prisoners and
it was not till the Superintendent offered and
apology that the matter was settled. On his
release in October 1928, he was given the rank
of a Major in the Volunteer Corps organized
in connection with the Congress Session in Calcutta.
He was associated with many benevolent and political
organizations, such as Tarun Samiti, South Calcutta
Sevak Samiti, the National School etc.
Jatin came into the contact with the
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revolutionaries of northern India and used
to manufacture high explosive bombs for the
party. He was arrested in Calcutta on 14 June
1929, and made an accused in Supplementary Lahore
Conspiracy Case. In protest against the brutal
treatment to patriotic undertrials and convicts
and to enforce a demand for a distinct class
for them, Jatin resorted to his memorable hunger-strike
on July 13 in the Lahore Jail.
He was removed to hospital on 24 July an expired
on 13 September, after 63 days of struggle in
the Borstal Jail. The Government ultimately
yielded, and made considerable improvements
in the treatment of political prisoners. The
cortege from Lahore to Calcutta was witnessed
by numberless mourners all the way.
By nature Jatin was given to an austere life.
The death of his mother at an early age taught
him a lesion in self-help. He possessed a sense
of strict discipline which was the motto of
his life. He was a man of few words but of a
firm decision, which once taken not be altered
much less revoked.
He held progressive views in politics, similar
to those of Netaji. Later he stood for socialism
as preached by the leaders of he Hindusthan
Republican Association. Jatin was not enamoured
of any particular religion, and he openly declared
with his last breath that his home was the whole
of India and not any particular part of it,
and that his last rites were not to be performed
according to the orthodox Hindu style.
Jatindra Nath’s martyrdom was symbolic
of the revolutionary spirit which sought to
achieve national independence through the sacrifice
and sufferings of the awakened youth in every
part of the sub-continent.
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