Remembering Bipin Chandra Pal On His 163rd Birth Anniversary

Bipin Chandra Pal was born on November 7, 1858, at Poil village in the Sylhet district of present-day Bangladesh. He is widely known as the part of the famous trio of Lal-Bal-Pal comprising Lala Lajpat Rai and Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

He was a journalist by profession and served as the founder-editor of Paridarshak. He gave lectures and wrote in various publications in English and Bengali to raise awareness about the nationalist movement. The 'Bengal Tiger' was considered as one of the most independent and outspoken thinkers. He was one of the strongest critics of Mahatma Gandhi's pacifist ways and openly disagreed with the non-cooperation movement believing that it didn't address the question of self-government. In his presidential speech, he expressed that Gandhi's ideas were based on 'magic' rather than 'logic'.

On the Partition of Bengal

The division of the people along communal lines deeply shook Bipin Chandra Pal. In response to the Partition of Bengal in 1905, the Swadeshi Movement was born. The movement called for an unprecedented boycott of British goods and became one of the strongest resistance movements against the British colonial government.

"Ever since the establishment of British rule in India, we had been governed practically by one and the same laws, ruled by the same administration; and our political life has all these years, been controlled by one single policy. Suddenly, however, the Province united in language, united in past historic associations, united in civilisations and culture, united in common law and administration, this Province was proposed to be cut into two, which gave offence to us. It pained us. We cried we prayed, we petitioned, we protested, but all to no purpose…."

On National Education

Bipin Chandra Pal was a strong advocate of education on nationalistic lines. In one of his lectures on national education, he said:

"Unless you accept this ideal of National education and not only accept it intellectually but unless you make a strong realisation, the rich to lay Out their money, those who have not money to place their boys and their youths for tuition in these schools and the general public to offer the best that they can towards the furtherance of this object, unless you do it the time has come when all this new spirit will fail to attain its purpose because of the repressive measures that are being introduced in the Educational Department of India by that Government...Why, Sir, why should politics be tabooed from our University and our schools. Do they do it in England ?"

He set an example in his personal life as well. After his first wife passed away, he married a widow and joined Brahmo Samaj. He condemned the caste system and was a promoter of gender equality. The revolutionary leader retired from politics in 1920 but continued to express his views on national questions till his last day.

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