Dr Ranjit Podder :
Pritilata Waddedar (1911-1932), an Indian revolutionist, sacrificed her life for the freedom of India from the British rule. She was the first martyred in the war of independence against the British colonial rulers. She was purely a Bengali whose other name was Fultara. This lady took part in the anti-British armed resistance movement under the leadership of the valiant son of the soil Masterda Surya Sen (1894-1934). Pritilata was much influenced by the philosophy and activities of Surya Sen and joined the Indian Independence Movement in 1930s although there were pressures on Surya Sen not to allow any female revolutionist in their group. Surya Sen allowed her to join them on the ground that females would be able to carry weapons easily from one place to other remaining beyond suspicion of the British police. There was club of the European at Pahartoli in the then Chittagong where Pritilata led a group of revolutionists with a view to attacking on the Europeans who were based in Chittagong.
The people of Chittagong were annoyed with the British for many reasons. The British used to embarrass the Indians every now and then. In order to restrict the entrance of the Indians and to insult them, a signboard was hung which read “Dogs and Indians are Prohibited”. The signboard was an outright insult to the Indians. The blood of any sensible Indians used to boil inside to see the signboard; most of the Bengalis started to hate the British and planned to teach the Europeans a good lesson but they were not able to do anything in absence of a genuine leader. However, Surya Sen and other swadeshis (nativists) including Pritilata never took much time to fight against the colonial forces to bring freedom for the motherland. When the club was torched in 1932, the British police caught some of the revolutionists and Pritlata got trapped. In order to escape the arrest and inhumane torture oof the police, she committed suicide by swallowing Cyanide on 24th September 1932.
We should know who that brave young lady, Pritilata Waddedar, was. That fearless lady was born on 5 May in 1911 in a middle-class Vaidya Brahmin family in Dhalghat village in Patia upazila of present Chattogram. She was a meritorious student of Dr Khastogir School, Chattogram. Her father Jagabandhu Waddedar was a clerk in the Chattogram municipality and her mother Pratibhamay Devi was a housewife. Pritilata’s father always tried to provide the best education to their children. Pritilata passed matriculation the said school in 1928 and then got admitted into Eden College, Dhaka for higher secondary education. Arts and literature were her favourite subjects. Then she went to Bethune college, Kolkata, for higher studies in Philosophy. After two years, she achieved graduation with distinction. That time, students could not set any aim in life as nothing was certain as everything was governed by the British rulers and as there were ample examples of the British exploitations and deprivations.
Usha di, one teacher of Dr Khastogir School, tried to make the students aware of the exploitation, oppressions, and deprivation and she also used to give clues about the way out. Usha di used to tell what the Rani of Jhansi did to get rid of the British oppression and how she led the Indian rebellion of 1857 as one of the leading figures. Pritilata and other students received inspiration from those stories and they became fearless. That fearlessness gave them mental strengths to fight against the British and their police forces. Freedom got the first priority; and Pritilata ignored anything and everything for the independence of the motherland.
Pritilata was one of those who taught us how to sacrifice life for the cause of the nation; and how insignificant one’s life is in compared to the freedom of the motherland. Such a valiant freedom fighter should be honoured properly for the sake of holding our moral standard high and to prove that we are not ungrateful to our ancestors. We should pay homage to her recognizing her contribution for the nation. There should be discussions in the educational institutions as well as in the electronic media. The print media can publish supplementary pages highlighting the activities and sacrifice of the veteran revolutionist which can teach our generation about how to ignore own comforts for the cause of the nation.
Pradip Ghosh, an eminent film director of the country, has made a film called Bir Konna Pritilata based on a novel by renowned writer Selina Hossain. So far as is known, the film has been made with financial supports from the government. This a glaring example of tribute to the martyred revolutionist who sacrificed her life for the noble cause of freeing the motherland from the clutch of colonial force. The film is going to be released soon. It is expected that, this film would be of great use to spread the glorious history of the Bengalis. The release of the film will be a great homage to the intrepid freedom fighter Pritilata Waddedar. Let us pay a great salute to the great lady on her 90th death anniversary.
(The writer is Associate Professor, Govt. Teachers’ Training College, Dhaka).
