Chittagong armoury raid

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Surya Sen, leader of the raid

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The Chittagong Armoury Raid (Bengali: ) also known as Chittagong uprising,

was an attempt on 18 April 1930 to raid the armoury of police and auxiliary forces from
the Chittagong armoury in Bengal province of British India by armed revolutionaries for Indian
independence led by Surya Sen popularly known as Master-da. Chittagong now is in Bangladesh.
Contents
[hide]

1 The raiders

2 The plan

3 The raid

4 Aftermath

5 The armoury raid trial

6 Capture and death of Surya Sen

7 Film adaptations

8 References

9 Sources

10 Further reading

The raiders[edit]
The raiders were members of revolutionary groups believing in armed uprisings for Indian
independence to India's independence from British colonial rule. The group was led by Masterda
(Surya Sen), and included Ganesh Ghosh, Lokenath Bal, Nirmal Sen, Ambika Chakrobarty, Naresh
Roy, Sasanka Datta, Ardhendu Dastidar, Harigopal Bal (Tegra), Tarakeshwar Dastidar, Ananta
Singh, Jiban Ghoshal, Anand Prasad Gupta, Pritilata Waddedar, Kalpana Dutta, Binod Bihari
Chowdhury, Subodh Roy Debi Prasad Gupta and many others.

The plan[edit]
Surya Sen devised the strategy of capturing the two main armouries in Chittagong and then
destroying the telegraph and telephone office, followed by assassination of members of the
"European Club", the majority of whom were government or military officials involved in maintaining
theBritish Raj in India. Firearms retailers were also to be raided, while rail and communication lines
were to be cut in order to sever Chittagong fromCalcutta.

The raid[edit]
The plan was put into action at 10 p.m. on 18 April 1930. The police armoury (in Police Line in
Dampara) was captured by a group of revolutionaries led by Ganesh Ghosh, while another group of
ten men led by Lokenath Bal took the Auxiliary Forces armoury (now old Circuit House). Some sixtyfive revolutionaries took part in the raid undertaken in the name of the Hindustan Republican Army,
Chittagong Branch. However, they could not locate ammunition. Revolutionaries also succeeded in
cutting telephone and telegraph wires and disrupting the movement of the trains; about sixteen of
them captured the European club's headquarters (in Pahartali now Railway Office next to Shahjahan
Field).
However, the day was Good Friday, and most of the club members were at their homes. Upon
learning of the situation, the Europeans were able to get the alarm out to troops, which the
revolutionaries had not expected. After the raids, the revolutionary groups gathered outside the
police armoury where Surya Sen took a military salute, hoisted the National Flag, and proclaimed a
Provisional Revolutionary Government. The revolutionaries left Chittagong town before dawn and
marched towards the Chittagong hill ranges, looking for a safe place to hide. [1]

Aftermath[edit]
This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section
by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged
and removed. (April 2013)
After a few days, the police traced some of the revolutionaries. The revolutionaries were surrounded
by several thousand troops while they took shelter in Jalalabad hills near Chittagong Cantonment on
the afternoon of 22 April 1930.
Over eighty troops and twelve revolutionaries were killed in the ensuing gunfight. Surya Sen
dispersed his men to neighbouring villages in small groups and the revolutionaries escaped
accordingly. A few of the revolutionaries fled to Calcutta while some were arrested.
Some of the revolutionaries managed to reorganize their broken organisation. On 24 September
1932, Debi Prasad Gupta, Manoranjan Sen, Rajat Sen, Swadesh Roy, Phanindra Nandi and Subodh
Chaudhary led by Pritilata Waddedar attacked the European Club, killing one woman.But the plan
backfired and Debi Prasad Gupta, Manoranjan Sen, Rajat Sen, Swadesh Roy were killed while the
other two, Subodh and Phani were wounded and arrested. During 1930-32, 22 officials and 220

others were killed by revolutionaries in separate incidents. Debi Prasad Gupta's brother Ananda
Prasad Gupta was sentenced to transportation for life vide judgement.

The armoury raid trial[edit]

The mass trial of those arrested during and after the raids concluded in January 1932 and the
judgment was delivered on 1 March 1932. Twelve of the defendants were sentenced to deportation
for life, two received three-year prison sentences and the remaining 32 individuals were acquitted.

Capture and death of Surya Sen[edit]

The gallows in Chittagong Central Jail,Bangladesh, where Surya Sen was hanged. The Government of
Bangladeshdesignated it a monument.

The Chittagong revolutionary group suffered a fatal blow when Masterda Surya Sen was arrested on
16 February 1933 from Gairala village after a tip-off from an insider of the group. For the reward
money, jealousy, or both, Netra Sen told the British Government that Surya Sen was at his house.
But before Netra Sen was able to get his 10,000 rupee reward, he was killed by the revolutionaries.
Surya Sen along with Tarekeshwar Dastidar was hanged by the British on 12 January 1934. [2]

Film adaptations[edit]
A Bengali movie Chattagram Astragar Lunthan was made on the Chittagong armoury raid in 1949. It
was directed by Nirmal Chowdhury.
A Hindi movie, Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey was made on the Chittagong armoury raid in 2010. It was
directed byAshutosh Gowarikar starring Abhishek Bachchan and supported by Deepika Padukone. It
was based on the book Do and Die: The Chittagong Uprising 1930-34 by Manini Chatterjee.

Another film, Chittagong was made in 2010 and released in October 2012. It was directed by
Dr. Bedabrata Pain, a former scientist in NASA who resigned from NASA to make this film. Manoj
Bajpai was the lead actor and played the role of Surya Sen