Memoirs of A Revolutionary

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Within the pages of this book lie the forgotten chapters of Bengal's revolutionary history; the stories of those unsung heroes of our freedom struggle, whose legacies have been lost in the elusive shadows of time. What remains are their names etched on unfamiliar roads-silent reminders that are rarely acknowledged or retained in the memories of those who pass. Amidst the vibrant streets of Kolkata, there is an Upendra Nath Banerjee Road, a tribute to a fearless revolutionary and thinker and his immense contribution to our freedom movement, but few may appreciate the sacrifices of the person it honours. Memoirs of a Revolutionary, a translation of the Bengali classic, Nirbasiter Atmakatha, Upendra Nath Banerjee wrote himself, offers a deeply personal insight into the thoughts, struggles, momentous events and emotions that have shaped India's history, as seen through his life and his incarceration in the forbidding Cellular Jail in the Andamans.

Dr Anirban Ganguly is Chairman, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, New Delhi. He is Member of BJP's National Executive Committee. Besides being a political activist, he has worked extensively in the areas of public policy and political rosearch. Dr Ganguly is also a distinguished scholar with expertise in civilisation, history, politics, and culture. He has written at length about these subjects. He was a Member of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), Member of the Indian National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO (INCCU), Member of the Governing Board of Auroville Foundation, and Member of the Visva-Bharati Samsad (Court), Santiniketan. He is currently a member of the Prime Ministers' Museum and Library Society, Ministry of Culture, Gol. He has authored, co authored and edited several books and is the great-great grandson of revolutionary Upendra Nath Banerjee.

MEMOIRS OF a Revolutionary Indeed, Upendranath Bandyopadhyay (also written as Upendra Nath Banerjee) was a revolutionary and much more. He was born in Chandannagar (Hooghly) on 6th June 1879 and died on 4th April 1950. In 1908, there was a famous trial, formally known as 'Emperor versus Aurobindo Ghosh and Others'. The judgement was delivered in 1909 by CP Beachcroft. Though that is the formal name of the case, popularly the case is known as the Alipore Bomb Case, the Muraripukur Conspiracy, or the Manicktolla Bomb Conspiracy. The trial took place in the Alipore Sessions Court and the accused were picked up from 32, Muraripukur Road in Manicktolla.

ADDRESSING THE centenary celebration of Nagaland's and the Northeast's iconic freedom fighter and spiritual leader Rani Gaidinliu (1915-1993) in August 2015. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had observed that "either we have forgotten such great people or we have been made to forget on purpose."

It is one of the tragedies of our freedom movement's narrative that contributions and memories of a large number of freedom fighters who took part and led India's struggle for independence in their region and suffered great privations for it, were swept into oblivion once freedom was attained.

I WOULD like to express my gratitude to Professor Bibek Debroy, author, thinker, polymath and Chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PM-EAC) for penning an inspiring foreword to the work. Amidst his heavy responsibilities he has unfailingly found time, over the years, to encourage and to support my work. I am thankful to Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives at Puducherry for lending me a copy of the original copy of the English translation of Upendra Nath Banerjee's "Nirbasiter Atmakatha and for sharing photographs of the Maniktollah revolutionaries.

**Contents and Sample Pages**