A remote village of the Kalna subdivision of Purba Bardhaman district, Baghnapara was the breeding ground of the anti-British movement during the Swadeshi period. In 1876, Surendranath Banerjee founded 'Bharat Sabha' (Indian Association). The Indian Association was the first avowed nationalist organization founded in British India by Surendranath Banerjee and Ananda Mohan Bose in 1876. The objectives of this Association were "promoting by every legitimate means the political, intellectual and material advancement of the people".
Out of three, two branches of Bharat Sabha were set up at Baghnapara near Kalna and at Purbasthali with the name Purvasthali Hitkari Sabha.
Under the guidance of Upendranath Sen and Devendranath Sen two prominent members of the Kaviraj clan of Kalna, the meeting of Bharat Sabha was held at Baghnapara, eight km away from Kalna town. According to contemporary accounts, S.N. Banerjee himself was present in the meeting.
Siddheshwar Acharya, president of Kalna sub-district History and Antiquities Centre, claimed that the wave of the Swadeshi movement had a strong impact on the youth of Baghnapara. In 1906, Baghnapara witnessed a massive upsurge of nationalistic sentiments and there was an incident of looting and burning of foreign goods, especially textiles by the youth of the area. Five revolutionaries namely Gurgobind Goswami, Manigopal Mukhopadhyay, Santosh Kumar Banerjee, Brindabon Mukherjee, Bolaich, and Ganguly were arrested by the British police for this incident. Siddheshwar Babu also claimed that the case related to the arrest of those youths was the first political case in Bengal. It surely was the first in the region though.
Swadeshi Bhandar (Native distribution center) was opened at Baghnapara by Shyamlal Goswami for the sale of indigenous clothes. The force of the swadeshi movement was such that the Youth of this village visited door to door selling indigenous clothes. The anti-partition rallies were organized at Baghnapara and its adjoining villages like Deora, Dhatrigram, Anukhal, Baidyapur, Akalpousetc. According to Siddheshwar Acharya, the youth of Baghnapara got involved in the Quit India Movement of 1942. In response to Gandhiji's "Do or die" call they burnt the local post office and railway station of Kalna. In the propagation of Swadeshi ideology, the significance of the revolutionary groups 'Sandhya' and 'Jugantar' was immense. Jugantar Group Organization was formed at Baghnapara and Chandpur.
Source: Azim Mallick, Trained Teacher, CCRT