Unsung Heroes | History Corner | Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Ministry of Culture, Government of India

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Paying tribute to India’s freedom fighters

Surya Sen

Chittagong, Undivided India

February 07, 2023 to February 07, 2024

Surya Sen, also known as Surya Kumar Sen and popularly known as Masterda, was born on 22 March 1894 in a Baidya family in the Chittagong neighbourhood of Noapara, in the Raozan Upazila. He was an Indian revolutionary who played a significant role in the battle for Indian independence against British colonial rule in India. Surya Sen is remembered for having commanded the 1930 Chittagong armoury raid. He actively participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement before being detained and held in prison for about two years (1926-1928) due to his revolutionary activities. Sen, a talented and motivating organizer, was known for remarking that "Humanism is a distinctive virtue of a revolutionary".

On 18 April 1930, Sen led a party of revolutionaries in an attack on the Chittagong armoury police and auxiliary force arsenal. The complex strategy involved stealing weapons from the armoury and destroying the city's communications infrastructure in order to cut off Chittagong from the rest of the British Raj. They were unable to seize the munitions, though. A few days later, one of the British Indian Army units trapped a sizable portion of the rebel party in the neighbouring Jalalabad Hills. Twelve revolutionaries lost their lives in the subsequent battle.

Masterda and the other remaining revolutionaries split off into smaller groups, hid in nearby villages, and carried out raids on people and property owned by the government. Masterda was detained on 16 February 1933, put on trial, and executed on 12 January 1934. Many of his fellow rebels were also apprehended and given long terms of imprisonment

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