Rash Behari Bose's seven mysterious years in Dehradun

As a visitor walks through the busy Paltan Bazaar in Dehradun, negotiating the crowd and cramped kiosks, a small sign board bearing information about freedom fighter Rash Behari takes him or her by surprise. The display board takes the guest on a flashback journey to Indian independence. On a journey back to 1912, a Bengali youth living in the Doon valley created shockwaves in the British Empire by planning an assassination attempt on the Viceroy of India. A reward of Rs 5,000 was declared on the head of absconding Rash Behari.

Famous freedom fighter and founder president of the Indian National Army, Rash Behari Bose, spent about seven years in Dehradun. He maintained high secrecy about his activities, leaving little scope for the police and the public to doubt him. The Doon Valley has more or less forgotten the hero, and not many programmes and events are held here to remember the revolutionary leader.

He planned the 1912 bomb attack to kill Viceroy of India Lord Harding, with the help of Basant Biswas, who threw the bomb, to become the most adored independence movement leader in India. After leaving his homeland, he supported the freedom movement from Japan, and Subhash Chandra Boss termed him the father of the Indian independence movement in East Asia.

Rash Behari Bose came to Dehradun in 1906 to serve at the Forest Research Institute. One day, he met radical leader Jitendra Mohan Chatterjee in the city, and this changed his life completely. Rash became a bridge between the radical leaders of Bengal and Punjab. This collaboration provided new energy for the independence movement.

Places Behari stayed

Serving in the Silviculture department of the Forest Research Institute (FRI), which was located at the Ranger’s College campus near the Tibetan market, Rash Behari used to stay in Ghosi Galli in the initial period. The display board at the Paltan Bazaar also describes his stay in Ghosi Gally. But, the building where he stayed remains unidentified.

Rash Behari changed many houses in the move to maintain secrecy about his activities. He also stayed in Nabha House, located at 210 Rajpur Road. Raghuveer Sharma, a Sanskrit teacher at DAV School, used to come to learn English from Rash Behari and arrange for his stay at Nabha House. After the Delhi bomb attack, the Sanskrit teacher was also quizzed by the investigating agency. Rash Behari and Basant Biswas used to meet at Tagore Villa, owned by PN Tagore from Kolkata.

Senior journalist Jitendra Anthwal rues, “It is rather shocking that there is no prominent road named after Rash Behari Bose in Dehradun. The FRI has named a road after the leader on their campus. He was a great man and deserves due respect.”

Long service in FRI

Rash Behari reached Shimla in 1904 and worked for a brief period at the Foreign Department Press (4 months), the Foreign Office (3 months), and the Government Monotype Office (7 months) before joining the Central Research Institute (Kasauli, HP). An excellent typist, the Bengali youth headed for Dehradun to join FRI in 1906, to work as a clerk in the premier institute.

The Rash Behari and Basant Biswas duo proved to be a deadly combination. They proved this by perfectly executing the assassination attempt on Lord Harding and the Lahore bomb blast at Lawrence Garden.  Bose was the master of planning and took 37 days of leave to plan and get the Delhi bomb conspiracy executed. After completing his 37-day leave, Bose rejoined the office but began taking leave regularly. By the time David Peterson, Assistant Director of Criminal Intelligence (Delhi), could reach the conclusion that who was the mastermind of the Delhi bomb conspiracy, Rash Behari disappeared from Dehradun in August 1913. He was finally terminated for long-term absenteeism from FRI on May 14, 1914.

Kalyan Chakrabortty, director of the Rash Behari Bose Research Institute, located at Chandan Nagar, (West Bengal), says, “Indian people and the government should come forward to recognise the heroism of Rash Behari Bose. His story should form part of the school textbooks.”

Rash Behari’s bank account

On December 20, 1931, Rash Behari Bose wrote a letter to the Viceroy and Governor General of India, requesting that they provide compensation for his seized items by the investigating agency, provide him with hassle-free entry into India to dispose of his property in Chander Nagar, and transfer his post office savings account money. The letter moved from one channel to another, and finally, a sum of Rs 728 from Rash Behari Bose’s account was frozen and credited into the Delhi Treasury’s account. The British government decided not to provide any amnesty to the freedom fighters living in Japan.

Complicated research issue

Rash Behari is not an easy topic for research, as he spent his childhood in Bengal, his youth period in Himachal Pradesh, Kasauli, Dehradun, and the rest of his life in Japan. The wide geographical distance between the places linked to Rash Behari poses a high challenge. It can be understood by the fact that, despite leaving one photograph of Rash Behari, disguised as PN Tagore, on ship for Japan, not many of his snaps from India are available.

Conclusion

Rash Behari devoted about four decades of his life to the freedom struggle movement, of which nine years were in India and 31 long years abroad. He used to say, “I am a fighter. One fight more. The last and the best.” Even after playing a vital role in the independence movement, he remains unsung. The last fight is possibly to honour this true son of India.

Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.