Bipin Chandra Pal

In news : Recently, Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting (IB) inaugurated a photo-exhibition to showcase the struggles of various freedom fighters Bipin Chandra Pal is one of them

A brief History of Bipin Chandra Pal 

• He was an Indian nationalist, writer, orator, social reformer and Indian independence movement freedom fighter
• Birth: 7th November 1858, Habiganj Sylhet district, Bangladesh
• Bipin ji He was one third of the “Lal Bal Pal” triumvirat
• Education:  He studied and taught at the Church Mission Society College (now the St. Paul’s Cathedral Mission College), an affiliated college of the University of Calcutta
• Brahmo Samaj: After his first wife died, he married a widow and joined the Brahmo Samaj
• He was also associated with Indian National Congress and India House

His Contributions: 

• • He known as the Father of Revolutionary Thoughts in India and was one of the freedom fighters of India
  • Pal stood against the partition of Bengal by the colonial British government.
  • 1887: He made a strong plea for repeal of the Arms Act which was discriminatory in nature
  • He was one of the main architects of the Swadeshi movement along with Sri Aurobindo.
  • He popularized the concepts of swadeshi (exclusive use of Indian-made goods) and swaraj

• His programme consisted of Swadeshi, boycott and national education. He preached and encouraged the use of Swadeshi and the boycott of foreign goods to eradicate poverty and unemployment. 

• Bipin wanted to remove social evils from the form and arouse the feelings of nationalism through national criticism. 
  • He also set up a school called Anushilan Samiti and began a tour of the country to propagate his philosophy.
• Pal had no faith in mild protests in the form of non-cooperation with the British colonialists.

• He opposed the caste system and advocated widow remarriage. He advocated 48 hours of work week and demanded for the hike in wages of workers.
• He expressed his disdain for Gandhi’s ways, which he criticised for being rooted in “magic” instead of “logic”
• His overriding concern in his writings from 1912 to 1920 was to achieve confederation of the different regions and different communities within India. 
• In 1920, Pal was among the senior Congress leaders who opposed Gandhi’s resolution on non-cooperation over the fact that it didn’t address self-government.
• During the last six years of his life, he parted company with the Congress and led a secluded life. Sri Aurobindo referred to him as one of mightiest prophets of nationalism.

As a journalist

• He worked for Bengal Public Opinion, The Tribune and New India, where he propagated his brand of nationalism
• He wrote several articles warning India of the changes happening in China and other geopolitical situations
• Pal served as the founder editor of Paridarshak, before going on to edit several other English and Bengali newspapers from Calcutta, Lahore, Allahabad and London.
• In 1906, Pal started a daily called Vande Mataram