When the Publishers asked me for a Foreword to this small volume of
Speeches by Mr. C. R. Das, I readily acceded to their request, both
from personal and public considerations.
Personally I have known Mr. Chitta Ranjan Das from the days of his
youth. His father, the late Babu Bhuban Mohan Das was a friend of
mine. Bhuban Mohan was a well-known Attorney of the Calcutta High
Court. For some time he was connected also with Bengalee journalism. As
editor, first, of the _Brahmo Public Opinion_, and subsequently of the
_Bengal Public Opinion_, he made a very high position for himself among
Bengalee journalists. His style was very simple, and he spoke with a
directness that was rather rare in our more successful English weeklies
of those days. Babu Bhuban Mohan was a sincere patriot, and though
like good many English educated Bengalees of his generation, he threw
himself heart and soul into the Brahmo Samaj Movement, in his personal
life and more particularly in his dealings with his Hindu relatives, he
belonged to the old Hindu type, and spent whatever he earned,--and he
earned a lot--for the support of his poorer relatives. Indeed he spent
upon them more than his finances allowed and consequently got involved
in heavy liabilities that forced him, during the closing years of his
professional life, to take refuge in the Insolvency Court.
Chitta Ranjan was educated, I think, in the London Missionary College,
Bhowanipore; and subsequently in the Presidency College, Calcutta
whence he took his B.A. degree and went to England to qualify
himself for the Indian Civil Service. I do not remember if he actually
competed for the I.C.S. He joined the Inns of Court and was called to
the Bar in the early Nineties.
Chitta Ranjan gave considerable promise of exceptional literary and
oratorical gifts even when he was a student in the Presidency College,
Calcutta. While in England he made some political speeches, in
connection I think, with the Electioneering Campaign of Mr. Dadabhai
Naoroji, and some of those speeches were very favourably noticed by the
English and the Indian Press.
Upon his return home, and within a short time of his joining the
Calcutta Bar, he took upon himself the responsibility of all his
father's debts; an act that forced him at the very commencement of his
professional career, to join his father in seeking the protection of
the Insolvency Court. It was not only a filial duty, but a point of
honour, with Chitta. Ranjan to share this indignity with his father.
He was very seriously handicapped, both in his professional and in his
public life, by this insolvency. But for it, Chitta Ranjan would have
long ago publicly thrown himself into all our political and patriotic
movements and won the position of leadership to which he was entitled
by his capacity and his devoted love for his country.
Though his exceptional abilities were universally recognised, from
the very beginning of his career as a member of our High Court Bar,
he could not secure adequate scope for them for a good many years;
pecuniary struggles forced him to abandon the chances of a successful
practice in the High Court for the mufassal practice which is more
profitable to a junior Barrister.
The celebrated Conspiracy Case against Srijut Aravinda Ghosh, in which
he appeared as Aravinda's Counsel pushed Chitta Ranjan into the fore
front of the Calcutta Bar. Great was the sacrifice that he made in
undertaking this defence. For more than six months he was engaged in
this case, and the fee that he received was not sufficient to meet even
all his household expenses during these months; and he had to incur a
large debt for this purpose. The acquittal of Aravinda at once raised
the reputation of his Counsel, and from the very day that Chitta Ranjan
came back to take up the broken threads of his High Court practice, he
found himself on the high road to both fame and wealth. This reminds
me of the saying of Sree Bhagavan in the Geeta--that the doer of good
never comes to any grief.
As soon as he found his position in this profession secure, Chitta
Ranjan's first thought was to remove the stain of insolvency from his
father's name and his own and he started to pay off every pie of those
old debts. This is the first time, as Mr. Justice Fletcher declared,
that a discharged insolvent publicly accepted his old liabilities and
applied for a formal discharge of his insolvency. This act of unusual
fidelity to his financial obligations, at once raised Chitta Ranjan Das
to the position of a great moral hero.
Having secured his discharge from his insolvency, Chitta Ranjan found
himself free to freely and openly join all our public activities; and
as the new National Life in Bengal, denied free scope and outlet in
politics by the restrictive legislations of Lord Minto, had commenced
to seek and find expression in a variety of literary organisations.
Chitta Ranjan threw himself into this Nationalist Movement, and soon
found himself among its great leaders. In 1915 he started a new
Bengalee Monthly, the _Narayana_, which secured for its contributors
some of the highest literateurs of Bengal, including Maha-Mahopadhyaya
Hara Prasad Sastri who has an European reputation, and Babu Bepin
Chandra Pal. Chitta Ranjan's entry into Bengalee literature dates from
1894 or 1895 when he published a volume of Bengalee lyrics, called
_Malancha_ which introduced a new element of freedom and realism
into our modern lyrical literature. During the last two years, two
more volumes of Lyrics have been published by him. The last annual
Literary Conference of Bengal, in recognition of his literary services,
nominated Chitta Ranjan as the President of its Literary Section while
the political leaders of the Province offered him an equal recognition
by asking him to preside over our last Provincial Conference.
The speeches collected and published in this volume are the latest
pronouncements of Mr. C. R. Das upon some of the pressing political
problems before us. They have already attracted considerable notice
from the Anglo-Indian press, and the virulance of these criticisms
are themselves a _prima facie_ proof of their worth and importance. I
will not try any criticism of these here. The reader will be able to
judge of their value himself. Students of current political literature
in this country will find in these a freshness of ideas and a freedom
of treatment which are so much needed just now for the formation of a
sound and healthy public opinion among us.
Mr. C. R. Das, though yet young, is already an esteemed and prominent
leader of Bengal. His patriotism is genuine; his abilities are
unquestioned. Self-seeking is not in his line. He tries to serve his
motherland according to his light, not for his own aggrandisement but
for her welfare alone. He is above official frowns or favours--his
independence is fearless. He is not a pushing man yet his talent has
pushed him forward to a foremost place both in his profession and the
political field. He earns a good deal of money but perhaps spends more.
His charities are many though the general public know very little of
them. He has a fine heart, which is ever ready to help a fellow in
distress, even at a considerable personal sacrifice. If he does not
convert himself into a mere money-making machine like many worthy
members of his profession, he is bound to prove a tower of strength to
the national cause. He is a Home Ruler and a democrat of democrats,
every inch of him. To me he is specially dear, as he is a devotee
of Sri Krishna and Sri Gauranga. As his father's friend, I have the
privilege of passing benediction on him. May God grant him a long and
healthy life and enable him to devote it unselfishly to the service of
man and his maker.
AMRITA BAZAR }
PATRIKA OFFICE, CALCUTTA, } MOTI LAL GHOSH.
_12th November, 1917_. }