_There was a huge meeting of students of Bangabashi and Ripon colleges
on the 14th January 1921, at Mirzapur Park, when Mr. Das said_:
Srijut Chittaranjan Das, who, on rising to speak, was given a very
hearty ovation said "I am unable to deliver any speech to-day. My heart
is full, and my voice is choked and I have not power and strength
enough to express the feelings that are surging in my mind to-day. God
has not given me power to express in language the happiness that you
have given me by coming out of your Colleges. I feel it in my heart of
hearts that, those of you who have come out, are greater than any of us
here, and I humbly bow to you--to the manifestation of strength that
you have displayed to-day. I want you to realise that,--to realise the
strength in you. It is not yours--it is not human, it is the will--the
divine will of the country and the God of our being. It is the will
of _Deshamabrika_ that has been manifested through you. What, she is,
I do not know, but she is the Goddess of our Nation. I now can say
with head erect--blessed be thy waters, Mother Bengal, blessed be thy
trees--blessed be thy sons.
I know people will call you mad. People call me mad too. But who are
mad really? Are not the merchants and traders who are running after
wealth and rolling in luxury--the lawyers and their clients who
spend their all and are ruined by litigation--is it not they who are
really mad? Whatever people may call you--you have got to realise the
truth that is in you. Do stand upon that and stick to it, whatever
difficulties may come or whatever sufferings may await you in the path.
Dark and difficult are the ways, but Divine Light will guide you. Give
up all weakness of the heart. Man can do everything. Remember we are
men determined to emancipate our Motherland from bondage. Should we not
be able to deliver her from the shackles that bind her?
We shall rather go ignorant than be educated in those schools and
colleges. We want to be educated according to our own standard of
living, keeping harmony with our past culture and tradition. I do not
know what Bolshevism is. We want to realise what is truth--what is
eternal--what is in our blood--for the salvation of our country. I want
that. I do not want Bolshevism--I do not want industrialism. In short,
I do not want Europeanism. I want to be a free man, and be myself
again. If that is truth, depending upon that truth, fear not.
Another word, and I have done. I promise before you all, to-day, that,
within fifteen days or utmost a month, we shall have a College--a
National College established, of which there is no equal here, and
where you will get your national education, where you will learn to
love your country and appreciate freedom. I want to see that edifice
standing on the road-side of Goldighi pulled down brick by brick."
He concluded by saying that even the Medical Students also must come
out. They would rather go, he said, without doctors than get the help
of those who come out of that Institution aided by the Government.
Mr. Achyutaram of Bangabashi College said that he hailed from Andhra
and they learnt all their national lessons at the feet of Bengal. When
they saw that Bengal had not been doing anything they were getting
disheartened. Now that Bengal was coming to herself again, he would
be able to tell his fellow-countrymen in Andhra that things were all
right in Bengal. Sriman Nagendranath Ghose said he was a student of
Ripon College 1st year sec. B. When they were holding their meeting in
the class about Non-Co-operation, a professor of the College remarked
that the students were going to listen to the advice of "damned."--The
students ought to strike for that if for nothing else.
The President, in bringing the proceedings to a close, said, that it
had been already announced that a meeting would take place in College
Square at 6 a.m. on Friday. A meeting would also be held at Mirzapur
Park, in the afternoon at 4-30 p.m. on the same day. He hoped that
on the following day all students from the remaining colleges would
come out. Medical Colleges and Engineering Colleges were not to be
made exceptions in this matter. The Carmichael Medical College also
should be emptied. If they could boycott the examination, the bankrupt
University would come down in a day. When Post-Graduate and Law
students were coming out, he felt convinced, that no one would attend
the convocation.