8 Facts About Pritilata Waddedar - Bengal's First Woman Martyr
Her name might be buried under the dust of time, but if ever it pops up, everyone remembers her as the iron lady of Bengal. After telling you about the story of Jhalkari Bai, let's take our series of India's unsung woman heroes ahead. Introducing Pritilata Waddedar.
Pritilata Waddedar's sacrifice cannot be ignored. She was among the initial lot of revolutionaries who picked up arms against the British Raj and was the first woman in Bengal to do so. Having died at the age of 21, her story is fit for a film's screenplay.
1. Pritilata was chosen to lead an uprising against a club that had the tenet "Dogs and Indians are not allowed." She, along with a group of others, attacked a European club and set fire to it.
To avenge the death of innocent Indians in the Jalalabad encounter, a group of revolutionaries plotted a strategy to attack the Pahartali European club which had a sign-board titled – "Dogs and Indians are not allowed." Pritilata was selected to lead a team of 40 people for the mission in September 1932. She dressed as a Punjabi male, while her associates wore lungis and shirts. She succeeded in laying a siege and her team torched the club.
2. After being fatally wounded during the attack, Pritilata preferred to sacrifice her life rather than be caught by the British. She was just 21 years old when she died.
The British officers chased Pritilata and her team in a bloody encounter that followed. She was fatally wounded in this attack. When she saw there was no way to escape from the Britishers, she commanded her fellow fighters to run away and laid down her own life instead. To avoid getting arrested, Pritilata consumed cyanide and died. She refused to be caught by British. She was just 21 when she gave up her life for her motherland.
3. She had a middle-class background and was inspired by several revolutionaries right from childhood.
Pritilata was born into a middle-class Vaidya-Brahmin family in a village of Chittagong. Her father was a clerk and she had five siblings. Nicknamed Rani, Pritilata's original surname was Dasgupta. She was a meritorious student and highly influenced by the freedom fighters of that time.
4. Her graduation degree was withheld by the British. She served as a school teacher before becoming a freedom fighter.
Her degree in philosophy was withheld by the British authorities at the Calcutta University. She took up teaching after completing her studies. She was appointed as the first Headmistress of the local English medium secondary school where she worked. In 2012, she was conferred her graduation certificate of merit posthumously.
5. Pritilata soon joined the group of Bengali independence fighter Surya Sen. She was at the forefront of many anti-British campaigns.
Surya Sen had heard her name but was reluctant to recruit her. But seeing her firm determination to eliminate British supremacy, he finally accepted Pritilata as the woman comrade of his revolutionary group. Her intelligence, strategy and efforts helped Surya and other members attack the armoury raid, telegraph office, railway lines and make the uprising of Chittagong successful. In the Jalalabad battle, she took responsibility to supply explosives to the revolutionaries.
6. Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi was her role model, and inspired Pritilata to fight against the British right from her childhood.
Rani Laxmibai was an inspirational force for Pritilata to sacrifice her life for the liberation of her motherland. Her classmate Kalpana Datta wrote in the biography Chittagong Armoury Raiders:
"We had no clear idea in our school days about our future. Then the Rani of Jhansi fired our imagination with her example. Sometimes we used to think of ourselves as fearless..."
7. A plaque stands in memory of Pritilata at the spot she committed suicide,
Now in Bangladesh, the spot has gained popularity. A trust in her name also runs and celebrates her birthday in different parts of India and Bangladesh even today. Chittagong even has a Pritilata Waddedar Road. In 2012, a bronze sculpture of her was erected in front of the school where she taught, adjacent to the historical European Club.
8. Very few films referred to Pritilata in the past, and it's time for a full-fledged film on her.
Bollywood's 2010 film Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey was based on the Chittagong uprising where actress Vishakha Singh played the character of Pritilata. Even in 2012 film Chittagong, which was based on the same uprising, Vega Tamotia played the role of Pritilata. But her story has not been done justice to. It's high time we had a proper film to commemorate Pritilata's life and spirit.
While wondering who would be best suited to play the braveheart revolutionary, I could only think of Deepika Padukone. We have seen her in the historical film Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, but playing a different character. She has even pulled off period dramas getting the nuances of that era right.
Let's hope our filmmakers take a hint and get cracking on a saga on Pritilata Waddedar.