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Atulkrishna Ghosh
Encyclopedia
Atulkrishna Ghosh (1890–1966) was an India
n revolutionary, member of the Anushilan Samiti
, and a leader of the Jugantar
movement involved in Hindu German Conspiracy during World War I
.
middle-class family of the village Jaduboyra-Etmampur in Kushtia Sub-division, which was then in Nadia district
, now in Bangladesh
. His parents were Taresh Chandra and Binodini Devi. The couple had six children. The eldest, Meghamala was married to the famous Professor of Algebra, K.P. Basu, both connected with the revolutionary movement. Their son Jitendranath Basu, along with Atul and his youngest brother Amar, was blacklisted, too, for participation in seditious activities. After his primary classes at Kumarkhali
, Atul passed brilliantly his Matriculation in 1909 from the Kolkata Hindu School, to join the Scottish Churches College
for Intermediate, and the Krishnanath College at Berhampur for B.Sc. While preparing for his final M.Sc. examination at Presidency College, Kolkata
, Atul had to interrupt his studies for his political commitment. The College and its hostel were humming with his radical associates, all future celebrities mostly in scientific research, like Satyendra Nath Bose
, Megh Nad Saha, Jnan Ghosh, Jnan Mukherjee, Sishir Mitra, Sushil Acharya, Sailen Ghosh
, Harish Simha, Jatin Sheth, Hiralal Ray.
. W. Sealy in his Report will note “Atul Ghosh and Nolini Kanta Kar, two dangerous and important absconders of the gun-running conspiracy.” (p23). At Kolkata, thanks to Jatin, they both came very close to Sri Aurobindo. Whereas Nolini practised wrestling with Kikkar Singh
, Atul became an expert trainer in self-defence at the Pataldanga branch of the Anushilan Samiti : here he came across a number of revolutionaries, including Sachin Sanyal’s Benares group and Biren Datta Gupta whom he recommended to Jatindranath. Biren received from the latter, in January 1910, the mandate to assassinate Samsul Alam, Deputy Superintendent of Police, who was man-handling the under-trial prisoners of the Alipore Bomb case
.. In connection with Biren’s successful mission, Jatindranath with forty-six associates were placed on trial in the Howrah conspiracy case. Inside the prison, Jatindranath learnt from his emissaries abroad that Germany was preparing for war against Great Britain. After his release in 1911, Jatindranath suspended all extremist activities, left Kolkata under the responsibility of Atul, himself forging a grand federation of regional units in the districts. A relentless organiser, Atul sheltered revolutionaries from various units as much in his parents’ house at Jaduboyra, as at the Kolkata residence of Meghamala and K.P. Basu, at 11 Mahendra Gossain’s Lane, where there was a free dormitory with homely meals. Even leaders of rival parties like Pratul Ganguli of Dhaka admit having enjoyed this hospitality, at great expense and risk on Atul’s side: “We became great friends with Atulkrishna and had confidence in him. I have very often been to his Darjipara residence and spent nights there. He had grown intimate with several of our members, almost close friends. We considered him to be, somewhat, our own colleague and he sincerely hoped to unite our parties so that we could all work together. Frankly speaking, it was thanks to his wish that I met Jatin Mukherjee…”. Disappointed by the duplicity of the Dhaka branch, “some of its important workers, however, like Sachin Sanyal and Nagen (Girija) Datta, severed their connection with it and, introduced by Atulkrishna, worked with Rasbehari Bose in Upper India.” Atul’s elder brother Aghorenath, a civil surgeon, often looked after the bullet wounds received by the patriots..
who, in the meantime, had been members of various athletic clubs, formed themselves into a branch of the Seva Samiti under Atulkrishna Ghosh: “The ostensible object of this samiti was a benevolent one. The first centre was at the house of Atul Ghosh. During the Burdwan floods, in 1913, many members of this samiti went there for the purpose of affording relief to the afflicted people.”. Atul’s efficiency and generosity as a leader became evident during this relief.
Nixon further informs that the headquarters of the samiti were later shifted to the house of Jibantara Haldar, and later still to No. 83 Hari Ghosh’s Street. “Of this organisation Amar Ghosh, the brother of Atul, was an important figure,” mentioned Nixon. “It was this samiti which formed the nucleus of the combined party which operated in Bengal in 1915. Purna Das of Madaripur brought some of his more audacious spirits along to it and later Pulin Mukherji alias Thakur, previously a member of the Dacca Anushilan Samiti, joined it and took a prominent part in the commission of outrages. Other members of the Dacca Anushilan Samiti severed their connection with that society and joined the party of Atul Ghosh. Bipin Ganguli was in close connection with it and also the members of the Northern Bengal party. Jatindranath Mukherjee seems to have been in touch with the members of this samiti from the time of its formation, and immediately he came into Calcutta, the Seva Samiti acknowledged his leadership and became the real West Bengal party of 1915.”.
During the Alipore Bomb prosecutions, though Rasbehari Bose had settled in North India with the help of Shashibhushan Raychaudhury
, he maintained his contact with Bengal through Atul. Amarendra Chatterjee
and Atul supplied him bombs for actions in up-country and, even, the one thrown on Viceroy Hardinge. Informed by Atul, Rasbehari could participate in the flood relief and the significant meetings of leaders. It was Atul, again, in September 1914, who was contacted by Gurudit Singh and other Komagata Maru
patriots, coming from Vancouver with recommendation from Taraknath Das : he and Satish Chakravarti arranged with various regional units of the Jugantar
to shelter them, before sending them to destinations in North India, fixed by Rasbehari. Furious to hear about the death of a jute-mill worker at Jagaddal, caused by the kick from a booted leg of an English supervisor, Atul was desperately looking for arms to avenge this atrocity.
’s, arms dealers in Kolkata, handed them over to Atul, before disappearing for good. Jatin Mukherjee distributed these dreadful arms to various units. Conceived by Jatin, as does a skilful stage manager, Atul chalked out a series of daring overt acts under the immediate leadership of Naren Bhattacharya alias M.N. Roy: these are all duly catalogued in the Rowlatt Report. Successive emissaries returned from Europe and America with the good news of the arrival of arms obtained from German authorities by the Berlin Committee
. Balasore
was chosen by Germany to land a shipment. Jatin with a handful of associates took shelter there. Then Atul dispatched Harikumar Chakravarti, Dr Jatin Ghoshal, Satish Chakravarti and a batch of workers with boats, rifles and other requisites to the other selected port at Raymangal in the Sundarbans. When information came that the Police had discovered Jatin's hideout in Balasore, Naren Ghose Chaudhury proposed spontaneously to rush to the spot for a showdown; Jadugopal Mukherjee
objected: "Dada is big enough to look after himself. Let us disperse." Atul was stunned by this cynical order. After the failure of the Indo-German conspiracy and after Jatin’s untimely death, disheartened Atul and other Jugantar
leaders went underground in 1915, remaining so for about seven years. Even then, for several years, the revolutionaries entertained the hope of smuggling arms for an insurrection. In June 1916, Atul sent through Ananta Haldar a letter for Bhavabhushan Mitra
at Deoghar, “who was one of the trusted men of the party. Both Ananta and Bhava Bhushan were dealt with under the Defence Rules and interned in Bengal.” (Sealy, p24). In the teeth of sporadic Police attempts to arrest them, once, in Chandernagore, while nursing Charu Ghose, Atul with the ailing co-worker on his shoulders, scaled the hospital wall. Dr Govindin, the Civil Surgeon, narrated this to Bhupendrakumar Datta. According to Nixon: “Jatin Mukherjee had at this time gone to Balasore, and Atul Ghosh was a big figure in the arrangement for these outrages.” In July 1916, “Atul Ghosh was still the prompting spirit of all these gangs, and in the Barisal party, too, he seems to have wielded some influence.”.
killed an Englishman, mistaking him to be Tegart, the much-hated Commissioner of Kolkata Police (reputed to have shot Jatin Mukherjee dead), Atul was made a state-prisoner, to be released in 1926. The same year he married Menokarani Rakshit of Majilpur, 24 Parganas
and took to business, dissociating himself completely from politics. They had no issues. In an interview with Prithwindra Mukherjee (Bagha Jatin's grandson), on 27 October 1963 - shortly before his death -, Atul sighed: “Dada was a magnet; we all, iron scraps, received our energy from him. When he was no more, we all became iron scraps. I still do not know whether my first allegiance went to Dada, or to the Motherland.” Asked about the source of Jatindranath's tremendous force, Atul replied: "He was a very well trained wrestler and an all-round sportsman. But what characterised him was his soul force and his power of concentration. He could pin-point all his energy to a single part of his body, for instance his fist. A single blow from that fist was equivalent to an electric charge of God knows how many volts!"
Atul died peacefully in his Kolkata residence, on 4 May 1966.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n revolutionary, member of the Anushilan Samiti
Anushilan Samiti
Anushilan Samiti was an armed anti-British organisation in Bengal and the principal secret revolutionary organisation operating in the region in the opening years of the 20th century. This association, like its offshoot the Jugantar, operated under the guise of suburban fitness club...
, and a leader of the Jugantar
Jugantar
Jugantar or Yugantar was one of the two main secret revolutionary trends operating in Bengal for Indian independence.This association, like Anushilan Samiti started in the guise of suburban fitness club. Several Jugantar members were arrested, hanged, or deported for life to the Cellular Jail in...
movement involved in Hindu German Conspiracy during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Early life
Atul was born in 1890, in a Bengali HinduBengali Hindu
Bengali Hindus are an ethno-linguistic group, belonging to the Indo-Aryan family and are native to the Bengal region of the Indian Subcontinent. The Bengali Hindus along with other related ethno-linguistic groups constitute the vast majority of Hindus...
middle-class family of the village Jaduboyra-Etmampur in Kushtia Sub-division, which was then in Nadia district
Nadia District
Nadia district is a district of the state of West Bengal, in the north east of India. It borders with Bangladesh to the east, North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts to the south, Bardhaman district to the west, and Murshidabad district to the north....
, now in Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
. His parents were Taresh Chandra and Binodini Devi. The couple had six children. The eldest, Meghamala was married to the famous Professor of Algebra, K.P. Basu, both connected with the revolutionary movement. Their son Jitendranath Basu, along with Atul and his youngest brother Amar, was blacklisted, too, for participation in seditious activities. After his primary classes at Kumarkhali
Kumarkhali
Kumarkhali is a town in Kushtia District in the Khulna Division of southwestern Bangladesh....
, Atul passed brilliantly his Matriculation in 1909 from the Kolkata Hindu School, to join the Scottish Churches College
Scottish Church College, Calcutta
The Scottish Church College is the oldest continuously running Christian liberal arts and sciences college in India. It is affiliated with the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education , the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education for the awarding of baccalaureate and post baccalaureate...
for Intermediate, and the Krishnanath College at Berhampur for B.Sc. While preparing for his final M.Sc. examination at Presidency College, Kolkata
Presidency College, Kolkata
Presidency University, Kolkata, formerly Hindu College and Presidency College, is a unitary, state aided university, located in Kolkata, West Bengal. and one of the premier institutes of learning of liberal arts and sciences in India. In 2002 it was ranked number one by the weekly news magazine...
, Atul had to interrupt his studies for his political commitment. The College and its hostel were humming with his radical associates, all future celebrities mostly in scientific research, like Satyendra Nath Bose
Satyendra Nath Bose
Satyendra Nath Bose FRS was an Indian mathematician and physicist noted for his collaboration with Albert Einstein in developing a theory regarding the gaslike qualities of electromagnetic radiation. He is best known for his work on quantum mechanics in the early 1920s, providing the foundation...
, Megh Nad Saha, Jnan Ghosh, Jnan Mukherjee, Sishir Mitra, Sushil Acharya, Sailen Ghosh
Sailen Ghosh
- Personal life :Sailen Ghosh was born on 1931. He played a role in the famous drama Dakghar written by Rabindranath Tagore when he was in Class IX. The tragic death of the protagonist Amal at the end of the story touched the heart of the author. This death raised a question in his mind when he was...
, Harish Simha, Jatin Sheth, Hiralal Ray.
Political background
Since 1906, with his cousin Nolinikanta Kar, Atul had been frequenting Jatindranath Mukherjee who was their neighbour in Kushtia Sub-division. They both entered the local Anushilan SamitiAnushilan Samiti
Anushilan Samiti was an armed anti-British organisation in Bengal and the principal secret revolutionary organisation operating in the region in the opening years of the 20th century. This association, like its offshoot the Jugantar, operated under the guise of suburban fitness club...
. W. Sealy in his Report will note “Atul Ghosh and Nolini Kanta Kar, two dangerous and important absconders of the gun-running conspiracy.” (p23). At Kolkata, thanks to Jatin, they both came very close to Sri Aurobindo. Whereas Nolini practised wrestling with Kikkar Singh
Kikkar singh
Pehelvan Kikkar Singh Sandhu Kikkar Singh Sandhu 'Pehelvan' was a wrestler of legendary fame. He was born on 13 January 1857 to Javala Singh Sandhu and Sahib Kaur, a farming couple of moderate means living in the village ot Chanteke, in Lahore district . Javtla Singh, himself a wrestler, wished his...
, Atul became an expert trainer in self-defence at the Pataldanga branch of the Anushilan Samiti : here he came across a number of revolutionaries, including Sachin Sanyal’s Benares group and Biren Datta Gupta whom he recommended to Jatindranath. Biren received from the latter, in January 1910, the mandate to assassinate Samsul Alam, Deputy Superintendent of Police, who was man-handling the under-trial prisoners of the Alipore Bomb case
Alipore bomb case
The Alipore Bomb Case was an important court trial, during May 1908 to May 1909, in the history of the Indian Independence Movement. The trial involved more than 37 suspects, following a bomb attack, and was held in Alipore Sessions Court, in Calcutta, India, Judge C.P...
.. In connection with Biren’s successful mission, Jatindranath with forty-six associates were placed on trial in the Howrah conspiracy case. Inside the prison, Jatindranath learnt from his emissaries abroad that Germany was preparing for war against Great Britain. After his release in 1911, Jatindranath suspended all extremist activities, left Kolkata under the responsibility of Atul, himself forging a grand federation of regional units in the districts. A relentless organiser, Atul sheltered revolutionaries from various units as much in his parents’ house at Jaduboyra, as at the Kolkata residence of Meghamala and K.P. Basu, at 11 Mahendra Gossain’s Lane, where there was a free dormitory with homely meals. Even leaders of rival parties like Pratul Ganguli of Dhaka admit having enjoyed this hospitality, at great expense and risk on Atul’s side: “We became great friends with Atulkrishna and had confidence in him. I have very often been to his Darjipara residence and spent nights there. He had grown intimate with several of our members, almost close friends. We considered him to be, somewhat, our own colleague and he sincerely hoped to unite our parties so that we could all work together. Frankly speaking, it was thanks to his wish that I met Jatin Mukherjee…”. Disappointed by the duplicity of the Dhaka branch, “some of its important workers, however, like Sachin Sanyal and Nagen (Girija) Datta, severed their connection with it and, introduced by Atulkrishna, worked with Rasbehari Bose in Upper India.” Atul’s elder brother Aghorenath, a civil surgeon, often looked after the bullet wounds received by the patriots..
Jatin Mukherjee’s right-hand man
According to Nixon’s Report, probably in about 1913, or perhaps a little before, certain of the old members of the Kolkata Anushilan SamitiAnushilan Samiti
Anushilan Samiti was an armed anti-British organisation in Bengal and the principal secret revolutionary organisation operating in the region in the opening years of the 20th century. This association, like its offshoot the Jugantar, operated under the guise of suburban fitness club...
who, in the meantime, had been members of various athletic clubs, formed themselves into a branch of the Seva Samiti under Atulkrishna Ghosh: “The ostensible object of this samiti was a benevolent one. The first centre was at the house of Atul Ghosh. During the Burdwan floods, in 1913, many members of this samiti went there for the purpose of affording relief to the afflicted people.”. Atul’s efficiency and generosity as a leader became evident during this relief.
Nixon further informs that the headquarters of the samiti were later shifted to the house of Jibantara Haldar, and later still to No. 83 Hari Ghosh’s Street. “Of this organisation Amar Ghosh, the brother of Atul, was an important figure,” mentioned Nixon. “It was this samiti which formed the nucleus of the combined party which operated in Bengal in 1915. Purna Das of Madaripur brought some of his more audacious spirits along to it and later Pulin Mukherji alias Thakur, previously a member of the Dacca Anushilan Samiti, joined it and took a prominent part in the commission of outrages. Other members of the Dacca Anushilan Samiti severed their connection with that society and joined the party of Atul Ghosh. Bipin Ganguli was in close connection with it and also the members of the Northern Bengal party. Jatindranath Mukherjee seems to have been in touch with the members of this samiti from the time of its formation, and immediately he came into Calcutta, the Seva Samiti acknowledged his leadership and became the real West Bengal party of 1915.”.
During the Alipore Bomb prosecutions, though Rasbehari Bose had settled in North India with the help of Shashibhushan Raychaudhury
Shashibhushan Raychaudhury
Shashibhushan Raychaudhuri , also known as Shashida, was a patriotic educationist connected with the radical revolutionary activities that had their origins in Bengal...
, he maintained his contact with Bengal through Atul. Amarendra Chatterjee
Amarendra Chatterjee
Amarendranath Chatterjee was an Indian independence movement activist. In charge of raising funds for the Jugantar movement, his activities largely covered revolutionary centres in Bihar, Orissa and the United Provinces....
and Atul supplied him bombs for actions in up-country and, even, the one thrown on Viceroy Hardinge. Informed by Atul, Rasbehari could participate in the flood relief and the significant meetings of leaders. It was Atul, again, in September 1914, who was contacted by Gurudit Singh and other Komagata Maru
Komagata Maru
The Komagata Maru incident involved a Japanese steamship, the Komagata Maru, that sailed from Hong Kong to Shanghai, China; Yokohama, Japan; and then to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 1914, carrying 376 passengers from Punjab, India. The 356 of passengers were not allowed to land in...
patriots, coming from Vancouver with recommendation from Taraknath Das : he and Satish Chakravarti arranged with various regional units of the Jugantar
Jugantar
Jugantar or Yugantar was one of the two main secret revolutionary trends operating in Bengal for Indian independence.This association, like Anushilan Samiti started in the guise of suburban fitness club. Several Jugantar members were arrested, hanged, or deported for life to the Cellular Jail in...
to shelter them, before sending them to destinations in North India, fixed by Rasbehari. Furious to hear about the death of a jute-mill worker at Jagaddal, caused by the kick from a booted leg of an English supervisor, Atul was desperately looking for arms to avenge this atrocity.
In need of arms
“The outbreak of war revivified the vague ideas of revolution which had been floating about in the mind of young Bengal for the last ten years and the hopes of those who had throughout been waiting for the opportunity, and the possibility of a successful revolt seemed imminent,” wrote Nixon. “It was probably some time in September 1914 that Jatin Mukherjee came to Calcutta in order to take such steps as England’s participation in a war with Germany seemed to call for in this direction.”. Judging the time ripe for them to make full preparations for a revolution, Jatin’s men undertook taxi-cab robberies to provide funds for this purpose, as described in the Rowlatt Report. Hence, on 26 August 1914, Shrish Chandra Mitra, one of his loyal associates, smuggled fifty Mauser pistols and forty-six thousand cartridges from the RoddaRodda
Rodda is an English surname, possibly derived from the Old English word roda, meaning "forest clearing/open space", or it could be derived from the town in Herefordshire named Rodd....
’s, arms dealers in Kolkata, handed them over to Atul, before disappearing for good. Jatin Mukherjee distributed these dreadful arms to various units. Conceived by Jatin, as does a skilful stage manager, Atul chalked out a series of daring overt acts under the immediate leadership of Naren Bhattacharya alias M.N. Roy: these are all duly catalogued in the Rowlatt Report. Successive emissaries returned from Europe and America with the good news of the arrival of arms obtained from German authorities by the Berlin Committee
Berlin Committee
The Berlin Committee, later known as the Indian Independence Committee after 1915, was an organisation formed in Germany in 1914 during World War I by Indian students and political activists residing in the country. The purpose of the Committee was to promote the cause of Indian Independence...
. Balasore
Balasore
Balasore is a strategically located city in the state of Orissa, about north of the state capital Bhubaneswar, in eastern India. It is the administrative headquarters of Balasore district. It is best known for Chandipur beach. It is also the site of the Indian Ballistic Missile Defense...
was chosen by Germany to land a shipment. Jatin with a handful of associates took shelter there. Then Atul dispatched Harikumar Chakravarti, Dr Jatin Ghoshal, Satish Chakravarti and a batch of workers with boats, rifles and other requisites to the other selected port at Raymangal in the Sundarbans. When information came that the Police had discovered Jatin's hideout in Balasore, Naren Ghose Chaudhury proposed spontaneously to rush to the spot for a showdown; Jadugopal Mukherjee
Jadugopal Mukherjee
Jadu Gopal Mukherjee was an eminent Bengali Indian revolutionary who, as the successor of Jatindranath Mukherjee or Bagha Jatin, led the Jugantar members to recognise and accept Gandhi’s movement as the culmination of their own aspiration.-Early life:Jadugopal or Jadu was born at Tamluk in the...
objected: "Dada is big enough to look after himself. Let us disperse." Atul was stunned by this cynical order. After the failure of the Indo-German conspiracy and after Jatin’s untimely death, disheartened Atul and other Jugantar
Jugantar
Jugantar or Yugantar was one of the two main secret revolutionary trends operating in Bengal for Indian independence.This association, like Anushilan Samiti started in the guise of suburban fitness club. Several Jugantar members were arrested, hanged, or deported for life to the Cellular Jail in...
leaders went underground in 1915, remaining so for about seven years. Even then, for several years, the revolutionaries entertained the hope of smuggling arms for an insurrection. In June 1916, Atul sent through Ananta Haldar a letter for Bhavabhushan Mitra
Bhavabhushan Mitra
Bhavabhushan Mitra, or Bhaba Bhusan Mitter, alias Swami Satyananda Puri was a Bengali Indian freedom fighter and an influential social worker....
at Deoghar, “who was one of the trusted men of the party. Both Ananta and Bhava Bhushan were dealt with under the Defence Rules and interned in Bengal.” (Sealy, p24). In the teeth of sporadic Police attempts to arrest them, once, in Chandernagore, while nursing Charu Ghose, Atul with the ailing co-worker on his shoulders, scaled the hospital wall. Dr Govindin, the Civil Surgeon, narrated this to Bhupendrakumar Datta. According to Nixon: “Jatin Mukherjee had at this time gone to Balasore, and Atul Ghosh was a big figure in the arrangement for these outrages.” In July 1916, “Atul Ghosh was still the prompting spirit of all these gangs, and in the Barisal party, too, he seems to have wielded some influence.”.
The last phase
After the end of the War, Surendranath Banerjee, followed by Barin Ghose and Motilal Roy, successfully negotiated the withdrawal of warrants against the fugitives accused of the Indo-German plot. Atul was adamant in obtaining a promise on these points : (a) there would be no question of surrendering arms; (b) no questions would be raised on their past activities; (c) no parole would be demanded concerning their future conducts. Atul came out in 1921. But his Dada’s (Jatin Mukherjee’s) heroic death, “had knocked out his revolutionary ardour and he gave up active politics.” Yet, in January 1924, when Gopinath SahaGopinath Saha
Gopinath Saha was a Bengali Indian freedom fighter who attempted to assassinate Charles Tegart, the then head of the Detective Department of Calcutta Police. On 12 January 1924 Saha attempted to kill Tegart, but erroneously killed Ernest Day, a White civilian who had come there on official...
killed an Englishman, mistaking him to be Tegart, the much-hated Commissioner of Kolkata Police (reputed to have shot Jatin Mukherjee dead), Atul was made a state-prisoner, to be released in 1926. The same year he married Menokarani Rakshit of Majilpur, 24 Parganas
24 Parganas
24 Parganas district is a former district of the Indian state of West Bengal. The district was split into two districts — North 24 Parganas district and South 24 Parganas district, with effect from 1 March 1986....
and took to business, dissociating himself completely from politics. They had no issues. In an interview with Prithwindra Mukherjee (Bagha Jatin's grandson), on 27 October 1963 - shortly before his death -, Atul sighed: “Dada was a magnet; we all, iron scraps, received our energy from him. When he was no more, we all became iron scraps. I still do not know whether my first allegiance went to Dada, or to the Motherland.” Asked about the source of Jatindranath's tremendous force, Atul replied: "He was a very well trained wrestler and an all-round sportsman. But what characterised him was his soul force and his power of concentration. He could pin-point all his energy to a single part of his body, for instance his fist. A single blow from that fist was equivalent to an electric charge of God knows how many volts!"
Atul died peacefully in his Kolkata residence, on 4 May 1966.