Jnananjan Niyogi
Encyclopedia
Jnananjan Niyogi was actively associated with the Indian independence movement and was a social reformer.
on 7 January 1891. His father had converted to the Brahmo Samaj
, under the influence of his maternal uncle, Hari Sundar Bose, and had moved from Berabuchina (now in Tangail District, Bangladesh
) to settle initially at Gaya
. The family later moved to Bankipore, where he had his early education. Braja Gopal Niyogi finally joined Keshub Chunder Sen's New Dispensation as a missionary.
He was in the thick of politics and social reform even before he had completed his college education. He was attracted towards the movement against partition of Bengal in 1905. However, he was strongly influenced by Brahmo ideals and tried to implement them in life. He formed a youth organisation named ‘Band of Hope’ and in 1916, was appointed president of Temperance Federation, a movement against consumption of alcoholic drinks.
Affected by the suffering of humanity he was drawn towards social efforts that saw him actively participate in the relief work during the floods of Damodar River
in 1914 and Atrai River
in 1916. He was actively associated with and was secretary of Bengal Social Service League established by Dr Dwijendranath Maitra
. Among others involved was Nishi Kanta Bose, another leading social reformer.
Niyogi helped to form the Pallisree Sangha for the consolidation of village uplift movement. Having come in contact with and influenced by Chittaranjan Das
he formed the Deshbandhu Pallisanskar Samiti.
The institution had eighteen branches at one point of time. It organised night classes for workingmen. Apart from regular school classes for primary and secondary education, it organised practical training for such crafts as book binding, tailoring, umbrella making, leatherwork and signboard painting. Apart from its educational and training activities, it organised medical assistance and carried out development work for the benefit of the poor residents living in slums.
for spreading consciousness amongst the poor and uneducated sections of the population. He was a pioneer in this matter and acquired fame for adopting this method of mass communication in India. It proved to be highly effective and soon attracted the wrath of the administration.
The popular Bengali writer Bimal Mitra
has given a vivid description of one of his magic lantern lectures in Kolkata, in his Bengali novel Kori Diye Kinlam. Kiran and Dipankar (Dipu) are two characters of the novel, which had the first half of the twentieth century Kolkata as its backdrop. It was initially serialised in the leading literary magazine Desh and then published in book form. It sold like hot cake. The incident involving Jnananjan Niyogi is quoted below.
.
He wrote extensively and published highly provocative booklets inspiring people against British rule. Some of his booklets – Desher Dak, Biplabi Bangla,
Bharate Tular Chas, Bharate Kaporer Itihas and Bilati Bastra Barjon Koribo Keno - were extremely popular. The government banned some of these and he was often jailed for revolting against the king. In 1931, he was lodged in Buxa fort in North Bengal, which was turned into a prison "for dangerous revolutionaries".
While he was a Congressman and was close to Chittaranjan Das, Subhas Chandra Bose and Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy he maintained links with many underground revolutionaries and provided them with support and sustenance.
goods. In order to promote the use of indigenous materials, he used to organise Swadeshi Mela during the Durga Puja festivities. He set up a permanent exhibition at Barabazar and opened a sales counter named Swadeshi Bhandar at College Street Market. At the request of Subhas Chandra Bose, then Mayor of Kolkata, he set up the Commercial Museum on the first floor of College Street Market and organised a Buy Swadeshi movement. He displayed his organisational capabilities in setting up the Indigenous Manufacturers' Association. He established a Salesman Training Institute for the purpose.
in 1948. During the period, he also established the National Chamber of Commerce and All India Manufacturers’ Association.
He took an active interest in the rehabilitation of those affected by the project work of Damodar Valley Corporation
and visited many of the rehabilitation villages for interaction with those affected. He was responsible for the site selection, at the primary stage, and initial development work for the setting up of the industrial township at Durgapur.
, Kolkata. His son, Dr Dipankar Niyogi, was professor of geology at the Indian Institute of Technology
, Kharagpur.
Early life
The son of Braja Gopal and Sumangala Niyogi, he was born at GayaGaya, India
Gaya is the second largest city of Bihar, India, and it is also the headquarters of Gaya District.Gaya is 100 kilometers south of Patna, the capital city of Bihar. Situated on the banks of Falgu River , it is a place sanctified by both the Hindu and the Buddhist religions...
on 7 January 1891. His father had converted to the Brahmo Samaj
Brahmo Samaj
Brahmo Samaj is the societal component of the Brahmo religion which is mainly practiced today as the Adi Dharm after its eclipse in Bengal consequent to the exit of the Tattwabodini Sabha from its ranks in 1859. It was one of the most influential religious movements responsible for the making of...
, under the influence of his maternal uncle, Hari Sundar Bose, and had moved from Berabuchina (now in Tangail District, Bangladesh
Tangail
Tangail is a town in Tangail District located in central region of Bangladesh. It consists of 5 corporations, 8 municipalities, 72 wards, 211 mahallas. It is located on the banks of Louhajang River, and is part of the Dhaka Division.-Education:...
) to settle initially at Gaya
Gaya, India
Gaya is the second largest city of Bihar, India, and it is also the headquarters of Gaya District.Gaya is 100 kilometers south of Patna, the capital city of Bihar. Situated on the banks of Falgu River , it is a place sanctified by both the Hindu and the Buddhist religions...
. The family later moved to Bankipore, where he had his early education. Braja Gopal Niyogi finally joined Keshub Chunder Sen's New Dispensation as a missionary.
He was in the thick of politics and social reform even before he had completed his college education. He was attracted towards the movement against partition of Bengal in 1905. However, he was strongly influenced by Brahmo ideals and tried to implement them in life. He formed a youth organisation named ‘Band of Hope’ and in 1916, was appointed president of Temperance Federation, a movement against consumption of alcoholic drinks.
Affected by the suffering of humanity he was drawn towards social efforts that saw him actively participate in the relief work during the floods of Damodar River
Damodar River
Damodar River originates near Chandwa village, Palamau district, on the Chota Nagpur Plateau in the Jharkhand state in eastern India, and flows eastward for about 592 km through the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal to the estaury of the River Hooghly...
in 1914 and Atrai River
Atrai River
Atrai River flows in West Bengal and northern parts of Bangladesh.In ancient times the river was called Atrei and finds a mention in the Mahabharata. It is linked with Karatoya River. It originates in West Bengal and then after flowing through Dinajpur District of Bangladesh, it enters India again...
in 1916. He was actively associated with and was secretary of Bengal Social Service League established by Dr Dwijendranath Maitra
Dwijendranath Maitra
Dwijendranath Maitra was son of Lokenath Maitra, who hailed from Rajshahi, now in Bangladesh. Lokenath Maitra had married Jagattarini in an inter-caste widow remarriage, a daring task in those days.In 1902, he stood first in the M.B...
. Among others involved was Nishi Kanta Bose, another leading social reformer.
Niyogi helped to form the Pallisree Sangha for the consolidation of village uplift movement. Having come in contact with and influenced by Chittaranjan Das
Chittaranjan Das
Chittaranjan Das was an eminent Bengali lawyer and a major figure in the Indian independence movement.-Personal life:...
he formed the Deshbandhu Pallisanskar Samiti.
Working Men’s Institution
In 1870, Keshub Chunder Sen had established the Working Man’s Institution, under the auspices of Indian Reforms Association, thereby putting into practice an idea he had imbibed during his earlier visit to England. It was meant for education of the working class and practical training of the middle class. The institution closed down after sometime. In order to revive the idea, Jnananjan Niyogi got together a group of youngsters to form the Calcutta Working Men’s Institution at 1/5 Raja Dinendra Street, Kolkata in 1909. That was an institution with which he was actively associated the rest of his life. Amongst others who were involved in the establishment of the institution were Satyananda Roy, Jitendra Mohan Sen and Benoy Krishna Gupta.The institution had eighteen branches at one point of time. It organised night classes for workingmen. Apart from regular school classes for primary and secondary education, it organised practical training for such crafts as book binding, tailoring, umbrella making, leatherwork and signboard painting. Apart from its educational and training activities, it organised medical assistance and carried out development work for the benefit of the poor residents living in slums.
Magic lantern lectures
He extensively toured the rural areas of Bengal and started using the magic lanternMagic lantern
The magic lantern or Laterna Magica is an early type of image projector developed in the 17th century.-Operation:The magic lantern has a concave mirror in front of a light source that gathers light and projects it through a slide with an image scanned onto it. The light rays cross an aperture , and...
for spreading consciousness amongst the poor and uneducated sections of the population. He was a pioneer in this matter and acquired fame for adopting this method of mass communication in India. It proved to be highly effective and soon attracted the wrath of the administration.
The popular Bengali writer Bimal Mitra
Bimal Mitra
Bimal Mitra was a prominent Bengali writer who wrote several novels.Bimal Mitra was equally adept in writing in Bengali as well as in Hindi, and has more than one hundred novels and short stories to his credit...
has given a vivid description of one of his magic lantern lectures in Kolkata, in his Bengali novel Kori Diye Kinlam. Kiran and Dipankar (Dipu) are two characters of the novel, which had the first half of the twentieth century Kolkata as its backdrop. It was initially serialised in the leading literary magazine Desh and then published in book form. It sold like hot cake. The incident involving Jnananjan Niyogi is quoted below.
- Even on that day, Kiran had gone to school. After the classes were over, Dipankar asked, “Won’t we go to the sadhu?”
- Kiran replied, “We will go to the sadhu only at dusk. Let us go and attend a meeting before that.”
- “Where?”
- “In Harish Park.”
- There was a big meeting in Harish Park that evening. The place was full of police personnel. Dipankar felt a bit frightened, but many people had collected.
- Kiran was used to those places as he went to sell sacred thread in such places. He was not afraid and said, “Let’s go inside.”
- By then, many people were sitting on the floor. It was a Congress meeting. Two small tables were there. There was a carbide gas lamp, waiting to be lit up once it was dark. Two gentlemen were occupying two chairs. Half the park was occupied with people. Two or three chairs were there by the side. Newspaper people, as well as police reporters, were waiting with pencils and paper.
- Dipankar did not know anybody. He did not know who was Pratap Guha Roy, who was Jnanjan Niyogi or who was Subhas Bose. He did not know any one of them.
- He asked, “Which one is Subhas Bose?”
- Kiran replied, “Subhas Bose hasn’t come. Jnananjan Niyogi has come. Just wait and see. He will deliver such a speech that tears will roll down your cheeks. There will be a magic lantern show.”
- It was not just an ordinary lecture; it was a lantern lecture. The pictures started appearing on a white screen. It seemed that movie pictures had come to a stand still. The images were not moving but once the lecture started everything could be understood. How English soldiers came and occupied India, how the Englishmen cut off the fingers of the weavers, the oppression at Char Minor, the barbarous tyranny against the Sikhs at Budge Budge. The pictures were being shown on the screen and Jnananjan Niyogi was delivering the lecture. What a lecture! Everybody was listening in silence. The English occupied India with one tyranny after another, Picture after picture there were displays about how bad the English were, how tyrannous they were, picture after picture it was that.
- Jnananjan Niyogi said, “Are we human beings or animals? Are we trees or stones? What are we? We are neither human beings nor animals. Even if we were animals we would have stood up against them, we would have protested, we would have taken revenge. They have shot us but what have we done? You say what have we done?
- Somebody said, “We have flattered them.”
- Jnananjan Niyogi said, “No, we have licked their feet.”
- A man sitting beside said, “Correct, correct.”
- Jnananjan Niyogi continued with his speech. It was the month of Aswina. Mr Catel was walking down the road at Madaripur. The Englishman was manager of a jute mill. A college boy was walking alongside; his umbrella spread open over his head. On seeing it, the blue blood started boiling inside the Englishman. What, such impertinence! Black nigger, you have so much of courage?
- The Englishman said, “Close your umbrella.”
- The boy said, “Why, why should I close my umbrella?”
- The Englishman said, “It’s my order.”
- The boy queried, “Who are you to order?”
- The Englishman said, “You want to see who I am? See…”
- He gave the boy a good beating. The boy lay there, half dead. The Englishman went away.
- The matter went to court. The case was put up. The judge delivered the judgement. The boy was at fault. He had incited the Englishman. Mr Catel was not at fault. Then, Mr Templeton himself came for an investigation. After weighing all the arguments, he passed a judgement that Ananga Mohan Das and his three associates would be caned twenty-five times in front of the magistrate. Friend, if we were human beings, then there would have been cane marks even on my back. We are trees and stones and so we lick the feet of those Englishmen. And these people? These people who are sitting beside me and writing reports for Illisheum Row, what will I say about them….
- He thumped the ground with his shoes.
- Suddenly, where nothing was there, some policemen came running into the meeting from somewhere, waving their sticks. There was chaos all around. People who were listening quietly until then, started running…
- Kiran said, “Dipu run, run away quickly…”
- Thereafter, where was Kiran, where was Dipu, where was Harish Park…
Jailed for writing
An avid reader, some of his books are preserved in the Asiatic Society library, KolkataKolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
.
He wrote extensively and published highly provocative booklets inspiring people against British rule. Some of his booklets – Desher Dak, Biplabi Bangla,
Bharate Tular Chas, Bharate Kaporer Itihas and Bilati Bastra Barjon Koribo Keno - were extremely popular. The government banned some of these and he was often jailed for revolting against the king. In 1931, he was lodged in Buxa fort in North Bengal, which was turned into a prison "for dangerous revolutionaries".
While he was a Congressman and was close to Chittaranjan Das, Subhas Chandra Bose and Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy he maintained links with many underground revolutionaries and provided them with support and sustenance.
Promotion of Swadeshi goods
He was a leader in the field of promotion of swadeshiSwadeshi movement
The Swadeshi movement, part of the Indian independence movement, was an economic strategy aimed at removing the British Empire from power and improving economic conditions in India by following the principles of swadeshi , which had some success...
goods. In order to promote the use of indigenous materials, he used to organise Swadeshi Mela during the Durga Puja festivities. He set up a permanent exhibition at Barabazar and opened a sales counter named Swadeshi Bhandar at College Street Market. At the request of Subhas Chandra Bose, then Mayor of Kolkata, he set up the Commercial Museum on the first floor of College Street Market and organised a Buy Swadeshi movement. He displayed his organisational capabilities in setting up the Indigenous Manufacturers' Association. He established a Salesman Training Institute for the purpose.
Post independence activities and later life
With the attainment of Indian independence, he was associated with the organisational matters of the Congress Party. When refugees poured in from East Pakistan, he put his heart and soul in rehabilitation work. He organised a mobile exhibition on rails the promotion of indigenously manufactured products and displayed his organisational skills during the first all-India exhibition at Eden GardensEden Gardens
Eden Gardens is a cricket ground in Kolkata , India. It is the home of the Bengal cricket team and the Indian Premier League's Kolkata Knight Riders, as well as being a Test and One Day International ground. It is the largest cricket stadium in India by seating capacity...
in 1948. During the period, he also established the National Chamber of Commerce and All India Manufacturers’ Association.
He took an active interest in the rehabilitation of those affected by the project work of Damodar Valley Corporation
Damodar Valley Corporation
The Damodar Valley Corporation, popularly known as DVC, is the first multipurpose river valley project of independent India. The corporation came into being on July 7, 1948 by an Act of the Constituent Assembly of India . It is modelled on the Tennessee Valley Authority of the USA. Jawaharlal...
and visited many of the rehabilitation villages for interaction with those affected. He was responsible for the site selection, at the primary stage, and initial development work for the setting up of the industrial township at Durgapur.
Personal life
He was married in 1920 to Asoka, daughter of Damodar Paul. Both his children were brilliant scholars. His daughter, Dr Roma Niyogi, was professor of history at Bethune CollegeBethune College
Bethune College is a women's college in India. It was founded as a school in 1849 by John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune and in 1879 developed as the first women's college in India. It is located at 181, Bidhan Sarani, Kolkata -700006, just opposite the current campus of Scottish Church College,...
, Kolkata. His son, Dr Dipankar Niyogi, was professor of geology at the Indian Institute of Technology
Indian Institutes of Technology
The Indian Institutes of Technology are a group of autonomous engineering and technology-oriented institutes of higher education. The IITs are governed by the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 which has declared them as “institutions of national importance”, and lays down their powers, duties,...
, Kharagpur.