Political history of Sri Aurobindo
Anushilan Samiti was founded as an attempt to organize Bengali youth through a program of physical fitness and spiritual training for a nationalist program. By 1902, Calcutta had three societies working under the umbrella of Anushilan Samity, a society earlier founded by a Calcutta barrister by the name of Pramatha Mitra. These included Mitra's own group, another led by a Bengali lady by the name of Sarala Devi, and a third one led by Aurobindo Ghosh. The Anushilan Samiti had Aurobindo and Deshabandhu Chittaranjan Das as the vice-presidents, Suren Tagore the treasurer. Jatindra Nath Banerjee (Niralamba Swami), Bagha Jatin, Bhupendra Nath Datta (Swami Vivekananda's brother), Barindra Ghosh were among other initial leaders.
By 1905, the work of Aurobindo and his brother Barin Ghosh allowed Anushilan Samity to spread through Bengal.
Pratul Chandra Ganguli
Pratul was born in Narayanganj, now in Bangladesh. He was a member of the Anushilan Samiti. Following the arrest of Pulin Behari Das ( the main organizer of the Dhaka branch of Anushilan Samiti), Pratul and Trailokyanath Chakravarty took charge of the Anushilan Samiti and reorganized the association. He was tried in the Barisal conspiracy case and was sentenced for 10 years imprisonment in 1914, however he was released earlier. In 1922, he joined Congress. Somehow he also managed to maintain some revolutionary connections and continued helping the revolutionaries. Pratul became the president of Dhaka District Congress Committee, Bengal Congress Committee and All India Congress Committee. He was elected to the Bengal legislature in 1929 and in 1937. Pratul Ganguli retired from politics in 1947 and died in 1957.