How many people joined the Anushilan Samiti?
Dhaka Anushilan Samiti
Dhaka Anushilan Samiti was a branch of the Anushilan Samiti founded in the city of Dhaka in November 1905. Initially a group of eighty under the leadership of Pulin Behari Das, it "spread like wildfire" throughout the province of East Bengal. More than 500 branches were opened, linked by a "close and detailed organization" to Pulin’s headquarters at Dhaka. It absorbed smaller groups in the province and soon overshadowed its parent organisation in Calcutta. Branches of Dhaka Anushilan emerged in the towns of Jessore, Khulna, Faridpur, Rajnagar, Rajendrapur, Mohanpur, Barvali, Bakarganj and other places. Estimates of Dhaka Anushilan Samiti's reach show a membership of between 15,000 and 20,000 members. Within another two years, Dhaka Anushilan would devolve its aims from the Swadeshi to the dedicated aim of political terrorism. The "Dhaka Anushilan Samiti" embarked on a radical program of political terrorism. It broke with the "Jugantar group" due to differences with Aurobindo's approach of slowly building a base for a revolution with a mass base. The Dhaka group saw this as slow and insufficient, and sought immediate action and result. It was responsible for a number of political assassinations, most notably the murder of D.C. Allen. However, it reached a temporary halt after the arrest and deportation of Pulin Das and the Barisal Conspiracy Case in 1913. Dhaka Anushilan decided not to participate in the German plot of World War I. After the war, it continued in its violent movement, and some of its members went on to form the Neo-violence group.
Sirimavo Bandaranaike
In 1941 Bandaranaike joined the "Lanka Mahila Samiti" (Lankan Women's Association), the country's largest women's voluntary organisation. She participated in many of the social projects initiated byr the "Mahila Samiti" for the empowerment of rural women and disaster relief. One of her first projects was an agricultural programme to meet food production shortages. Her first office, as secretary of the organisation, involved meeting with farming experts to develop new methods for producing yields of rice crops. Over time, Bandaranaike served as the treasurer, vice-president, and eventually president of "Mahila Samiti", focusing on issues of girl's education, women's political rights, and family planning. She was also a member of the All Ceylon Buddhist Women's Association, the Cancer Society, the Ceylon National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis, and the Nurses Welfare Association.
Robert Nathan (intelligence officer)
Nathan was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, before joining the Indian Civil Service in 1888. He was appointed secretary of the Indian Universities Commission in 1902, and Private Secretary to the Viceroy, Lord Curzon, in 1905. In 1907 Nathan was made Chief Secretary to the Government of Eastern Bengal and Assam, and Commissioner of Dhaka Police. In 1908, Nathan, then the Police Commissioner of Dhaka, was responsible along with the district collector H.L. Salkeld for uncovering the revolutionary organisation of the "Anushilan Samiti", and for instituting the measures to suppress the organisation.
Anushilan Samiti
James Popplewell, writing in 1995, noted that the Raj perceived the "Samiti" in its early days as a serious threat to its rule. Its activities and ideologies found tacit support from within Bengali populace, even if not overt support. However historian Sumit Sarkar noted that the "Samiti" never mustered enough support to offer an urban rebellion or a guerrilla campaign. Both Peter Heehs and Sumit Sarkar noted that the "Samiti" called for complete independence a good twenty years before the Congress adopted this as its aim. A number of landmark events early in the Indian independence movement, including the revolutionary conspiracies of World War I, involved the "Samiti" intricately as noted in the Rowlatt report. In later years, the ascendant left-wing of the Congress, particularly Subhas Chandra Bose was suspected of having links with the "Samiti". Heehs argued the actions of the revolutionary nationalists exemplified by the "Samiti", forced the government to parley more seriously with the leaders of the legitimate movement. Gandhi was always aware of this. "At the Round Table Conference of 1931, the apostle of non-violence declared that he held 'no brief for the terrorists', but added that if the government refused to work with him, it would have the terrorists to deal with. The only way to 'say good-bye to terrorism' was 'to work the Congress for all it is worth'".
Agnivesh
In 1968, Agnivesh went to Haryana to join the Arya Samaj and on 25 March 1970, Agnivesh took the sanyas vows. He was expelled from the organisation in August 2008, after 17 of the 19 Arya Samaj Pratinidhi Sabhas in India expressed opposition to him.
Nana Dharmadhikari
He founded Shree Samarth Prasadik Aadhyatmic Seva Samiti and spent his life spreading the philosophy of the saint Samarth Ramdas, writer of the devotional books "Dasbodh", "Manache Shlok", and "Atmaram". Dharmadhikari had millions of followers across the world. He was also awarded by many government and social organisations for his work. In 2008, the Government of Maharashtra conferred upon him the award of Maharashtra Bhushan.
Dr. Nanasaheb Dharmadhikari were born to a family having original surname as Shandilya, in their lineage.
Nearly 350 years ago, there ancestors were reawarded for their social reforming work with new title named Dharmadhikari(Authority of Dharma); by then navy chief Sarkhel Kanhoji Angre.
Dr Nanasaheb Dharmadhikari got their inspiration from a scripture named Shrimat Daasbodh(or just Daasbodh), which they studied since childhood.
After several years, they started an uncommon social reform service on 8 October 1943, on the event of Vijayadashmi of Dassehra.
In this social reform service they started giving spiritual or inspirational speeching (often called Nirupan) on all lessons of Daasbodh weekly, one by one 
Initially there were only five people's attending to hear speech, but as years passed on, more and more people's join in, making a vast family of 10's of millions.
Today, such service (also called Parmartha) is present in multiple Nations such as UAE, London, Singapore, Australia, Nigeria and so on.
At the Initial stage, Dr Nanasaheb had to walk longer distances, some as long as 70 km so as to reach spot where speech on Daasbodh is to be provided, they were providing speech to people's attended, whether one or thousand.
They were always helpful in solving people's issues through correct guidance, resolving superstitious thoughts, only through speech.
http://www.shreedarshan.com/saint-sadguru-nanasaheb_dharmadhikari.htm#top
History of the Anushilan Samiti
The Anushilan Marxists had clearly supported Bose both in the presidential election as well by opposing the Pant resolution. Jogesh Chandra Chatterji renounced his CSP membership in protest against the action by the party leadership.
Hindu nationalism
Anushilan Samiti was one of the prominent revolutionary movements in India in the early part of twentieth century. It was started as a cultural society in 1902, by Aurobindo and the followers of Bankim Chandra to propagate the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. But soon the Samiti had its goal to overthrow the British rule in India. Various branches of the Samiti sprung across India in the guise of suburban fitness clubs but secretly imparted arms training to its members with the implicit aim of using them against the British administration.
History of the Anushilan Samiti
In 1914 Rash Behari Bose, along with the Maharashtrian Vishnu Ganesh Pinglay and some Sikh militants, planned simultaneous troop risings in different places in February 1915. In the meantime, in Bengal the activity of "Anushilan" and "Jantar" launched what has been described by some historians as "...a reign of terror in both the cities and the countryside..." that "...came close to achieving their key goal of paralysing the administration...". A general atmosphere of fear encompassed the police and the law courts, severely affecting the moral. In entire 1915, only six revolutionaries were successfully brought to trial.
However both the February plot and a subsequent plot for December 1915 were thwarted by British intelligence. Jatin Mukhejee along with a number of fellow-revolutionaries were killed in a firefight with Policeforces at Balasore, in present-day Orissa. This effectively brough "Jugantar" to an end during the war. The passage of the Defence of India Act 1915 led to widespread arrest, internment, deportation and execution of members of the revolutionary movement. By March 1916 widespread arrests helped Bengal Police crush the "Dacca Anushilan Samiti" in Calcutta. Regulation III and Defence of India act was applied to Bengal from August 1916 on a widescale. By June 1917, 705 were under home-arrest under the act, along with 99 imprisonments under Regulation III. In Bengal Revolutionary violence in Bengal plummeted in 1917. After the war these powers were extended by the so-called Rowlatt Acts, the passage of which was one of the goads that led to the launching of M. K. Gandhi’s Non-Co-operation Movement.
Anushilan Samiti
The enactment of the law saw 46 executions and 64 life sentences handed out to revolutionaries in Bengal and Punjab in the Lahore Conspiracy Trial and Benares Conspiracy Trial, and in tribunals in Bengal, effectively crushing the revolutionary movement. The power of preventive detention were however applied more particularly to Bengal. By March 1916 widespread arrests helped Bengal Police crush the "Dhaka Anushilan Samiti" in Calcutta. Regulation III and Defence of India Act was applied to Bengal from August 1916 on a wide scale. In Bengal Revolutionary violence in Bengal plummeted to 10 in 1917. By the end of the war there were more than eight hundred interned in Bengal under the act. However, indiscriminate application of the act regardless of links to the revolutionary movement earned it increasing revulsion from within Indian populace.
History of the Anushilan Samiti
Between 1919 and 1922, the first of the noncooperation movement began with the Rowlatt Satyagrahas under the call of Gandhi. This received widespread support both amongst leading luminaries of the Indian political movement. In Bengal, "Jugantar" agreed to the request of Chittaranjan Das, one of the most prominent and respected leaders of Congress at the time, and abstained from violence. However, "Anushilan" did not subscribe to the agreement but sponsored no major actions between 1920 and 1922, when the first non-Co-operation Movement was suspended. The years after saw both "Jugantar" and "Anushilan" becoming active again. The activity and influence of the Bengal terrorists led to the passage in 1924 of the Bengal Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance, extended as an Act the next year. This again gave the police extraordinary powers, and between 1924 and 1927 almost 200suspects were imprisoned, among them Subhas Bose. Acts of terrorism in Bengal dropped off Branches of "Jugantar" formed in Chittagong and Dhaka (present day Bangladesh). The Chittagong branch found particularly strong leadership in Surya Sen and in December 1923 staged a daring robbery of the Chittagong office of the Assam-Bengal Railway. In January 1924, a young Bengalee Gopi Mohan Saha shot dead a European he mistook to be Calcutta Police Commissioner Charles Tegart. The assassin was openly praised by the Bengali press and, to Gandhi’s chagrin, proclaimed a martyr by the Bengal provincial branch of the Congress. Around this time "Jugantar" became closely associated with the Calcutta Corporation, headed by Das and Subhas Chandra Bose. Bose apparently ‘‘met with active revolutionaries and knew in a general way what they planned to do’’. Terrorists and ex-terrorists would be factors in the Bengal local-government equation from this point on.
Anushilan Samiti
The CIDs of Bengal and the provinces of Eastern Bengal and Assam came into existence with the birth of the revolutionary movement led by the "Samiti". By 1908, political crime duties took the services of one deputy Superintendent of Police, fifty-two Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors, and nearly seven hundred and twenty constables. Foreseeing a rise in the strength of the revolutionary movement, Sir Harold Stuart (then Secretary of State for India) implemented plans for a secret service to fight the menace posed by the "Samiti". A Political Crime branch of the C.I.D. (known as the "Special Department") was developed in September 1909, staffed by 23 officers and 45 men. The Government of India sanctioned Rs 2,227,000 for Bengal Police alone in the reforms of 1909-1910.
By 1908 a "Special Officer for Political Crime" was appointed from the Bengal Police under whom worked the Special Branch of Police. This post was first occupied by C.W.C. Plowden and later by F.C. Daly. Godfrey Denham, then Assistant Superintendent of Police, served under the Special Officer for Political Crime. Denham was credited with uncovering the Manicktolla safe house of the "Samiti", raiding it in May 1908 which ultimately led to the Manicktolla conspiracy case. This case led to further expansion of the Special Branch in Bengal. The CID in Eastern Bengal and Assam (EBA) followed a similar course after being founded in 1906, with expansion from 1909 onwards. However, despite having funds available, EBA police's access to informers and secret agents remained difficult. In EBA, a civil servant by the name of H.L. Salkeld uncovered the eastern branch of "Anushilan Samiti", producing a four volume report and placing 68 suspects under surveillance. However the "Samiti" evaded detailed intrusion by adopting the model of Russian revolutionaries, so much so that Police were unclear till 1909 if they were dealing with a single organisation or with a conglomeration of independent groups. The visit of King George V to India in 1911 saw the introduction of measures to arm police better in Bengal and EBA. In 1912, the political branch of the Bengal CID was renamed Intelligence Branch, staffed with 50 officers and 127 men. The branch had separate sections dealing with explosives, assassinations and with Robberies. The branch came to be headed by Charles Tegart, who built up network of agents and informers to infiltrate the "Samiti". Tegart would meet his agents under cover of darkness, at times disguising himself as Pathan or Kabuliwallah who were a common feature in the streets of Calcutta at the time. Assisiting Denham and Petrie ably, Tegart led the investigation in the aftermath of the Dalhi-Lahore Conspiracy and identified Chandernagore as the main hub for the "Samiti". Tegart remained in Bengal police at least the 1930s, earning notoriety amongst the "Samiti" for his work, and was subjected to a number of assassination attempts. In 1924, Ernest Day, an Englishman, was shot dead by Gopinath Saha at Chowringhee Road in Calcutta, being mistaken for Tegart. In 1930, a bomb was thrown into Tegart's car at Dalhousie Square but Tegart managed to shoot the revolutionary and escaped unhurt. His efficient curbing of the revolutionary movement saw him earn praise from Lord Lytton and he was awarded the King's medal. In recognition of his efficiency, in 1937 Tegart was sent to the British Mandate of Palestine, then in the throes of the Arab Revolt. He advised the Inspector General on matters of security.
Bagha Jatin
Several sources mention Jatin as being among the founders of the Anushilan Samiti in 1900, and as a pioneer in creating its branches in the districts. According to Daly's Report: "A secret meeting was held in Calcutta about the year 1900 [...] The meeting resolved to start secret societies with the object of assassinating officials and supporters of Government [...] One of the first to flourish was at Kushtea, in the Nadia district. This was organised by one Jotindra Nath Mukherjee ["sic"!].". Nixon reports further : "The earliest known attempts in Bengal to promote societies for political or semi-political ends are associated with the names of the late P. Mitter, Barrister-at-Law, Miss Saralabala Ghosal and a Japanese named Okakura. These activities commenced in Calcutta somewhere about the year 1900, and are said to have spread to many of the districts of Bengal and to have flourished particularly at Kushtia, where Jatindra Nath Mukharji ["sic"!] was leader." Bhavabhushan Mitra's written notes precise his presence along with Jatindra Nath during the first meeting. A branch of this organisation (Anushilan Samiti), was to be inaugurated in Dacca. In 1903, on meeting Sri Aurobindo at Yogendra Vidyabhushan's place, Jatin decides to collaborate with him and is said to have added to his programme the clause of winning over the Indian soldiers of the British regiments in favour of an insurrection. W. Sealy in his report on "Connections with Bihar and Orissa" notes that Jatin Mukherjee "a close confederate of Nani Gopal Sen Gupta of the Howrah Gang (...) worked directly under the orders of Aurobindo Ghosh."
Ansarullah (Ahmadiyya)
Majlis Ansarullah (; "Association for the Helpers [in the cause] of Allah") is an auxiliary organization of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community for men above forty years of age. It was founded in 1940 by Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad, the second caliph of the Community. As an organization comprising the elders of the Community it often provides intellectual and spiritual guidance for its younger members and has local and national leadership, with national leaders reporting directly to the caliph.
Anushilan Samiti
A large proportion of the cadre of the "Samiti's" component groups came from upper castes. By 1918, nearly ninety percent of the revolutionaries killed or convicted were from the Hindu castes of "Brahmin"s," Kayastha"s or "Vaishya"s. As the "Samiti" spread its influence to other parts, particularly north India, it began to draw people of other religions and of varying religious commitments. For example, many who joined the Hindustan Republican Socialist Association were Marxists and many were militant atheists. By the late 1930s, the membership had changed somewhat in the participation of members with more secular outlook. Wings of the "Samiti" also included prominent participation from women. Amongst the most famous of the latter were Pritilata Waddedar who led a Jugantor attack during the Chittagong Armoury raid, and Kalpana Dutta who manufactured bombs at Chittagong.
Narendra Dabholkar
Gradually, Dabholkar started focusing on eradication of superstition, and joined the Akhil Bharatiya Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (ABANS). In 1989, he founded the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS, "Committee for Eradication of Superstition in Maharashtra" or "Maharashtra Committee for Eradication of Blind Faith"), and campaigned against superstitions, confronting dubious tantriks and claimed holy men who promised 'miracle cures' for ailments. He criticised the country's "godmen", self-styled Hindu ascetics who claim to perform miracles and have many followers. He was the founding member of "Parivartan", a social action centre located in Satara district, that seeks to "empower marginalised members of the community to lead lives of security, dignity, and prosperity". He was closely associated with the Indian rationalist Sanal Edamaruku. He was the editor of a renowned Marathi weekly "Sadhana", which was founded by Sane Guruji. He also served earlier as a vice-president of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations.
Battle of Kamdesh
By October 2007 the elders and mullahs of the Kamdesh area had been inspired by Rahman to gather at Kamdesh for a mass meeting, or shura to plan the future of Nuristan. This series of meetings over two days involved more than 800 representatives of the people of Nuristan, and had the goal of bringing order and economic development to the region. The village leaders elected a representative council of 100 members to form a shura that would produce a regional security plan and obtain an agreement with the American military and the Afghan Karzai government. This agreement would recognize the authority of the Hundred Man Shura, and provide funds for economic development. Formalized as "The Commitment of Mutual Support" the agreement also provided the Shura would provide local security in return for an end to uninvited American military searches of local towns and mosques. From November through January 2008 members of the Shura traveled the villages of the Kamdesh area, informing the residents of the support agreement and stating that the era of holy war was over, and that local government would bring peace and prosperity. This agreement did bring down the level of combat in the Kamdesh area. In the year that followed the agreement, ANA and American deaths dropped from thirty to three.
History of the Anushilan Samiti
In 1923, another Anushilan-linked group, the Hindustan Republican Association was founded in Benares in the United Provinces by Sachindranath Sanyal and Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee, and was influential in radicalising north India, it soon had branches from Calcutta to Lahore. A series of successful dacoities in UP culminated in the train robbery in Kakori. However, the subsequent investigations and two trials broke the organization. Several years later it would be reborn as the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.
Anushilan Samiti
The growth of the Indian middle class during the 18th century, amidst competition among regional powers and the ascendancy of the British East India Company, led to a growing sense of "Indian" identity. The refinement of this perspective fed a rising tide of nationalism in India in the last decades of the 1800s. Its speed was abetted by the creation of the Indian National Congress in India in 1885 by A.O. Hume. The Congress developed into a major platform for the demands of political liberalisation, increased autonomy and social reform. However, the nationalist movement became particularly strong, radical and violent in Bengal and, later, in Punjab. Notable, if smaller, movements also appeared in Maharashtra, Madras and other areas in the South. The movement in Maharshtra, especially Bombay and Poona preceded most revolutionary movements in the country. This movement, further, had the ideological, and by some suggestion covert but active, support of Bal Gangadhar Tilak. 1876 saw the foundation of The Indian Association in Calcutta under the leadership of Surendranath Banerjea. This organisation successfully drew into its folds students and the urban middle–class, for which it served as a mouthpiece. The Association became the mouthpiece of an informal constituency of students and middle-class gentlemen. It sponsored the Indian National Conference in 1883 and 1885, which later merged with the Indian National Congress. Calcutta was at the time the most prominent centre for organised politics, and some of the same students who attended the political meetings began at the time to organise "secret societies" which cultivated a cultural of physical strength and nationalist feelings.
Akshar Purushottam Upasana
Followers of BAPS regard the term saint in this context to be singular, however followers of the Swaminarayan Sampraday believe that Swaminarayan is referring to the association of all saints who have reached the elevated status of Brahm, as Swaminarayan does not specify any one specific saint in the scripture Vachanamrut. Also they state that it would be almost impossible for all devotees around the world to associate with just one saint, and it would make the role of all other saints redundant. Followers claim that they feel in union with Pramukh Swami Maharaj and Mahant Swami Maharaj, the current spiritual leader of BAPS. BAPS has over 900+ Saints, 9000 centers, 1,100 Mandirs, 3 Akshardham complexes etc.
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.
Prafulla Chandra Ghosh
Prafulla Ghosh got interested in Swadeshi movement and by inspired by armed revolution of Dhaka Anushilan Samiti and joined then in 1909. However, he did not like the activities of raising money by theft and cycle of theft defend in the court and finally quit Anishilan Samity in 1913 and focused on academics. During the same time, while working on Damodar flood relief met Surendranath Banerjee and other moderate leaders. Yogendra Nath Saha introduced Prafulla Ghosh to non-violent principles of Gandhi. At the beginning, Gadhian principles did not impress him but he was moved by Gandhi's speech at Dhaka in December 1920 and soon afterward met with Gandhi in Calcutta. In Jan, 1921 Prafulla Ghosh resigned from his job at Calcutta mint and along with other members of Anami Sangha joined freedom struggle movement led by Gandhi.
Kamarupa Anusandhan Samiti
The samiti started its work with a missionary zeal and began to collect inscriptions, puthis, ethnographical objects, relics, and manuscripts from the Pragjyotisha-Kamarupa region. The preservation of these collections necessitated the construction of a building. When all early efforts to persuade the government to immediately establish a museum to store these objects failed, the samiti decided to construct its own building. The estimated cost of construction, ₹ 20,000, was raised with contributions from various donors, the principal contributor being Raibahadur Naupat Rai Kedia of Dibrugarh. When Lt Col P.R.T. Gordon, then the commissioner of the Assam Valley and honorary provincial director of Ethnography, Assam formally inaugurated the samiti’s building on November 19, 1917.
The samiti’s activities attracted the attention of Indologists throughout eastern India. A branch of the Kamarupa Anusandhana Samiti was established at Rangpur (now in Bangladesh) with Babu Surendra Chandra Roychoudhury as its secretary. The Asiatic Society of Calcutta organized exhibitions of the samiti’s collections and kept a close link with it until 1950. Assam did not have any museum until 1940, but the purpose of a museum was being served by Kamarupa Anusandhana Samiti.
Kanshi Ram
Later, in 1981, Ram formed another social organisation known as Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti (DSSSS, or DS4). He started his attempt of consolidating the Dalit vote and in 1984 he founded the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). He fought his first election in 1984 from Janjgir-Champa seat in Chhattisgarh. The BSP found success in Uttar Pradesh, initially struggled to bridge the divide between Dalits and Other Backward Classes but later under leadership of Mayawati bridged this gap.
Anushilan Samiti
The "Samiti" was influenced by the writings of the Bengalee nationalist author Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. The name of the organisation, "Anushilan", itself is derived from Bankim's works espousing hardwork and spartan life. Bankim's cultural and martial nationalism exemplified in "Anandamath", along with his interpretations of the "Bhagavat Gita", are noted to be strong influences on the strain of nationalism that guided the early societies that merged into "Anushilan Samiti". To this was later added the philosophies and teachings of Swami Vivekananda. A search of the "Dacca Anushilan Samiti" library in 1908 showed that the"Gita" was the most widely read book in the library. Among the "rules of membership" books by Vivekananda were strongly recommended for reading, A recurring theme in these were emphasis on "Strong muscles and nerves of steel", which some historian identify as strongly influenced by Shakta Philosophy of Hinduism. The writings of the group's own leader Aurobindo Ghosh popularised "Shakti", specifically the concept of "Adya Shakti" that is exemplified in his work "Bhawani Mandir". This marked the beginnings of interest in physical improvement and proto-national spirit among young Bengalees, and was driven by an effort to break away from the colonial stereotype of effeminacy imposed on the Bengalee. Physical fitness was symbolic of the recovery of masculinity, and part of a larger moral and spiritual training to cultivate control over the body, and develop national pride and a sense of social responsibility and service. Peter Heehs, writing in 2010, notes the "Samiti" had three pillars in their ideologies: "cultural independence", "political independence", and "economic independence". In the latter, the "Samiti" differed from those engaging in the "Swadeshi" movement, which they decried solely as a "trader's movement".
History of the Anushilan Samiti
Meanwhile, in 1912, Jatin met in the company of Naren Bhattacharya the Crown Prince of Germany during the latter's visit to Calcutta in 1912, and obtained an assurance that arms and ammunition would be supplied to them. Jatin was intimated of Rash Behari's work through Niralamba Swami while on a pilgrimage to the holy Hindu city of Brindavan. Returning to Bengal, Jatin began reorganising his group. Rash Behari had gone into hiding in Benares after the 1912 attempt on Hardinge, but he met Jatin towards the end of 1913, outlining the prospects of a pan-Indian revolution.
Punjab insurgency
After being routed in 1972 Punjab election, the Akali Dal put forward the Anandpur Sahib Resolution resolution in 1973 to demand more autonomy to Punjab. The resolution included both religious and political issues. It asked for recognising Sikhism as a religion separate from Hinduism. It also demanded that power be generally devoluted from the Central to state governments. The Anandpur Resolution was rejected by the government as a secessionist document. Bhindranwale then joined the Akali Dal to launch the Dharam Yudh Morcha in 1982, to implement Anandpur Sahib resolution. Thousands of people joined the movement, feeling that it represented a real solution to demands such as a larger share of water for irrigation and the return of Chandigarh to Punjab.
Dalit Buddhist movement
In 2002, Kanshi Ram, a popular political leader from a Sikh religious background, announced his intention to convert to Buddhism on 14 October 2006, the fiftieth anniversary of Ambedkar's conversion. He intended for 20,000,000 of his supporters to convert at the same time. Part of the significance of this plan was that Ram's followers include not only Untouchables, but persons from a variety of castes, who could significantly broaden Buddhism's support. But, he died 9 October 2006 after a lengthy illness; he was cremated as per Buddhist tradition.
History of the Anushilan Samiti
In November 1905, Bipin Chandra Pal along with Pramathanath Mitra, visited Dhaka where, at a political meeting, Pal called for volunteers ready to sacrifice their all for Motherland. Among the eighty who stepped forward was Pulin Behari Das, a resident of Wari who was soon appointed the head of the East Bengal branch of "Anushilan Samity". Under Das's able leadership, "Anushilan" "spread like wildfire" throughout the province. More than 500 branches were opened, linked by a "close and detailed organization" to Pulin’s headquarters at Dhaka. It absorbed smaller groups in the province, and soon overshadowed its parent organisation in Calcutta. Branches of Dhaka Anushilan emerged in the towns of Jessore, Khulna, Faridpur, Rajnagar, Rajendrapur, Mohanpur, Barvali, Bakarganj and other places. Estimates of Dhaka Anushilan Samiti's reach show a membership of between 15,000 and 20,000 members. Within another two years, Dhaka Anushilan would devolve its aims from the Swadeshi to the dedicated aim of political terrorism.
Anushilan Samiti
The revolutionaries of the "Samiti" became household names in Bengal. Many of these educated and youthful men were widely admired and romanticised not only within Bengal but other parts of India too. "Ekbar biday de Ma ghure ashi" (Bid me farewell, mother) is a 1908 song written by Bengali folkpoet Pitambar Das. Penned lamenting the execution of Kshudiram Bose, it could be heard in Bengal decades after Bose's death. Today, the railway station were Bose was arrested is named "Khudiram Bose Pusa Railway station" in his honour. The 1926 nationalist novel "Pather Dabi" (Right of the way) by Bengali author Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay tells the story of a secret revolutionary nationalist organisation fighting the Raj. The protagost of the novel, "Sabyasachi", is believed to have been modelled after Rash Behari Bose while the fictional organisation itself was thought to have been influenced by the Bengali revolutionary organisation. The novel was banned by The Raj as "Seditious", but acquired wild popularity. It formed the basis of a 1977 a Bengali language film, "Sabyasachi", with Uttam Kumar playing the lead role of the protagonist. "Do and Die" is a historical account of the Chittagong armoury raid published in 2000. Penned by Indian author Manini chatterjee, it was awarded the "Rabindra Puraskar", the highest literary award in Bengal. The book formed the basis of "Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey" (We Play with Our Lives), a 2010 Bollywood film retelling the story of the Chittagong armoury raid, with Abhishek Bachchan playing the role of Surya Sen.
A marble plaque marks the building in Calcutta where the first nucleus of the "Samiti" was founded. Many of the "Samiti"′ members are known in India and abroad, and are commemorated in different forms. Another plaque at the site of Barin Ghose's country house (in present day Ultadanga) marks the site were Ghosh and his group was arrested in the Alipore Bomb case. Many of the "Samiti"'s members are known in India and abroad, and are commemorated in different forms. A number of Calcutta suburbs are today named after revolutionaries and nationalists of the "Samiti". Grey Street, where Aurobindo Ghosh's press office stood, is today named Aurobido "Sarani" (Aurobindo avenue). Dalhousie square was renamed B.B.D Bag, named after Benoy, Badal, and Dinesh who raided the Writer's Building in 1926. Mononga lane, the site of Rodda & Co. heist, houses the busts of Anukul Mukherjee, Srish Chandra Mitra, Haridas Dutta, and Bipin Bihary Ganguly who participated in the heist. Chashakhand, a place 15 km east of Balasore where Jatindranath Mukherjee and his group made their last stand against Tegart's forces, honours the battlefield in Jatin's honour. The locality of Baghajatin in Kolkata is named after Jatin. In Bangladesh, the gallows where Surya Sen was executed are preserved as historical monument.
History of the Anushilan Samiti
With the clouds of war gathering in Europe, Indian nationalists at home and outside India had decided to use the event of a war with Germany towards the nationalist cause. To these plans, a number of prominent "Jugantar" leaders became party. Through Kishen Singh, the Bengal revolutionary cell was introduced to Lala Har Dayal when the latter visited India in 1908. Har Dayal himself was associated with the India House, a revolutionary organisation in London then under V.D. Savarkar. By 1910, Har Dayal was working closely with Rash Behari Bose. Bose was a Jugantar member employed at the Forest institute at Dehra Dun, who worked, possibly independent of Jatin, on the revolutionary movement in UP and Punjab since October 1910. The India House itself was liquidated in 1910 in the aftermath of Sir W.H. Curzon Wyllie's assassination in the hands of Madanlal Dhingra, a member of the London group. Among the India House group who fled Britain was V.N. Chetterjee, who left for Germany. Har Dayal himself moved to San Francisco after working briefly with the Paris Indian Society. In the United States, nationalism among Indian immigrants, particularly students and working classes, was gaining grounds. Taraknath Das, who had left Bengal for the United States in 1907, was among the noted Indian students who engaged in political work. In California, Har Dayal's arrival bridged a gap between the intellectual agitators in the west coast and the lower classes in the Pacific coast. He emerged a leading organiser of Indian nationalism amongst the predominantly Punjabi immigrant labour workers, founding the Ghadar movement.
Manipur
Manipuri Muslims, known locally as Meitei Pangal, constitute about 8.3% of the state population as per 2011 census. Sufi saint, Shaikh Shah Jalal d-Dīn al-Mujarrad al-Turk al Naqshbandi, came to Sylhet, and Azan Fakir Baghdadi arrived in 1690 AD in Assam. They influenced Manipuri Muslims. They belong to the Sunni group of Hanafi school of thought and there are Arab, Bangladesh, Turani, Bengali and Mughal or Chaghtai Turk sections among Manipuri Muslims.
Howrah-Sibpur Conspiracy case
The Howrah-Sibpur Conspiracy case refers to the arrest and trials of 47 Bengali Indian nationalists of the "Anushilan Samiti" that followed in the wake of the murder of Inspector Shamsul Alam on 24 January 1910 in Calcutta. Alam was Deouty superindtendent and intelligence officer in Bengal Police investigating the murder of Naren Gosain, crown-witness in the Alipore bomb case, and other murders including those of Ashutosh Biswas, advocate of Calcutta High Court in charge of prosecution of Gossain murder case, and of Naren Bannerjee, the police officer who arrested Khudiram Bose. Alam had uncovered the underlying Bengali revolutionary network of the "Anushilan Samiti" that linked the murders and other robberies in this time, and at the time of his own murder in the hands of Biren Dutta Gupta, Alam was preparing to consolidate the charges to bring them all to trial in a single case.
Barisal Conspiracy Case
Barisal was a district in the south-eastern corner of Bengal. The colonial police there reported that they had seized certain documents implicating the Anushilan Samiti, a revolutionary organization whose East Bengal chapters were under the leadership of Trailokyanath Chakravarty and Pratul Chandra Ganguli. The seized documents included a proposal to seduce native-born troops and to incite them to rebellion and wholesale massacre of the British.
Narayan Sanyal (politician)
Sanyal was initially associated with the Man-Money-Gun group founded by Bengali revolutionary Ananta Singh, until the Naxalbari uprising erupted in 1967. In 1969 he went to Bihar and started working under Satyanarayan Singh, the then politburo member of CPI(ML). When almost the entire Bihar state committee defected under Singh’s leadership in 1971 over differences with Charu Majumdar ideology, Sanyal led pro-Majumdar unit of CPI(ML) in Bihar and organized members in the Jehanabad - Palamu belt. He was arrested in 1973 and was released in 1977 after the first Left Front government released political prisoners. In 1978, Sanyal along with others formed the group named CPI(ML) Party Unity. He became the general secretary of that group in 1987. This group was merged with CPI(ML)(People’s War) in 1998. While he was working in Bastar region in Chhattisgarh, played a pivotal role of merger with unified Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People's War and Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCC) in 2004. He also became politburo member of Communist Party of India (Maoist). Sanyal was also active in Palamu region of Jharkhand.
History of the Anushilan Samiti
The Anushilanites distrusted the political lines formulated by the Communist International. They criticised the line adopted at the 6th Comintern congress of 1928 as 'ultra-left sectarian'. The Colonial theses of the 6th Comintern congress called upon the communists to combat the 'national-reformist leaders' and to 'unmask the national reformism of the Indian National Congress and oppose all phrases of the Swarajists, Gandhists, etc. about passive resistance'. Moreover, when Indian left-wing elements formed the Congress Socialist Party in 1934, the CPI branded it as Social Fascist. When the Comintern policy swung towards Popular Frontism at its 1935 congress, at the time by which the majority of the Anushilan movement were adopting a Marxist–Leninist approach, the Anushilan Marxists questioned this shift as a betrayal of the internationalist character of the Comintern and felt that the International had been reduced to an agency of Soviet foreign policy. Moreover, the Anushilan Marxists opposed the notion of 'Socialism in One Country'.
History of the Anushilan Samiti
Basu himself was a student of the General Assembly's Institution, and was influenced by Swami Vivekandan's works and teachings of Shakta philosophy. Basu kept in touch with Sister Nivedita and Swami Saradananda, both disciples of Vivekandanda. A further influence was the Japanese scholar Kakuzo Okakura who was closely associated with Nivedita and advocated Pan-Asiatic unity and nationalist sentiments in his many visits to Bengal. Basu was a member of the gymnasium at General Assembly, and practiced lathi-play, engaged in social work in destitute areas of Calcutta, and supported the "Swadeshi" industries. Encouraged by Nivedita and Saradananda, Basu founded the "Anushilan Samiti" in early 1902. It initially as a club for lathi practice. The name itself was inspired by one of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's works entitled "Anushilan-Tattva" (Theory of discipline), which expounded the concept of allround development of physical, mental, moral and spiritual capabilities. In Pramathanath Mitra, Basu found a patron and through Mitra and Sarala Devi, Jatindranath Bannerjee was introduced to Basu. In March 1902, Bannerjee's group was amalgamated to that of Basu's, retaining the name chosen by the latter.
Emperor vs Aurobindo Ghosh and others
Among the famous accused were Aurobindo Ghosh, his brother Barin Ghosh as well as 37 other Bengali nationalists of the "Anushilan Samiti". Most of the accused were arrested from Barin Ghosh's Garden house in 36 Murarirupukur Road, in the Manicktolla suburb of Calcutta. They were held in the Presidency Jail in Alipore before the trial, where Narendranath Goswami, approver and crown-witness, was shot dead by two fellow accused Kanailal Dutta and Satyendranath Bose within the jail premises. Goswami's murder led to collapse of the case against Aurobindo. However, his brother Barin and a number of others were convicted of the charges and faced varying jail terms from life-imprisonment to shorter jail terms.
Sunilam
Being the founder President of "Kisan Sangharsh Samiti" (Farmers Struggle Committee), he offered his leadership for Kisan Andolans. He was sent to prison for three months, after his arrest in Kisan Andolan at Multai, M.P, where 24 innocent farmers/kisans were shot dead and 250 injured under police firing on 12 January 1998. Congress Government has lodged 66 false cases against Dr Sunilam and his associate farmers in one single incident of police firing in Multai. Every month, Kisan sangharsh Samiti, Madhya Pradesh organises the Kisan Mahapanchayat (General Meeting of Farmers). On 12 January 2011, the 175th Kisan Mahapanchayat was organised.
Emperor vs Aurobindo Ghosh and others
The hearings against the accused had continued through May with intermittent recesses. However, despite a considerable body of evidence against most of the accused, very little evidence existed against Aurobindo himself. The structure of "Anushilan samiti" prevented the higher echelons of the organisation from becoming familiar to the junior ranks, and Aurobindo's involvement in the organisation and its activities were hard to pinpoint, except for a few letters and correspondences confiscated at Barin's Manicktolla garden house. These included letters Bain had written in 1907, initialled "A.G." proclaiming the time to distributing "sweets" across India, a euphemism for bombs of which the technology Hem Chandra had learnt in Paris. On the other hand, much of the aim of the prosecution was to gain conviction against Aurobindo, who was seen as the most dangerous individual driving the "Samiti" against the Raj. Unable to identify stronger material evidence, the prosecution began an effort to obtain witnesses who may be able to implicate Aurobindo. Their target became a young Anushilanite by the name of Naren Goswami. Goswami belonged to the family of a landowner in Bengal, of a wealthy background and social standing. He had been arrested at Maniktala with Barin and others on the initial raid. On 22 June, Prosecutor Norton announced to the court that Narendranath Goswami had turned "King's witness", or prosecution witness, in return for a pardon. By the middle of August, Birley had heard evidence against the accused. He twice rejected the defence's requests to cross-examine Goswami, using discretionary powers granted to him by the government of Bengal. On 19, 31 August prisoners were committed to stand trial at Alipore Sessions Court for waging war against the King. On the evidence against Aurobindo, Birley concluded that letters and correspondences from members of the group- particularly one letter from Barin where he had referred to "distributing sweets" across India- indicated prima facie involvement on Aurobindo's part.
Revolutionary Socialist Party (India)
A major section of the Anushilan movement had been attracted to Marxism during the 1930s, many of them studying Marxist–Leninist literature whilst serving long jail sentences. A minority section broke away from the Anushilan movement and joined the Communist Consolidation, and later the Communist Party of India. The majority of the Anushilan Marxists did however, whilst having adopted Marxist–Leninist thinking, feel hesitant over joining the Communist Party.
Shaukat Usmani
M.N. Roy, an ex-member of the Anushilan Samiti, a powerful secret revolutionary organization operating in East Bengal in the opening years of the 20th century, went to Moscow by the end of April 1920, and soon after founded the émigré Communist Party of India at Tashkent on 17 October 1920. The fledgling party became a part of Communist International (Comintern) in 1921. Usmani had been a very early leading activist of the émigré Communist Party of India.
Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly
On 29 December 1969, the Agency Council, an apex advisory body for the governance of the North-East Frontier Agency (present-day Arunachal Pradesh), came into existence, with the Governor of Assam as its chairman. The Agency Council was replaced by the Pradesh Council on 2 October 1972. On 15 August 1975 the Pradesh Council was converted to the Provisional Legislative Assembly. Initially, the Legislative Assembly comprised 33 members, of which, 30 members were directly elected from single-seat constituencies and 3 members were nominated by the Union government. On attainment of the statehood on 20 February 1987, the number was raised to 60.
Anushilan Samiti
From its foundation to its gradual dissolution during the 1930s, the "Samiti" challenged British rule in India by engaging in militant nationalism, including bombings, assassinations, and politically-motivated violence. During its existence, the "Samiti" collaborated with other revolutionary organisations in India and abroad. It was led by nationalists such as Aurobindo Ghosh and his brother Barindra Ghosh, and influenced by philosophies as diverse as Hindu "Shakta" philosophy propounded by Bengali literaetuer Bankim and Vivekananda, Italian Nationalism, and Pan-Asianism of Kakuzo Okakura. The "Samiti" was involved in a number of noted incidences of revolutionary attacks against British interests and administration in India within the decade of its founding, including early attempts to assassinate Raj officials whilst led by the Ghosh brothers. These were followed by the 1912 attempt on the life of the Viceroy of India, and the Sedetious conspiracy during World War I led by Rash Behari Bose and Jatindranath Mukherjee respectively.
History of the Anushilan Samiti
A major section of the Anushilan movement had been attracted to Marxism during the 1930s, many of them studying Marxist–Leninist literature whilst serving long jail sentences. A minority section broke away from the Anushilan movement and joined the Communist Consolidation, and later the Communist Party of India. The majority of the Anushilan Marxists did however, whilst having adopted Marxist–Leninist thinking, feel hesitant over joining the Communist Party.
History of the Anushilan Samiti
At this point the Anushilan Marxists, recently released from long jail sentences, stood at a cross-roads. Either they would continue as a separate political entity or they would join an existing political platform. They felt that they lacked the resources to build a separate political party. Joining the CPI was out of the question, due to sharp differences in political analysis. Neither could they reconcile their differences with the Royists. In the end, the Congress Socialist Party, appeared to be the sole platform acceptable for the Anushilan Marxists. The CSP had adopted Marxism in 1936 and their third conference in Faizpur they had formulated a thesis that directed the party to work to transform the Indian National Congress into an anti-imperialist front.
History of Bengal
Bengal played a major role in the Indian independence movement (including the Pakistan movement), in which revolutionary groups such as Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar were dominant. Bengalis also played a notable role in the Indian independence movement. Many of the early proponents of independence, and subsequent leaders in movement were Bengalis. Among the Hindu independence leaders from Bengal were Chittaranjan Das, Surendranath Banerjee, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Prafulla Chaki, Bagha Jatin, Khudiram Bose, Surya Sen, Binoy–Badal–Dinesh, Sarojini Naidu, Aurobindo Ghosh, Rashbehari Bose and many more. Some of these leaders, such as Netaji, did not subscribe to the view that non-violent civil disobedience was the only way to achieve Indian Independence, and allied with Japan to fight against the British. During the Second World War Netaji escaped to Germany from house arrest in India and there he founded the Indian Legion an army to fight against the British Government, but the turning of the war compelled him to come to South-East Asia and there he became the co-founder and leader of the Indian National Army (distinct from the army of British India) that challenged British forces in several parts of India. He was also the head of state of a parallel regime named 'The Provisional Government of Free India' or Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind, that was recognised and supported by the Axis powers. Bengal was also the fostering ground for several prominent revolutionary organisations, the most notable of which was Anushilan Samiti. A large number of Bengalis died in the independence struggle and many were exiled in Cellular Jail, the much dreaded prison located in Andaman.
Dalit Mahila Samiti
The Dalit Mahila Samiti (DMS) was formally organized in 2002 or 2004 and is supported by Vanagana, a feminist non-governmental organization. However, it was first organized as early as 1992 in order to mobilize Dalit women. It is based in the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP). The group has seven different clusters in two sub-regions of the Chitrakoot District. Men may join the women's group as "sahayogi", or supporters, and there is a yearly membership fee for women. Members of the group receive a badge and information about Dalit leaders.
Ravi Shankar (spiritual leader)
In September 2017, at the "Strength in Diversity - North East Indigenous People's Conference", Ravi Shankar claimed that another 500 militants were waiting to "lay down weapons and join the peace process". The conference was attended by representatives from 67 rebel outfits from the Northeast. Expressing his willingness to facilitate the peaceful transition of any rebel group wanting to join the mainstream, Ravi Shankar claimed that his organization has been working for this for the last 10–12 years and "will continue to work until the last gun is laid down". Former ULFA General Secretary, Anup Chetia, who was also the convenor of the conference, appreciated Ravi Shankar's interest and efforts for peace in the region.
Chunilal Vaidya
Chunibhai Vaidya was born on 2 September 1918 in a small village in Patan district, Gujarat. He was a Gandhian and a "Sarvodaya" veteran. He participated in Indian independence movement and later in Vinoba Bhave's Bhoodan Movement. He worked for peace in Assam when violence broke out in 1960s. He was an editor of "Bhumiputra". He opposed the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975 and was imprisoned. He also founded Gujarat Lok Samiti, a voluntary organization, in 1980. During draught from 1986 to 1988 in Gujarat, he was involved in relief work and construction of check dams in Patan district irrigating 12000 hectares of land. He was also critical of 2002 Gujarat violence.
Naihati
Pramathanath Mitra - barrister and founder of the Anushilan Samiti
Anushilan Samiti
Among other notable personalities who are felt to have influenced the "Samiti" were the Japanese artist Kakuzo Okakura and Irish woman Margaret Noble, known widely as Sister Nivedita. Okakura was a proponent of Pan-Asianism. He visited Swami Vivekananda in Calcutta in 1902, and is noted to have inspired Pramathanath Mitra considerably in the early days of the "Samiti". However the extent of his involvement or influence is debated. Nivedita was a disciple of Swami Vivekananda who moved from Ireland to live in Calcutta. She was noted to have contacts with Aurobindo, with Satish Bose and with "Jugantar" sub-editor Bhupendranath Bose. Nivedita is believed to have discussed and influenced people of the "Samiti" talking about their duties to motherland, and also providing the men of the "Samiti" with literature on revolutionary nationalism. She was at this time in correspondence with Peter Kropotkin, a noted anarchist.
Dharam Yudh Morcha (film)
In 1973, the Akali Dal, drafted the Anandpur Sahib Resolution to clearly outline the demands of the Punjabi Sikh population, including a region with river water access and the first language as Punjabi, the return of Chandigarh to Punjab.
On 13 April 1978, the day to celebrate the birth of Khalsa, a Sant Nirankari convention was organized in Amritsar, with permission from the Akali state government. The practices of "Sant Nirankaris" sect of Nirankaris was considered as heretics by the orthodox Sikhism expounded by Bhindranwale. From Golden Temple premises, Bhindranwale delivered an angry sermon in which he declared that he would not allow this convention and would "go there and cut them to pieces." A procession of about two hundred Sikhs led by Bhindranwale and Fauja Singh of the Akhand Kirtani Jatha left the Golden Temple, heading towards the Nirankari Convention. Fauja attempted to behead Nirankari chief Gurbachan Singh with his sword but was shot dead by Gurbachan's bodyguard. In the ensuing violence, several people were killed: two of Bhindranwale's followers, eleven members of the Akhand Kirtani Jatha and three Nirankaris. 78 Sikhs of the Akhand Kirtani Jatha and Damdami Taksal were injured. This event brought Bhindranwale to limelight in the media.
Anushilan Samiti
Through the 1920s and 1930s, many Anushilan members began identifying with Communism and leftist ideologies. Many of them studying Marxist–Leninist literature whilst serving long jail sentences. A minority section broke away from the Anushilan movement and joined the Communist Consolidation, and later the Communist Party of India. Former Jugantar leader Narendranath Bhattacharya, now known as M. N. Roy, became an influential member of the Communist International, helping to find the Communist Party of India. The majority of the Anushilanite Marxists, whilst having adopted Marxist–Leninist thinking, felt hesitant over joining the Communist Party. Holding sharp differences with the CPI and Royist ideologies, the Anushilan marxists decided to join Congress Socialist Party (CSP), but keeping a separate identity within the party. The RSP, which derived from the "Samiti", held a strong influence in parts of Bengal. The psrty sent two parliamentarians in the 1952 Lok Sabha elections, both previously "Samiti" members. In 1969 RSP sympathizers in East Pakistan formed the Shramik Krishak Samajbadi Dal (SKSD). RSP and SKSD have maintained close ties since. The RSP is a minor partner in the Left Front which ruled the Indian state of West Bengal for 34 uninterrupted years. It also holds influence in South India, notably in parts of Kerala. The SUCI, another left wing party with a presence in Bengal, was founded in 1948 by Anushilan members.
Anushilan Samiti
The organisation's political views were expressed in the journal "Jugantar", founded in March 1906 by Abhinash Bhattacharya, Barindra, Bhupendranath Dutt and Debabrata Basu. It soon became an organ for the radical views of Aurobindo and Anushilan leaders, and lent the name "Jugantar party" to the Calcutta group of Anushilan. Early leaders were Rash Behari Bose, Jatindranath Mukherjee and Jadugopal Mukherjee. Similar messages of violent nationalism were also finding their way to the public in Aurobindo's works in journals such as "Sandhya", "Navashakti" and "Bande Mataram".
Sri Aurobindo
In Bengal, with Barin's help, he established contacts with revolutionaries, inspiring radicals such as Bagha Jatin or Jatin Mukherjee and Surendranath Tagore. He helped establish a series of youth clubs, including the Anushilan Samiti of Calcutta in 1902.
Indian independence movement
There is no real connection between these two unrests, labour and Congress opposition. But their very existence and coexistence, explains and fully justifies the attention,which Lord Irwin gave to the labour problems. London Times, 29 January 1928
Apart from a few stray incidents, armed rebellions against the British rulers did not occur before the beginning of the 20th century. The Indian revolutionary underground began gathering momentum through the first decade of the 20th century, with groups arising in Bengal, Maharashtra, Odisha, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and the Madras Presidency including what is now called South India. More groups were scattered around India. Particularly notable movements arose in Bengal, especially around the Partition of Bengal in 1905, and in Punjab after 1907. In the former case, it was the educated, intelligent and
dedicated youth of the urban middle class "Bhadralok" community that came to form the "classic" Indian revolutionary, while the latter had an immense support base in the rural and Military society of the Punjab. In Bengal, the "Anushilan Samiti" emerged from conglomerations of local youth groups and gyms ("Akhra") in Bengal in 1902, forming two prominent and somewhat independent arms in East and West Bengal identified as "Dhaka Anushilan Samiti" in Dhaka (modern day Bangladesh), and the "Jugantar" group (centred at Calcutta) respectively. Led by nationalists of the likes of Aurobindo Ghosh and his brother Barindra Ghosh, the "Samiti" was influenced by philosophies as diverse as Hindu "Shakta" philosophy propounded by Bengali literaetuer Bankim and Vivekananda, Italian Nationalism, and Pan-Asianism of Kakuzo Okakura. The "Samiti" was involved in a number of noted incidences of revolutionary terrorism against British interests and administration in India within the decade of its founding, including early attempts to assassinate Raj officials whilst led by Ghosh brothers. In the meantime, in Maharashtra and Punjab arose similarly militant nationalist feelings. The District Magistrate of Nasik, A.M.T. Jackson was shot dead by Anant Kanhere in December 1909, followed by the death of Robert D'Escourt Ashe at the hands of Vanchi Iyer. Indian nationalism made headway through Indian societies as far as Paris and London. In London India House under the patronage of Shyamji Krishna Verma came under increasing scrutiny for championing and justifying violence in the cause of Indian nationalism, which found in Indian students in Britain and from Indian expatriates in Paris Indian Society avid followers. By 1907, through Indian nationalist Madame Bhikaji Rustom Cama's links to Russian revolutionary Nicholas Safranski, Indian groups including Bengal revolutionaries as well as India House under V.D.Savarkar were able to obtain manuals for manufacturing bombs. India House was also a source of arms and seditious literature that was rapidly distributed in India. In addition to "The Indian Sociologist", pamphlets like "Bande Mataram" and "Oh Martyrs!" by Savarkar extolled revolutionary violence. Direct influences and incitement from India House were noted in several incidents of political violence, including assassinations, in India at the time. One of the two charges against Savarkar during his trial in Bombay was for abetting the murder of the District Magistrate of Nasik, A.M.T. Jackson, by Anant Kanhere in December 1909. The arms used were directly traced through an Italian courier to India House. Ex-India House residents M.P.T. Acharya and V.V.S. Aiyar were noted in the Rowlatt report to have aided and influenced political assassinations, including the murder of Robert D'Escourt Ashe. The Paris-Safranski link was strongly suggested by French police to be involved in a 1907 attempt in Bengal to derail the train carrying the Lieutenant-Governor Sir Andrew Fraser. The activities of nationalists abroad is believed to have shaken the loyalty of a number of native regiments of the British Indian Army. The assassination of William Hutt Curzon Wyllie in the hands of Madanlal Dhingra was highly publcised and saw increasing surveillance and suppression of Indian nationalism. These were followed by the 1912 attempt on the life of Viceroy of India. Following this, the nucleus of networks formed in India House, the Anushilan Samiti, nationlalists in Punjab, and the nationalism that arose among Indian expatriates and labourers in North America, a different movement began to emerge in the North American Ghadar Party, culminating in the Sedetious conspiracy of World War I led by Rash Behari Bose and Lala Hardayal.
Ujjain Simhastha
The 1992 Simhastha, which preceded the demolition of the Babri Masjid, is noted for Ram Janmabhoomi campaign. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vijaya Raje Scindia was President of the fair's organizing committee. Around 10 million pilgrims visited Ujjain during 17 April - 16 May. During this time, annual sessions of Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini's Madhya Bharat branch were held in Ujjain. Satyamitranand Giri "re-converted" some 100 tribals to Hinduism at the Durga Vahini session. A Sanskrit Sammelan presided over by Karan Singh attracted several Hindu nationalists. Avaidyanath presided over a Sant Sammelan ("gathering of sants"), in which he declared that his movement was committed to the construction of a temple in Ayodhya. Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Ashok Singhal requested all sadhus to spend the chaturmas (July–October) in Ayodhya in order to exert pressure on the Government. Some individuals, such as Swami Yogeshwar Videhi Hariji, objected to the politicization of the Mela, but were isolated.
History of the Anushilan Samiti
Nonetheless, the campaign by Anushilan continued. In 1911, Dhaka Anushilan shot dead two Bengali police officers, sub-inspector Raj Kumar and Inspector Man Mohan Ghosh, who had been investigating the unrest, were shot dead at Mymensingh and Barisal respectively. This was followed by the assassination of the CID head constable Shrish Chandra Dey in Calcutta. In February 1911, "Jugantar" bombed a car with an Englishman in it who was mistaken for Godfrey Denham. The activities of the group was marked most famously in 1912 when an attempt was made by Anushilan led by Rash Behari Bose, in coordination with Har Dayal's group in Punjab, to assassinate the Viceroy of India, Charles Hardinge on the occasion of transfer of the national capital from Calcutta to Delhi. The Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy, as it came to be called, culminated on 23 December 1912 when Basant Kumar Biswas successfully bombed the Viceroy's Howdah as the ceremonial procession moved through the Chandni Chowk suburb of Delhi. Although wounded in the attempt, the Viceroy escaped with his injuries, along with Lady Hardinge, but his Mahout was killed in the attack. The following investigations uncovered Rash Behari Bose as one of the Kingpins of political extremisms, and further, brought to light the extent of coordination between the extremist cells in Punjab and Bengal.
Sushital Ray Chowdhary
Sushital and other Calcutta based radicals supported the Naxalbari movement by forming Naxalbari Krishak Sangram Sahayak Samiti (NOKSS) in May 1967. Sushital served as secretary and former Indian National Army activist Pramod Ranjan Sengupta was the president of the organisation.
Indian independence movement
Within a short time of its inception, these organisations became the focus of an extensive police and intelligence operations. Operations against "Anushilan Samiti" saw founding of the Special branch of Calcutta Police. The intelligence operations against India House saw the founding of the Indian Political Intelligence Office which later grew to be the Intelligence bureau in independent India. Heading the intelligence and missions against Ghadarite movement and India revolutionaries was the MI5(g) section, and at one point invokved the Pinkerton's detective agency. Notable officers who led the police and intelligence operations against Indian revolutionaries, or were involved in it, at various time included John Arnold Wallinger, Sir Robert Nathan, Sir Harold Stuart, Vernon Kell, Sir Charles Stevenson-Moore and Sir Charles Tegart, as well as W. Somerset Maugham. The threat posed by the activities of the "Samiti" in Bengal during World War I, along with the threat of a Ghadarite uprising in Punjab, saw the passage of Defence of India Act 1915. These measures saw the arrest, internment, transportations and execution of a number of revolutionaries linked to the organisation, and was successful in crushing the East Bengal Branch. In the aftermath of the war, the Rowlatt committee recommended extending the Defence of India Act (as the Rowlatt act) to thwart any possible revival of the "Samiti" in Bengal and the Ghadarite movement in Punjab. In the 1920s, Alluri Sitarama Raju led the ill-fated Rampa Rebellion of 1922–24, during which a band of tribal leaders and other sympathisers fought against the British Raj. He was referred to as "Manyam Veerudu" ("Hero of the Jungles") by the local people. After the passing of the 1882 Madras Forest Act, its restrictions on the free movement of tribal peoples in the forest prevented them from engaging in their traditional "podu" (Slash-and-burn) agricultural system, which involved shifting cultivation. Raju led a protest movement in the border areas of the Godavari Agency in Madras Presidency (present-day Andhra Pradesh). Inspired by the patriotic zeal of revolutionaries in Bengal, Raju raided police stations in and around Chintapalle, Rampachodavaram, Dammanapalli, Krishna-devi-peta, Rajavommangi, Addateegala, Narsipatnam and Annavaram. Raju and his followers stole guns and ammunition and killed several British army officers, including Scott Coward near Dammanapalli. The British campaign lasted for nearly a year from December 1922. Raju was eventually trapped by the British in the forests of Chintapalli then tied to a tree and shot dead with a rifle.
Communist Consolidation
The group was founded on 26 April 1935 by 39 inmates. The group declared its adherence to the Communist Party of India. Its founders belonged to a minority tendency with the pro-Marxist section of the Anushilan Samiti. The majority of the nationwide Anushilan Marxist tendency however distrusted the Communist Party and did not join it.
Ashwini Kumar Dutta
The Partition of Bengal drew him to the Swadeshi movement. He founded the Swadesh Bandhab Samiti to promote the consumption of indigenous products and boycott foreign goods. When the moderates and the extremists parted ways in the Surat session, he attempted a reconciliation between the two groups. In 1908, the government of the newly formed Eastern Bengal and Assam banned the Swadesh Bandhab Samiti in 1908 and deported him to the United Provinces where he was interred at the Lucknow jail. After his release in 1910, he concentrated on sustaining the Brojomohun School and Brojomohun College. He had no other way that to accept government aid. In 1912, he was forced to hand over the management of the school and the college to two different trustee councils. In 1918 he attended the Bombay session of the Indian National Congress. He actively undertook relief work after the Barisal cyclone of 1919. In 1921 at the Kolkata session of the Indian National Congress, he lend the non-violent Non-Cooperation Movement. Mohandas Gandhi arrived in Barisal that year to show respect to the great leader. In 1922, he joined the striking workers of Assam Bengal Railway and Steamer Company in protest against the atrocities on the workers of tea plantations of Assam.
Wunlit Peace Conference
The church organisers succeeded in bringing people together from six counties each of Bahr el Ghazal and Western Upper Nile respectively, which bordered one another. Each of the twelve counties was entitled to nominate thirty delegates, i.e. a total of 360 delegates. However, due to an offensive by the Khartoum-backed South Sudan Unity Movement / Army (SSUM/A) led by Paulino Matip, some counties did not turn up in full number. Only 12 people from Twic arrived in time, whereas no one from Abyei managed to attend the conference. Therefore, there were only 132 delegates from Bahr el Ghazal and 145 from Western Upper Nile. Yet, these numbers still fulfilled the 75% quorum, which made the conference eligible to proceed. (Dinka - Nuer West Bank Peace & Reconciliation Conference. P. 7) Altogether, the number of people present in the conference reached well over 1.000, as the delegates were joined by advisory and support persons.
Tripura Janasiksha Samiti
At that time, the movement of the Janasiksha Samiti speedily transformed into a mass movement. The Samiti could establish 488 primary schools in different remote areas of the state with the active co-operation, financial help and labour of the mass people. Subsequently in 1950-51, most of these schools were recognised by the State Government. The Samiti also published the first Kokborok Magazine "Kwtal Kothoma" in 1954 AD under Sudhanya Deb Barma.
History of the Anushilan Samiti
Among the first revolutionary organisations founded with an organised programme in Bengal was that led by Jatindranath Bannerjee and Aurobindo Ghosh. Ghosh was the grandson of leading Bengali reformer, Rajnarayan Bose. Schooled at St. Paul's and a graduate of King's College, Cambridge, Ghosh returned to India in 1893, undertaking a short career in political journalism in Bombay. He criticised the Congress's elitist politics which he argued was confined to the middle-class and effectively ignored the Indian masses of the lower classes. For Ghosh, the discussions engaged by the Congress members were frivolous, he argued for a radical and revolutionary movement for achieve political goals. Under pressure to tone down his criticisms, Ghosh withdrew from his writings altogether, which held for a good decade or so. In 1897, Aurobindo Ghosh took up the position of lecturer in French at Baroda College and was appointed acting Professor of English at the college in 1898. In 1899, Ghosh met Jatindranath Bannerjee. Both Bannerjee and Ghosh were members of a Bombay secret society that B.G. Tilak was associated with. Both Ghosh and Tilak shared thoughts on a program of revolution. Both envisioned an organised and disciplined uprising different from the terrorist tactics favoured by secret societies. Ghosh's thoughts were turned towards a military insurrection through Guerrilla warfare, aided by general revolt and popular resistance to which, if possible, the Indian Army was to be drawn in revolt. The grounding of such a program was to be "revolutionary propaganda and recruiting" and young Bengalees were to be trained in activities that would be helpful when the moment came. Ghosh emphasised activities riding, physical training, athletics of various kinds, drill and organized movement. He foresaw the program occupying up to thirty years before India was ready to rise. With the help of Tilak and some two others associates of the names Khasi Rao Jadav and Madhav Rao, Ghosh was, in September 1899, able to arrange for Jatindranath Bannerjee to enrol in the armed forces of the Princely State of Baroda with false papers. Tilak himself tried to arrange for Madhav Rao to obtain admission to a Russian military school, and ultimately was able to get him admitted to the Swiss Military Academy at Bern. Ghosh had worked close to the Gaekwar of Baroda, and in 1902, he establish contacts with men with similar views in Western India.
History of the Anushilan Samiti
However, although sharing some critiques against the leadership of Joseph Stalin and the Comintern, the Anushilan Marxists did not embrace Trotskyism. Buddhadeva Bhattacharya writes in 'Origins of the RSP' that the "rejection of Stalinism did not automatically mean for them [the Anushlian Samiti] acceptance of Trotskyism. Incidentally, the leninist conception of international socialist revolution is different from Trotsky's theory of Permanent Revolution which deduces the necessity of world revolution primarily from the impossibility of the numerically inferior proletariat in a semi-feudal and semi-capitalist peasant country like Russia holding power for any length of time and successfully undertaking the task of socialist construction in hand without the proletariat of the advanced countries outside the Soviet Union coming to power through an extension of sociaist revolution in these countries and coming to the aid of the proletariat of the U.S.S.R."
Anushilan Samiti
A major section of the Anushilan movement had been attracted to Marxism during the 1930s, many of them studying Marxist–Leninist literature whilst serving long jail sentences. A minority section broke away from the Anushilan movement and joined the Communist Consolidation, and later the Communist Party of India (CPI). The majority of the Anushilan Marxists did however, whilst having adopted Marxist–Leninist thinking, feel hesitant over joining the Communist Party. The Anushilanites distrusted the political lines formulated by the Communist International.They shared some critiques against the leadership of Joseph Stalin and the Comintern, but the Anushilan Marxists did not embrace Trotskyism.
Aswikrit Sahitya Andolan
The rebellious "Aswikrit Jamat" (the Rejectionists) were numbered with 16 writers. They were: Kavitaram Shrestha , Nepal Bhushan Neupane, Shailendra Sakar, Puskar Lohani, Bhau Panthi, Saket Bihari Thakur, Prakash Premi, Anjir Pradhan, Kanakdwip BaAa, Jagat Ranjan, Mohan Singh Thapa, Prem Narayan Premi, Indra Rajbhandari, Navin Prakash Jung Shah, Bishnulal Shrestha and Kashinath Tamot. Later, the number of rebels was not increased as the group perceived that the rebellion had to be through their writings but not with their name itself. Besides, one could reveal his/her unity through any forms of radical campaign.
Manjula Pradeep
In 2000, in a first for the organisation, Manjula trained 40 women to take up leadership roles in Navsarjan. She also helped organize a protest attended by around 3,000 Dalits, where the term “Dalit Shakti,” or Dalit Power was first used by Martin Macwan.
Naxalite–Maoist insurgency
In November 2007, reports emerged that anti-SEZ (Special Economic Zone) movements such as the Bhoomi Uchched Pratirodh Committee in Nandigram in West Bengal, which arose after the land appropriation and human displacement following the SEZ Act of 2005, have joined forces with the Naxalites since February to keep the police out. Recently, police found weapons belonging to Maoists near Nandigram. Civilians were forced to choose between joining the Maoist insurgence or supporting the Salwa Judum and face coercion from both sides. According to news reports, this conflict resulted in 650 deaths during 2007; of these 240 were civilians, 218 security personnel and 192 militants.
Ezhuthachan (caste)
Ezhuthachan Samajam started functioning from 1906 onwards. The first organizer was a Sanskrit scholar and a teacher Mr.Chakkulliyal Kunjunni Ezhuthachan who was a disciple of legendary Sanskrit scholar and teacher. Revered Punnasseri Nambi Neelakanta Sharma. He named the organization as "Adhyapaka Samajam". Though "Adhyapaka Samajam" made several reformations in caste customs and rituals, Kunjunni Ezhuthachan's efforts were not successful and he abandoned his project. Ezhuthachan samajam came in to being as a reality when Late Vakil P. Kumaran Ezhuthachan entered the arena. He was the real founder of the Ezhuthachan Samajam and architect of the present day Ezhuthachan community. He was also a freedom fighter, a member of the congress party and also in Cochin State Prajamandal, whose founder was Sri.V.R.Krishnan Ezhuthachan, his son-in-law. Later Mr.Krishnan Ezhuthachan stepped into the shoes of his mentor and father-in-law, Mr. Kumaran Ezhuthachan as Ezhuthachan Samajam president. Since both were immersed in Congress politics, freedom movement, peasant struggles and also in Cochin state Prajamandal, they found it difficult to continue in the Ezhuthachan Samajam movement. Towards late 1940’s Krishnan Ezhuthachan left the movement, so also Vakil. P. Kumaran Ezhuthachan. Kumaran Ezhuthachan left the movement after a personal tragedy - The death of his son P.Lakshmanakumar. After 1947 the Ezhuthachan community was orphaned and community became rudderless. There were some attempts to revitalize the community by some spirited people, but it didn’t reach anywhere. The services of Adv. Late M. Krishnankutty is to be mentioned in this context. In the Post era, from 1990’s onwards there was some resurgence in the community. From late 1990’s new thinking is visible in the community. From 2002, Mr.T.G.Ravi came into the scene and revitalized the samajam activities. The present president Prof. Dr. Lakshmanakumar is the grandson of Vakil. P. Kumaran Ezhuthachan and son of V R. Krishnan Ezhuthachan.
Abhishiktananda
Le Saux arrived to Colombo on 15 August 1948 and a few days later joined Jules Monchanin in Kulittalai (Tamil Nadu). In January 1949 the two seekers visited the ashram of one of the greatest sages of modern India, Sri Ramana Maharshi (1879 – 1950), at the foot of Arunachala mountain in Tiruvannamalai (Tamil Nadu). Le Saux's meeting with the sage had a profound effect on his life as he recounted it in his diary: "I consider this stay at Tiruvannamalai as a real retreat and at the same time as an initiation into Hindu monastic life. I want to ... enter into the great silence and peace which, as I have read and also been told, is to be found at the ashram..." The "darshana" of Sri Ramana Maharshi became for him the first introduction into the wisdom of "advaita": "In the contemporary Sage of Arunachala it was the unique Sage of eternal India that appeared to me... it was a call which pierced through everything, rent it in pieces and opened a mighty abyss."
Anushilan Samiti
In 1927, the Indian National Congress came out in favour of independence from Britain. Bengal had quietened over a four-year period, and the government released most of those interned under the Act of 1925 despite an unsuccessful attempt to forge a Jugantar-Anushilan alliance. Some younger radicals struck out in new directions, and many (young and old) took part in Congress activities such as the 1928 anti-Simon agitation. Congress leader Lala Lajpat Rai died of injuries received when police broke up a Lahore protest march in October, and Bhagat Singh and other members of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association avenged his death in December; Singh later bombed the legislative assembly. He and other HSRA members were arrested, and three went on a hunger strike in jail; Bengali bomb-maker Jatindra Nath Das persisted until his death in September 1929. The Calcutta Corporation passed a condolence resolution after his death, as did the Indian National Congress when Bhagat Singh was executed.
Mohan Kishore Namadas
He was an active member of Anushilan Samitiof Kolkata. He was sentenced for 7 years due to Netrokona Soarikanda Political action case and deported to Cellular Jail in Andaman Islands. He took part in the Hunger Strike of 1933 to protest against the inhuman treatment meted to the prisoners along with Mohit Moitra (convicted in Arms Act Case), Mahavir Singh (convicted in Second Lahore Conspiracy Case) and 30 others. He courted martyrdom on 26 May 1933 due to the brutal force feeding process. Mohit Moitra and Mahavir Singh also died during the Hunger Strike.
Emperor vs Aurobindo Ghosh and others
Aurobindo Ghosh retired from active nationalist politics after serving a prison sentence awarded in the trial, beginning his journey into spirituality and philosophy that he described as having started with revelations that occurred to him during his incarceration. He later moved to Pondicherry, establishing an "Ashram". For "Anushilan samiti", the incarceration of many of its prominent leaders led to a decline in the influence and activity of the Manicktolla branch, and its activities were overtaken by what emerged to be called the "Jugantar" branch under the leadership of Bagha Jatin.
History of the Anushilan Samiti
The first War Thesis of RSP in 1940 took the called for "turning imperialist war into civil war". But after the attack by Germany on the Soviet Union, the line of the party was clarified. RSP meant that the socialist Soviet Union had to be defended, but that the best way for Indian revolutionaries to do that was to overthrow the colonial rule in their own country. RSP was in sharp opposition to groups like Communist Party of India and the Royist RDP, who meant that antifascists had to support the Allied war effort.
Biren Dutta
When the Janshiksha Samiti ('People's Educational Association') was founded in 1945, Dutta played a key role as an organizer, albeit not officially being part of the leadership of the movement. Dutta obtained full membership in the Communist Party of India just before the 2nd party congress held in Calcutta. Dutta attended the congress. After party congress, Dutta sought to build a movement amongst the tribal people of Tripura. But soon the Tripura Government began a crack-down against the nascent communist movement. Dutta left for the hills, where he began to build a revolutionary movement, the Mukti Parishad ('Liberation Council'). Whilst Dutta was a key organizer of the movement, he did not join the executive of the organization as it was an organization of tribal people. Dutta and others in the leadership were arrested.
Hindu nationalism
In 1910, when, Aurobindo withdrew from political life and decided to live a life of renounciate, the Anushilan Samiti declined. One of the revolutionaries, Jatindra Das Mukherjee, who managed to escape the trial started a group which would be called Jugantar. Jugantar continued with its armed struggle with the British, but the arrests of its key members and subsequent trials weakened its influence. Many of its members were imprisoned for life in the notorious Andaman Cellular jail.
Anushilan Samiti
Resurgence of radical nationalism linked to the "Samiti" after the 1922s led to the passage of the Bengal Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance in 1924. This was enshrined as an act the following year. The act re-introduced extraordinary powers of detention to the police, and by 1927 more than 200 suspects had been imprisoned under the act, including Subhas Chandra Bose. The implementation of the act successfully curtailed a resurgence in nationalist violence in Bengal, at the time that the Hindustan Republican Association was rising in the United Provinces.
Angus Buchan
The Mighty Men Conference was organised by Shalom Trust and was an annual gathering of Christian men and boys who camped in the beautiful outdoors. The conference's sole purposes were to worship and to connect with God as well as to grow spiritually. The conference began with only 40 people but grew exponentially. By the sixth conference, in 2009, more than 200,000 attended. In the seventh and final conference the next year, more than 400,000 attended.
Shyamal-Saumil
In 2014, Shyamal-Saumil organized a 3-day music festival called Anushthaan, an event which the Times of India called a "spectacle for music-lovers." The event featured artists from all around Gujarat, including Parthiv Gohil, Aishwariya Majmudar, Hema Desai, Dipali Somaiyya, and nearly 50 other musicians and artists. In 2015 and 2016, the event was repeated with further critical acclaim and success, and featured a plethora of artists, a lineup which included Maati Baani, Bhoomi Trivedi, Osman Mir, Aalap Desai, Aashit Desai, the Tabla Taalim Sanstha, Rhythm Pulze, and nearly 80 other artists. The events also included dance performances by Chandan and Nirali Thakore, Maulik and Ishira Shah. Being an ensemble of the arts, Anushthaan also included several poets, stand-up comedians, and actors, who gave talks, speeches, and performances. Renowned artists like Sairam Dave, Jay Vasavda, RJ Dhvanit, Tushar Shukla, Darshan Jariwala, Harsh Brahmbhatt, Archan Trivedi, and Abhishek Jain were among the celebrities present. In 2015, the event featured Gujarat's first LED floor, and in 2016, the very first Gujarati a cappella performance was presented. New techniques like projection mapping and optical illusion dances were also performed.
Anantram Jaiswal
Anantram Jaiswal entered active politics in the 1950s. Although he was a member of the Janata Party, he was previously associated with three other political parties; viz Socialist Party, Samyukta Socialist Party and Bharatiya Lok Dal. Whilst with Samyukta Socialist Party, he became a member Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly for two terms and was also Leader of Samyukta Socialist Party in the Assembly from 1969 to 1974. Jaiswal joined the Janata Party in the mid 1970s.
Third Battle of Panipat
The Marathas, under the command of Sadashivrao Bhau, responded by gathering an army of between 45,000–60,000, which was accompanied by roughly 200,000 non-combatants, a number of whom were pilgrims desirous of making pilgrimages to Hindu holy sites in northern India. The Marathas started their northward journey from Patdur on 14 March 1760. Both sides tried to get the Nawab of Awadh, Shuja-ud-Daulah, into their camp. By late July Shuja-ud-Daulah made the decision to join the Afghan-Rohilla coalition, preferring to join what was perceived as the "army of Islam". This was strategically a major loss for the Marathas, since Shuja provided much-needed finances for the long Afghan stay in North India. It is doubtful whether the Afghan-Rohilla coalition would have the means to continue their conflict with the Marathas without Shuja's support.
Battle of Ramadi (2006)
On August 21, insurgents killed Abu Ali Jassim, a Sunni sheik who had encouraged many of his tribesmen to join the Iraqi Police. The insurgents hid the body in a field rather than returning it for a proper burial, violating Islamic law and angering Jassim's tribesmen. Following this, 40 sheiks from 20 tribes from across Al Anbar organised a movement called the "Sahwa Al Anbar" (Anbar Awakening). On September 9, Sheik Sittar organised a tribal council attended by over fifty sheiks and Col. Sean MacFarland. During this council, Sittar officially declared the Anbar Awakening underway.
Tarak Nath Das
Tarak was born at Majupara, near Kanchrapara, in the 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. Coming from a lower-middle-class family, his father Kalimohan was a clerk at the Central Telegraph Office in Calcutta. Noticing the flair of this brilliant student with the pen, his headmaster encouraged him to appear in an essay contest on the theme of patriotism. Impressed by the quality of the paper by a school boy of sixteen years, one of the judges, the Barrister P. Mitter, founder of the Anushilan Samiti, asked his associate Satish Chandra Basu to recruit the boy. On passing his Entrance Examination with very high marks, in 1901, Tarak went to Calcutta and got himself admitted to the well-known General Assembly's Institution (now Scottish Church College) for university studies. In his secret patriotic activity, he found full support from his elder sister Girija.
History of the Anushilan Samiti
The Left Consolidation Committee soon fell into pieces, as the CPI, the CSP and the Royists deserted it. Bose assembled the Anti-Compromise Conference in Ramgarh, Bihar, now Jharkhand. The Forward Bloc, the Anushilan Marxists (still members of the CSP at the time), the Labour Party and the Kisan Sabha attended the conference. The conference spelled out that no compromise towards the Britain should be made on behalf of the Indian independence movement. At that conference the Anushilan Marxists assembled to launch their own party, the "Revolutionary Socialist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)" severing all links to the CSP. The first general secretary of the party was Jogesh Chandra Chatterji.
Shashibhushan Raychaudhury
With the Alipore Bomb Case, when associations were officially banned by repressive laws, Bagha Jatin and other leaders of the Anushilan Samiti started the Bengal Youngmen’s Zamindari Co-operative Society in the Sundarban area: "the idea was to place revolutionary young men in the rural agricultural sector (…), organising small-scale cottage industries and swadeshi stores…," remembers Arun Chandra Guha. Others went to Shashida’s village. In 1909, Shashida was to leave for Dehra Dun as a private tutor at the house of Prafullanath Tagore; on learning that Rasbehari Bose was suspected by the Police of involvement in the bomb making, Shashida arranged to send Bose to Dehra Dun for safety. He himself went to Daulatpur College as the Superintendent of its hostel. He shared his room with Manindranath Seth, the Vice-Principal and member of the secret society, and Bhupendra Kumar Datta, a brilliant student leader : all the three were to be arrested in 1917. Every morning and evening, after some physical culture, the students assembled for meditating, accompanied by select readings, and devotional and patriotic songs conducted by Shashida. Since 1911, drawn by Shashida and the promising students he had been training, Bagha Jatin visited the campus, while touring these districts regularly. Advised by the latter, the students took to intensive riding, rowing and military drills. In 1913, Shashida formed a volunteers’ corps to assist Jatin in the Damodar flood relief. Shattered by the sudden martyrdom of Bagha Jatin in 1915, in the teeth of massive arrests under the Defence of India Act, Shashida with his students concentrated on social work, while helping the stray revolutionaries to reorganise the party. He was arrested in 1917. Judging from the state of this TB patient, the Government decided to home intern him with his wife Urmila Devi, his daughters Rani and Durga, and son Ashok, first in Daulatpur, then in Khulna. Released in 1919, Shashida returned to Tegharia to improve the status of his school and to campaign against malaria. In spite of his poor health, he maintained his social activities till his death in April 1922.
History of the Anushilan Samiti
In 1927 the Indian National Congress came out in favour of complete independence from Britain. Bengal had quitened relatively within these four years and the government released most of those interned under the Act of 1925. There was an attempt, ultimately unsuccessful, to forge a Jugantar-Anushilan alliance at this time. Some of the younger radicals struck out in new directions, while many, young and old, took part in Congress activities, such as the anti-Simon agitation of 1928. Congress leader Lala Lajpat Rai succumbed to wounds received when police broke up a Lahore protest-march in October. Bhagat Singh and other members of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association avenged his death in December. Later Bhagat Singh boldly threw a bomb into the Legislative Assembly. He and other HSRA members were arrested, and three of them attracted wide attention by going on a hunger strike in jail. Bengali bomb-maker Jatindra Nath Das persisted until his death in September 1929. The Calcutta Corporation passed a resolution of sorrow and condolence after his martyrdom, as did the Indian National Congress when Bhagat Singh was executed.
Anushilan Samiti
When the "Samiti" first came into prominence following the Muzaffarpur killings, its ideology was felt to be influenced by European anarchism. Lord Minto resisted the notion that its action may be the manifestation of political grievance by concluding that: 
However others disagreed. John Morley was of the opinion that political violence exemplified by the "Samiti" were manifestations of Indian antagonism to the government, and was running a natural course which was culminating in assassinations. Historians conclude that although there were influences of European nationalism and philosophies of liberalism. In Bengal at large, through the decades 1860s and 1870s, there arose large numbers of "akhras", or gymnasiums consciously designed along the lines of the Italian Carbonari which drew the youth. These were influenced by the works of Italian nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini and his Young Italy movement. Aurobindo himself studied the revolutionary nationalism of Ireland, France and America. Hem Chandra Das, during his stay in Paris, is also noted to have interacted with European radical nationalists in the city, returning to India an atheist and Marxist.
Kanshi Ram
Kanshi Ram (15 March 1934 – 9 October 2006), also known as Bahujan Nayak or Saheb, was an Indian politician and social reformer who worked for the upliftment and political mobilisation of the Bahujans, the untouchable groups at the bottom of the caste system in India. Towards this end, Kanshi Ram founded Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti (DS-4), the All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees' Federation (BAMCEF) in 1971 and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 1984. He ceded leadership of the BSP to his protégé Mayawati who has served four terms as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
History of the Anushilan Samiti
The void arising from the precipitous decline of the Mughal Empire from the early decades of the 18th century allowed emerging powers to grow in the Indian subcontinent. These included the Sikh Confederacy, the Maratha Confederacy, "Nizamiyat", the local nawabs of Oudh and Bengal and other smaller powers. Each was a strong regional power influenced by its religious and ethnic identity. However, the East India Company ultimately emerged as the predominant power. Amongst the results of the social, economic and political changes instituted in the country throughout the greater part of the 18th century was the growth of the Indian middle class. Although from different backgrounds and different parts of India, this middle class and its varied political leaderships contributed to a growing "Indian identity". The realisation and refinement of this concept of national identity fed a rising tide of nationalism in India in the last decades of the 1800s.
Anushilan Samiti
At least initially, membership was predominantly Hindus, which was ascribed to the religious oath of initiation and was unacceptable to Muslims. Each member was assigned to one or more of three roles. These included collection of funds, implementation of planned actions and propaganda respectively. In practice, however, the fundamental division was between what was conceived as "military’’ work and ‘‘civil’’ work. "Dal"s (teams) consisting of five or ten members led by a "dalpati" (teamleader) were grouped together in local "samiti"s led by "adhyakshas" (executive officer) and other officers. These reported to district officers appointed by and responsible to the central Dhaka organization. This was commanded by Pulin Das and those who succeeded him during his periods of imprisonment. "Samitis" were divided into four functional groups: violence, organisation, keepers of arms, householder department. Communications were by special couriers and were written in secret code. This practice and many others were taken from literary sources and were in part a concession to the young men’s need to act out romantic drama. Less is known about the "Jugantar" network, which took the place of the Maniktala society after Alipore Bomb case. It faced divisions similar to "Anushilan". Historian Leonard Gordon notes that at least in the period between 1910 and 1915, each group "dal" in the "Jugantar" network were separate units composed of a leader known as "dada" ("lit": elder brother), and his followers. The "dada" was also guru, tutoring those under his command, practical skills, revolutionary ideology and strategy. Gordon suggests that the dada system developed out of pre-existing social structures in rural Bengal. "Dada"s both co-operated and competed with each other for men, money and material.
Amanullah Khan (politician)
Amanullah Khan was a politician in Hyderabad Old City. Khan joined the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen in 1960. He contested from the Chandrayangutta Assembly segment for the first time in 1978 and won against the Indian Congress nominee, K. Baliah. Amanullah Khan retained the seat five terms. He represented Chandrayangutta assembly constituency between 1978 and 1994. Four times he was elected as an AIMIM candidate (1978, 1983, 1985, and 1989) and in 1994 as an MBT candidate. Amanullah Khan retained the seat five terms. He represented Chandrayangutta constituency between 1978 and 1999. Four times he was elected as an AIMIM candidate and in 1994 as an MBT candidate. In 1999 he ran as an MBT candidate, but was defeated by AIMIM candidate Akbaruddin Owaisi. He was also the founder of Majlis Bachao Tehreek save majlis movement and was its president at the time of his death on 10 November 2002.
History of the Anushilan Samiti
Western Anushilan Samiti in the aftermath of Manicktala Conspiracy found more prominent leader in Jatindra Nath Mukherjee which emerged distinctly as the "Jugantar group". Meanwhile, Rash Behari Bose extended the groups reach into north India, where he found work in the Indian Forest Institute in Dehra Dun. Mukherjee took over the leadership of the secret society to be known as the Jugantar Party. He revitalised the links between the central organisation in Calcutta and its several branches spread all over Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and several places in U.P., and opened hideouts in the Sunderbans for members who had gone underground The group slowly reorganised guided by Mukherjee's efforts, aided by an emerging leadership which included Amarendra Chatterjee, Naren Bhattacharya and other younger leaders. Some of its younger members including Taraknath Das left India. Through the next two years, the organisation operated under the covers of two seemingly detached organisations, "Sramajeebi Samabaya" (The Labourer's cooperative) and Harry & Sons. At around this time, Jatin began attempts to establish contacts with the 10th Jat Regiment then garrisoned at Fort William in Calcutta. Narendra Nath carried out through this time a number of robberies to obtain funds. In the meantime, However, a second blow came in 1910 when Shamsul Alam, a Bengal Police officer then preparing a conspiracy case against the group, was assassinated by an associate of Jatindranath by the name of Biren Dutta Gupta. The assassination led to the arrests which ultimately precipitated the Howrah-Sibpur Conspiracy Case.
Bhavabhushan Mitra
“Following the arrest of the Manicktola conspirators and the legal onslaught on the Calcutta Anushilan Samiti (1908–1909), (…) [Jatin Mukherjee’s] appearance on the scene just at this juncture was a god-send to the revolutionary workers. Very soon he plunged himself deeply into politics, secretly undertaking missionary tours through the districts of Howrah, Nadia, Khulna, Jessore, Rajsahi and 24 Parganas and setting up secret societies in each district under the command of a local leader.”.
Nani Bhattacharya
In early life, he was a member of Anushilan Samiti. In 1940, he played an important role in the founding of the Revolutionary Socialist Party.
Anushilan Samiti
Shortly after its inception, the organisation became the focus of an extensive police and intelligence operation which led to the founding of the Special branch of the Calcutta Police. Notable officers who led the police and intelligence operations against the "Samiti" at various times included Sir Robert Nathan, Sir Harold Stuart, Sir Charles Stevenson-Moore and Sir Charles Tegart. The threat posed by the activities of the "Samiti" in Bengal during World War I, along with the threat of a Ghadarite uprising in Punjab, led to the passage of Defence of India Act 1915. These measures enabled the arrest, internment, transportation and execution of a number of revolutionaries linked to the organisation, which crushed the East Bengal Branch. In the aftermath of the war, the Rowlatt committee recommended extending the Defence of India Act (as the Rowlatt Act) to thwart any possible revival of the "Samiti" in Bengal and the Ghadarite movement in Punjab. After the war, the activities of the party led to implementation of the Bengal Criminal Law Amendment in the early 1920s, which reinstated the powers of incarceration and detention from the Defence of India Act. However, the "Anushilan Samiti" gradually disseminated into the Gandhian movement. Some of its members left for the Indian National Congress then led by Subhas Chandra Bose, while others identified more closely with Communism. The "Jugantar" branch formally dissolved in 1938. In independent India, the party in West Bengal evolved into the Revolutionary Socialist Party, while the Eastern Branch later evolved into the "Shramik Krishak Samajbadi Dal" (Workers and Peasants Socialist Party) in present-day Bangladesh.
Nankana massacre
The combined Jatha took a Hukamnama and started for the Gurdwara at about 10 PM on that night so as to reach there by early morning at "Amrit vela" (nectral hours). On the way 50 more Sikhs joined the "Shaheedi Jatha" and total number swelled to about 200.
At Chanderkot Jhal, Jathedar Lachhman Singh decided to wait for Kartar Singh Jhabber and his Jatha. They waited for a while in vain and finally Jathedar Dharowali decided to cancel the plan for further march to Nankana Sahib. But at this very moment, Jathedar Tehal Singh came forward and addressed the Shaheedi Jatha not to vacillate even for a moment from forward march since ""the prayers having already been said and the action plan having already been decided with Guru's word, it is now imperative for now to move forward"". Advising further that ""all the members shall keep cool even under extreme provocations"". From here-onwards, Jathedar Tehal Singh took over the supreme command of the Shaheedi Jatha and resumed the march to Nankana. By almost at "Amritvela", the Shaheedi Jatha reached the Railway-crossing near Nankana Sahib. Some of the Jatha members raced towards Darshani Deori to take possession of the Gurdawara, but at this very moment, Chaudhury Paul Singh Lyallpuri showed up "with the latest decision of Shiromani Committee advising to postpone the action for taking possession of the Gurdwara". Having conveyed the information, Bhai Paul Singh grabbed Jathedar Lachhman Singh from his waist behind and persuaded him not to proceed further. Once again, Jathedar Tehal Singh took the initiative and shaking Chaudhury Paul Singh forcefully off from the person of Jathedar Lachhman Singh, he once more challenged the Shaheedi Jatha to get ready for the sublime action. He once again spoke: "" Khalsa ji, the time is not to stop now, but to act. We have come here to achieve martyrdom under Guru's word. This is very un-Sikh-like to backout from one's commitment at the last moment" " Saying this, Tehal Singh walked with the Jatha towards the Gurdwara. Lachhman Singh and others repeatedly requested him to relent, but Tehal Singh stuck to his Ardās.
Golaghat Convention
The All Assam Students Union (AASU), under the leadership of "Prafulla Kumar Mahanta" (President) and late "Bhrigu Kumar Phukan" (General Secretary), and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP), reached out to the union Government of India demanding removal of several million illegal infiltrators from across the borders. This rapidly turned into a social movement throughout the state, and the Assam Movement was born in 1979.
Anushilan Samiti
As the Congress-led movement picked up its pace during the early 1930s, some former revolutionaries identified with the Gandhian political movement and became influential Congressmen (notably Surendra Mohan Ghose). Many Bengali Congressmen also maintained links with the Anushilan groups, and their revolutionary ideology and approach had not died away. In April 1930, Surya Sen and his associates raided the Chittagong Armoury. The Gandhi-led Salt March also saw the most active period of revolutionary terrorism in Bengal since World War I. In 1930 eleven British officials were killed, notably during the Writer’s Building raid of December 1930 by Benoy Basu, Dinesh Gupta and Badal Gupta. Three successive district magistrates in Midnapore were assassinated, and dozens of other actions were carried out during the first half of the decade. Although by 1931 a record 92 violent incidents were recorded, including the murders of the British magistrates of Tippera and Midnapore, the terrorist movement in Bengal may be said to have ended in 1934.