Long Live Martyrs Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chandra Chaki!
The Eastern Leg of the Kisan Mukti Yatra concluded on 5th November, 2017 at the Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chandra Chaki Martyrs’ Memorial at Muzaffarpur, Bihar.
Khudiram Bose (3 December 1889 – 11 August 1908) was one of the youngest in the revolutionary movement for Indian independence. On the day of his hanging, he was only 18 years, 8 months and 8 days old. His Comrade Prafulla Chandra Chaki (10 December 1888 – 2 May 1908) was associated with the Jugantar group of revolutionaries.
Prafulla Chandra Chaki along with Khudiram Bose was chosen for the murdering of Kingsford, the magistrate of Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Kingsford during his previous tenure as the Chief the Presidency Magistrate of Calcutta was unpopular for passing harsh and cruel sentences on young political workers of Bengal. He was also noted for inflicting corporal punishments on such workers. This led to the planning of his murder, and Chaki and Bose were selected and sent to Muzaffarpur to execute this task.
Khudiram and Prafulla watched the usual movements of Kingsford and prepared a plan to kill him. In the evening of 30 April 1908, the duo waited in front of the gate of European Club for the carriage of Kingsford to come. When a vehicle came out of the gate, a bomb was thrown into the carriage. There was a mistake of identification by them, as the vehicle was not carrying Kingsford, but wife and daughter of Mr Pringle Kennedy, a leading pleader of Muzaffarpur Bar. The daughter died soon and his wife succumbed to her injuries. The revolutionaries escaped.
Prafulla and Khudiram decided for separate routes to escape. At Mokama Ghat railway station commotion and a short chase ensued. Prafulla was soon cornered and was about to get arrested when he took his own life by firing two shots one at the forehead and the other on the left side of his chest at the head. His head was then severed from his body and sent to Calcutta for further identification by Khudiram who was captured. Khudiram was later arrested and was hanged to death. The police inspector Nandalal Banerjee who identified Prafulla and was responsible for his death was assassinated by two young revolutionary, Srishh Pal and Ranen Ganguly.
The members of the Kisan Mukti Yatra paid tributes to the Martyrs amidst shouting of revolutionary slogans. Hannan Mollah General Secretary of AIKS and Rajaram Singh General Secretary of AIKMS addressed the gathering. The fourth leg of the Yatra concluded on an inspiring note.
