In the port city of Chittagong in Bangladesh, activists recently organised a protest meeting, demanding that the government restore the Pahartali European Club as the Pritilata Memorial Museum. It would be a fitting tribute to Pritilata Waddedar, the 21-year-old revolutionary who led an attack against the symbol of colonial dominance on the night of 23 September 1932. The club displayed its superiority proudly with a signboard that proclaimed, ‘Dogs and Indians not allowed’.
Dressed as a Punjabi man, she and a few others—all part of the revolutionary leader Surya Sen’s ‘Indian Republican Army, Chittagong Branch’—made their way to the Club that night. A woman leading an armed attack was rare, but in less than a year of joining Sen and his revolutionaries, Waddedar had impressed even her detractors with her commitment to ending the British Raj.
This wasn’t her first armed encounter with the British as part of Sen’s armed resistance. She had also participated in the Chittagong armoury raid on 18 April 1930, alongside freedom fighter Kalpana Datta. Sen’s plan was to capture two major British armouries in Chittagong, disable the telephone and telegraph lines, and utilise the captured weapons. Although one group managed to capture the armouries, they couldn’t locate the cache of weapons and ammunition. Nevertheless, they successfully disrupted communication and railway lines between Chittagong and the rest of Bengal.
An inspiration for other women
Despite being just 21 years old, Waddedar was more than ready to lead the attack on the European Club, especially since Datta had been arrested by then. Accounts differ on the exact timing of the attack, with some stating it was launched around 10:45 pm, while others claim the group reached their target around midnight. They set the building on fire and started shooting. There were 40-odd people in the club, including armed British officers and guards who opened fire in retaliation. Several club members were injured, and as the group was fleeing, Waddedar was hit by a bullet.
While the rest of the team fled, Waddedar was badly injured. Instead of becoming a prisoner, she chose to consume potassium cyanide. Her body was discovered and identified by the police the next day.
In her diary, she wrote that Sen had placed the “mantle of leadership” on her to “let the English learn and the world take notice that women of our country are no longer lagging behind.” According to Sandip Bandyopadhyay in ‘Women in the Bengal Revolutionary Movement,’ her resolve and sacrifice inspired many.
The police also found a leaflet on her body, in which she expressed hope that “our sisters would no longer nurse the view that they are weak”. She envisioned armed women of India “will demolish thousand hurdles, disregard thousand dangers and join the rebellion and the armed struggle for freedom”.
The attack on the club is depicted in Ashutosh Gowariker’s 2010 film ‘Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey’ where actor Visakha Singh plays Waddedar. Two years later, Bedabrata Pain’s historical drama, Chittagong (2012) was released, starring Vega Tamotia as Waddedar and Manoj Bajpayee as Sen.
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Teacher-turned-revolutionary
Among the statues of freedom fighters, including Bose, Gandhi, and Tilak in Kolkata’s Maidan, stands one of Waddedar. She stands proudly in a sari, one arm stretched outwards.
Pritilata Waddeder was born in Dhalghat village in Patiya Upazila of Chittagong on 5 May 1911, in a middle-class family. She passed the intermediate examination from Eden College, Dhaka in 1929, securing first place. After two years, she graduated in Philosophy with distinction from Bethune College, Calcutta.
As a school student in an undivided India increasingly chafing under British rule, Waddedar was inspired by women freedom fighters. As a teenager studying at Eden College in Dhaka, she drew inspiration from freedom fighter Leela Nag, a close associate of Subhash Chandra Bose. Nag led a revolutionary group that trained women in combat. During her time at Bethune College, she met Surya Sen and freedom fighter Bina Das, who attempted to shoot Bengal Governor Stanley Jackson at the convocation hall at Calcutta University in 1932, the same day she was due to receive her degree.
Waddedar eventually returned to Chittagong and took up teaching as her profession, becoming the headmistress of Nandankanan Aparna Charan English Medium Secondary School.
Like Bina Das, the British authorities also refused to award Waddedar a degree. In 2012, Calcutta University posthumously awarded degrees to both these freedom fighters. A duplicate of Waddedar’s certificate was handed to the Bangladesh High Commission by the university vice-chancellor. The certificate spelt Waddedar’s name as ‘Waddar’, as per their records.
(Edited by Prashant)