Portrait of a Revolutionary

T Vijayendra

Most schools in India have a Principal’s room and a hall–particularly in South India, where investment in schools is better. Both rooms carry galleries of portraits of freedom fighters. The Principal’s room will have Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and NetajiSubhash Bose whereas down the hall, there will be revolutionaries–Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad etc.

Nowhere has this writer seen a portrait of a revolutionary of the late 60s–the Naxalites! In spite of several studies by the state and universities about the socio-economic character of the movement, the state continues to treat them as a ‘security’ issue and wants to gun down their leaders!

In spite of that, the State could not prevent publication of several memoirs, books, films, theatre and songs! This *book is one such publication!

There are several special features of this book. First of all, it is fairly large. Then it is bilingual–there are 19 pieces In English and 35 pieces in Bengali!

Since so many people have written, obviously, there will be repetitions!

Subhas was a postgraduate student of statistics at Calcutta University. What emerges is a portrait of a complete revolutionary.

He was a good student organiser. A good teacher. A good field worker. Extremely well-read person. A good theoretician, a good author and a good translator!

Timir, the present editor of Frontier, was a student of Geology in the same hostel. They combined their energies and emerged as good organisers.

In the latter half of the ‘70s, both were arrested. They came out after a year and Subhas got engaged in the release of political prisoners, forming APDR–Association of Protection of Democratic Rights. Since then, civil rights have become a major movement in India!

Subhas also engaged in the school maths curriculum with the HSTP programme.

Thus, he was a many-sided personality–a sophisticated individual! That is how revolutionaries are!

Subhas passed away on November 6, 2023.

*Subhas Chandra Ganguly
A Commemorative Collection of Life Sketches in English and Bengali
Edited by Frontier Collective,
First Published July 2024
Germinal Publications Pvt. Ltd.
Pp 319, Price Rs. 500

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Vol 58, No. 4, Jul 20 - 26, 2025