Kalpana Datta (27 July 1913 – 8 February 1995), also Kalpana Joshi, was an

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

activist and a member of the armed independence movement led by Surya Sen, which carried out the

Chittagong armoury raid The Chittagong armoury raid, also known as the Chittagong uprising, was an attempt on 18 April 1930 to raid the armoury of police and auxiliary forces from the Chittagong armoury in the Bengal Presidency of British India (now in Bangladesh) b ...

in 1930. Later she joined the Communist Party of India and married Puran Chand Joshi, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India in 1943.

Early life

Kalpana Datta (also commonly spelled Dutta) was born to a

Baidya Baidya or Vaidya is a Hindu community located in Bengal. Baidyas, a caste ('' jāti'') of Ayurvedic physicians, have long had pre-eminence in society alongside Brahmins and Kayasthas. In the colonial era, the Bhadraloks were drawn primarily, b ...

family in Sripur, a village of Chittagong District in the Bengal Province of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

(Sripur is now located in

Boalkhali Upazila Boalkhali ( bn, বোয়ালখালী) is an upazila of Chattogram District in Chattogram Division, Bangladesh. Geography Boalkhali is located at . It previously had 33514 households and its total area is 145.44 km2. According t ...

in Bangladesh). Her father Binod Behari Dattagupta was a government employee. After passing her

matriculation examination A matriculation examination or matriculation exam is a university entrance examination, which is typically held towards the end of secondary school. After passing the examination, a student receives a school leaving certificate recognising academi ...

in 1929 in Chittagong, she went to

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

and joined the Bethune College to study science. Soon, she joined the ''

Chhatri Sangha The Chhatri Sangha (Girls' Students' Association) was an Indian women's student organization. It recruited and trained women revolutionaries, organized study circles and gave lessons in cycling, driving and armed warfare. It functioned as the girls' ...

'' (Women Students Association), a semi-revolutionary organization in which

Bina Das Bina Das (24 August 1911—1986) was an Indian revolutionary and nationalist from West Bengal. Biography Early life and education Das was the daughter of a Brahmo teacher, Beni Madhab Das and a social worker, Sarala Devi. Her elder sister ...

and

Pritilata Waddedar Pritilata Waddedar (5 May 1911 – 24 September 1932) was an Indian revolutionary nationalist from the Indian subcontinent who was influential in the Indian independence movement. After completing her education in Chittagong and Dhaka, she att ...

were also active member's.

Armed independence movement

The Chittagong armoury raid was carried out on 18 April 1930. Kalpana joined the " Indian Republican Army, Chattagram branch," the armed resistance group led by Surya Sen, in May 1931. In September 1931 Surya Sen entrusted her along with

to attack the European Club in Chittagong. A week before the attack, she was arrested while carrying out reconnaissance of the area. She went into hiding after her release on bail. On 16 February 1933, the police encircled their hiding place in Gairala village. During this raid, Surya Sen was arrested but Kalpana managed to escape. To free Surya she tried to bomb the jail with explosives but failed. Kalpana was finally arrested on 19 May 1933. In the second supplementary trial of the Chittagong armoury raid case, Kalpana was sentenced to

transportation Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...

for life. She was released in 1939.

Later life

Kalpana Datta graduated from the

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...

in 1940 and joined the Communist Party of India. She served as a relief worker during the

1943 Bengal famine The Bengal famine of 1943 was a famine in the Bengal province of British India (present-day Bangladesh, West Bengal and eastern India) during World War II. An estimated 0.8 to 3.8 million Bengalis perished, out of a population of 60.3 millio ...

and during the Partition of Bengal. She wrote an autobiographical book in Bengali "চট্টগ্রাম অস্ত্রাগার আক্রমণকারীদের স্মৃতিকথা" which was translated into English by Arun Bose & Nikhil Chakraborty with a preface by her husband Com. P. C. Joshi, a communist leader, as "Chittagong Armoury Raiders: Reminiscences," published in English in October 1945. In 1946, she contested in the elections for the Bengal Legislative Assembly as a Communist Party of India candidate from Chittagong but could not win. Later, she joined the

Indian Statistical Institute Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) is a higher education and research institute which is recognized as an Institute of National Importance by the 1959 act of the Indian parliament. It grew out of the Statistical Laboratory set up by Prasanta ...

where she worked until her retirement. She died in

on 8 February 1995.

Nikhil Chakravartty Nikhil Chakravartty (1913–1998) was an Indian journalist. Biography Chakravartty was born on 3 November 1913 in India's northeastern state of Assam. He was the founder-editor of the respected current affairs weekly ''Mainstream''. He gradua ...

, Kalpana Dutt's obituary in Mainstream, 18 February 1995.

Personal life

In 1943, she married the then General Secretary of the Communist Party of India, Puran Chand Joshi. They had two sons: Chand and Suraj. Chand Joshi (1946-2000) was a noted journalist, who worked for the

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...

. He was also known for his work, Bhindranwale: Myth and Reality(1985).Chand's wife Manini (née Chatterjee) penned a book on the Chattagram armoury raid, titled'', "''Do and Die: The Chattagram Uprising 1930-34''."''

Artistic depictions

In 2010,

Deepika Padukone Deepika Padukone ( or ; born 5 January 1986) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. She is one of the highest-paid actresses in India, and her accolades include three Filmfare Awards. She features in listings of the nation's most po ...

starred as Kalpana Datta and

Abhishek Bachchan Abhishek Bachchan (born 5 February 1976) is an Indian actor and film producer known for his work in Hindi films. Part of the Bachchan family, he is the son of actors Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan and the grandson of poet Harivansh Rai Bach ...

starred as Surya Sen, in a

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

movie, ''

Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey ''Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey'' () is an Indian Hindi-language historical action-adventure film directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and released on 3 December 2010. Starring Abhishek Bachchan, Deepika Padukone and Sikandar Kher, it was based on Manini ...

'', which dealt with the

and its aftermath. Another movie, '' Chittagong'', was released on 12 October 2012, based on the uprising. It was produced and directed by Bedabrata Pain, an ex-NASA scientist.

References

External links

Women in India and Pakistan: The Struggle for Independence from British Rule (Part 3)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Datta, Kalpana Indian revolutionaries Communist Party of India politicians from West Bengal 1913 births 1995 deaths Bethune College alumni University of Calcutta alumni Women in West Bengal politics Women in war 1900–1945 Indian women of World War II 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian politicians Indian independence activists from West Bengal Women Indian independence activists Female politicians of the Communist Party of India Female revolutionaries