Jamuna Karjee (1898-1953) was an Indian independence activist.

Biography

Early life and education

Yamuna Karjee was born in a small village name Deopar near Pusa in

Darbhanga Darbhanga is the fifth-largest city and municipal corporation in the Indian state of Bihar situated centrally in Mithila region. Darbhanga is the headquarters of the Darbhanga district and the Darbhanga division. It was the seat of the erstw ...

District of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

in 1900. His father Anu Karjee was a farmer who died when Yamuna Karjee was just 6 months old. From his school days itself, he was drawn towards India’s freedom struggle and the Kisan Movement and Peasant movement under

Sahajanand Saraswati Sahajanand Saraswati( real name Navrang Rai ) (22 February 1889 – 26 June 1950) was an ascetic, a nationalist and a peasant leader of India. Although born in United Province ( present-day Uttar Pradesh), his social and political activities ...

's leadership. In the peasant movement he became a close associate of other revolutionary peasant leaders like

Karyanand Sharma Karyanand Sharma (1901–1965) was a nationalist and peasant leader who led movements against zamindars and the British. Biography Karyanand Sharma was born in a middle class Bhumihar Brahmin family of Sahoor village in Munger (British India) no ...

Yadunandan Sharma Yadunandan Sharma (also spelled Jddunandan) (1896–1975) was an Indian peasant leader and national liberation figure from the Indian state of Bihar. He had started a movement for the rights of tillers against the zamindars and Britishers at ''Reo ...

and Panchanan Sharma. For higher studies he went to the

Presidency College, Kolkata Presidency University, Kolkata (formerly known as Presidency College, Kolkata) is a second major public state aided research university located in College Street, Kolkata. Considered as one of best colleges when Presidency College was affili ...

, and also obtained a degree in Law. In Calcutta he came in contact with several freedom fighters and Congress leaders like

Bidhan Chandra Roy Bidhan Chandra Roy (1 July 1882 – 1 July 1962) was an Indian physician, educationist, and statesman who served as Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1948 until his death in 1962. Roy played a key role in the founding of several institutio ...

Sri Krishna Sinha Shri Krishna Sinha (21 October 1887 – 31 January 1961), also known as Shri Babu, was the first chief minister of the Indian state of Bihar (1946–61). Except for the period of World War II, Sinha was the chief minister of Bihar from the time ...

and

Rahul Sankrityayan Rahul Sankrityayan (born Kedarnath Pandey; 9 April 1893 – 14 April 1963) was an Indian writer and a polyglot who wrote in Hindi. He played a pivotal role in giving travelogue a 'literary form'. He was one of the most widely travelled scholars ...

Career

Spurning the offers of several government jobs, he became a Hindi journalist of repute. He joined the editorial wing of Hindi weekly ''Bharat Mitra'' published in Calcutta. He also took part in Gandhiji’s non cooperation movement from 1920–21 and was jailed in 1929-30 for taking part in civil disobedience movement and Namak Satyagrah. He won the first election for Bihar and Orissa Assembly in 1937 as a Congress candidate. He along with Rahul Sankritayan,

Ramdhari Singh Dinkar Ramdhari Singh (23 September 1908 – 24 April 1974), known by his pen name Dinkar, was an Indian Hindi and Maithili language poet, essayist, freedom fighter, patriot and academic. He emerged as a poet of rebellion as a consequence of his ...

and other popular Hindi authors and academics started publishing a Hindi weekly named ''Hunkar'' from Bihar in 1940. This work was guided by his respected Gandhian friend and relative Bashishtha Narayan Sharma, a Graduate from Presidency College Calcutta who refused to join Bihar Provincial Services, popularly known as Guruji (Master Saheb).'' Hunkar'' later became the mouthpiece of the peasant movement and the agrarian movement in Bihar. Yamuna Karjee was also the President of the Kisan Sabha for some time. (For role of Pandit Yamuna Karjee in Peasant movement please also see Chapter 5: The Making of Kisan as a Class - Shodhganga - shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/14428/10/10_chapter%205.pdf)

Death and afterward

He died of cancer in October 1953 at an early age of 53. After his untimely demise the peasant movement lost momentum in Bihar and became rudderless. His name also appears in

Bipan Chandra Bipan Chandra (24 May 1928 – 30 August 2014) was an Indian historian, specialising in economic and political history of modern India. An emeritus professor of modern history at Jawaharlal Nehru University, he specialized on the Indian ind ...

's masterpiece India's Struggle for Independence. There is a college near

Muzaffarpur Muzaffarpur () is a city located in Muzaffarpur district in the Tirhut region of the Indian state of Bihar. It serves as the headquarters of the Tirhut division, the Muzaffarpur district and the Muzaffarpur Railway District. It is the fourth m ...

named after Yamuna Karjee. Family : Pandit Yamuna Karjee had four sons Mahesh Karjee, Umesh Karjee, Dr. Akhilesh Karjee, Rajesh Karjee and three daughters. His grandson Devesh Kumar is the Vice President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bihar since 30 March 2017(source: Dainik Bhaskar, 18 October 2014).

References

External links

*http://www.virginia.edu/soasia/symsem/kisan/papers/swami.html http://she.bhaskar.com/article/BIH-PAT-devesh-made-state-bjp-spokesperson-bihar-news-4780260-NOR.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Karjee, Yamuna 1898 births 1953 deaths Presidency University, Kolkata alumni University of Calcutta alumni Indian independence activists from Bihar People from Darbhanga