Prafulla Chandra Ghosh (24 December 1891 – 18 December 1983) was the first Premier of West Bengal,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

from 15 August 1947 to 14 August 1948. He also served as the

Chief Minister of West Bengal The Chief Minister of West Bengal is the representative of the Government of India in the state of West Bengal and the head of the executive branch of the Government of West Bengal. The chief minister is head of the Council of Ministers and ap ...

in the "Progressive Democratic Alliance Front" government from 2 November 1967 to 20 February 1968.

Early life

Prafulla Chandra Ghosh was born in a Yadav Family on 24 December 1891 at a remote village, Malikanda, in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...

district,

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 ...

(now

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

) as son of Purna Chandra Ghosh and Binodini Devi. Both his parents were religious devout and simple persons. Prafulla Ghosh was a brilliant student throughout his academic life and always stood first with scholarship. Prafulla had very rural upbringing and enjoyed cultural festivals such as Jatra, Kirtan, Padavali Gan, and also participated in agricultural activities. Prafulla first attended Jagannath College and then moved to Dhaka where he graduated with B. A. (First Class First) and B. Sc (Chemistry) in 1913. In 1916, he obtained his M. A. and M. Sc (Chemistry) as first class first in both. Immediately, he joined research in Chemistry at Dhaka University. In 1919, he joined Presidency College, Calcutta as Demonstrator. In Jan 1920, he started work at Calcutta Mint as ASA master and he was the first Indian to be employed in that position. He was awarded doctorate in 1920 in Chemistry by

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 ...

Political life

Ghosh developed an interest in the

Swadeshi Movement The Swadeshi movement was a self-sufficiency movement that was part of the Indian independence movement and contributed to the development of Indian nationalism. Before the BML Government's decision for the partition of Bengal was made public in ...

early on, but was most impressed and inspired by the ideas of armed revolution propagated by the Dhaka

Anushilan Samiti Anushilan Samiti ( bn, অনুশীলন সমিতি, , bodybuilding society) was an Indian fitness club, which was actually used as an underground society for anti-British revolutionaries. In the first quarter of the 20th century it su ...

, which he joined in 1909. However, the methods of the Samiti for raising money through theft and then defending the same in Court eventually alienated him, and he finally quit in 1913 to focus on academia. During the same time, while working for the Damodar flood relief, he met

Surendranath Banerjee Sir Surendranath Banerjee often known as Rashtraguru ( bn, Rāṣṭraguru, Teacher of the Nation; 10 November 18486 August 1925) was Indian nationalist leader during the British Rule. He founded a nationalist organization called the Indian Nat ...

and other moderate leaders. Yogendra Nath Saha introduced him to the non-violent principles of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

. At the beginning, Gandhian principles did not impress him but he was moved by Gandhi's speech at Dhaka in December 1920 and soon afterwards met with him in Calcutta. In January 1921, he resigned from his position at the Calcutta Mint and along with other members of the Anami Sangh joined the Freedom Struggle.

Family

His great-granddaughter is Priyanka Yoshikawa, who won the 2016 Miss World Japan contest.

Bibliography

* ''The theory of profits'' * ''India as known to ancient and mediaeval Europe'' * ''Mahatma Gandhi, as I saw him'' * ''West today'' * ''Jībana-smr̥tira bhūmikā'' * ''Mahātmā Gāndhī'' * ''Prācīna Bhāratīẏa sabhyatāra itihāsa''

References

1891 births 1983 deaths Bengali Hindus Politicians from Kolkata University of Calcutta alumni Chief Ministers of West Bengal University of Calcutta faculty Chief ministers from Indian National Congress Indian National Congress politicians from West Bengal 20th-century Indian politicians People from Dhaka District Pogose School alumni {{WestBengal-INC-politician-stub