Wednesday, 26 May 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
Institute recalls Rash Behari Bose’s revolutionary activities while working as a clerk here
Forest Research Institute (FRI) celebrated the 135th birth anniversary of revolutionary Rash Behari Bose on Tuesday through virtual mode. Bose had also worked as a head clerk here at the institute during the freedom struggle. Director general of Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICRE) and FRI director Arun Singh Rawat was the chief guest on the occasion.
Rawat said that one of the most prominent Indian revolutionaries, Bose played a crucial role in the Indian freedom movement from his part in the Delhi conspiracy to the formation of the Indian National Army. Bose joined the government press in Shimla as per his father’s wish. He was appointed the copy-holder in the press and was able to master English and typewriting. Later he worked in Kasauli but with a mind full of enthusiasm and patriotism Bose was not happy with such kind of jobs. He came to Dehradun as a guardian tutor in the house of Pramantha Nath Tagore. The “master of disguise”, Bose also spent some time at the FRI in the Doon valley and stayed at Ghosi Gali in Paltan Bazaar. Having quit his home city of Kolkata due to the infamous Alipore Bomb Case (1908), Bose’s tenure at FRI as a head clerk was the most defining moment in his revolutionary career.
The Bengal wing of the revolutionary party sent him to Dehradun with the purpose of converting members of the Indian army to a revolutionary cult. Bose tried to get himself enlisted in the army, but he could not succeed. He then joined the FRI and was trying to raise recruits from among the Bengali residents in Dehradun. He maintained close contact with the revolutionary leaders in Bengal and Punjab. The job in the FRI was useful for him to execute his plans for manufacturing bombs and to direct the revolutionary movement from places which the government did not suspect and could not easily locate.
While he was working as a clerk at the FRI, he took a 37-day leave for the bomb conspiracy to assassinate Lord Charles Hardinge in 1912. By the time, the British realised who the mastermind of the conspiracy was, he had escaped to Japan. It is known that he joined FRI in September 4, 1906 and was later promoted to the rank of head clerk, drawing a salary of Rs 65. His service was terminated on the grounds of prolonged absenteeism in May 1914. Not much is known about his stay in Dehradun. A road is named after Rash Behari Bose in FRI campus.
