Badal Gupta

Badal Gupta বাদল গুপ্ত
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Born	1912 Purba Shimulia, Bikrampur, Bengal Presidency, British India (now in Bangladesh)
Died	8 December 1930 Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India (now in India)
Cause of death	Suicide by consuming potassium cyanide
Nationality	Indian
Other names	Sudhir Gupta
Ethnicity	Bengali
Known for	Writers' Building attack

Badal Gupta (Bengali: বাদল গুপ্ত Badol Gupto) (1912–1930) was a Bengali revolutionary nationalist who fought against British rule over India.

Early activities

Badal Gupta was born Sudhir Gupta in the village Purba Shimulia (East Shimulia) in the Bikrampur region of Dhaka, now in Munshiganj District, Bangladesh. Badal was inspired by Nikunja Sen, a teacher of the Banaripara School of Bikrampur, and as a result, Badal joined the Bengal Volunteers. Badal Gupta was also influenced by the revolutionary activities of his two paternal uncles Late Dharani Nath Gupta and Nagendra Nath Gupta, who were involved in the Alipore Bomb Case and were imprisoned along with Rishi Aurobindo Ghosh.

The battle at Writers' Building

Bengal Volunteers targeted Col NS Simpson, the Inspector General of Prisons, who was infamous for the brutal oppression on the prisoners in the jails. The revolutionaries decided not only to murder him, but also to strike a terror in the British official circles by launching an attack on the Secretariat Building - the Writers' Building in the Dalhousie square in Kolkata.

On 8 December 1930, Badal along with Dinesh Gupta and Benoy, dressed in European costume, entered the Writers' Building and shot dead Simpson. Police in the building started firing at them in response. What ensued was a brief gunfight between the 3 young revolutionaries and the police. Some other officers like Twynam, Prentice and Nelson suffered injuries during the shooting.

Soon police overpowered them. However, the three did not wish to be arrested. Badal took Potassium cyanide, while Benoy and Dinesh shot themselves with their own revolvers. Badal died on the spot.

Significance

The acts of Benoy, Badal and Dinesh inspired further revolutionary activities in Bengal, in particular and India, in general.

After independence, the Dalhousie Square was named B.B.D. Bagh - after the Benoy-Badal-Dinesh trio.

Bibliography

• Hemendranath Dasgupta, Bharater Biplab Kahini, II & III, Calcutta, 1948;
• Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, History of the Freedom Movement in India, III, Calcutta 1963;
• Ganganarayan Chandra, Abismaraniya, Calcutta, 1966.