Ananta Singh Biography 
Ananta Singh was a revolutionary from Bengal and one of the prime members of the Indian Republican Army who was associated with the famous raid in the armoury of the British Police and Auxiliary Forces in the year 1930. The group led by the energetic young leader Surya Sen, also included many young revolutionaries including many teenagers who were against the suppression imposed by British rule. Nirmal Sen, Pritilata Waddedar, Kalpana Dutta, Ganesh Ghosh, Lokenath Bal, Binod Bihari Chowdhury, Ambika Chakrabarty, Harigopal Bal, Subodh Roy etc were the major leaders who participated in the raid. Though he managed to escape to Chandernagore, he surrendered to the British police in Kolkata when he came to know that his fellow companions were being tortured in the jail.
Singh was born in Chittagong on 1 December 1903. He originally belongs to a Rajput family of Punjab who migrated to East Bengal. Since young he got drawn towards Indian freedom struggle movement and also participated in Non-cooperation movement in 1921. Singh met Surya Sen for the first time while doing his schooling at Chittagong Municipal School and got drawn towards the revolutionary ideas of Sen. Very soon he became a prominent member of the group. He was associated with Nirmal Sen in the robbery held at the treasury office of the Assam Bengal Railway on 14 December 1923. Though he managed to escape from the scene he was eventually caught by British Police and he spent four years in jail.
He closely worked with the revolutionary leaders of Surya Sen following his release. He started a gymnasium and trained youth to participate in the revolutionary movement. He was also a group member of the famous Chittagong armoury raid on 18 April 1930 which was unsuccessful. Though the group captured arms, it failed to get the ammunition. Later they hoisted Indian flag in the premises before they left. British later traced the whereabouts of a few of the revolutionaries who participated in Chittagong armoury raid and many of them got arrested.
He escaped to Chandernagore, which was still a French territory. But he surrendered to the British police in Kolkata on 28 June 1930 hearing the bad news of the torture given to his fellow revolutionaries. He was also given a life term imprisonment for his involvement in the incident and deported to Andaman Cellular Jail in 1934. While at jail when the group of revolutionaries formed a communist group, Ananta Singh too was a member. Soon after his release in 1946 he joined Communist Party of India and later founded a far-left radical communist group, the Revolutionary Communist Council of India.
In the popular culture two Bollywood movies have been made on Chittagong armoury raid, which inspired many young revolutionaries later. In the film Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, starring Abhishek Bachchan and Deepika Padukone in the lead roles, actor Maninder Singh played the role of Ananta Singh. In the highly acclaimed film, Chittagong, actor Jaideep Ahalawat enacted his role.
Published: N/A
Updated: March 27, 2016
