Abinash Chandra Bhattacharya: A Tribute to A Forgotten Scribesman

In the annals of the Corporation’s history, there have been several prominent leaders, visionaries and change agents — some remembered, others whose remarkable contribution have been forgotten over the passage of time — today we are honoured to remember one such outstanding individual, our very own Abinash Chandra Bhattacharya.

Abinash Chandra Bhattacharya was born on April 5, 1882 in the village of Arabelia in North 24 Parganas district. A young man of exceptional ability, Bhattacharya around 1902 was inspired by heroics of eminent freedom fighter Jatindranath Bandyopadhyay and joined the India’s struggle for freedom.

In 1905 during the protest against Partition of Bengal, he met Aurobindo Ghosh and in 1906 after the birth of Jugantar magazine — a prominent mouthpiece of the radically inclined freedom fighters — Bhattacharya was appointed as its Manager.

In 1909 he was one amongst many who was convicted in the “Muraripukur Bomb Case”. Five years after his release in 1920 Bhattacharya joined the Swarajya Party of ‘Deshbandhu’ Chittaranjan Das and took over the charges of Narayana magazine. This apart, he was also associated with several other magazines like Bijali and Atmashakti, to name a few.

In 1924, after the Calcutta Municipal Gazette came into being, Bhattacharya was roped in to assist the journal’s renowned editor Amal Home. A true man of letters, Abinash Chandra Bhattacharya worked for Calcutta Municipal Gazette — leaving his inimitable mark —till 1941.