Surendranath Banerjee

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{{Short description|Indian nationalist leader (1848–1925)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = Rashtraguru [[Sir]]
| name = Surendranath Banerjee
| image = Surendranath Banerjee.jpg
| caption = S. N. Banerjee
| office = [[President of the Indian National Congress]]
| term = 1895–1896
| predecessor = [[Alfred Webb]]
| successor = [[Rahimtulla M. Sayani]]
| successor1 = [[Lalmohan Ghosh]]
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1848|11|10|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Calcutta]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[Company rule in India|Company Raj]]<br />{{small|(present-day [[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]], [[India]])}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1925|8|6|1848|11|10|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Barrackpore]], Bengal Presidency, [[British India]]
| citizenship = [[British Raj]]
| occupation = Academician •<br />politician •
| alma_mater = {{ubl|[[University of Calcutta]]|[[University College London]]|[[Middle Temple]]}}
| party = [[Indian National Congress]] (1883–1919)<br />Indian National Liberation Federation (1919–1925)
| known_for = Founder of Indian Liberation Federation, [[Indian National Association]],<br />Co-founder of [[Indian National Congress]]
}}
[[Sir]] '''Surendranath Banerjee''' often known as '''Rashtraguru''' ({{lang-bn|রাষ্ট্রগুরু|Rāṣṭraguru|Teacher of the Nation}}; 10 November 1848{{snd}}6 August 1925) was Indian nationalist leader during the [[British rule|British Rule]]. He founded a nationalist organization called the [[Indian National Association]] and was one of the founding members of the [[Indian National Congress]]. Surendranath supported [[Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms]], unlike Congress, and with many [[liberalism|liberal]] leaders he left Congress and founded a new organisation named ''Indian National Liberation Federation'' in 1919.<ref>Sitaramayya, B. Pattabhi (1935). The history of the Indian National Congress (1885–1935). Working Committee of the Congress. pp. 12–27.</ref>
[[File:Surendranath Banerjee 1983 stamp of India.jpg|thumb|150px|Banerjee on a 1983 stamp of India]]

==Early life==
Surendranath Banerjee was born in Calcutta, in the province of [[Bengal]] to a [[Rarh region|Rarhi]] [[Kulin Brahmin]] family, suggesting that the ancestral seat of the family was at [[Rarh region]] of present-day [[West Bengal]]. His ancestors had migrated to East Bengal at some point of time and settled in a village called Lonesingh in [[Faridpur district]]. It was his great grand father Babu Gour Kishire Banerjee who emigrated and settled in a village called Monirampur near Barrackpore. He was deeply influenced in liberal, progressive thinking by his father Durga Charan Banerjee, a doctor.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mukherjee|first=Soumyen|date=1996|title=Raja Rammohun Roy and the Status of Women in Bengal in the Nineteenth Century|url=https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/SSSC/article/view/7496|journal=Sydney Studies in Society and Culture|volume=13|pages=44}}</ref> After graduating from the [[University of Calcutta]], he travelled to England in 1868, along with [[Romesh Chunder Dutt]] and [[Behari Lal Gupta]], to compete in the [[Indian Civil Service]] examinations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forwardpress.in/2019/05/s-n-banerjea-epitomized-the-brahmanical-numbness-to-injustice/|title = S.N. Banerjea epitomized the brahmanical numbness to injustice|date = 3 May 2019}}</ref> He cleared the competitive examination in 1869, but was barred owing to a claim he had misrepresented his age. After clearing the matter in the courts by arguing that he calculated his age according to the Hindu custom of reckoning age from the date of conception rather than from birth,<ref name=":0"/> Banerjee cleared the exam again in 1871 and was posted as assistant magistrate in [[Sylhet]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sclm1xNDBBEC&pg=PA55|title=Indian Political Thinkers: Modern Indian Political Thought|last=Jayapalan|first=N.|date= 2000|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist|isbn=9788171569298|page=55}}</ref> Banerjee also attended classes at [[University College, London]]. He took his final exams in 1871 and returned to India in August 1871. In 1874, Banerjee returned to London and became a student at the [[Middle Temple]].<ref name=":">{{cite web|url=http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/surendranath-banerjea|title=Surendranath Banerjee profile|website=The Open University website|access-date=26 August 2019}}</ref>

Banerjee was soon dismissed for making a serious judicial error. He went to England to appeal his discharge, but was unsuccessful because, he felt, of racial discrimination. He would return to India bitter and disillusioned with the British.<ref>{{cite book |last=Khan |first=Ataur Rahman |date=2001 |chapter=The Language Movement and Bengali Nationalism |editor-last=Ahmed |editor-first=Rafiuddin |title=Religion, Identity & Politics: Essays on Bangladesh |location=Colorado Springs, CO |publisher=International Academic Publishers |pages=168–169 |isbn=1-58868-080-0 |quote="In the end, Banerjea lost his job by committing a serious judicial mistake, dismissing a case recording the complainant and his witnesses absent while whey were actually present in his court. Banerjea went to England to lodge an appeal ... He concluded that his appeal failed because he was an Indian. This was the basic reason for his becoming a nationalist."}}</ref> During his stay in England (1874–1875), he studied the works of [[Edmund Burke]] and other liberal philosophers. These works guided him in his protests against the British. He was known as the Indian Burke.{{citation needed|date=August 2019}}For his tenacity he was called 'Surrender Not Banerjee' by the British.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Unforgettable 'Surrender Not' Banerjee forgotten|url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/unforgettable-surrender-not-banerjee-forgotten-399824|access-date=2020-08-27|website=NDTV.com}}</ref>

Surendranath was influenced by the writings of Italian nationalist [[Giuseppe Mazzini]]. He studied the writings of Mazzini in his stay in England (1874-1875) on Anandmohan's suggestion.<ref>Asoka Kr. Sen, The Educated Middle Class and Indian Nationalism, (Progressive Publishers, 37 A college street, Cal- 73, 1988), p. 102.</ref>

==Political career==
Upon his return to India in June 1875, Banerjee became an [[English literature|English]] professor at the [[Vidyasagar College|Metropolitan Institution]], the [[Scottish Church College, Calcutta|Free Church Institution]]<ref name=FCI>''Staff List: Free Church Institution and Duff College (1843–1907)'' in ''175th Year Commemoration Volume''. Scottish Church College, April 2008. page 570</ref> and at the [[Surendranath College|Rippon College]], now Surendranath College, founded by him in 1882.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.surendranathcollege.org/profile/brief-history/|title=Brief History {{!}} Surendranath College|website=www.surendranathcollege.org|access-date=19 April 2017}}</ref> He began delivering public speeches on nationalist and liberal political subjects, as well as Indian history. He founded the [[Indian National Association]] with [[Anandamohan Bose]], one of the earliest Indian political organizations of its kind, on 26 July 1876.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2RKTigrrP1cC&pg=PA80|title=Haryana, a Historical Perspective|last=Mittal|first=Satish Chandra|date=1986|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distri|page=80}}</ref> In 1878 in a meeting to preach the Indian people he said "The great doctrine of peace & goodwill between Hindus & Muslims, Christians & Paresees, aye between all sections of our country's progress. Let the word "Unity" be inscribed therein characters of glittering gold........There may be religious difference between us. There may be social difference between us. But there is a common platform where we may all meet, the platform of our country's welfare". He used the organization to tackle the issue of the age-limit for Indian students appearing for ICS examinations. He condemned the racial discrimination perpetrated by British officials in India through speeches all over the country, which made him very popular.{{citation needed|date=August 2019}}

In 1879, he bought the newspaper, ''The Bengalee(founded in 1862 by Girish Chandra Ghosh) and edited it for 40 years.''<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Surendranath-Banerjea|title=Sir Surendranath Banerjea {{!}} Indian politician|work=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=19 April 2017}}</ref> In 1883, when Banerjee was arrested for publishing remarks in his paper, in [[contempt of court]], protests and [[hartal]]s erupted across Bengal, and in Indian cities such as [[Agra]], [[Faizabad]], [[Amritsar]], [[Lahore]] and [[Pune]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2017}} He became the first Indian journalist to be imprisoned. The INC expanded considerably, and hundreds of delegates from across India came to attend its annual conference in Calcutta. After the founding of the [[Indian National Congress]] in 1885 in [[Bombay]], Banerjee merged his organization with it owing to their common objectives and memberships in 1886. He was elected the [[President of the Indian National Congress|Congress President]] in 1895 at Poona and in 1902 at Ahmedabad.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://inc.in/organization/36-Surendranath-Banerjee/profile|title=Indian National Congress|access-date=19 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170420045305/http://inc.in/organization/36-Surendranath-Banerjee/profile|archive-date=20 April 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Surendranath was one of the most important public leaders who protested the partition of the Bengal province in 1905.<ref name=":0" /> Banerjee was in the forefront of the movement and organized protests, petitions and extensive public support across Bengal and India, which finally compelled the British to reverse the bifurcation of Bengal in 1912. Banerjee became the patron of rising Indian leaders like [[Gopal Krishna Gokhale]] and [[Sarojini Naidu]]. Banerjee was also one of the senior-most leaders of the ''moderate'' Congress — those who favoured accommodation and dialogue with the British — after the "extremists" – those who advocated revolution and political independence — led by [[Bal Gangadhar Tilak]] left the party in 1906.<ref name=":0" /> Banerjee was an important figure in the [[Swadeshi movement]] – advocating goods manufactured in India against foreign products — and his popularity at its apex made him, in words of admirers, the ''uncrowned king'' of Bengal.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Chattopadhyay|first=Suhrid Sankar|title=Monarchy as model|url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/books/article25641967.ece|access-date=2020-08-01|website=Frontline|language=en|quote=''The author cites a unique instance in India’s colonial history when Surendranath Banerjea, one of India’s most prominent nationalist leaders, tried to have himself anointed and crowned in 1906 at the height of the Swadeshi movement''}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=August 2020}}

==Later career==
The declining popularity of moderate Indian politicians affected Banerjee's role in Indian politics. Banerjee supported the [[Indian Councils Act 1909|Morley-Minto reforms 1909]] – which were resented and ridiculed as insufficient and meaningless by the vast majority of the Indian public and nationalist politicians.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XuqfDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT120|page=120|title=India Under Morley and Minto: Politics Behind Revolution, Repression and Reforms|last=Das|first=M. N.|date=2017|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781351968898}}</ref> Banerjee was a critic of the proposed method of [[civil disobedience]] advocated by [[Mahatma Gandhi]], the rising popular leader of Indian nationalists and the Congress Party.<ref name=":0" /> Surendranath Banerjee, a moderate and veteran leader of Congress were in favour to accept the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms. They left the Congress and founded Indian Liberation Federation. They were termed as Liberals and they lost their relevance in Indian National Movement thereafter.<ref>http://www.galaxyiasacademy.com/uploads/Modern-India-by-Bipan-Chandra-XIIOld-Edition-NCERT.pdf, pg 263</ref> Accepting the portfolio of minister in the Bengal government earned him the ire of nationalists and much of the public, and he lost the election to the Bengal Legislative Assembly in 1923 to [[Bidhan Chandra Roy]], the candidate of the [[Swarajya Party]]<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Laha|first=MN|date=March 2015|title=Bidhan Chandra Roy & National Doctors Day|url=http://www.japi.org/march_2015/099_bidhan_chandra.pdf|journal=Journal of the Association of Physicians of India|volume=63|issue=3|pages=104–5|pmid=26540860}}</ref> – ending his political career for all practical purposes. He was [[knight]]ed for his political support of the British Empire. Banerjee made the [[Calcutta Municipal Corporation]] a more democratic body while serving as a minister in the Bengal government.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kmcgov.in/KMCPortal/jsp/MunicipalHistoryHome.jsp |title=Kolkata – A Municipal History |publisher=Kolkata Municipal Corporation |access-date=26 January 2016 |quote="Democracy was ushered into the Municipal Government of Kolkata by making provision for election of a Mayor annually, by Sir Surendranath Banerjee, who as the first Minister of Local Self-Government in Bengal was the architect of Calcutta Municipal Act of 1923."}}</ref>

He is remembered and widely respected today as a pioneer leader of Indian politics — first treading the path for Indian political empowerment. ''{{Citation needed|date=April 2017}}'' But nationalist politics in India meant opposition, and increasingly there were others whose opposition was more vigorous and who came to center stage. Banerjee could accept neither the extremist view of political action nor the noncooperation of Gandhi, then emerging as a major factor in the nationalist movement. Banerjee saw the [[Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms]] of 1919 as substantially fulfilling Congress's demands, a position which further isolated him.<ref name=":0" /> He was elected to the reformed Legislative Council of Bengal in 1921, knighted in the same year<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Surendranath-Banerjea|title = Sir Surendranath Banerjea | Indian politician | Britannica}}</ref> and held office as minister for [[local self-government]] from 1921 to 1924.<ref name=":0" /> His defeat at the polls in 1923 brought his political career to a close and he went on to write the widely acclaimed ''[[A Nation in Making]],'' published in 1925. After Surendranath died at [[Barrackpore]] on 6 August 1925.
[[File:Statue_of_Surendranath_Banerjee.jpg|thumb|150px|Statue of Surendranath Banerjee]]

==Commemoration==
His name is commemorated in the names of the following institutions: [[Barrackpore Rastraguru Surendranath College]], [[Raiganj Surendranath Mahavidyalaya]], [[Surendranath College]], [[Surendranath College for Women]], [[Surendranath Evening College]], [[Surendranath Law College]] (formerly [[Ripon College, Calcutta|Ripon College]]) and the [[Surendranath Centenary School]] in [[Ranchi]], [[Surendranath Banerjee Road (popularly known as S. N. Banerjee Road)]].

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Surendranath Banerjee}}
{{Wikisource author}}
* {{cite book |last=Roy |first=Ranjit |year=2012 |chapter=Banerjea, Surendranath |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Banerjea,_Surendranath |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]}}
*[http://www.aicc.org.in/surendranath_Banerjee.htm As Congress President]{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
*[http://www.indianpost.com/viewstamp.php/Color/Raw%20Sienna/S.%20N.%20BANERJEE Postage stamp issued by India Post on Surendranath]

{{Indian National Congress Presidents}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banerjee, Surendranath}}
[[Category:1848 births]]
[[Category:1925 deaths]]
[[Category:Bengali politicians]]
[[Category:Bengali activists]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:Alumni of University College London]]
[[Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Indian knights]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Members of the Imperial Legislative Council of India]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Indian National Congress]]
[[Category:Scottish Church College faculty]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta faculty]]
[[Category:Barrackpore]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of British India]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire]]

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Surendranath Banerjee