⁣Chittaranjan Das (C. R. Das), popularly called Deshbandhu (Friend of the Nation) was an Indian freedom fighter, political activist and lawyer during the Indian independence movement and founder of the Swaraj Party in Bengal during British Raj.⁣
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He was born in Kolkata on 5 November 1870 in a well-known Das family of Telirbagh, Dhaka in Bengal (now Bangladesh)⁣
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He went to England to qualify for the ICS, which was dominated by the British. Unfortunately, he failed. As a result, he opted to join the legal profession.⁣
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In London he had befriended Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, Atul Prasad Sen and Sarojini Naidu among others, and together they promoted Dadabhai Naoroji in the British Parliament.⁣
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He married Basanti Devi and had three children, Aparna Devi and Kalyani Devi. Basanti Devi also plunged into the freedom movement and was the first woman to court arrest with her sister-in-law Urmila Devi in Non Cooperation movement in 1921. Subhas Chandra Bose used to regard her as ‘Ma’.⁣
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In 1908, Das attained widespread fame when he was successfully able to defend Aurobindo Ghose in the Alipore Bomb Case. He was also actively involved in the activities of Anushilan Samiti.⁣
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He was a leading figure in Bengal during the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1919–22, and initiated the ban on British clothes, setting an example by burning his own European clothes and wearing Khadi clothes.⁣
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He resigned his presidency of the Indian National Congress at the Gaya session after losing a motion on “No Council Entry”to Gandhi’s faction. He then founded the Swaraj Party, with Motilal Nehru and Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, in 1923, to express his uncompromising opinion and position.⁣
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He brought out a newspaper called Forward and later changed its name to Liberty to fight the British Raj. He also started a monthly journal named Narayana.⁣
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When the Calcutta Municipal Corporation was formed, he became its first mayor.⁣
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In 1925 Chittaranjan’s health began to fail due to overwork. He died on 16 June, 1925. His funeral procession in Calcutta was led by Gandhi.⁣
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His legacy was carried forward by his obedient disciple and follower Subhas Chandra Bose.⁣