By : Satyaki Paul
The date August 06, 2021 marks the 96th death anniversary of Sir Surendranath Banerjea (1848-1925).He was an eminent Indian politician and the second person to qualify Imperial Civil Service (ICS) after Satyendranath Tagore.
Rashtraguru Surendranath Banerjea was born on November 10, 1848 in Kolkata (erstwhile Calcutta). In due course, he received his school education in an Anglo-Indian School of Kolkata. He graduated from the Calcutta University in 1868, and travelled to England to contest for the Indian Civil Services (ICS).He passed the competitive examination but as there was some issue regarding his preciseage,so he was declared ineligible. Later, he petitioned against the committee and won the case. After clearing such issue, he was appointed to Sylhet (Bangladesh) but was dismissed on the grounds of procedural irregularities.
On his return to India in June 1875, Banerjea began his new career as a Professor of English.Sir Surendranath took full benefit of his teaching occupation to infuse Indian students with a new spirit of Western education. He was the most fluent spokesperson that Bharat mata had so far produced. This change of Bengali youth’s interest and energy to national renaissance.This can be considered as his first great contribution to the national cause of India.His second great role was the establishment of the Indian Association on July 26, 1876.The Indian Association was envisioned to be the centre of a pan-India political movement. For the first time there emerged the idea of India as a political unit. Thus, in the shape of an all-India political conference sponsored by the Indian Association he had set the stage for a more practical protest of the newly awakened wisdom of political unity of India.
The first session of the National Conference, held in Kolkata (erstwhile Calcutta) on December 28 toDecember 30, 1883, was attended by several delegates from across India. The second session was more illustrative than the first and the plan of holding annual sessions of the Conference in different parts of India was accepted.For the first time in history a realistic picture of the political unity of India was held out before the common man, beating the Indian National Congress. Soon after the end of the second session of the National Conference in Kolkata (erstwhile Calcutta), the first session of the Indian National Congress (INC) was held in Mumbai (erstwhile Bombay)on December 28, 1885.The Calcutta session of the Congress in 1886 marked a distinct advance in its tone and sprit and henceforth he played a leading part in the National Congress; he became its President twice in 1895 and 1902.
In due course, Sir Surendranathattained the zenith of his political career in 1906, but later declined from his earlier stature. This was due to the hugediscrepancy between the Moderates and the Extremists which led to the steady decline of the Moderate Party of which SurendranathBanerjea was the strongest pillar. The Home Rule league and the emergence of Mahatma Gandhi ji made the people lose faith in the programme of the Moderate Party, and publication of the Montagu-Chelmsford Report (1918) was a signal of conflict between the Moderates and the rest.Nonetheless, he was elected in 1913 to both the Bengal and imperial legislative councils. In 1921, he was knighted and accepted office as minister of local self-government in Bengal. Later, he was verbally attacked by extreme nationalists as a defector, due to which he was defeated in the 1924 dyarchy elections by a Swaraj party candidate.
So, after his defeat he retired to write his autobiography, A Nation in Making (1925).In due course, he passed away at Barrackpore, West Bengal on August 06, 1925.