Surya Sen 22.3.1978

Surya Sen (22 March 1894 – 12 January 1934) was a Bengali independence fighter (against British rule) who is noted for leading the 1930 Chittagong armoury raid In Chittagong of Bengal in British India (now in Bangladesh). Sen was a school teacher by profession and was popularly called as Master Da ("da" is a suffix in Bengali language denoting elder brother). He was influenced by the nationalist ideals in 1916, when he was a student of B.A. in Behrampore College. In 1918 he was selected as president of Indian National Congress, Chittagong branch.

Surya Sen stayed in hiding, and kept moving from one place to another. Sometimes he took up a job as a workman, a farmer, a priest, a house worker or even as a pious Muslim. This is how he avoided being captured by the British. He once hid in the house of a man called Netra Sen. Either because of greed of money, or out of jealousy or maybe both, Netra Sen informed the British that Surya Sen had taken asylum at his house, and the police came and captured him in February 1933. Before Netra Sen could be rewarded by the British, a revolutionary came into his house and beheaded him with a long knife, called 'daa'. As Netra Sen's wife was a big supporter of Surya Sen, she never disclosed the name of the revolutionary who killed Netra Sen. Before Surya Sen was hanged, he was brutally tortured by the British. The British executioners broke all his teeth with a hammer, and pulled out all his nails. They broke all his limbs and joints. He was dragged to the rope unconscious. His last letter was written to his friends and said: “Death is knocking at my door. My mind is flying away towards eternity ...At such a pleasant, at such a grave, at such a solemn moment, what shall I leave behind you? Only one thing, that is my dream, a golden dream-the dream of Free India.... Never forget the 18th of April,1930, the day of the eastern Rebellion in Chittagong... Write in red letters in the core of your hearts the names of the patriots who have sacrificed their lives at the altar of India’s freedom." Surya Sen was given a burial at sea in the Bay of Bengal.