Noted scholar and historian Dr Atul Krishna Biswas, popularly known as Dr A K Biswas passed away on February 28, 2025 at his home in Kolkata. He was 79 years old and suffering from age related ailments for the past few days. The death of Dr Biswas came out as a shock to many of his admirers like me. Dr Biswas was extremely hard working and writing extensively based on his research from different archives and documents that he had access to. He was Home Secretary, Bihar in 2005 and prior to that he was also made Vice Chancellor of Dr B R Ambedkar University, Mujaffarpur, Bihar.
Dr Biswas was born at a time when there was chaos and sharp communal polarisation of the pre partition era. He was born on February 6, 1946 in Baraichara in district Jessore, now in Bangladesh. He passed his matriculation in first division in 1962 from Bunagati High school, Magura. At the age of sixteen, he had to leave his home and come to Bongaon, now part of 24 Pargana district, West Bengal after traversing about 70 kilometres barefoot to his sister’s home there. There was swelling in the feet of the innocent boy and his sister washed them in hot water and put him with her children. The traumatised young boy taught the children of his sister in Bongaon. He graduated from Thakurnagar, again a place known to be related to the founder of Matua Mahasangha Guru Hari Chand. Later he was teaching in a school and preparing for various state exams and got selected in the West Bengal Civil Services and was appointed as an administrative officer, as Sub Divisional Magistrate. Later, he completed his Masters in Economics from Calcutta University and got selected in the West Bengal Provincial Civil Services and got appointed as Deputy Collector. His friend and senior at Thakurnagar college, Mr Amar Krishna Biswas, who is now retired informs that Dr A K Biswas was a very hard-working person who never shared his hardships with anyone. He was always working harder and aiming high.
In 1973, Mr Atul Krishna Biswas was selected by the UPSC in All India Civil Services examinations and got the Bihar cadre where he served in different capacities throughout his career. As a Member of Indian Administrative Service, he held charge as Sub Divisional Officer, District Magistrate, Divisional Commissioner and rose to the coveted positions of Principal Secretary, Home Secretary, Energy Secretary of Government of Bihar. He was instrumental in formation of university named after Baba Saheb Ambedkar and was appointed as the first Vice-Chancellor, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur.
Interestingly, his zeal and dedication towards education never ended. He always pursued his interests. Though, there was no need for him to focus on education once he became a civil servant, qualified after his graduation. He actually completed his masters as a private candidate after he joined services and his thirst for knowledge did not end there as he followed it with his Ph.D. later. His dissertation on ‘Inland and Overseas Emigration of Working Classes in the Nineteenth Century from Bihar got him Ph.D awarded by Patna University.
Dr A K Biswas retired from his services in 2007 but started writing extensively on issues he felt extremely important. Though he was not in great health yet his convictions made him write lengthy pieces on the subject which have been either ignored or left out. On matter of Dalit question in Bengal, he was an undisputed authority.
His research articles got published in English and Bengali journals and magazines of repute. The Telegraph, Calcutta, The Hindustan Times, The Times of India, [Patna Edition], Social Scientist, Mainstream, Outlook, Velivada, Countercurrent.org, Frontier, etc. carried large number of his writings on different occasion. Off late, he continued to write pieces in Mainstream and countercurrents.org.
Dr A K Biswas wrote several books since 1996. Some of his books are following
- Social and Cultural Vision of India: Facts against Fiction, Pragati Publication, Delhi,1996.
- Understanding Bihar, Blumoon Books, New Delhi, 1998.
- The Namasudras of Bengal, Profile of a persecuted people, Blumoon Book, New Delhi, 2000.
- Sepoy Mutiny and Indian Perfidy [1857-58] (Monograph) (1998)
- Sati: Saga of a Gory Custom (Monograph) (1999)
- The Namasudras of Bengal: Profile of a Persecuted People (Monograph) (2000)
- A Study of Feudalism in Eastern India with special reference to Bihar (Monograph) (waiting for publication)
- অন্বেষণ (ছদ্মনাম) শিপ্রা বিশ্বাস, কলিকাতা, ১৯৯৬।
- স্মৃতিকথা [প্রকাশিত হবার মুখে]
- বঙ্গ জীবনে অপরাধ এবং অপরাধপ্রবণতা—সামাজিক বিন্যাস[প্রকাশিত হবার মুখে]
He was busy writing his autobiography but one does not know whether that work got completed or not. He had been sharing ideas with me and was keen to work together on a conversation with me. I had requested him for a detailed interview which could be used in a book format. He told me that he would be happy to do so but only once his work in Bangla language is completed. In fact, he said that he had already responded to some of my questions that I had put to him. I hope the work that he had initiated with publishers would be out. His writings in Mainstream and countercurrents.org need to be compiled in book format so that people could understand the depth of his knowledge.
He was widely travelled person but most importantly he never lost touch with the ground. His writings reflected the power of his consistently looking for the original texts and documents. It would be important for us to have a relook at some of his writings. Right now, we are witnessing a movement regarding the Mahabodhi Vihar issue in Bihar. Dr Biswas was in a position to give a first-hand answer as he was Home Secretary, Bihar in 2005 when Principal Secretary to the President of India, Dr APJ Abul Kalam wrote a letter asking him to respond some of President’s concern about the rights of the Buddhists in relation to this Buddha Vihar. This is a very informative article which appeared in the mainstream on September 24, 2024 issue.
There is very little understanding about how Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar was elected to Constituent Assembly from Jessore and Khulna constituency of Bengal. In an interview Dr Biswas told me, ‘Dr. Ambedkar, at that point of time, was a member of the Executive Council of the Governor General of India. With Independence was approaching, they needed to frame the Constitution, or write the Constitution for Independent India. Elections were held all over the country, so that members could draft Constitution for the new nation. The Congress Party was against Ambedkar, and they decided that his entry into the Constituent Assembly had to be stopped, or prevented. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, in one of his statements, said that we have closed the doors and windows of the Constituent Assembly, and we’ll see how does he enters in this house. He could not get elected from Bombay Presidency, his home province, so he was thinking of getting elected from Bengal, with the help of Anglo-Indian members of the State Assembly of Bengal. Few months before the election, when he came to Calcutta and tried to get their support, he was told that the Anglo-Indian members have decided first to not participate in the election, and second that they will not vote [for] anybody in the election. So, Ambedkar was pretty disappointed and went back to Delhi. At this point of time, Jogendranath Mandal invited Ambedkar to come to Bengal and contest the election. He was the MLC of the Scheduled Castes Federation of India founded by Dr. Ambedkar. And he was the solitary member of the Bengal Assembly. Just 21 days before the election, Ambedkar came to Calcutta, had a meeting with the supporters and volunteers of the Scheduled Castes’ Society here, after which he agreed to contest elections. Mandal proposed his name and Biswas supported or seconded his candidature for the election. Elections are held on the appointed day and as many as seven MLCs voted for Ambedkar. In fact only five MLCs were required for any person to be elected as the member of the Constituent Assembly. When the results of the first round were declared it was found that Ambedkar had secured the best number of votes from Bengal. Incidentally Sarat Chandra Bose, elder brother of Subhas Chandra Bose, got six votes, one less than Dr. Ambedkar. Thus, a new chapter of the history of the Dalit movement and the struggle that Ambedkar undertook all his life was brought closer to the logical conclusion, and that gave him the opportunity to reach Constituent Assembly and fight for the cause of the ‘untouchable’ people of this country.
The details of this issue may be accessed in his article published by Mainstream in its December 24, 2016 issue.
In another analytical piece, ‘A critique of mass education in Bengal: Ishwar Chandra Vidya Sagar and his hypocrisy. Dr Biswas brought out the fact that while Bengal is known for ‘legendary’ social reformers yet none of them were too keen to empower the Dalits and marginalised communities. In fact, a person like Vidyasagar felt that education of these communities could be harmful as they dissociate themselves with their traditional occupations.
A look at what Vidyasagar told Nabin Chandra Sen, a poet, and Deputy Magistrate of Bengal Government may be revealing. The Deputy Magistrate recorded in his autobiography: “It will be a good riddance, should the accursed policy of education get a burial. I have established a school in my village in consequence of which I’ve deserted native place. As soon as children of farmers and labourers learn muttering a few English words, they shun their ancestral occupations. They run amuck for fashionable dresses, shoes, socks, hats, etc. It is due to them that I am unable to go home. As soon as I reach home (Birsingha), I am invaded by parents of those boys. They start pestering me, “Oh! My venerable, Sir, what have you done? My ward is totally unconcerned about my farm. Half a bigha of my land remained untilled in the current season. How shall I meet the requirement of food for the family? Over and above, I have to foot bills for his fashionable dress, hats, etc. Someone says my cattle have died but my son does not care to graze them. I have committed sin for which I am undergoing penance. I have solemnly sworn that I shall never ever establish any other schools in countryside. In this land, nobody, after receiving education, engages himself in pursuit of his ancestral occupation. No sooner than one starts muttering few English words, he shuns profession of his forefathers, nay, even hates his parents.” The complete article may be accessed here.
‘How sitting orthodoxy killed millions’ is a brilliant and analytical article written by Dr A K Biswas based on various first-hand report of incident of Plague that spread across India between 1896-1930 killing 40-50 million lives. Most of those who lost their lives were caste Hindus, Brahmin, Rajputs and Banias while the least affected were Chamars, Valmikis and Muslims. He explains how Brahmanical orthodoxy led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak actually opposed measures taken to control the Plague.
He writes, ‘The measures, e. g., house to house searches, examination of occupants, evacuation of suspected victims of the plague to hospitals and segregation camps, removal and destruction of personal effects of such persons, prevention of plague cases from entering or leaving the city, etc. were adopted for prevention of plague [6] Soon a certain section started voicing acute grievances against these initiatives.’ Bal Gangadhar Tilak vociferously denounced the Plague Commissioner saying that “Her Majesty the Queen, the Secretary of State and his Council, should not have issued the orders for practising tyranny upon the people of India without any special advantage to be gained.” His abomination was that “the government should not have entrusted the execution of this order to a suspicious, sullen and tyrannical officer like Rand.” [7] Did Tilak prejudge the elaborate anti-plague measures in public interests under the leadership of Rand? The British ICS had taken up the charge in March as Plague Commissioner. Within three months in June 1897, he was assassinated. Only prejudice can drive a section against an officer engaged in challenging duties. The time to assess his worth was too limited to kill him. It was pure prejudice against him. The extraordinary situation warrants unprecedented measures also for results. Tantrums of a milch cow, goes a proverb, has to be tolerated.
A conspiracy for assassination targeting Charles Rand was hatched by some hot-headed youth like Damodar Chaupaker, Balkrishna Chaupekar, Vasudev Chaupekar, Mahadeva Ranade and Khando Vishnu Sathe alleging his insensitivity to native orthodoxy. On June 22, 1897, the Diamond Jubilee of the coronation of Queen Victoria was celebrated in Poona. In a bomb attack, The Plague Commissioner Rand was critically injured while his companion Lieutenant Ayerst died on the spot. Bal Krishna and Vasudev also murdered Ganesh Dravid and his brother Ramchandra Dravid on suspicion of being police informers for the murder of Rand and Ayerst. The government offered a reward of Rs 20,000 for apprehension of the assassins. The Dravid brothers were suspected to have acted out of greed for the cash rewards. But they got Rs 10,000 only, which earned the ridicule of popular Marathi journal Kesari that Tilak edited. Rand succumbed to his injuries on July 3, 1897. This was a strange historic event: the benefactors who were fighting plague were done away with by assassins. Damodar, Bal Krishna, Vasudev and Ranade, who absconded, were arrested, prosecuted and hanged. A teenage Khanderao Sathe, a school student, was sentenced to ten years rigorous imprisonment. Bal Gangadhar Tilak hailed the actions of Damodar Chaupekar and his compatriots as patriotic in his journal Kesri for which he was prosecuted for sedition. Sentenced to eighteen months of rigorous imprisonment, Tilak was confined in Mandalay’.
The complete article may be read here.
The death of Dr Atul Kumar Biswas is a huge loss for those who were looking forward for some outstanding articles and books from him. He was determined to write about all important issues that he felt have been historically ignored. His forte was in tracing the important official reports and documents which were powerful instrument of exposing the prejudices of the powerful casteist elite of India.
There was not much information about his sad demise and perhaps the reason for this was that he was not member of any ‘organised’ group of ‘intellectuals’ or ‘activists’. These days, if you are autonomous and independent outside any organised group then the chances of isolation are more. Moreover, their families need to know about their creative activism. It is essential because admirers like me could only get the information of his death, nearly three four days later.
Though Dr A K Biswas wrote extensively about various issues confronting us particularly that belonging to the Dalits, he rarely spoke about himself. It took a lot of effort and time to get the information about his childhood and other struggle. The only people who could organise a tribute to him were his friends and admirers in Patna who organised a condolence meeting on March 1, 2025but this information remained confined to them. It is ironical that we know so much about the writing of the man but not about his own struggle. Of course, it is the greatness of Dr A K Biswas that he did not open up his personal pains and sorrows and moved ahead with his work.
One can only hope that his unpublished work will be out and shared with his friends and admirers. It is a personal loss for me as he would often call me and discuss various issues and his future planning. In the year 2017, I had a conversation with him but that time he was not feeling well or comfortable yet one can see him and remember him through his brilliant masterpieces.
My conversation with Dr A K Biswas may be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTVUlECN24w
My sincere condolences to Dr A K Biswas.
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