Batukeshwar Dutt

Batukeshwar Dutt
Batukeshwar Dutt in 1929
Born	(1910-11-18)18 November 1910 Oari, Purba Bardhaman district, British India
Died	20 July 1965(1965-07-20) (aged 54) New Delhi, India
Nationality	Indian
Organization	Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, Naujawan Bharat Sabha
Known for	Indian Freedom Movement

Batukeshwar Dutt  pronunciation  was an Indian revolutionary and independence fighter in the early 1900s. He is best known for having exploded a few bombs, along with Bhagat Singh, in the Central Legislative Assembly in New Delhi on 8 April 1929. After they were arrested, tried and imprisoned for life, he and Bhagat Singh initiated a historic hunger strike protesting against the abusive treatment of Indian political prisoners, and eventually secured some rights for them. He was also a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.

Batukeshwar Dutt — also known as B. K. Dutt, Battu, and Mohan — was a son of Goshtha Bihari Dutt. He was born on 18 November 1910 in Oari village, Purba Bardhaman district, in what is now West Bengal. He graduated from P. P. N. High School in Cawnpore. He was a close associate of freedom fighters such as Chandrashekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh, the latter of whom he met in Cawnpore in 1924. He learned about bomb-making while working for the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) there.

To subdue the rise of revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh, the British government decided to implement the Defence of India Act 1915, which gave the police a free hand. Influenced by a French anarchist who bombed the French Chamber of Deputies, Singh proposed to the HSRA his plan to explode a bomb inside the Central Legislative Assembly, which was agreed. Initially it was decided that Dutt and Sukhdev would plant the bomb while Singh would travel to the USSR. However, later the plan was changed and Dutt was entrusted with planting it alongside Singh. On 8 April 1929, Singh and Dutt threw two bombs inside the assembly rushing from Visitor's Gallery. The smoke from the bomb filled the Hall and they shouted slogans of "Inquilab Zindabad!" (Hindi-Urdu: "Long Live the Revolution!") and showered leaflets. The leaflet claimed that the act was done to oppose the Trade Disputes and the Public Safety Bill being presented in the Central Assembly and the death of Lala Lajapath Rai. Few sustained injuries in the explosion but there were no deaths; Singh and Dutt claimed that the act was intentional. Singh and Dutt were arrested, as planned.