Chapalakanta Bhattacharya

Chapalakanta Bhattacharya (Bengali: চপলাকান্ত ভট্টাচার্য) (16 January 1901 - 16 January 1989) was a distinguished journalist and a prominent participant in India's freedom movement. In post-independence India, he was actively associated with the Indian National Congress and represented the nation as a Lok Sabha Member of Parliament.^[1][2]

Chapalakanta Bhattacharya was born on 16 January 1901 in Shyampukur, Calcutta. His family originally belonged to Kotalipara in Gopalganj in East Bengal. During his early education, he received training in Sanskrit at the tol run by Pandit Shibaram Shiromoni in North Kolkata. In 1917, he successfully passed his matriculation examination from Saradacharan Arya Vidyamandir with a scholarship and subsequently joined Presidency College. He cleared the I.A. examination in 1919 and later earned an honours degree in philosophy. His participation in India's freedom struggle interrupted his academic journey, but later in life he completed his M.A. from the University of Calcutta as a private candidate and achieved the highest rank.^[3]

Following the death of Prafulla Kumar Sarkar in 1944, Chapalakanta Bhattacharya took over as editor of Anandabazar Patrika newspaper. He continued in this role for many years and earned respect for his fearless, energetic, and impartial editorial leadership. Under his editorship, the newspaper retained its strong national reputation and public influence. He also shared a close association with Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.During the horrific Noakhali riotsin 1946, the region witnessed severe communal violence and mass killings. Soon after, national leaders including Mahatma Gandhi and Sucheta Kripalani visited Noakhali to work toward restoring peace and communal unity. Chapalakanta personally traveled to the riot-affected area within nine days as a representative of Anandabazar Patrika and documented the tragedy in detail. His reports appeared in a series of newspaper articles and were later compiled in a book titled “Noakhalir Dhwongsokando.” He also played an important role in supporting the Vivekananda Rock Temple project at Kanyakumari. One of his major contributions was his effort to establish the Journalism Department at the University of Calcutta, which significantly strengthened journalism education in Bengal. He served as the Dean of that department.^[4] His journalistic writing style and reporting skills were admired and praised by Rabindranath Tagore. Alongside his journalistic career, he was involved with the Indian National Congress and later served as a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha from 1962 to 1971 in Raiganj Constituency.^[5] After leaving Anandabazar Patrika, he worked as chief editor of the newspaper Jonosebok. He also served as secretary of the Sanskrit Sahitya Parishad between 1943 and 1957. In addition, he held prestigious roles such as President of the Indian Journalists’ Association and served as a member of the Senate, Syndicate, and Academic Council of the University of Calcutta. Rather than beginning a regular career, he chose to dedicate himself to national service and took an active role in India's freedom movement during 1920–1921. He was closely connected with Madan Mohan Malaviya and was considered a follower of Mahatma Gandhi's ideals.^[6]

Some his notable liteary works are listed below:

• Dakshin Bharate ^[7]
• Congress Sangathane Bangla ^[8]

Chapalakanta Bhattacharya died in Calcutta on 16 January 1989.

• Wikidata: Chapala Kanta Bhattacharjee (Q107363012)
• ^[1]