Page:The Pilgrims' March.djvu/57

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
C. R. DAS
35

prisonment for saying what he believed to be true. A man who undergoes such suffering as this for the sake of truth must be understood and appreciated.

What is he Jitendralal Banerjee? I ask the student community to realise the essential truth of his life. His life has been lived up to the present moment practically before the students of Bengal. He passed his M. A. Examination in 1902 standing first in the First Class. After that he obtained the State Scholarship to proceed to England but he chose to educate himself and to educate others in this country. He served as a Professor of English in various Colleges always preferring Indian to Government Institutions. His last appointment was in the Ripon College where he served till 1911. In that year his services were dispensed with by the College authorities because he refused to give an undertaking that he would no longer take part in politics. Then began his career at the bar.

Although he had always taken part in politics from 1911-1912 he became a prominent figure in the Congress. A devoted follower of Surendra Nath Banerje, he broke away from him at the time when the whole of Bengal was