I was a fighter, "One fight more, the last and The Best". The above aphorism of Shri Rasbehari Basu sums up the philosophy of his struggle. Rasbehari Basu was the first Indian revolutionary since 1857 who had planned and acted to overthrow the British rule from India by armed insurrection.
He was born on the 25th may, 1886 at Palara Bighati village in the District of Hoogly, West Bengal. His father Shri Benode Behari Basu was an employee of the then Government of India. He received his early education at Chandernagore and Calcutta. According to his own statement, he began his revolutionary career when he was only fifteen. Inspired with the spirit of militant nationalism, he first tried to enter the army but later on got a job in the Forest Research Institute at Dehra Dun. It was from here that he commenced his revolutionary activities. He was so adapt in the art of secret organisation that even expert officers of the British Intelligence Police failed in their attempts to arrest him. It was he, who managed the throwing of the bomb on Lord Hardinge on the occasion of his State entry in Delhi on The 23rd December, 1912.
Rasbehari Basu left India for Japan in disguise in May, 1915. The British Police pursued him in Japan for nearly eight years to apprehend him dead or alive but he escaped until he eventually secured Japanese citizenship in 1923. In Japan, he learnt the Japanese language and wrote 16 voluminous books in that language on various subjects.
It was Rasbehari Basu who founded the Pan Asian League. He also founded the Indian Independence League in 1924 to carry on India's freedom movement from the East. This organisation, during the World War II was a parent body of the historic Indian National Army. Rasbehari Basu became the President of the Indian Independence League and the Indian National Army till Subhash Chandra Bose who saved the lives, properties and honour of millions of Indians in South-East Asia from the Japanese Occupation Army by arrangements with the Japanese military headquarters during the World War II. He passed away in Japan on the 21st January, 1945 at the age of 60 years.
The life and achievements of Rasbehari Basu can best be summed up in the following tribute paid to him by our late Prime Minister, Shri Lal Bahadur Shashtri: "Shri Rasbehari Basu is one of those famous names which was on the lips of those of the younger generation during the early part of the 20th century, who were fired with deep patriotic urges and emotions. Shri Basu was dedicated to the freedom and Independence of India and he considered no sacrifice small for the attainment of his objective." "He was gifted with a rare organising ability and during the First World War, he and his other comrades had planned an armed revolt of which he was the spearhead, he had to escape to Japan and undergo much suffering." "A man of great faith and courage, he lived up to the traditions of the renowned leaders and patriots of Bengal who have left behind a deep and lasting impression on our countrymen."
It was on the 26th December, 1941 that Shri Rasbehari Basu, as the President of the Indian Independence League had declared war against the British from Tokyo and this was a turning point in the struggle for India's Independence, as from that date the Indian National Army developed and expanded with great vigour.
The Department of Posts released a commemorative postage stamp in honour of Rasbehari Basu
Issued Date :26-12-1967.
Denomination : 15 Paise
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