DAS, CHITTA RANJAN (187o-1925), Indian politician and leader of the Swaraj party in Bengal, was born at Calcutta on Nov. 5, 1870. His father, Bhuban Mohan Das, an attorney of the Calcutta High Court, joined the Brahmo Samaj, and edited the Brahmo (afterwards the Bengal) Public Opinion. Chitta Ranjan was educated at the London Missionary college, Bhowanipore, and at the Presidency college, Calcutta. He was called to the bar at the Middle Temple on June 26, 1894. Joining the Calcutta bar, he won his reputation by his successful defence of Arabinda Ghosh in the Manicktollah bomb conspiracy case. He defended relays of young political offenders, and assisted in keeping ex tremist papers, such as Bande Mataram, going, until they were checked by the Press Act, 1910.
Das became an influential though not always tractable sup porter of M. K. Gandhi irr the non-cooperation movement launched in the autumn of 1918. He abandoned general practice, though he continued to defend political offenders, took to the wear ing of khadar (homespun cloth) and lived in the utmost sim plicity. Late in 1921 the "volunteer" movement was proscribed in Bengal, as in other provinces. On Dec. 1 o, some days before Das was due to preside at the Indian National Congress at Ahmadabad he was arrested for issuing a public appeal for the proscribed organization, and was sentenced to six months' im prisonment. Mrs. Das, who was in thorough sympathy with her husband's views, was arrested, but by order of the governor, Lord Ronaldshay, was speedily released. Das presided at the National Congress at Gaya in Dec. 1922, and endeavoured to secure revoca tion of previous resolutions against entering the Legislatures, sug gesting obstructive tactics in place of boycott. The controversy sharply divided the non-cooperationists, but with the decline of Gandhi's influence the Das policy gained ground, and influenced the second general election (1923) under the Reforms; Das was elected to the Bengal Council by more than one constituency. In the following April Das was elected the first mayor of Calcutta.
In the Bengal Legislature Das did not command a clear ma jority, but he was able to bring pressure both on the Independents and the Mohammedans, to whom he suggested a pact by which a substantial proportion of elective seats and public appointments would be reserved for them in the event of Swarajist success. He secured a bare majority on March 24, 1924, for refusal of the salaries of Ministers appointed provisionally by Lord Lytton. Lord Lytton's offer of a ministership to Das was refused after some hesitation. Das offered vehement opposition to the Bengal Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance (Oct. 25, 1924) subsequently embodied in a certified Act under which 11 o persons, some of them associates of Das, were kept in imprisonment for terrorist con spiracy. His refusal of office and command of votes in the Legis lature led to the suspension of the diarchical system in Bengal, all transferred subjects being taken over by the executive govern ment.
At the Bengal Provincial Conference at Faridpur, early in May 1925, Das modified his position, and a resolution was passed con demning revolutionary tactics. There can be no doubt that the connection between the Terrorists and the Swarajists under Das was more than mere sympathy of the latter for the former. While each party had its own separate aims, each was working to use and assist the other in so far as it was useful f or the attainment of its own ends.
The Secretary for India in the first Labour government, Lord Olivier, stated in debate (July 2 I , 1924) that he was informed by a high authority in Indian politics that Das had "the reputation of being a particularly upright and scrupulous politician second only to Gandhi himself in saintliness of character." Undoubtedly, the Indian mind was impressed by the great personal sacrifices of Das for the Swaraj cause, and by his courage in act and utter ance. In resource and driving power he stood high above his as sociates. He was skilful in swaying Bengali audiences and indi viduals, being capable both of playing upon their weaknesses and appealing to what was best in them. But his vision of India under Swaraj as a conglomeration of semi-autonomous villages had no relation to the hard facts that make centralization inevitable.
There is reason to believe that Das was gaining a fresh outlook, more tolerant of Western ideas, in the closing months of his life. He was at Darjeeling in search of health when he died from heart failure following diabetes, on June 16, 1925.
Das' book, India for Indians (1918), gives extracts from speeches. A substantial volume of Speeches (some translated from Bengali) was published in Calcutta 1918. The Way to Swaraj (1923) gives the speeches made during a tour in southern India, and expounding, according to the prefatory note, "the whole of Desabandhu's phi losophy of Indian Nationalism." This philosophy is discussed with penetrating insight in Lord Ronaldshay's books: India: A Bird's-eye View (1924) and The Heart of Arydvarta (1925). See also Life and Times of C. R. Das by P. C. Ray, 1928.