Hare Krishna Konar

Hare Krishna Konar (হরেকৃষ্ণ কোঙার, ; 5 August 1915 – 23 July 1974) was an Indian Marxist revolutionary, political theorist, charismatic peasant leader and politician.

Konar was a founding member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the figurehead behind India's first land reform, and the chief architect of the West Bengal land distribution.

Konar was born into an upper-middle-class family on August 5, 1915.

His father was a well known businessman as well as a landlord in Kamargoria village.

After a certain age he started his primary studies at Kamargoria Prathmik Bidyalay and was a student of the school, although he was interested in all the subjects but specially in Sanskrit he had an interest, after few years he completed his primary studies from the same school in Kamargoria.

And in class 5, he shifted to the South Radhakantapur village of Memari with his parents.

His father enrolled his son's name in Memari Vidyasagar Smriti Vidya Mandir School.

After shifting to the new village the Congress leader of burdwan Bibhuti Datta used to visit their house regularly, actually Konar was influenced towards politics by the thoughts he had listed from the Congress leader Bibhuti Babu, In this time a new leader who had recently made his name in Indian Politics named Mahatma Gandhi had come out with his new idea of Ahimsa Andolan and launched his first Satyagraha movement in 1930, which was going all over the country and were participated by teachers, professors, lawyers, college students and school students but the teachers of Memari Vidyasagar Smriti Vidya Mandir never encouraged their students to the revolutionary activities, they actually tried many ways to maintain distance between movements and the school students.

So to attend the Satyagraha campaigns and the political campaigns of Burdwan Congress, Konar goes to school and in the lunch time he attend the campaigns, he regularly attend the meetings and rallies.

So one day a meeting about revolutionary culture was going on konar's father came and grab his hand to take Konar back to home but Hare Krishna Konar was clinging to the balcony post in front of the District Congress House, Sarat Konar had a great reputation in the village as he was a wealthy businessman and had a dream to send Konar to Oxford University for his further studies but Konar had left everythings, his studies, his future, his properties literally everything to get the Britishers rid of the country, so by struggling to take him back home from Burdwan district congress office Sarat Konar said:

"You have to go home! I have arranged everything to send you to Oxford University, Why are you so persistent to leave home? Come home with me."

Held the pole tightly Konar replied:

"Father, I will not go, you go back alone."

On that day, under the advice of Benoy Choudhury who was then incharged for the burdwan volunteer camp for the civil disobedience movement, a senior Congress leaders sent Hare Krishna Konar back home.

With a bunch of sorrowness Sarat Chandra Konar built a hospital in Memari with all the money he had saved to send Hare Krishna Konar in Oxford University, London, first he gave 1 lakh 20 thousand rupees and later 80 thousand rupees.

Just after releasing from jail again, Konar again ran away from home towards Disobedience movement and were again arrested in April, 1930 for 6 months in Burdwan Jail, In jail he met with Benoy Choudhury who was also arrested for participating in Civil Disobedience Movement and they discussed in various topics, In jail he talked with various revolutionaries and was initiated and influenced into the terrorist revolutionary doctrine, this jail period was the most important period of his revolutionary career, he learned that there are 3 streams of political movement in our country at this time—

(1) National Liberation Movement initiated by Congress

(2) Terrorist revolutionary movement

(3) Communist movement

All these 3 movements influenced Konar's life.

The lives of many terrorist revolutionaries of the 1930s, who decided to take the path of Communism, marched with devotion and single mindedness in front of the goal of ending all forms of exploitation and oppression forever by judging the interests of workers, peasants and hardworking people.

Hare Krishna Konar came from within these change movements based on practical experience.

So After released from prison, Konar moved forward with the mindset of making Terrorist revolutionary movement by giving up the process of nonviolent, he moved towards the armed struggle and showed particular skill in creating revolutionary groups in and around Memari.

It was during this time that Bhupendranath Dutta and Comrade Bankim Mukherjee were introduced to the revolutionary group in Burdwan.

Under Dutta and Mukherjee's influence Burdwan revolutionary group got the supply of various Marxist books along with the news about the case which appeared in the newspapers article about Meerut Conspiracy Case.

Hare Krishna Konar started his political activities as an active member of Jugantar revolutionary party in our country's freedom struggle against British Imperialism.

As a political activist, his beginning was from involvement in various activities of the revolutionary movement of Jugantar.

As we all know, Life is a Struggle for Revolutionaries.

While still a student, Konar gave his life along with others to create a new tide in the freedom struggle of the country through the death struggle against British imperialism.

In 1932, due to his involvement in the Begut Robbery Case of the Jugantar Party, Konar was deported to the Cellular Jail of the Andaman for 6 years at the age of 18, there he took part in the first hunger strike and in 1935 he founded the Communist Consolidation and led the historical second hunger strike.

Hare Krishna Konar was the eldest son of Sarat Chandra Konar and Satyabala Konar, his father and mother lived in Kamargoria village across the Damodar River, the ancestral home in Raina of Bardhaman district.

Between the 1960s and 1970s, he became one of the principal leaders of the Communist movements in India.

On the other hand, Konar passed his 10th standard with an excellent result of first division in all subjects and letter in Sanskrit subject from Memari Vidyasagar Smriti Vidya Mandir, then he gone to Calcutta and taken admission in first year as a science student of Bangabasi College.

He used to stayed in Canning Hostel of Scott Lane and was in contact with Benoy Choudhury and Saroj Mukherjee of Burdwan terrorist revolutionary movement and joined the Calcutta terrorist revolutionary movement.

After a few days, the party's funds reached almost zero, and there was a special need for money.

One of Konar's friends was Bipadbaran Roy, whose house was in Calcutta but who also used to stay in hostels.

So, one afternoon, Bipadbaran Roy's uncle, who was a government employee, came with 10 thousand rupees and kept it in his house, so it was decided that they would rob that money and use it to make bombs.

So Bipadbaran, Konar, and a few others went to the house and took all the money, along with some extra gold and cash, and used it to make bombs and arms in their Calcutta terrorist revolutionary movement.

But then also, the full amount of money can't be arranged, so in the house of Memari Konar, he broke his father's chest to collect the remaining money, which he wanted for the organization.

After few days, while studying in 9th standard at the age of 15 Hare Krishna Konar was arrested for picketing in front of Burdwan Raj College.