THE MOVEMENT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF RATIONALISM IN WEST BENGAL

Sabyasachi Chatterjee In the 20th century, a number of steps has been taken, both at the governmental and non-governmental level, to popularise science. Several magazines were published. Science was included as a subject in the school curriculum. Different science clubs gradually came into existence. Simultaneously, the hegemony of superstitions was continued. There was the co-existence of modernity and superstitions at the same time. Thus, there was a gulf of difference between the world of learning and the world of trust. Popularisation of science and science club movement might be regarded as the very primary level for the cultivation of scientific knowledge and wisdom outside the mechanised formal education.1 But sensibilities of reasoning and scientific interpretation of day-to-day incidents were not focused before the independence so much. Later, in 1961, by publishing a journal named Manabmon, Dr. Dhirendranath Gangopadhyay tried to establish a school of conscious and scientific thinking in West Bengal. He tried to clarify the relationship between science on the one hand and human mind-animal world-social life on the other.2 In the late sixties and in the seventies, many of the radical intellectuals of West Bengal, realised the necessity of a scienceconsciousness movement for building up mental awareness,3 but as they could not develop this ideology into a parallel potential cultural movement, they also failed in their political goal. And as a result of that, they remained as excluded iconoclasts, far away from the people. The Utsa Manus (primarily Manus), published in 1980, had a broader perspective than that. Afterwards, some peoples science and peoples cultural organisations of the same temperament were formed. With the co-operation of the Utsa Manus and their friends, many reports of investigation for seeking truth behind the so-called supernatural events were published. Questions were raised about blind faith and attitudes. In 1982, the Ganabijnan Samanway Kendra, Paschimbanga was formed. Science organisations working on different issues thus assembled under an umbrella. But till then, no organisation was formed with the single aim to spread rationalist thought only. Later, in 1985, the Yuktibadi Samity was formed. On 1st March 1985, Bharater Yuktibadi Samity was established. 4 On 1st March 1987, it was renamed as Bharatiya Bijnan o Yuktibadi

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Samity.5 They believed: Rationalism is not only a method of judgement and interpretation, rationalism is an overall philosophy of life a method of world observation a world view. 6 But the circumstances under which the Yuktibadi Samity was formed, was a controversial issue. Rajesh Dutta, a reputed activist of the Yuktibadi Samity emphasized the importance of time and the influence of a radical thinker, Dr. Abraham Kovoor.7 Dr. Kovoors Begone Godmen! Encounters With Spiritual Frauds (1976) created an environment to fight against superstition. In Bangla language, Bhabaniprasad Sahoo wrote a book titled Bhoot-Bhagaban-Saitan banam Dr. Kovoor (1982). All these were the weapons of publicity for the science workers fighting against supernaturalism. Even the naming of the Yuktibadi Samity was also influenced by Dr. Kovoor. The name of Dr. Kovoors organisation was the Rationalist Association. But the main area of emphasis of Dr. Kovoors movement was protest against superstitions. On the other hand, the Yuktibadi Samity realised that it had to contest against not only superstitions, but, it was also necessary to evolve a general materialist attitude. So the necessity of such an organisation was much needed. In this context, Bharatiya Bijnan o Yuktibadi Samity was established. But the history of the formation of Bharatiya Bijnan o Yuktibadi Samity, published by the Samity itself, revealed a different story. On 1st March 1985, some socially conscious, able to evaluate cultural revolution, activists of the liberation struggle of the oppressed people, undaunted, committed youths, after a discussion in a small flat at Dum Dum (72/8 Debinibas Road) formed an organisation- Bharater Yuktibadi Samity.8 Naturally a question had been raised that it was not a result of sustained activity of the organisation or persons at that time. On the contrary, the Samity was formed by the desired effort of some daring youths.9 From the available writings of Prabir Ghosh, the founder secretary of the Samity, the fact remained undiscovered for many times. For that reason, people did not know that the Samity was the outcome of a gradual evolution of rationalist thought within the Bengali middle class. There were many other personalities, associated with the science movements, who were actively participating in the Samity. For instance, Dr. Dhirendranath Gangopadhyay was the first president of this organisation and eminent science communicators like Amit Chakraborty, Aparajito Basu, Jugalkanti Ray, Shankar Chakraborty and others were also associated with this organisation at the formative period. In 1985, the process of rationalist thinking was stimulated by a radio programme, broadcast from the A.I.R, Kolkata. On 18th July 1985

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at 8 P.M, A.I.R, Kolkata (Kolkata A) broadcast a programme Jyotish niye du Char Katha. 10 In that programme four fortunetellers, who were claimants of supernatural power, confronted the interviewer with embarrassment. Influenced by that programme, some people were attracted to the rationalist movement in general. They expressed their support and even some of them came forward to participate. Many listeners sent their individual opinions. A series of discussion-debate took place in the newspapers. Sonarpur Kristi Samsad staged a drama Bhago Bhoot Bhagaban, written by Sangramjit Sengupta. Thus the media had played a positive role in creating rationality among the people. From 1985, Yuktibadi Samity organised shows against superstitions and supernaturalism as Aloukik noy loukik in suburbs and the villages. In the beginning, the main focus was the disclosing of the magic and techniques of the so-called babajis and matajis. Later, it attempted to hammer the subjective attitude and beliefs of the people such as the concept of evil spirit, religious fanaticism, fatalism etc. Those programmes were appreciated by a large section of the common people. The people, directly not involved with the Samity, also organised programmes in the same name. Initially, Dr. Bishnu Mukhopadhyay and Dr. Amit Chakraborty helped to make the aforesaid programme successful. Dr. Amit Chakraborty, the programme executive of the A.I.R, Kolkata, was the producer of the programme Jyotish niye du Char Katha (talks on astrology). In January 1986, the first volume of the book, Aloukik noy loukik was published.11 In it, the techniques of so-called miracles were vividly explained. With the publication of the first volume, the movement received a momentum. The movement spread beyond West Bengal with the help of that book. Gradually, it was gaining ground in other Banglaspeaking states, viz., Tripura and Assam. Moreover, it crossed the barrier of the country. Feeling oneness with this movement, Bangladesh Bijnan O Yuktibadi Samity was formed in 1987-88 in Bangladesh. The movement was mainly concentrated in Dhaka, but it spread over to Barishal, Chattogram, Rajshahi, Pabna, etc. Letters from those places were sent to Bharatiya Bijnan O Yuktibadi Samity, which were further proof of the influence of this movement.12 In January 1986, Pavlov Institute and Utsa Manush tried to organise a joint platform with the Bharatiya Bijnan O Yuktibadi Samity. It was proposed that either the Samity should join with the Rationalist Association, established by Kovoor or it should function as a branch of Pavlov Institute or Utsa Manush. But Bharatiya Bijnan O Yuktibadi Samity refused all the proposals because its members thought that the

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activities of these two organisations were temporary and fragmentary whereas their own movement was a widely based cultural movement.13 In the middle of 1986, James Randy, a leader of the USAs rationalist movement, wrote a letter to the Bharatiya Bijnan O Yuktibadi Samity. In that letter he approached the Samity to help the Committee for scientific investigation of claims of the paranormal. But the Samity refused to do so because it thought that James Randy and his organisation had limited their activities within the investigation of supernatural force only.14 According to the Samity, the rationalist movement in general and investigation of the mysteries of supernatural power were not the same.15 About its aims and objectives, the Samity in its Memorandum of Association16 said that the one of the main causes of the failure of the movements for the liberation of the oppressed masses of India lay in the absence of proper emphasis on the organisational effort, to enrich a cultural movement. To them, it was necessary to organise a cultural movement. The objective of that movement would be to launch an all round mass cultural movement or cultural revolution. The Samity aimed to achieve it. The members would try to clear all misconceptions and non-transparent ideas. The Samity thought that the main enemies of the rationalist thinking, the weapon of the oppressed class, were socalled religion, spiritualism and subjectivism. If one failed to highlight the anti-rationalist spirit of institutional religions among the people in a proper way, then the idea of freedom from superstition, freedom of consciousness and the dream of ending of exploitation would remain as an object of imagination only. So, Bharatiya Bijnan o Yuktibadi Samity tried to achieve freedom of the oppressed class through the process of rationalist school of thinking which in the long run would be turned into a total revolution. And the aims of this revolution were the transformation of the social system, change of structure and finally termination of state. Here a doubt might be raised regarding the process of initiating the movement in the existing hierarchical social structure. According to the Samity, the ruling class always created a favourable cultural super-structure to protect the infrastructure of the system. So if one wanted to break the system then he/she should have to hit both, as because their relationships were double-faced. From this idea, the Yuktibadi Samity had worked. It worked through seventy-five branches in different areas of West Bengal (North Bengal, Bankura, Medinipur, Hooghly, Howrah, South 24 Parganas and Nadia I & II).17 The structure of this organisation was not conventionally hierarchical, as parallel branches were set up with an equal status. The

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branches, in that structure, could plan and implement their programmes independently.18 About the activities of the Yuktibadi Samity, Rajesh Dutta, stated that up to 1989, the main activity of the Yuktibadi Samity was to unmask the story of the so-called supernatural activities. While the Samity was very much vocal about the total revolution, the main emphasis was given on the unmasking of the magical activities of matajis and babajis. The Samity had exposed the so-called supernatural activities of Ipshita Ray Chakraborty (June 1988), Hujur Saidabadi (February 1991), Morris Serulo (15th October 1992), in a scientific way. Again sometimes, the supernatural propaganda of some places was their target, such as: Hanabari of Baranagar (October 1993), the fire of Agarpara (April 1993), ghosts of Salt Lake (October 1994), etc.19 The Yuktibadi Samity got its registration in 1989. It had thrown challenges of an amount of fifty thousand rupees to the astrologers and the so-called heroes with supernatural powers, if those could be proved. In the nineties, there was a change in approach. In October 1991, it was decided that a mouthpiece of the organization, the Yuktibadi, would be published, and launched at the 1992 Kolkata Book Fair. That decision was executed.20 The contents included the selection of science-oriented writings of the past, secularism, public service, evaluation of the social reformers, peoples health movement, etc. in 1992-93, when cholera broke out in West Bengal, the state government marked it as an enteric disease, but the Yuktibadi Samity, under the leadership of Dr. Bishnu Mukhopadhyay conducted a survey in I. D. Hospital at Beliaghata and came to the conclusion that the disease was cholera, and not an enteric one. Necessary statistics and information were submitted. 21 In 1993, the Yuktibadi Samity had played a very glorious progressive role in the Nirbikalpa samadhi episode of Balak Brahmachari22 (after the death of Balak Brahmachari his disciples refused to accept him as dead and preserved his body as a living being) and came in the frontline heading of newspapers. The news was published in all the dailies. In 1996, through a documentary in the B.B.C, the rationalist movement of Yuktibadi Samity gained a wide international publicity. In this span of time the Samitys main lapse was its inability to maintain a good relationship with other science movements. It was evident from the pages of the Yuktibadi magazine that the Samity was very critical about many science workers and organisations since the Yuktibadi magazines beginning from 1992.23 But afterwards they had realised that this type of isolationist attitude would not serve any purpose to push forward the entire science movement. Then it joined with the programmes of other organisations.

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In 1996, Prabir Ghosh, the founder secretary of the Samity, was sacked from the Samity on the charge of corruption and treachery.24 A numbers of cases were filed against him. During this legal procedure of the case, the rationalist movement suffered in general. After that incident, all other members claimed that they only were working as Bharatiya Bijnan o Yuktibadi Samity. But the old activists, whose names were found in the Yuktibadi magazine, were working with the group without Prabir Ghosh. The activities also remained the same under the secretaryship of Debashis Bhattacharya. On the other hand, the faction of Prabir Ghosh had tried to spread the rationalist ideals through its best-sellers, i.e., the series entitled as Aloukik noi Loukik. 25 But this story of the progress of rationalism in West Bengal was not only a history of inner-conflicts of any group. It might not be denied that the aims of the movement had reached a positive goal. Through the criticism of fellow-workers and organizers, the arena of this movement had not become smaller. With a view to organising a vast peoples cultural movement, with all fellow individuals and organisations, the rationalist movement moved on. So, the rationalist movement of this state did not remain confined itself in unmasking the magic of so-called supernatural events; on the other hand, it had become a part of overall science movements of the state. NOTES AND REFERENCES
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Ashok Bandyopadhyay, Ganabijnan Andolan O Dr. Ganguly, Manabman, Vol. 38, No. 1, Kolkata, January 1999, pp.15-19. Ibid. Sabuj Mukhapadhyay, Ganabijnaner Pathe Paschimbanga-Ekti Samkshipta Paryalochana, Mukhapatra Ganadarpan, Vol. 8, No. 6, p.19. Prabir Ghosh, Sanskriti: Samgharsa O Nirman, Kolkata, 1993, p.67. Ibid., p.80. Ibid., p.122. Interview with Rajesh Dutta, Kolkata, 10th January 1999. Prabir Ghosh, op. cit., p.67. Aniruddha Dutta, Prasanga Ganabijnan Andolan, Manabman, Vol. 35, No. 4, Kolkata, 1996, p.300.

10. Prabir Ghosh, op. cit., p-73. 11. Prabir Ghosh, Aloukik noi Loukik, Vol.1, Kolkata, 1986. 12. Interview with Rajesh Dutta, Kolkata, 10th January 1999. 13. Prabir Ghosh, Sanskriti: Samgharsa O Nirman, Kolkata, 1993, p.73. 14. Ibid., p.74. 15. Ibid., p.72.

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16. Bharatiya Bijnan o Yuktibadi Samity, Memorandum of Association, date not mentioned, pp.1-7. 17. Interview with Rajesh Dutta, Kolkata, 10th January 1999. 18. Bharatiya Bijnan o Yuktibadi Samity, Memorandum of Association, Bishes Drastabya should be noted, date and page number was not mentioned. 19. Bharatiya Bijnan o Yuktibadi Samity demanded that Drug and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Act 1954 should be implemented rigorously. The Samity had published the full text of this act and its Bangla translation in its mouthpiece Yuktibadi, Special Number on Law, Vol. 3, No. 3, 1 March 1994. Also see, Rajesh Dutta edited, Yuktibadi Tadanta Samkalan, Kolkata, 1998. The editors were Prabir Ghosh and five others.

20.

21. Bishnu Mukhopadhyay, Antrik noi Cholera, Yuktibadi, Vol. 2, No. 4, Kolkata, 1993. 22. Pradeep Chakraborty, Balakbabar Kissa, Yuktibadi, Vol. 2, No. 4, Kolkata, 1993. 23. It was the general feature of the writings of Prabir Ghosh that was evident in the series of books titled Aloukik noi Loukik and Sanskriti: Samgharsa O Nirman. Here mention might be made of the serial writing of Debashis Bhattacharya under the title of Prasanga Juktibad in Samitys mouthpiece Yuktibadi. 24. Expulsion of Prabir Ghosh, Yuktibadi Special Calcutta Book Fair bulletin, 1997 and other leaflets, published by the Samity. 25. Published books of Prabir Ghosh were Aloukik noi Loukik, (already four volumes were published), Pinki o Aloukik Baba, Aloukik Rahasya Sandhane Pinki, Aloukik Rahasyer Jale Pinki, etc.