It is after all the great ideal of Chitta Ranjan's sacrifice that has led the young men of Bengal to respond to the call of mother-country when even Mahatma's appeal has failed to move them. The student-community of Bengal came out in a body to rally round Deshabandhu Chitta Ranjan in attaining the object for which we are all fighting. In one of the students' meetings at Calcutta Mahatma Gandhi while addressing the students said:--"I knew that you were waiting for Srijut Chitta Ranjan's leadership and I hoped the time was not very far when he would sacrifice his all at the call of his country." In an appeal to the students of Calcutta he said:--
"I advocate the method of Non-Co-operation, as every other method has failed. I want you to cling to this method, come what may. This is our last chance and this, at least, will not be in vain. Do you know what Non-Co-operation means? You must withdraw your help in moving the powerful machinery of the Bureaucracy. Do you realise how you can move this machinery? The Bureaucracy works its wicked will through the pleaders, through doctors, through clerks, through their police officers and through Magistrates and Judges. And you now see what the Calcutta University contributes. It contributes all the strength upon which the strength of the bureaucracy depends.
The method that I advocate is the method of sacrifice. If you have to destroy what you consider your chance of success in life, remember, it is only to defeat the bureaucracy, and to attain Swaraj. How can Swaraj be attained unless you realise your own right clearly, unhesitatingly? How can you compel the bureaucracy to recognise that which you yourself do not realise?
I repeat, therefore,--wake up, wake up, wake up. We have slept too long. Realise the sense of your bondage and stand out boldly and firmly on the road to Freedom."
In his Sagar Sangit Chitta Ranjan once sang this song:--
"As thou didst call with the roar of thy thunder In the infinitely musical voice of thy soul, My life over-flooded its banks In the heart-churning torrents of thy sound."
When actually this call came to him, he went forth from place to place to preach the Swaraj mantra. Bengal was already prepared to adopt it. Wherever he went, the local people responded in a splendid manner and national institutions grew up simultaneously. After starting a national college at Dacca when Chitta Ranjan proceeded to Mymensingh in the beginning of March 1921, the Joint Magistrate prohibited him from entering the town. As the Congress had not then sanctioned civil disobedience, he did not break that order. But on that occasion the noble message that he sent to his countrymen is even now vibrating in the air:--"We are treated like helots in our country. Life is unbearable without Swaraj." He then came to Tangail and in the large compound of Mr. Wajed Ali Khan Pani's house a mass meeting was held where the labourers and peasants were present in a large number; the large-hearted Zaminder Mr. Khan Pani started a national school and for the benefit of the peasants a granary was proposed. From Tangail Chitta Ranjan came to Sylhet via Maulavi Bazar and Habigunj and presided over the Assam Khilafat Conference. The local people accorded him a splendid ovation, the town was lighted in honour of his visit. In course of the speech at the Khilafat Conference he said:--"The dawn of a new era has come. It is the dawn of unity among the different sects of the Indian people. This unity is never to be broken. We are all united to attain Swaraj. If in our own home, we cannot preserve our self-respect, if in our own country we are treated like cats and dogs, then where shall we get justice? We starve for want of food, we are turned naked for want of clothing. Our wives and children suffer humiliation at all times and we lose our lives like insects and worms. To set this right we want Swaraj. This is needed not only for Hindus and Musalmans but by every Indian, by every righteous man."