Khudiram Bose was one of the thousands who fought for their birthright "freedom" and also curbed the power and stirred the British Government. In Indian history, several revolutionists without a backward glance moved forward to free their motherland. Their love for India was intense and they never thought of their personal relations and comfort. Among them, Khudiram Bose who at a tender age, was attracted towards the sacred words of Vande Mataram and showed the guts to devote his soul to the war of Independence.
Khudiram Bose was born in Habibpur, Mednapur on 3rd December, in1889 to Laksmipriya Devi and Trailokyanath Basu, a Tahsildar of a town called Nadazol. He was brought up by his elder sister after Lakhmipriya Devi and Trailokyanath Basu`s demise. He started his primary education at the village school and then joined Hamilton School at Tamluk and later Midnapur Collegiate School in 1903 and there he studied upto class VIII. He was a meritorious student but was more interested in juvenile pranks, adventure and later was influenced by the patriotic activities of Satyendranath Bose and Gyanendra Nath Bose who headed a secret society to campaign and fight against the British Government . Later when Khudiram Bose was in ninth standard he gave up his studies and joined the Swadeshi Movementand became a member of Revolutionary Party. He vowed to devote his life for the noble cause of bringing freedom to India.
Khudiram Bose was inspired by the cry of Vande Mataram which became very famous after the release of the novel Anandamath by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, the renowned novelist. He started taking active part in Swadeshi movement and worked actively in the protest movement against the partition of Bengal in 1905 by Lord Curzon, the Governor General of India, which infuriated the activists. Aurobindo Ghosh ,Barin Ghosh and Raja Subodh Mallik together formed a secret extremist outfit called Yugantar of which Khudiram Bose was a member.
In 1906, Khudiram Basu was seen running errands for a Midnapore based outfit, carrying the slogan Vande Mataram, bore the title Sonar Bangla. The words which was uttered and conveyed by Khudiram Bose were intolerable to the British Raj. The police tried to catch Khudiram and take the handbills away from him. But Khudiram Bose hit the nose of the policeman very hard, took the handbills and in a determined voice he warned the policeman, "Take care, don`t touch my body! I will see how you can arrest me without a warrant." Khudiram fled away throwing dust in their eyes. He was arrested in April in 1906 and released on 16th May in 1906.He also took active part in looting mail bags at Hatgacha and in the bomb attack on Governer`s special trainnear the Naravangarh railway station on 6th December in 1907. In 1908 , he was involved in the attempted killing of Watson and Bamfylde, the two Englishmen. In association with Prafulla Chaki , Khudiram Bose sketched a plot to assasinate Douglas Kingsford, Magistrate of Muzaffarpur, Bihar for being harsh to the nationalist patriots. On 30th April in 1908, as per the plan, Khudiram Basu and Prafulla Chaki threw bomb at Kingsford`s carriage which was carrying a European lady Mrs. Kennedy and her daughter (the wife and daughter of barrister Pringle Kennedy) and their servant ,instead of Kingsford. The ladies were killed by mistake. Prafulla Chaki accepted death by shooting himself at Samastipur Railway station and Khudiram Basu was arrested about twenty kilometre away from Samastipur on 1st May in 1908.
The railway station where Khudiram Bose was arrested has recently been renamed as Khudiram Pusa ( earlier known as Pusa Road) and was sentenced to be hanged till death. On 11th August in 1908 in the Mizaffarpur Jail, at 6am Khudiram Bose was broght to the gallows and was hanged . Like a true lover of his motherland and a genuine martyr he welcomed his death.
