द इण्डियन स्ट्रगल / भारतीय स्वाधीनता संग्राम (नेताजी सुभाष चन्द्र बोस - ऐतिहासिक विश्लेषण)

186 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
they offered better treatment to the hunger-strikers on
medical grounds. But their demand was not merely for
better treatment for themselves, but for all prisoners similarly
circumstanced and on the ground that they were political
prisoners. To this demand the Government would not yield
and so the strike went on. Besides an intensive Press agitation,
meetings and demonstrations were held all over the country
demanding humane treatment for political prisoners. In
connection with a demonstration of this kind in Calcutta, a
number of prominent Congressmen, including the writer,
were arrested in September and sent up for trial for sedition.
As the days rolled by, one by one the hunger-strikers
dropped off but young Jatin was invincible. He never
hesitated, never faltered for one small second—but marched
straight on towards death and freedom. Every heart in the
country melted but the heart of the bureaucracy did not. So
Jatin died on September 13th. But he died the death of a
martyr. After his death the whole country gave him an
ovation which few men in the recent history of India have
received. As his dead body was removed from Lahore to
Calcutta for cremation, people assembled in their thousands
and tens of thousands at every station to pay their homage.
His martyrdom acted as a profound inspiration to the youth
of India and everywhere youth and student organisations
began to grow up. Among the many messages that were
received on the occasion was one which touched the heart of
every Indian. It was a message from the family of Terence
McSwiney, the Lord Mayor of Cork, who had died a martyr
under similar conditions in Ireland. The message ran thus:
‘Family of Terence McSwiney have heard with grief and
pride of the death of Jatin Das. Freedom will come.’
Jatin Das was twenty-five at the time of his death. While a
student he had joined the non-co-operation movement in
1921 and had spent several years in prison. After a break of
many years he had resumed his studies again at a Calcutta
College. At the time of the Calcutta Congress in 1928 and
after, he had taken a leading part in organising and training
volunteers and in the Bengal Volunteer Corps, of which the
writer was the Chief Officer or G.O.C., he held the rank of