Hare Krishna Konar (ISO: Harē Kr̥iṣṇā Kōṅār, ; 5 August 191523 July 1974), also known as H. K. Konar, was an Indian Marxist revolutionary, agricultural theorist, peasant leader, and politician who was one of the founding members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and was the chief architect of India's first and largest agrarian reform in West Bengal. Between the 1960s and 1970s, he became one of the principal leaders of Communist movements in India. In 1932, Konar was deported to the Cellular Jail of the Andamans for 6 years at the age of 18 for his involvement in the Begut Robbery case of the Jugantar Party; there he took part in the first hunger strike, and in 1935 he founded the Communist Consolidation and led the historical second hunger strike.
Early life and nationalism (1915–1932) Hare Krishna Konar was born to a Bengali Ugra Kshatriya family on August 5, 1915, in Kamargoria, a village across the Damodar River in the Bardhaman district of the Bengal Presidency, British India. His father, Sarat Chandra Konar, was a well-known businessman and landlord of Burdwan who had a very close relationship with the ruler of Bardhaman Raj, Bijay Chand Mahtab, while his mother, Satyabala Konar, was a housewife. As Konar was born to a Zamindar family, eventually he grew up in a very privileged manner in an Indian-style joint family with his young siblings, as he was the eldest son of Sarat Chandra Konar and Satyabala Konar. There were no political or anti-government activists associated with his family; moreover, his father had good connections with British officials for his trade purposes.
Konar started school in the same village, at Kamargoria Prathmik Bidyalay, and he has always been an excellent student in studies as well as in social life. During his school days, Konar was interested in multiple subjects, particularly Sanskrit and Physics. After finishing his primary education in Kamargoria, along with his parents, he moved to Panihati in the North 24 Parganas district, then to Bardhaman district, and finally settled in the South Radhakantapur village of Memari. He began his high school education at Memari Vidyasagar Smriti Vidyamandir. Later, he completed his intermediate education at the same school.
After moving to the new village, the Congress leader of Burdwan, Bibhuti Bhusan Dutta, used to visit their house on a regular basis since Bibhuti Babu and his father had good relationships; Konar used to listen to their discussions about politics and independence movements taking place throughout the countryside. From Bibhuti Babu, Konar heard about the new leader who had recently made his name in Indian politics, M.K. Gandhi, who had come out with his new idea of Ahimsa Andolan and launched his first Satyagraha movement that was participated in by teachers, professors, lawyers, college students, and school students, but the teachers of Memari Vidyasagar Smriti Vidyamandir never encouraged their students for the independence activities; they actually tried many ways to maintain distance between movements and the school students.
Konar was soon influenced by the fascinating philosophy of Ahimsa, which led him to participate in the Satyagraha Campaigns and Burdwan Congress political activities. Konar goes to school and then secretly leaves at lunchtime to join the campaigns. He regularly goes to the meetings and rallies. But one day, a meeting regarding "Revolutionary culture" was going on, and Konar was there in the meeting. A person who knows Konar and his father spotted him standing in the rally dressed in school uniform and ran home to inform Konar's father that Konar was attending a political event. Then his father arrived and caught him for the first time at political and anti-government rallies. Konar's father came and grabbed his hand to take him back home. After this incident, his family completely isolated Konar so that he couldn't attend or stay away from these independence and political meetings because his father, Sarat Chandra Konar, had a great reputation in the village and Burdwan city as a wealthy businessman who wanted to send Konar to the University of Oxford for further studies, and if he went into politics, his career would be destroyed.
Again, after a few years, Konar became active in political activities, and at the age of 15, while studying in the ninth grade, Hare Krishna Konar was jailed for picketing in front of Burdwan Raj College. After being released from jail, Konar was again isolated by his family, but he ran away from home to join the Civil Disobedience Movement and was jailed again in April 1930, this time for six months in Burdwan jail. In jail, he met with Benoy Choudhury, who was also arrested for participating in the disobedient movement, and they talked about various types of topics. He also spoke with other revolutionaries who had been imprisoned for their involvement in the armed struggle revolution and had been influenced by the armed revolutionary doctrine.
After being released from prison, Konar moved forward with the mindset of joining the armed revolutionary movement. By giving up the process of nonviolence, he moved towards the armed struggle and showed particular skill in creating secret revolutionary groups in and around Memari. It was during this time that Bhupendranath Dutta and Bankim Mukherjee were introduced to the revolutionary group of Burdwan. Under Dutta and Mukherjee's influence, the Burdwan revolutionary group got the supply of various Marxist books along with the news about the case, which appeared in the newspaper articles about the Meerut Conspiracy Case. Hare Krishna Konar started his political activities as an active member of the 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.
While still a student, Konar finished his 10th standard with first division in all subjects and a letter in Sanskrit from Memari Vidyasagar Smriti Vidyamandir. He then went to Calcutta and took admission as a first-year science student in Bangabasi College under the University of Calcutta. In Calcutta, he stayed at the Canning Hostel on Scott Lane, met Abdul Halim, and joined the Calcutta armed revolutionary group. However, he was also in contact with Benoy Choudhury and Saroj Mukherjee of the Burdwan armed revolutionary group.
After a few days, the Calcutta Party's funds were practically reduced, and there was an urgent need for money. Bipadbaran Roy, one of Konar's friends, lived in Calcutta but also spent time in hostels. So, one afternoon, Bipadbaran Roy's uncle, a government employee, arrived with 10,000 rupees and put it at his home, so it was determined that they would rob the money and use it for the party's funds. So Bipadbaran, Konar, and a few others went to the residence and took all of the money, as well as some extra gold and cash. However, this amount was insufficient for their funds. So, Konar broke his father's chest in Memari to get the remaining money for the group. Konar gradually emerged as a revolutionary figure at Bangabasi College, which was the center of Swadeshi and revolutionary students who were directly associated with the Anushilan Samiti or Jugantar party.
The armed struggle revolution reached its peak in 1931. In February, Anushilan Samiti's allies, HSRA leader Bhagat Singh, were sentenced to death, while in London, M.K. Gandhi built the Gandhi–Irwin Pact. Independence activists slowly began to oppose Mahatma Gandhi and his nonviolent ideas. Finally, in March 1931, the key figures of the Indian armed resistance revolution, Bhagat Singh and Chandra Shekhar Azad, were hanged and shot to death. Following that, Gandhi organized another Satyagraha movement, which was met with opposition from many students and from numerous revolutionary parties. As a result, the armed struggle revolution expanded, and revolutionary groups spread throughout the country. At the same time, the "Indian Proletarian Revolutionary Party" was established by Panchu Gopal Bhaduri, Kali Ghosh, Bankim Mukherjee, Bhupendranath Datta, and others. The Indian Proletarian Revolutionary Party was also recognized as a branch of the Communist Party of India. Konar, along with Benoy Choudhury, joined the group. Konar soon became involved in various kinds of revolutionary activities, including bomb making, robbery, and party fund management, and gradually rose to the position of leader of that organization.
Six years in Cellular jail (1932–1938) Hare Krishna Konar became known as the youngest face of the Indian Proletarian Revolutionary Party and was a firebrand mastermind behind many cases, but on September 15, 1932, he was caught and arrested in the Begut Robbery Case, despite the fact that Konar had been tracked by British officials for many months over his activities. Konar's detention came as a tremendous shock to his family, as Sarat Konar had already made all possible arrangements for Konar to move to London, England, for his further studies at the University of Oxford.
Konar was brutally tortured by police after his arrest and throughout his custody period. However, he tolerated all of the torture inflicted by the British police and never spoke about any revolutionaries or their future plans. In the special tribunal case, the police charged Hare Krishna Konar with robbery and murder under Sections 694 and 398 of the Indian Public Penal Code, respectively. Following his arrest, he was taken to Midnapore Central Jail, and the tribunal's decision was given in Calcutta High Court on January 20, 1933. During his court trial, Konar was asked whether he was guilty of his revolutionary activities against the British Empire. Konar replied:
After his address to the court, the judge stated:
After announcing the rigorous imprisonment, Hare Krishna Konar had no remorse for it. Again for a month he was kept in Midnapore Central Jail, and in February 1933, the Central Government, in consultation with the Government of Bengal, decided that all prisoners who had been sentenced for 5 years or more would be sent to the Kālā Pānī, that is, the Cellular Jail. As a result of the government's decision to give him the highest punishment of Kālā Pānī, at the age of 18, Konar was sent to the Cellular Jail of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in April 1933 by the Maharaja ship of the British Empire. As a companion on the ship, Hare Krishna Konar got revolutionaries like Satish Pakrashi, Niranjan Sengupta, Dr. Narayan Roy, and Dr. Bhupal Basu convicted in the Mechuabazar Bomb Case or Dalhousie Bomb Case.