This scholar highlighted: Bengal’s ‘legendary’ social reformers weren't keen to empower Dalits, marginalized communities

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat 

Noted scholar and historian Dr. Atul Krishna Biswas, popularly known as Dr. A. K. Biswas, passed away on February 28, 2025, at his home in Kolkata. He was 79 years old and had been suffering from age-related ailments for the past few days. The death of Dr. Biswas came as a shock to many of his admirers, including myself. Dr. Biswas was an exceptionally hardworking individual who wrote extensively based on his research from various archives and documents to which he had access. He served as Home Secretary of Bihar in 2005 and, prior to that, as Vice-Chancellor of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University, Muzaffarpur, Bihar.

Dr. Biswas was born at a time of chaos and sharp communal polarization during the pre-partition era. He was born on February 6, 1946, in Baraichara, in the district of Jessore, now part of Bangladesh. He passed his matriculation in the first division in 1962 from Bunagati High School, Magura. At the age of sixteen, he was forced to leave his home and travel about 70 kilometers barefoot to Bongaon, now part of the 24 Parganas district in West Bengal, to reach his sister’s home. His feet swelled from the journey, and his sister washed them with hot water before putting him to rest with her children. The traumatized young boy began teaching his sister’s children in Bongaon. He later graduated from Thakurnagar, a place associated with Guru Hari Chand, the founder of Matua Mahasangha. While teaching at a school and preparing for various state exams, he was selected for the West Bengal Civil Services and appointed as an administrative officer and Sub-Divisional Magistrate. He went on to complete his Master’s in Economics from Calcutta University and was later selected for the West Bengal Provincial Civil Services, where he was appointed as Deputy Collector. His friend and senior at Thakurnagar College, Mr. Amar Krishna Biswas, now retired, recalls that Dr. A. K. Biswas was a diligent individual who never shared his hardships with anyone and always aimed high.In 1973, Mr. Atul Krishna Biswas was selected by the UPSC in the All India Civil Services examinations and was assigned to the Bihar cadre, where he served in various capacities throughout his career. As a member of the Indian Administrative Service, he held positions such as Sub-Divisional Officer, District Magistrate, Divisional Commissioner, and rose to the prestigious roles of Principal Secretary, Home Secretary, and Energy Secretary of the Government of Bihar. He played a key role in the formation of a university named after Babasaheb Ambedkar and was appointed as the first Vice-Chancellor of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur.Interestingly, his zeal and dedication to education never waned. Though there was no need for him to focus on further education after becoming a civil servant following his graduation, he completed his Master’s as a private candidate while in service. His thirst for knowledge persisted, leading him to earn a Ph.D. later in life. His dissertation, titled Inland and Overseas Emigration of Working Classes in the Nineteenth Century from Bihar, earned him a doctorate from Patna University. 

Dr. A. K. Biswas retired from service in 2007 but continued writing extensively on issues he deemed profoundly important. Despite his declining health, his convictions drove him to produce lengthy pieces on subjects that had been either ignored or overlooked. He was an undisputed authority on the Dalit question in Bengal. His research articles were published in reputable English and Bengali journals and magazines. 

Dr. A. K. Biswas authored several books since 1996. Some of his notable works include:

- Social and Cultural Vision of India: Facts Against Fiction, Pragati Publication, Delhi, 1996.

- Understanding Bihar, Blumoon Books, New Delhi, 1998.

- The Namasudras of Bengal: Profile of a Persecuted People, Blumoon Books, New Delhi, 2000.

- Sepoy Mutiny and Indian Perfidy [1857-58] (Monograph), 1998.

- Sati: Saga of a Gory Custom (Monograph), 1999.

- The Namasudras of Bengal: Profile of a Persecuted People (Monograph), 2000.

- A Study of Feudalism in Eastern India with Special Reference to Bihar (Monograph, awaiting publication).

- অন্বেষণ (pseudonym: Shipra Biswas), Kolkata, 1996.

- স্মৃতিকথা (awaiting publication).

- বঙ্গ জীবনে অপরাধ এবং অপরাধপ্রবণতা—সামাজিক বিন্যাস (awaiting publication).

He was working on his autobiography, but it remains unclear whether he completed it. He had shared ideas with me and expressed enthusiasm about collaborating on a conversation. I had requested a detailed interview with him for a potential book, to which he agreed, but only after completing his work in Bangla. He mentioned having already responded to some of my questions. I hope the work he initiated with publishers will see the light of day. His writings deserve to be compiled into a book to showcase the depth of his knowledge. 

Dr. Biswas was a widely traveled individual who never lost touch with grassroots realities. His writings reflected his relentless pursuit of original texts and documents. It would be valuable to revisit some of his works. Currently, there is a movement regarding the Mahabodhi Vihar issue in Bihar. 

Dr. Biswas, as Home Secretary of Bihar in 2005, was well-positioned to provide firsthand insight. In response to a letter from Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, then Principal Secretary to the President of India, raising concerns about the rights of Buddhists in relation to this vihara, Dr. Biswas penned an informative article on this. 

There is little understanding of how Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar was elected to the Constituent Assembly from the Jessore and Khulna constituencies of Bengal. In an interview with me, Dr. Biswas explained:

“Dr. Ambedkar, at that point, was a member of the Executive Council of the Governor-General of India. As Independence approached, elections were held nationwide to form a Constituent Assembly to draft the Constitution for the new nation. The Congress Party opposed Ambedkar and sought to prevent his entry into the Assembly. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel reportedly said, ‘We have closed the doors and windows of the Constituent Assembly; let’s see how he enters this house.’ Unable to secure election from Bombay Presidency, his home province, Ambedkar turned to Bengal, seeking support from Anglo-Indian members of the State Assembly. However, when he visited Calcutta, they informed him of their decision to abstain from voting. Disappointed, he returned to Delhi. At this juncture, Jogendranath Mandal, a member of the Scheduled Castes Federation founded by Ambedkar and the sole representative of Bengal’s Scheduled Castes in the Assembly, invited him to contest from Bengal. Just 21 days before the election, Ambedkar arrived in Calcutta, met with supporters of the Scheduled Castes’ Society, and agreed to run. Mandal proposed his candidature, seconded by Biswas. On election day, seven MLCs voted for Ambedkar—exceeding the required five votes—securing his place in the Constituent Assembly. He outpolled Sarat Chandra Bose, elder brother of Subhas Chandra Bose, who received six votes. This marked a significant chapter in the Dalit movement and Ambedkar’s lifelong struggle for the ‘untouchable’ people of India.”

In another analytical piece, A Critique of Mass Education in Bengal: Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and His Hypocrisy, Dr. Biswas highlights that, despite Bengal’s reputation for ‘legendary’ social reformers, none were keen to empower Dalits and marginalized communities. He cites Vidyasagar’s belief that educating these groups could be harmful, as it might lead them to abandon their traditional occupations. Dr. Biswas quotes Vidyasagar’s conversation with Nabin Chandra Sen, a poet and Deputy Magistrate, as recorded in Sen’s autobiography:

“It will be a good riddance should the accursed policy of education get a burial. I established a school in my village, in consequence of which I’ve deserted my native place. As soon as children of farmers and laborers learn a few English words, they shun their ancestral occupations. They run amok for fashionable dresses, shoes, socks, hats, etc. For them, I am unable to go home. As soon as I reach Birsingha, I am invaded by parents of those boys, pestering me: ‘Oh! My venerable Sir, what have you done? My ward is totally unconcerned about my farm. Half a bigha of my land remained untilled this season. How shall I meet the food requirements of my family? Over and above, I have to foot bills for his fashionable dress, hats, etc.’ Someone says, ‘My cattle have died, but my son does not care to graze them.’ I have committed a sin for which I am undergoing penance. I have solemnly sworn never to establish any more schools in the countryside. In this land, nobody, after receiving education, engages in the pursuit of their ancestral occupation. No sooner than one starts muttering a few English words, he shuns the profession of his forefathers—nay, even hates his parents.”

In his brilliant and analytical article How Sitting Orthodoxy Killed Millions, Dr. Biswas draws on firsthand reports to examine the plague that ravaged India between 1896 and 1930, claiming 40–50 million lives. He notes that caste Hindus—Brahmins, Rajputs, and Banias—were the most affected, while Chamars, Valmikis, and Muslims were the least impacted. He explains how Brahmanical orthodoxy, led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, opposed measures to control the plague. 

Dr. Biswas writes:

“Measures such as house-to-house searches, examination of occupants, evacuation of suspected plague victims to hospitals and segregation camps, removal and destruction of personal effects, and prevention of plague cases from entering or leaving cities were adopted to curb the outbreak. However, certain sections soon voiced acute grievances against these initiatives. Bal Gangadhar Tilak vociferously denounced the Plague Commissioner, saying, ‘Her Majesty the Queen, the Secretary of State, and his Council should not have issued orders for practicing tyranny upon the people of India without any special advantage to be gained.’ He further criticized the government for entrusting the execution of these orders to ‘a suspicious, sullen, and tyrannical officer like Rand.’

"Within three months of Rand’s appointment as Plague Commissioner in March 1897, he was assassinated in June 1897. On June 22, 1897, during the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria’s coronation in Poona, Rand was critically injured in a bomb attack, while his companion, Lieutenant Ayerst, died on the spot. Rand succumbed to his injuries on July 3, 1897. The assassins—Damodar Chaupaker, Balkrishna Chaupaker, Vasudev Chaupaker, Mahadeva Ranade, and Khando Vishnu Sathe—acted out of alleged insensitivity to native orthodoxy. Tilak hailed their actions as patriotic in his journal Kesari, for which he was prosecuted for sedition and sentenced to eighteen months of rigorous imprisonment in Mandalay.”

The death of Dr. Atul Krishna Biswas is a tremendous loss to those who anticipated more outstanding articles and books from him. He was determined to write about critical issues he felt had been neglected. His strength lay in uncovering official reports and documents that exposed the prejudices of India’s powerful casteist elite. There was little information about his passing, perhaps because he was not part of any organized group of intellectuals or activists. In today’s world, being autonomous and independent often leads to isolation. Moreover, families need to be aware of such individuals’ creative activism so admirers like me aren’t left uninformed for days. Though Dr. Biswas wrote prolifically about issues affecting Dalits and others, he rarely spoke about himself. It took considerable effort to gather details about his childhood and struggles. Friends and admirers in Patna organized a condolence meeting on March 1, but this remained confined to their circle. Ironically, while we know much about his writings, we know little about his personal struggles—a testament to Dr. Biswas’s greatness, as he never dwelled on his own pains and sorrows, focusing instead on his work.I hope his unpublished works will be published and shared with his friends and admirers. His passing is a personal loss to me, as he frequently called to discuss various issues and his future plans. In 2017, I had a conversation with him when he was unwell, yet his brilliance shines through in his masterpieces.

My sincere condolences to the memory of Dr. A. K. Biswas.