History often hides in dust and broken bricks. In a crumbling house in Owari village of East Burdwan, time still whispers of the night two young men — Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt — dared to script a rebellion that shook the British Empire.
It was April 8, 1929, when a bomb thundered through the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi, scattering not death, but defiance. The act, carried out by Bhagat Singh and Dutt, was not born in Delhi— it was conceived in Bengal, in a secret basement beneath the humble Ghosh residence, a neighbour’s house beside Dutt’s ancestral home.
After the bloody aftermath of Lala Lajpat Rai’s death from police brutality in Lahore in 1928, Singh had resolved to strike back. A misfired vengeance led to the killing of British police officer JP Saunders instead of James Scott, pushing Singh into the shadows of secrecy. On Dutt’s advice, he found shelter in Owari, presently in East Burdwan district.
Here, under the thick wooden planks of a wall showcase, behind curtains and a charpai bed, lay a tunnel barely ten to twelve feet deep. It was here, hidden from the all-seeing eyes of the colonial police, that the duo plotted their daring attack on the Central Legislative Assembly.
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After throwing the bombs, Singh and Dutt did not flee the scene, choosing to be arrested and using the subsequent trial as a platform to raise awareness about the Independence movement and inspire others. Both of them were sentenced to life imprisonment and later Singh was implicated in the Saunder’s murder case.
Today, the Ghosh house is deserted— its bricks weary, its secrets fading. To an unknowing visitor, it appears ordinary. Yet behind that wooden floor once stretched the vault where two revolutionaries crouched for 15 days, dreaming of shaking an empire with the cry of Inquilab Zindabad.
“The plan for the Delhi Assembly bombing was hatched in that very basement,” said Dr. Sarbjit Yash, historian and Joint Secretary of the Batukeshwar Dutt Conservation Trust. “The documents over the ownership of the house have now been cleared by the local Block Development Officer (BDO). The government has decided to preserve the site.”
Madhusudan Chandra, Secretary of the Batukeshwar Dutt Memorial Preservation Committee, confirmed, “Discussions with the Ghosh family are ongoing. Once the property is in government hands, conservation will begin.”
For now, Owari’s treasure lies neglected— a tunnel once cloaked by curtains, a stage for acts that would echo across India. Where today silence reigns, yesterday thunderous voices once swore freedom.
And as one crosses Curzon Gate in Burdwan town and finally arrives at Owari village, it is impossible not to imagine: beneath the quiet earth of Burdwan, Bhagat Singh once crouched, sketching in shadows a rebellion that would blaze into immortality.
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