R P Saha a great Philanthropist

I have known the name since I was a child. I am sure the case is no different for most people of my age who had access to some education or contemporary affairs. Some of the people may not have known his name but have come across one or the other charitable/voluntary/business venture of varied nature run by the great organisation founded by him: Kumudini Trust of Bengal(BD). Under the Trust arrangements,any profit coming from any of the organisations,will go for charity and benevolent activities which will benefit our countrymen,the more needy ones in particular. The charitable activities mostly centered around Mirzapore in Tangail and are varied in nature,mostly related to health and education,two of the most basic needs of Mankind. Of course there were and still are such organisations established by him in various other places of present Bangladesh Indian and Pakistani territories. The revenue earning business ventures are mostly located in Khanpur area of Narayangonj,where the Headquarters of the Trust is situated. By now the Kumudini Welfare Trust has become a huge conglomerate of various ventures aiming at development of the society in sectors like Education,Health,Women Development, Environment and simultaneously business ventures in different sectors to earn for running the benevolent activities. Amongst the business ventures,some are old,started by the legendary R P Saha himself and some are subsequent additions by his descendants. Unfortunately for us, Sri Saha could not live long enough to see the present success of the huge humanitarian efforts founded by him. Nobody is immortal. But it is utterly painful that such a personality's life was cut short by some savage hayenaes of the brutal occupation Government run by the country that he had served with all his merit,wisdom, management skills,worth and earnings. Yes,he was picked up on the 7May1971 night along with his son by the so called Peace Committee goons along with a contingent of Pakistani military never to return again. They did not even bother to return the dead bodies. So savage,so sad. We bow our heads in sorrow and pray for the salvation of their sacred souls.

The Kumudini Welfare Trust works in such diversified fields that different people come to know about their activities through different activities of theirs as the case may be. I presume,there will be very few people who will know about all their enterprises and activities because of the enormous diversity. As for myself I came to know about the Group's Girl's Residential School Bharateswari Homes first.It was way back in the early sixties of the previous century. They were known in the then East Pakistan and beyond for their mesmerising performance of physical shows during important functions like different National Days,Honouring Foreign Heads of States and such other big occasions. Besides,if I remember correctly their Girls Guide squad was one of the best in the country. The school was of high standard in discipline,academics,sports and all extra and co curricular activities. So,from early school days I knew about the school and heard a lot about Mr R P Saha,a leading Civil personality and a business magnet of Pakistan who was held in high esteem for his humane qualities and philanthropy. By then he was known as "Daanbeer" to all and sundry,a popular name given by the people. I knew more and more about him as I grew and by the time I completed my Higher Secondary studies(in Chittagong) and got admitted to BUET(the then EPUET)I developed a desire to meet him at a suitable time. I knew by that time that any venture he put his hand to was bound to be a successful one. I thought,in meeting him I could learn something. But God Almighty had other plans. He was snatched away from his family, us,all his countrymen,all his beneficiaries and from all the bounties( of nature and world) by power and blood hungry Pakistani Civil and Military leaders who were opposed to anything good in Bangladesh. They were suffering from such superiority complex that they always looked down upon us as inferiors and people to be ruled. They behaved as neo colonialists with us. I find no reason why on earth they should pick him up with his  son once in end April and release them on the 5th and again pick them up two days later(7th May) and annihilate them. The only reason could not be anything else other than he was an excellent human being,far superior to most of them. There could be another reason which I would not like to discuss here. He was personally known to all high ups of Pakistan includingAyub Khan,H S Suhrawardy,Azam Khan,Iskander Mirza,Firoze Khan Noon,Abdul Gaffar Khan,Moulana Bhashani and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. But reputation of upto that level could not save him.During the same period my personal loss was no less. I lost my father too on 2June1971 to a similar gang of miscreants in Chattogram. After that I had a tough time to complete my studies and taking care of my family of five younger sisters and my Mom and settle myself in life and society. I believe,the difficulties faced by the descendants of the great Philanthropist R P Saha was much more to carry on with all the charitable and business activities of the conglomerate and keep it on track. Not that they have succeeded in keeping the wheels moving,they rather could expand the activities and every activity is moving smoothly. Kudos to them.

Now that we have discussed about the creations and of the great kindheartedness,philosophy,charity and philanthropy of Sri Ranada Prasad Saha and the brutal treatment meted out to him and his son lets throw some light on the life sketch of the great man. He was born in a not well to do family of Bengal. His father was from a small village named Mirzapore of Tangail(now a district)a sub division of the then Mymensingh. His mother was from Manikgonj of Dhaka district. He was born in his maternal uncle's place in Manikgonj in 1896. His father could not afford his education beyond primary level and he lost his mother at a very young age due to Titanus during childbirth.  He saw the biting teeth of poverty from very close quarters. At the age of 14 he left for Calcutta in search of work to earn bread for self and family. Having no educational background he did all sorts of odd job including selling newspapers and that of physical day labourer. That was the beginning of twentieth century and the youth of the sub continent was getting organised against the British colonialism. Revolutionery groups in disguise of socio-cultural clubs were formed. Young Ranada Prasad got involved in anti British activities as well and was even jailed for a short period. Soon the WW1 broke out. There was a great debate between Indian politicians whether or not to support the colonial masters in the world war. The clever and cunning British administration promised Indian leaders of greater autonomy and solution of all economic and political problems after the war and in return sought their support. Many of the leaders believed in the words of the administration and asked their countrymen to join the British Indian Army in the WW1. An estimated 17 lacs Indians joined the forces. Young Ranada Prasad was one of them. On one side,he obeyed the leaders and on the other it was a good employment,albeit risky. Similar was the case with our National poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. They met during this period and remained friends ever since. Our R P Saha was placed in the Bengal Ambulance Corps.Later,he served other units as well.His  posting was in the middle east to fight the Ottoman Turks. He showed exemplary Heroism on several occassions, the most spectacular being the one in which he led several of his comrades into a hospital burning under fire to save all the inmate soldiers being under treatment there. After the war,in 1919 the British King George V gave audience to a group of  the Empire's soldiers who were outstanding in their services and young Ranada Prasad was amongst them, invited to London for recieving a Sword of Honour. Soon after return he left his Army job and joined the British Indian Railways as a Travelling Ticket Examiner. Though he did not have any formal education,his intelligence and sincere heroic service in the WW bagged him the job. He was comfortable with it and could support his family well but a genius like him was not born to remain satisfied with such a meagre role in life. In 1932 he had some trouble with his management and left the job to start business. He chose Calcutta to be the first experimental base of his new career and the item of trading chosen by him was coal. Every long leap starts with a small step. In the beginning he sold coal in retail carrying it to the customer's doorsteps. With his business acumen and sincerity the business grew. He started having bigger customers including steamer companies.In those days, steam engines ran by coal as fuel drove the riverine transport. A steamer company was not running well.They were in heavy debt with Mr Saha, not being able to pay for the consumed coal for a long time.Mr  Ranada Prasad struck a deal with them and got the ownership of a steamer in lieu of his receivables. His business expertise turned the losing company to be a profitable one and his riverine transport business grew to be a huge one. Initially he had some partners but Mr Saha used to manage the business. Since the others did not want to get involved in the business intricacies,they sold their shares to Sri Saha and he earned huge revenues from this business. Together with it he started a Dockyard for repair and maintenance of riverine transports which was another good business.Riverine insurance business was also started by him for earning further revenue. One by one he started Jute baling,jute storage,food grains dealing, and power house businesses,all of which were successful and started bringing in huge amount of money. From a nobody,slowly his family became the most prominent family of Mirzapore. Now he turned his attention to Humanitarian activities. He was a free thinking man and believed in Humanism and equality of genders and all religion. His activities were not to be accepted by the village touts at the beginning. But a few of the leading families of the locality supported him and after his marriage with the daughter of Baliati Zaminder Kiranbala,no voices could rise ever again against his vision of turning his area to a leading area full of humanitarian activities. He has seen extreme poverty in his childhood and knew how it bites. So,he decided a simple life for himself and family and decided to spend all earnings from his businesses for the poor and needy people and development of the society. In 1938 he established a 20 bed Shovasundari dispensary in the name of his grandmother to work for maternal and child health. The loss of his mother during child birth made him take a vow from his childhood to do something about it when he would have means to do so.

By 1944 he transformed it into a huge high quality general multidisciplinary hospital named after his mother Kumudini. The hospital treats poor patients free and a very reasonable nominal amount is charged from others. It was a 750 bed hospital since long and since 1917,100 more beds were added. A nursing school was added which later was elevated to be a College and now it offers Masters Degree in Nursing. An International Women's Medical College has also been started there. Apart from our Bangladeshi girls,about 200 foreign female students are enrolled there.The College is also quite reasonably priced and is not like a money minting machine like many other private Medical Colleges of the country. In the recent years the torch bearers of the Trust have gone for a private University in Narayangonj in the Trust's premise in which the students are not charged exhorbitantly as many others of it's category. The university has been named as Ranada Prasad Saha University. I want to take the liberty here to make a mention of Bharateswari Homes which started as Bharateswari Vidyapeeth in 1942 by the legendary R P Saha after the name of his great grandmother. His aim was to spread education amongst the womenfolk of the backward village community of Mirzapore and around. Within 1945 it was established as an educational institution of high standards and with active support of his wife Kiranbala Devi, Sri Saha turned it to Bharateswari Homes,a residential school for girls. Their motto was overall development of the students. Apart from education the girls were given lessons for physical fitness and descipline of highest order. Every student has to take turn in cooking their meals and cleaning their hostels and school premises. The girls of this school was then and are till now an indispensable part of different displays of physical fitness and gymnastics on National Days and other such important events. Their academic and extracurricular results are excellent too. In short,getting a seat to enter the School as a student was and still is a dream come true for many.That was and is the general perception. So,since then Bharateswari Homes is a Brand to be reckoned with in our country's education sector. It is still being run, as before,by the family run Trust. In 1943 Sri R P Saha founded Kumudini Mohila College in Tangail for higher education of the female students of Tangail and Mirzapore area. He established a college in his maternal place as well. In Manikgonj the college founded by him was named after his father as Debendra College. Both the colleges at Manikgonj and Tangail are running in good shape till present time. Mr R P Saha's exemplary social and benevolent work did not stop there with education and health alone. He established vocational centers for technical training to create job opportunities for youth. His humanitarian approach was evident during thd great Bengal famine of 1943-4. He donated Rs250000(2.5 lacs) to the Red Cross Society for helping the needy. He arranged to open 275 langarkhanas(free food distribution ceters) all over Bengal to feed the poverty stricken hungry and kept them running for several months at his own expenses. All the money spent for all these social and benevolent tasks came from the earnings of all his business ventures. He had an uncanny business acumen. Whichever business he picked up,was always a success story. Finally he decided to dedicate all his earnings to the needy people by establishing the Kumudini Welfare Trust of Bengal in 1947 and put all his businesses under the Trust. All proceeds of the businesses were designated to be spent on welfare of the people and not for him or family. He himself started managing the Trust. Soon afterwards history saw the partition of India. The Trust had to be bifurcated. The Indian part of Kumudini Trust started functioning separately and managed the properties and institutions that existed there(mainly in Kurseong,Madhupur and Calcutta). The greater portion of the properties and activities of course were in eastern part of Bengal(in Narayangonj,Mirzapore,Tangail and Dhaka) which became East Pakistan. Sri R P Saha was titled Roy Bahadur by the British for his benevolent services to the Nation but we hardly have seen him using the title. He was a man of the masses and desired to remain so. Perhaps that was the main reason that prompted him to opt for staying back in Pakistan amongst his own people. We may remember here that during the partition of India and Bengal,most of the wealthy landlords,businessmen and educated amongst the Hindus opted for shifting to India for safety of their wealth,property,prestige and physical being. But our R P Saha worked against the tide. He remained busy with his philanthropic and benevolent work dividing his time between Narayangonj and Mirzapore. He remained happy with his people and work until his ultimate days came. In 1971 we started our War of Liberation from the Pakistani oppression. The Pak Civil and Military junta unleashed a reign of terror in Bangladesh. All Bangalees except a few boot lickers of Pakistanis and collaborators were on one side.

The whole Nation was on the other side longing for freedom. So every Bengali became an enemy of the Pakistani occupation army. Mr R P Saha and his son Mr Bhabani Prasad were summoned to the Governor's House by the military on 29 April. The family waited in anticipation in Mirzapore and were afraid of having a devastating news anytime. By that time,the Pak army and their local collaborators have killed many and devastated a lot of places in suspicion of being freedom sympathisers. Well,almost the whole country(by then proclaimed as Bangladesh on 26March 1971) really was longing for free Bangladesh. Anyways,the two were sent back to Narayangonj on 5 May unharmed. May be,the fact that he was conferred the highest Pakistani honour Hilal-e-Pakistan has helped him. He never used the title after the people's uprising of 1969.The family was relieved but the relief was shortlived. On 7 May morning,the Tangail Peace Committee Chairman Moulana Wadud led a team of Pakistani soldiers and their local collaborators to Mirzapore and they engaged in arson, killing,torturing,rape and destroying property indiscriminately. The area was devastated and on the same night Wadud with a group of Pak army picked up Ranada Prasad and Bhabani Prasad again from their Narayangonj premises. The family was hoping that like the previous occassion they will be released soon. But that was not to happen. They never returned. Two names were added to the name of 3 million Shaheeds of Bangladesh Liberation War. Collaborator Wadud was killed in an encounter with Muktibahini towards the end of our War of Liberation. Recently the case of the abduction and killing came before the ICT. Moulana Wadud's son who was an accomplice of the killing was awarded death sentence. 

 R P Saha was posthumously awarded Swadhinata Padak by the Government of Bangladesh. His descendants have kept his flag flying high. Kumudini Welfare Trust also recieved the Swadhinata Padak and Sri R P Saha had been honoured by very many organisations at home and abroad.The Trust and related enterprises were managed by his daughter Ms Jaya Pati untill 1999 and since then by his grandson Mr Rajiv Prasad Saha. The organisation is doing exceedingly well and is ever expanding. Besides the activities enumerated earlier,they work on Environment,Waste water management,modern agriculture,Inland Container Terminal and Riverine Port,etc. Recently KWT has started establishment of a Medical Research Center and Cancer Hospital. May all their dreams come true. His great soul can be shown proper respect by upholding his ideas and ideals. He wished to put Humanity and Development of Society ahead of everything. 

   I would like to conclude this write up with a personal note. As a part of our travelling around the country me and Anjana were to move through Mirzapore to some destination further. It was about 10 years ago.Our friend couple Niresh Chandra Das(a senior Banker) and Papia Bhowmik(a school teacher) were our co travellers. They had a relative working as a Teacher in Bharateswari Homes. We had a long cherished desire to visit the Great man's achievements and almost legendary organisations. So,we made an unscheduled stopover in Mirzapore. It was a pleasant surprise for us to be greeted by the higher management of the organisations(hospital,school and others) there. Arrangements were made for us to visit the whole area and all their activities and they invited us to go back there to serve humanity in our respective fields after our retirement from active professional life. How sweet of them! Now that we are retired,I have an intention to go back there some time to explore whether such possibilities really exist.

I finally conclude by paying my respect to the departed soul of Shaheed R P Saha,whom I put in the same bracket with Haji Muhammad Mohsin and Mr Ratan Tata.