Remembering a Gandhian with a century of national service

KOLKATA: Freedom fighter and legendary Gandhian educationist Chitta Bhushan Dasgupta passed away late on Saturday night. He was 101. Dasgupta had been suffering from age-related illnesses for a few years. He was best known for setting up the Majhihira National Basic Education Institution (MNBEI) in Purulia, that turned 75 recently.
Chitta Bhushan practised ‘Nai Talim’, the Mahatma’s model of basic education that propagates learning through work.So the ‘charkha’ still finds a place of pride at the ashram, while students are led to the field to learn agriculture, following which they enter the laboratory for chemistry experiments. “The idea is that one should learn all aspects of rural life so that they do not become a burden on the family,” said Prasad Dasgupta, the youngest son of Chitta Bhushan who is now the person in charge of the ashram.
“Gandhiji’s vision was that after Independence, there should be a national education program for all regardless of wealth, poverty, caste and location. ‘Nai Talim’ is the culmination of this vision. For Gandhiji, this model was aimed at developing body, sould and mind,” said Prabha Shrivastav, eldest daughter of Chitta Bhushan.
“I met Gandhiji a fair number of times as my father Rishi Nibaran Chandra Dasgupta was his close aide. He left his job as the headmaster of Purulia Zilla School to join the Non-Co-opeartion Movement in 1921,” he had told TOI last year.
After completing a basic training course in Patna in 1939, Chitta Bhushan had decided to devote himself to spreading the practice of ‘Nai Talim’. He selected Majhihira, then in Manbhum, due to its remote location. His vision was to put this region on the education map to serve as a model. “Baba would either cycle or walk the 45km from railway station,” said Prasad.
Following the 1942 Quit India movement, the institution was declared illegal by the British government and was closed down. The workers of the institution were jailed and the school building was demolished. A year before Independence, the interim Congress government restored the property.
“Rajendra Prasad was very close to my father, so I could speak freely with him. At an address, where the party was advocating the implementation of ‘pradeshik’ or regional language, I protested and said it would mean many will have to forego their mother-tongue. Gandhiji, I pointed out, had always supported ‘matribhasha’. Dhanaji Nana Chaudhari, a senior leader and Gandhiji’s associate, was surprised and chose me to be the husband of his daughter Malati. A Bengali boy marrying a Marathi woman… it wasn’t so common back then,” Chitta Bhushan had told TOI last year.
He is survived by four sons and two daughters.