Birendranath Sasmal

Birendranath Sasmal
Deshparan Birendranath Sasmal bust at Contai
Born	26 October 1881 Chandiveti Contai, Midnapore District, India
Died	24 November 1934 Kolkata, India
Other names	Biren Sasmal
Movement	Indian Independence movement

Birendranath Sasmal (26 October 1881 - 24 November 1934) was a lawyer and political leader. He was known as Deshpran because of his work for the country and for his efforts in the Swadeshi movement.

Birendranath Sasmal was born in Contai, in undivided Midnapore district. His father was the Zamindar Biswambhar Sasmal and mother’s Anandamoyee. He passed the Entrance Examination in 1900 and got admission into Ripon College of Calcutta for higher education. After finishing his college he went to England to study law. He returned to India after becoming a barrister.

For political reasons, Midnapore district was proposed to divided into two by British Raj and Biren Sasmal started protested against it. He toured the region and organised protest movements. The proposal for partition was withdrawn. He started practising law at Calcutta High Court in 1904. In 1913 leaving Calcutta High Court, Birendranath practiced in Midnapore District Court for a few years but later he again joined the High Court. In the High Court, he defended the accused in the Chittagong Armed Robbery case. He was jailed for nine-month by British Raj for calling a general strike during the visit of King George V to British India. During his stay at Presidency Jail he wrote his autobiography named Sroter Trina.

In Nagpur Congress in 1920, non-cooperation programme was passed. Chittaranjan Das was the President of Bengal Congress and Birendranath was its Secretary.

Bengal Village Self Government Act was passed in 1919. According to that law, 227 Union Boards were formed in the district.Birendranath took up the cause of his people, and plunged into Boycott Movement. He declared that he would walk on bare feet until the Union Boards were not done away with. On 17 December 1921, 226 Union Boards were abolished and the last one was abolished the next year.In a gathering, with loud cheers, people put shoes on the feet of their leader.