Freedom movement · Law · Public service
Life and work
1886–1961 · Freedom fighter and state minister
Jadabendra Nath Panja graduated from Burdwan Raj College.[1] Dutta records his law degree from Ripon College in 1911 and his decision to leave legal practice for the freedom movement in 1920.[2]
He came from a prosperous landowning Ugra Kshatriya family of Sathinandi, a village about 15 km west of Burdwan town. His father, Nrisinghamurari Panja, was the first graduate of Burdwan Raj College and a successful teacher at the Burdwan Raj Collegiate School in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.[2]
He joined the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1920 and later participated in the Mahishbathan Salt Satyagraha in the 24 Parganas.[3][1] His archival biographical note records imprisonment in 1932–34 and again in 1942.[3]
A Bengali historical feature describes twenty years of leadership of the undivided Burdwan District Congress.[1] His later public offices included West Bengal’s Cottage and Small-scale Industries ministry and the presidency of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee from 1958 to 1961.[3]
Dutta identifies his Ugra Kshatriya family on p. 310 and names him among the community’s freedom-movement figures on p. 314. His community connection is drawn from those passages.[2]
