Gupta, Badal (1912-1930)

Gupta, Badal (1912-1930) revolutionary martyr. Badal Gupta's original name was Sudhir Gupta. He was born at the village of Purba Shimulia of Vikrampur in Dhaka district. His father's name was Abani Gupta.

The feeling of patriotism became strong in him after coming in touch with Nikunja Sen, a teacher of the Banaripara School of Vikrampur. At his inspiration, Badal joined the revolutionary organisation Bengal Volunteers (BV) as a member. Within a short time he was promoted to the post of lieutenant from a member by virtue of his activities.

Badal, along with benoy krishna basu and dinesh chandra gupta, carried out an armed attack on the Writers' Building in Calcutta on 8 December 1930 and shot dead the Inspector General of Prison, NS Simpson. Some other Europeans also got injured in the raid. In order to avoid arrest, the three young men attempted suicide by taking potassium cyanide, chanting Vande Mataram (Hail Mother, in Sanskrit). Badal died on the spot and was sent to the hospital morgue; Benoy died on 13 December, five days after being admitted to hospital. But Dinesh survived the suicide attempt under treatment and was sent to jail for some days. He was later hanged. Later on, the Dalhousie Square in Kolkata was renamed 'Benoy-Badal-Dinesh Bagh' or BBD Bagh, after these three revolutionary Bengali youths.