Sachindra Nath Sanyal (Hindi: सचिन्द्र नाथ सान्याल, Urdu: سچندر ناتھ سانیال; b. 1893 Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh - d. 7 February 1942, Gorakhpur Jail, Uttar Pradesh) a famous Indian revolutionary and the founder of Hindustan Republican Association (HRA, which after 1928 became the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association or HSRA) that was created to carry out armed resistance against the British Empire in India. He was the mentor for revolutionaries like Chandrashekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh. Several of his brothers and cousins were also active participants in the country's freedom struggle.
Sanyal was extensively involved in the plans for the Ghadar conspiracy and went underground after it was exposed in February 1915. He was a close associate of Rash Behari Bose. After Bose escaped to Japan, Sachindranath Sanyal was considered the senior-most leader of India's revolutionary movement. He and Mahatma Gandhi engaged in a famous debate published in Young India between 1920 and 1924. Sanyal argued against Gandhi's gradualist approach.
He was sentenced for the Kakori train robbery and was tried and sentenced to life for the same. He was sent to the dreaded Cellular Jail in the Andamans and in jail he wrote the famous book "Bandi Jeevan" (A Life of Captivity). This book would become the bible for a generation of revolutionaries fighting British rule. Sanyal was briefly released from jail but when he continued to engage in anti-British activities, he was sent back to jail and his ancestral family home in Varanasi was confiscated. Thus, Sachindranath Sanyal has the unique distinction of having been sent to the Cellular Jail in Port Blair twice. He contracted TB in jail, probably deliberately infected, and was sent to Gorakhpur Jail for his final months. He died in 1942.
Some of Sanyal's followers were Marxists but Sanyal was well known for his firm Hindu beliefs. Bhagat Singh discusses Sanyal's firm religious beliefs in his famous tract "Why I am an Atheist".
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