SOME people leave behind footprints in the sands of time, which act like a beacon for generations to come inspiring them for their motherland's intellectual, material and spiritual progress.
One such man of Bangladesh was Babu Aswini Kumar Datta, the great social worker and freedom fighter of Barisal (then known as Bakarganj District) in undivided India, who was born in 1958 in Patuakhali. His ancestral vilalge was in Batajore, also called Harhar, in Gaurnadi Upazila of Barisal District. His family was one of the leading and influential zamindar families of Barisal. He qualified in Bachelor and Master of arts and, for a brief period, tried law practice at the Barisal district court. But his real passion was social work and philanthropy; therefore, he chose teaching as a career.
He became known for his philanthropy and his part in the nationalist politics. The British government of India announced the partition of Bengal Province on July 7, 1905. This was a policy of Lord Curzon, the then Governor-General of India, who thought that such a drastic step would drive a wedge between Muslims, who were in a majority in East Bengal and Hindus, who were more numerous in the Western part, and thereby emasculate their agitation for a free India from the colonial yoke.
Between July 7 and Oct 16, 1905, when the partition took effect, the whole of Bengal was seething with discontent and protest. His life-long patience with community service endeared him to the local populace. His popularity in the district propelled him into a wider provincial political arena during the anti-partition agitation. Aswini Datta addressed the Bengalis from the Brojo Mohan College compound (which he had founded) calling for continued protest against the vivisection of Bengal; and at Bagerhat, for the first time, he exhorted Indian's to boycott British and foreign merchandise.
He organised volunteers for the freedom movement in Barisal district, which later on spread to the whole of Bengal. In this he had the assistance of three local organisations -- the People's Association (1886); the Bakarganj Hitaisini Sabha (1887) and Netar Sangha -- in all of which he played a pioneering and dominant role. He became a commissioner of Barisal Municipality in1885, and was vice-chairman in 1888 and chairman in 1897.
Keenly committed to community welfare and development, including holistic education, he founded the Brojo Mohan Institution in honour of his father, who was sub-judge in Barisal and later judge in the Munsiff court in Krishnagar, in the year 1884. It was R.C. Dutt, the district magistrate of Barisal, who motivated Aswini Datta to start a college in Barisal town. He endowed 30 acres of land to found the Brojo Mohan College in 1889. It became the foremost educational institution in Barisal, and is still one of the leading education centres, turning out brilliant and intellectual Bangladeshi's who later excelled in multifarious fields of life in Bangladesh as well as overseas.
He taught at the college without remuneration for twenty long years, with loving care for the unfolding of the intellectual, moral and physical attributes of his scholars. He later founded a women's college in Barisal in 1889. He instituted a scholarship scheme for the spread of female education. These educational institutions, of which he was the architect, were venues for many important conferences and meetings for the freedom of undivided-India.
Aswini Babu was actively connected with swadeshi commercial entities like the Swadeshi Bank, Hindustan Cooperative Insurance and Cooperative Navigation Ltd; these institutions helped the people to be self-reliant. Aswini Datta turned Barisal into a strong centre of the swadeshi movement with the aid of swadeshi volunteers under the ambit of "Swadesh Bandhab Samiti" organised for this purpose with himself as the head. As a mouthpiece of this organisation, he was instrumental in bringing out the journal "Barisal Hitaisi." The samiti had over 160 branches in whole of the district. The organisation was banned by the government and Aswimi Datta was arrested in Barisal and incarcerated in Lucknow gaol till 1910.
In his home, which is now the Barisal Government College, many eminent Indians like Mahatma Gandhi, poet Rabindranath Tagore, Fazlul Haque (Shere-e-Bangla) and other great men used to discuss the political and social problems which bedeviled India during the time, under the majestic boughs of the tomal tree which is still present in its timeless glory.
The Town Hall in the centre of Barisal town is now known as Aswini Town Hall in memory of this illustrious son of Barisal. It was built with funds from the Khilafat Movement, the Congress party and through donations from leading personalities and businessmen of Barisal district.
He wrote quite a few books -- Bhakti-yoga, Karmayoga, Prem Bharatgiti, etc.
It was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi who bestowed upon him the title of "Mahatma" (great soul), when he (Gandhi) visited him in Barisal, for the great role he played for the social and educational development of Barisal in particular and the country in general. The appellation stuck! Babu Aswini Kumar Dutta is still revered today and known as the mahatma of Barisal.

Pradeep Dutta is Incharge Administration, Assistant High Commission of India, Chittagong.