The legend of Ranajit Gharai
"At 71, I spend my time sitting with the village youth and helping them solve their financial issues. I take a dip in the pond every day, to maintain discipline in my life," said Ranajit Gharai, freedom fighter turned agri-entrepreneur, summing up his lifestyle and personality.
Ranajit set up seven ponds across six acres of his parental land in Balabhadurpur village of Morelganj upazila in Bagerhat district. His farm, which he built with the help of 50 youth, have been a source of employment for young men in his community.
Through his efforts, Balbhadrapur has become a green village, where at least eight more modern agricultural farms and an animal hospital have been set up.
While walking down memory lane, Ranajit, recounting his time in the Liberation War, said, "In 1971, I was a 21-year-old student of PC college at Bagerhat. My closest friends -- Liakat Ali Khan, Abubakar, Siddiqur Rahman, Mozammel -- and I started engaging in politics and even formed our own guerilla group for the Liberation War."
"Our small guerilla group was led by Kabir Ahmed Madhu, a military man who had been jailed by the authorities for beating up members of the Pakistani army. On March 26, 1971, Madhu escaped Jessore jail and returned to Bagerhat. He instructed us to attack the Razakars with home-made bombs," he added.
On April 1, 1971, Chitta and Balahari, two other members of the guerrilla, were preparing bombs to send to Khulna at Nitai Sikder's house in Morelganj Bazar. Suddenly they heard a bomb blast and ran
towards the source of the sound. After arrival, they noticed the bomb had exploded in Chitta's hands. As he collapsed to the ground, with his only able hand, he wrote 'Joy Bangla' on the ground with his own blood, passing away several minutes later.
"Our first operation at Hawlia village in Morelganj was to attack the police station in July. Lutfar Rahman was in-charge of the police station at that time. There were 22 rifles at the police station, out of which we took six and broke the pins of the remaining 16. Then we camped at Gulishakhali in the same upazila," he recalled.
"As we were running out of funds, Major Ziauddin, sub-sector commander of sector 9, the ninth sector, captured the Pirojpur disctrict treasury and brought the money to our camp," he added.
"On December 4, a battle took place at Sharankhola that lasted from dusk till dawn. Seeing that our cohort Alauddin could not operate the mortar, the Razakars opened fire and killed five of our members. As a last resort, we informed Major Ziauddin, who came in a speed boat from the Sundarban camp area and participated in the fight,'' said Ranajit.
After the war, Ranajit joined the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) admin cadre in 1984 as a deputy magistrate at Keshabpur Upazila of Jessore district. He later retired from the Ministry of Public Administration in 1994 as deputy secretary.
''When I was working as ADC in Pirojpur, I started an agricultural farm, 'Basanti Matso o Krishi Khamar' after my wife's name. Our yearly income from the farm is over 10 lakh taka," he said.
Ranajit Gharai said he lived alone but happily in the village. His son Mondip Gharai currently works as a UNO in Shariatpur and his daughter is a deputy civil surgeon in Jessore.
Subal Das, one of Gharai's followers, said, "Dada showed us the path of success. In our village, there's barely anyone unemployed or struggling."
Comments