The “master of disguise”, the great revolutionary Rash Behari Bose, who was born on May 25, 1886 in Burdwan district of West Bengal, spent some time at the Forest Research Institute (FRI) in the Doon valley and stayed at Ghosi Gali in Paltan Bazaar. He worked for eight years at FRI as a clerk.
He was the eldest of a family of four children of Binod Bihari Bose, a clerk in the Government Press at Patna. Right from his student days, Rash Behari was an active member of the Yugantar group of revolutionaries under the leadership of Motilal Roy.
Being more interested in organising secret revolutionary activities than in his studies, he had learned the tricks of making crude bombs even before he passed his matriculation. Much against the wishes of his parents, Rash Behari refused to go to college.
In 1906, the Bengal wing of the revolutionary party sent him to Dehra Dun with the purpose of converting members of the Indian army to revolutionary cult. Rash Behari tried to get himself enlisted in the Army but he could not succeed. He then joined the Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun. He was trying to raise recruits from among the Bengali residents in Dehra Dun. He maintained close contact with the revolutionary leaders in Bengal and Punjab. The job in the FRI came was useful for him to execute his plans for manufacturing bombs and directing the revolutionary movement from places which the Government did not suspect and could not easily locate.
He was one of the key organisers of the plan to assassinate lord Charles Hardinge. He played a crucial role in the Ghadar conspiracy, a conspiracy to attack British army from the inside. Both times he managed to escape the authorities, owing to his camouflaging skills. He was the master of disguise. He fled to Japan under fake identity and changed his residence seventeen times. He received second grade Order of the Rising Sun from the Japanese Government
While he was working as a clerk at the FRI, he took a 37-day leave for the bomb conspiracy to assassinate lord Charles Hardinge in 1912. By the time, the British realised who the mastermind of the conspiracy was, he escaped to Japan.
In 2006, the FRI located a file of Bose containing his job application to the FRI director, a leave application and other documents. It is known that he joined FRI in September 1906 and was later promoted to the rank of head clerk, drawing a salary of Rs 65. His service was terminated on grounds of long absenteeism in May 1914.
Not much is known about his stay in Dehradun. It is said he used to live in Ghosi Gali. He continued his struggle against British rule from abroad. On September 1, 1942; he formed the INA with Captain Mohan Singh and Sardar Pritam Singh. He was elected as the founder president.
However, in 1943, he gave the supreme command of the INA to Subash Chandra Bose.
Remembering him on his birth anniversary, one wonders how some more information can be collected to turn the sketchy account of his eight years in the Doon valley into a more detailed and three-dimensioned story. None the less, the recognition he should have got in this region has not come his way. He definitely deserves to be given due importance as a major revolutionary who fought strongly against the British rule.