Dr. Muhammad Mahtab Hossain Mazed: Today is 23rd June 2021 Raktasnat Palashi Day. This year marks the 264th anniversary of the Battle of Palashi. There has been a lot of emotional writing about the battle of Palashi. The amount of emotionless and objective writing is relatively low. The battle lasted only nine hours. From eight in the morning to five in the afternoon. Again, victory and defeat were decided in the last two hours. At that time, only 3,000 of Clive`s troops overpowered about 50,000 of the Nawab`s troops. This small war had immediate and far-reaching significance. In fact, the war was part of a deep and well-organized conspiracy. On this day in 1757, the sun of Bengal`s independence set for 200 years in the desert of Palashi due to the conspiracy of local merchants, traitors and English banians. Nawab Sirajuddaula of Bengal, Bihar and Odisha was defeated in an hour-long battle of farce. The history of Palashi on 23 June is the history of turning the real golden Bengal into a crematorium. History of 23 June  History of Betrayal. On12 June 1757, the British troops in Calcutta joined the army at Chandannagar. Leaving a small force there to defend the fort, they marched with the remaining troops on 13 June. On the way from Calcutta to Murshidabad, despite the presence of Nawab`s troops at Hughli, Katwar Fort, Agradwip and Palashi, none of them blocked the way of the British. The Nawab realized that the generals were also involved in the conspiracy. But there was nothing to do till then. After the death of Nana Alivardi Khan in 1756 On 10 April Sirajuddaula ascended the throne of Bengal-Bihar-Odisha. He was only 22 years old then. The English had a conflict with the young Nawab for various reasons. Besides, Mir Jafar and Khala Ghaseti Begum, loyal followers of Alivardi Khan, grandfather of Siraj, were longing for the throne. They communicated with the English and blueprinted against the Nawab. As the day progressed, the black clouds were thickening in the sky of this land. On 23 April 1757, the Calcutta Council passed a resolution in favor of dethroning the Nawab. To implement this proposal, the English general Lord Clive appointed Umi Chand, an elite member of the royal court, as his agent. Mir Zafar, the protagonist of this conspiracy, was able to detect it and the Nawab removed him from the post of Chief of Army Staff and anointed Abdul Hadi. Mir Zafar, an expert in cunning, touched the Holy Qur`an and took an oath. The Nawab`s mind melted and Mir Zafar was reinstated as the Commander-in-Chief. Contemporary historians say that this wrong decision became a nightmare for Nawab Siraj. On the morning of 23rd June, the British were ready for a face-to-face battle in the desert of Palashi. The British gathered troops in the mango orchard called `Lakshbagh`. At eight o`clock in the morning, Mir Madan suddenly attacked the British forces. Unable to withstand his onslaught, Clive took refuge in the mango orchard with his army. Clive was a little upset. Mir Madan was slowly advancing. But Mir Zafar, Yar Latif, Roy Durlav stood indifferently to where the troops had gathered. With a little help from them, Mir Madan could have forced the British to accept defeat. When it suddenly rained in the afternoon, the ammunition of Sirajuddaula got wet. Yet the brave Mir Madan continued to fight the English. But Mir Madan died of gunshot wounds. Mir Zafar He again betrayed and ordered his troops to return to the camp. Taking this opportunity, the English attacked the Nawab. The battle ended in the afternoon and the Nawab`s camp came under the control of the English. 7 European and 16 native soldiers were killed on the British side. Seeing no way out, Sirajuddaula set out for Murshidabad with two thousand troops to defend the capital. But no one helped him to save the capital. On 3 July 1757, Sirajuddaula was captured from the banks of the river Mahananda and sent to the capital Murshidabad. The Nawab was accompanied by his wife Lutfa Begum and four-year-old daughter Umme Zahura at the time of his capture. The next day, on 4 July (3July) , another traitor, Mohammadi Beg, killed Sirajuddaula on the orders of Mir Zafar under the supervision of his son Miron. He was buried near the tomb of Nawab Alivardi Khan at Khoshbagh in Murshidabad. Alivardi Khan, grandfather of Siraj, died on 9 April 1756. In the battle of Palashi, Siraj fell on 23 June 1757, i.e. 14 months and 14 days later. Since ascending the throne, Siraj has had to face constant conspiracies. What is the main reason for the defeat of Bengal in the battle of Palashi? We still do not know exactly. Surprisingly, in the Battle of Plassey, Robert Clive suffered an unimaginable defeat of 50,000 of Sirajuddaula`s troops out of only 3,200. Surprisingly, where did thousands of soldiers of a country go next? Only three or four years after the Battle of Palashi, Mir Qasim`s Battle of Katwa, Giria, Udaynala or the resistance struggle of Nurul Din and Fakir Majnu Shah centered on Dinajpur and Rangpur. Couldn`t go. At that time Mir Jafar, the Nawab of Bengal, was known as Clive`s ass. Why couldn`t the people of Bengal unite against that donkey at the last moment. Today we need to deeply rethink the lost context of history in the desert of Palashi. 23June.  1757 is a stigmatized chapter in the history of Bengal. However, Robert Clive wrote in his autobiography about the Battle of Plassey, "If the locals wanted to resist the British that day, they could have killed them with sticks and brickbats." But this countrymen to realize it For whatever reason, the people of Bengal did not move forward that day. Their political awareness was very lacking then. Even after the Palashi tragedy, the common people of Bengal, the peasant society, continued to cultivate the fields as they did in their daily lives. The crop is sown. But what a terrible fate befell the whole nation in the battle of Palashi, a few hours of farce took away the freedom of the whole nation.

A few bania English but their tone did not move. When Tonk nodded, it was too late. They had nothing to do then. Sirajuddaula never betrayed the people of his country under any circumstances. He never voluntarily sold his homeland. He was the only main protagonist on the tragic stage in the desert of Palashi. Sirajuddaula was a shining example of patriotism, the last symbol of Bengal`s independence.History has shown that history has not forgiven any of those who betrayed the country, with Nawab Siraj, and the conspirators have suffered tragic consequences. Their tragic downfall has happened.23June  is a day of stigma in our national life as well as a day of learning. Just as this Palashi chapter in the history of Bengal is a disgusting heartbreaking event, so we have had to pay the price for our long life of 200 years of slavery. The history of Palashi on 23rd June, the history of handing over the independence of the country to foreign banians with the connivance of some treacherous conspirators. The history of 23rd June is the history of turning the real golden Bengal into a crematorium.In the end, freedom is the greatest thing in the country Resources. Patriotism is the biggest deposit of the country. This fact must be remembered by every citizen in every sphere of life. Everyone must love the country from everyone`s position. And after the Palashi disaster, the exploited and deprived class did not stop the freedom struggle even for a day. That is why the British authorities considered the common people as their only opponents. As a result, the British were forced to roll up their sleeves after two hundred years of struggle. After the liberation of India from British colonial rule, two new independent states, Pakistan and India, were born on the world map on 14 August 1947. Following this, Bangladesh emerged in 1971. On the historic Palashi Day, we pay our deep respects to the last Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daulah.

Author: Dr. Muhammad Mahtab Hossain Mazed is the Editor and Publisher of Daily Shastho Tathya.