Paying Homage to one of the greatest Nationalist & Epitome of Women Empowerment "LOKMATA RANI RASHMANI" on her 228th Birth Anniversary.

Rani Rashmoni left an indelible mark on Calcutta way back in the early 19th century.

(By Bhaskar Ganguly)
@LostTemple7
She also offered considerable charity to the Imperial Library (now the National Library of India) and the Hindu College (now Presidency University).
The most magnificent contribution of Rashmoni was the construction of the famous Dakshineswar Temple dedicated to Goddess Kali.
Rashmoni persuaded these families and helped them to build up fisheries in the surrounding water bodies that later turned into large rich bheris (fish ponds). They gradually gave up their plundering and transformed themselves into a community of fishermen.
One of the first Indian industrialists, Dwarkanath Tagore, had mortaged a part of his zamindari to Rashmoni for his passage to London in 1847. This part of the land which was then a part of the Sunderbans was marshy and almost uninhabitable except for some families of thugs.
Rani Rashmoni was widowed in her 40s and the burden of the business and managing the zamindari fell on her and she handled it with great efficiency. Her humble origins also meant that she had great compassion for the poor and she donated huge sums to charity.
Rashmoni was lucky to have found in Rajchandra, a progressive husband who didn’t believe in confining women within the four walls. Instead, he involved her in his business & so good was Rashmoni in matters of business that in a short span of time the duo amassed a huge fortune
Rani Rashmoni was born on 28th September 1793 into a Kaivarta (fishermen) family of Halisahar in West Bengal. Even before she entered her teens, her father who was a petty labourer, married her to a much older widower, Rajchandra Das, a scion of a wealthy zamindar from calcutta
A lot to achieve for a young girl, born into poverty, to parents from a low caste, way back in 1793.
The story of how Rani Rashmoni broke through patriarchy, orthodoxy and every other ill, to rise up in 19th century India is truly breathtaking.
It was she who built the famous Dakshineswar Temple dedicated to Goddess Kali, she took on the British, was unmatchable on matters of business, she was an inspiration for social reformers and also one of the greatest philanthropists Calcutta has ever seen.

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More from @monidipadey

Jan 2
How the Islamic State of Pakistan treated a Buddhist actress from Bangladesh ~
🧵 1/3

13 March 1978, Lahore

In Gulberg, one of the city’s most upscale neighbourhoods, a famous actress returned home from a late night shoot. After freshening up, she sat down to eat dinner with her husband at around 1 am. Their only son, Roni, a minor, was sleeping in the adjacent room.

Suddenly, seven miscreants broke through the back lawn door and stormed inside. Before anyone could grasp what was happening, they tied the woman’s husband. Amid screams and chaos, Roni woke up and came out of his room; he was also tied up. Then, in front of her husband and son, the men gang-raped the woman repeatedly. After the brutal assault which lasted the whole night, the rapists finally left at dawn.

This was one of the most shocking gang-rape incidents in the entire Indian subcontinent at that time, and it took place on the so-called “holy” soil of Pakistan.

Who was that actress ?Image
Born in 1942 in Dhaka into a Bengali Buddhist family, the actress’s name was Jharna Basak. Her father, Nani Basak, was a well-known football referee of that era. Her elder brother was associated with Dhaka Radio, and using his connections, Jharna entered the world of acting. Her career began in 1968 with the film Samudra. With the support of the legendary Pakistani actor Waheed Murad, she soon entered the Lahore film industry. From there on, there was no looking back for her.

She changed her name and became known on screen as Shabnam. At that time it was hard to find another actress in the subcontinent who achieved such fame and respect. She acted in more than 160 films across Urdu and Bengali cinemas. She won the country’s Best Actress (Nigar Award) 13 times. Her on-screen pairing with Nadeem and Rahman became hugely popular in both Pakistans (East and West). She married, for love, renowned music director Robin Ghosh, a Christian by faith.

The horrific incident of the night of 13th March shattered the bright future of this immensely talented artist. After the assault, Jharna Basak survived in a state that was virtually half-dead. Her husband and child were left traumatized but they continued fighting for justice.

The main accused in the case was Farooq, nephew of the then Punjab Chief Secretary F.K. Bandial, along with his friends Wasim Yaqub Butt, Jamil Ahmed, Tahir Tanvir, Jamshed Akbar Sahi, Agha Aqeel Ahmed, and Mohammad Muzaffar; all from wealthy and influential families.

Under pressure from people connected to the Lahore film industry, an investigation began, and a case was initially filed under Section 412 of the Pakistan Penal Code, with trial held in a special military court. Five accused were sentenced to death, and one to ten years of imprisonment, while Mohammad Muzaffar was acquitted.

Relentless pressure was exerted on Shabnam and her family to pardon the accused. Eventually, Pakistan’s then President General Zia ul Haq commuted the death sentences of the five convicts. Under his intervention, the gang-rape charges were dropped and replaced with ordinary robbery charges, turning the entire judicial process into a joke.
Facing continuous government pressure and betrayal by her own lawyer S.M. Zafar, Jharna Basak abandoned all hope of justice. Ultimately, the family was forced to leave the country. They initially chose London as their place of residence, but since the late 1990s they started living in Dhaka.

Bollywood has never lacked talented minority actresses, Nargis to Meena Kumari, Madhubala to Waheeda Rehman, Saira Banu. Can you imagine something like this happening to any of them?

Yet, in last 10 years people from the Mumbai film industry have been saying, “It’s impossible to live in this country anymore!”
They need to be reminded of how safe they are in India.

[Written in Bengali by Swapan Sen. I have translated it]
Read 5 tweets
Dec 24, 2025
Since I was asked why Hadi’s sister spoke of ‘200 year war,’ -

Looking back at Titumir, the first Islamic terrorist of the Indian subcontinent, and his immense influence on BD Muslims ~
1/3 🧵 …

While Titumir remains unknown to most Indians, the name is of great reverence for Muslims in Bangladesh. Titumir was born in 1782 in 24 Parganas (West Bengal), and under his mother’s religious influence, became a Hafiz at a very young age. He had a chequered career, from being a farmer, to the leader of a dacait gang, to being a prized wrestler, to becoming the muscleman of a Hindu zamindar that finally landed him in the prison of the East India Company.

After he was released, in 1822-23 he went to Mecca for Hajj, where he met Syed Ahmad Barelvi, and under his influence he became a Wahabi Islamic preacher. Syed Barelvi was a direct disciple of Abdul Wahab, who had initiated a fundamentalist puritanical movement among Sunni Muslims. The chief aim of this movement was to remove all non-Shariati elements from the practices of Muslims and regain Islam's glorious past. Syed Ahmad believed that India had turned into ‘Dar-ul-Harb,’ or a land ruled by infidels under Hindu and EIC rule, and Indian Muslims had deviated from the path of true religion. The Muslims, therefore, needed to wage jihad against Kafir rulers, i e, the Hindus and EIC, and re-establish 'Dar-ul- Islam,’ in India. Soon Saiyad Ahmad asked Titumir to go back and work among the Muslim peasants in his local area.

After Titumir returned, he immediately set about on his Jihadi mission, and began a conflict with the Hindu Zamindar, Krishnadeva Rai of Purha, accusing him of bias against Muslims and for imposing illegal taxes on them. However, there are no historical records of such biased acts by the Zamindar.

Titumir had earlier worked as a lathial. Using his skills as a lathi fighter, TituMir created a Mujahid army that skilled in wielding lathis and other indigenous arms, to fight against the Hindu Zamindars, using the populist narrative of ‘social oppression.’

Soon Titumir acquired a RobinHood like status amongst the Muslims in Bengal. He started an Islamic Revivalist movement, aiming at turning Bengal into a pure Islamic state under Sharia laws.

Titumir had built an army comprising of 15000 Muslim men, and he built a fort made of bamboo near Barasat. He declared independence from the infidel Hindu zamindars and British- EIC, and with his army defeated their combined force.

Finally in 1831, a British force under Lt Col Stewart that consisted of 100 cavalrymen, 300 native infantry, and two cannons attacked Titumir’s ‘Bansher Kella’ (bamboo fort).

In this 1831 skirmish, Titumir died, which was later labelled by the Marxists and Muslim ‘historians’ as the ‘first war of independence,’ when in reality Titumir’s entire rebellion was a jihad against ‘Hindu’ zamindars and Christian EIC. His ‘movement’ was a part of the Wahabi Islamic Revivalist movement, and largely comprised of conversions through fear and force, and abductions of Hindu women who were forcibly married off to his mujahid men .

While Titumir didn’t last long, his jihad laid the foundation to the 1857 Mutiny, where Muslims took part in it to reclaim power and re-establish the Mughal Empire. For them independence from the EIC was not a ‘war of independence’ but a ‘jihad’ against non-believers : Hindus and Christians (EIC).
….Image
Understanding that 1857 was primarily a Muslim uprising, the British soon moved towards keeping Hindus as their staff. This created a middle class Hindu Bengali segment, who were given British education through which they learnt the modern principles of Democracy and Freedom. This later led to rise of nationalist movement in Bengal led by Hindu Bengalis.

With growing nationalism among Hindu Bengalis, the British felt it safer to shift their capital from Calcutta to Delhi. To weaken this freedom movement they decided to partition Bengal (1905), which was widely supported by the wealthy Muslims of Bengal. The zamindari system was mostly with the Hindus, and the Muslims greatly resented this. With partition they thought they could assume control, especially in east Bengal, which had Muslim majority.

Thus, Muslims led by Nawab Sallimullah of Dhaka welcomed the partition. To create a narrative they followed Titumir’s principles and portrayed the entire Hindu Zamindari system as an oppressive villainous entity, and the division was welcomed as a part of removing the burden of Hindu rule.

Thus, this 1905 partition gave the impetus to Muslim separatism and demands for a separate Muslim nation, and the plan for creating Pakistan took firm shape, because this was the first successful division based on Muslim majoritarianism. The British also helped in the growth of Muslim separatism by holding separate elections for Muslims and Hindus in 1909. This created a distinctive political entity based on religion for the subcontinent Muslims.
Without going into details of the riots of 1946-47 and 1971 Hindu genocide in east Pakistan, one name worth mentioning here is that of Ziaur Rehman, the PK army stooge who led Bangladesh after Mujib was assassinated. Ziaur Rehman was the man who started the anti-India movement in BD from 1975 with Jamaat, by floating a series of fake rumours about India, turning a nation that was anti-Pakistan in 1971, to a pro-Pakistan, pro-Islamic, and pro-US nation. He erased the role of Indian army in the 1971 war, turning it into a war solely won by Muktibahini.

Keeping aside Ziaur Rehman’s role in fanning anti-India sentiments, hatred for Hindu-India runs deep within the BD Muslim psyche. They believe that Hindu-India stole lands that belonged to them (WB and Assam).

It was Titumir’s dream of creating an ‘Islamic State of Greater Bengal’ that would comprise of large parts of West Bengal, Assam, and the NE states. Hence, BD Muslims believe they are in a 200 year long war of creating a ‘greater Bengal.’

The dislike for Hindu India goes much deeper in the Bangladesh psyche than it is in Pakistan, and it is this dislike that PK army keeps fanning from time to time.
Read 4 tweets
Aug 18, 2025
Since I am seeing some posts denying the Direct Action Day killings and calling the ‘Bengal Files’ a propaganda movie, here’s some real history lessons for these progeny of Suhrawardy -

📌Starting point of Direct Action Day by the Muslim League members : 16th August 1946.

[See Image 1]

4.30am - Stabbings started.

6.30 to 7 am - large numbers of ML members gathered at Maniktala area.

7am - Riots start at Maniktala Bazar. Point of aggression was from the Karbala Mosque.

📌Bengalis, Oriyas, Biharis, Marwaris all were mass slaughtered by the Muslim Mob.
See Images 2 and 3.

📌Names of two famous Bengali families, who lost their sons in the riots.

A) Sir Jadunath Sarkar's (eminent historian) Son was Murdered.

B) Bhim Nag Lost His Son - Bhim Chandra Nag Sweet Shop is famous.

[See image 4]

📌Quoting the Islamist Suhrawardy -

"Bloodshed and disorder are not necessary evil in themselves, if resorted to for a noble cause. Among Muslims today, no cause is dearer or nobler than Pakistan".

Ref: Suhrawardy, in an article in the Statesman, Calcutta, 5th August, 1946. Page 63, of the book (name given at the end).Image
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📌 Interesting to note (first two images here) that the Communists were warned and protected beforehand, by their Muslim comrades.

Jyoti Basu was warned - "You may be attacked too. You better leave the place".

Read excerpts of what the Communist leaders wrote about the riots, in the first two Images here.

Yet Today these "Bengali Shariah Bolsheviks Chinese dalals” are denying the History of the Great Calcutta Killing, just to appear Secular !!

📌Check the count of the dead bodies disposed, in the third image.

Check the count of Hindu Vs Muslim.

Ref: Page no. 200 (book name given at end)Image
Image
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The images are from Direct Action Day killings -

First image : Dismembered bodies of Hindus near Kalabagan Bustee. Vultures having a good meal.
Caption from LIFE. "Carrion birds feast on victims of bloody religious riot in India." (Calcutta, 1946) Margaret Bourke-White-The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images.

Rest images are self explanatory : all have captions given below them .Image
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Read 5 tweets
Aug 14, 2025
Our freedom did not come from non-violence, or protest marches, or dharnas. It came because many young men and women decided to pick up arms and die while fighting the British.

One such name was 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝘆𝗮 𝗦𝗲𝗻.
1/4 🧵 …

Surya Sen, better known as Masterda, had brought together a number of revolutionary youths, which included names like Anant Singh, Ganesh Ghosh, and Lokenath Bal, and formed the Chittagong branch of the ‘Indian Republican Army’ or IRA in 1930. Their aim was an armed revolution against the British.

On 18th April 1930, 65 IRA members, led by Sen, destroyed the telephone and telegraph systems, breaking down the railway communication between Chittagong and the rest of Bengal. They main aim was to seize arms by capturing the police armoury, but after the capture they did not find the ammunition. However, before leaving, the revolutionaries hoisted the Indian flag outside the British police armoury, amidst shouts of ‘Bande Mataram.’

This attack famously known as the ‘Chittagong raid’ had major impact on the people of Bengal, and it fuelled the nationalist fire, with strong demands for immediate Independence.
Image
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Realising that the British would come after them after the raid, the revolutionaries left Chittagong and shifted to the hilly areas. Surya Sen kept changing his identity to fool the British, and continued with his activities from the Jalalabad hills.

On 22nd April 1930, thousands of British troops surrounded the hills, and a fierce bloody fight took place, which led to the deaths of more than 80 British troops and 12 revolutionaries.

After that, Sen kept the group dispersed and spread in neighbouring villages, while continuing with the raids on British government properties and personnel.
3/4
Sen had instructed Pritilata Waddedar and Kalpana Dutt to destroy the Chittagong jail by using dynamite in 1932, which was unfortunately unsuccessful. 

The same year, Sen also planned an attack on the Pahartali European Club, which had put up the humiliating notice: ‘Dogs and Indians not allowed’. 

He assigned Pritilata to lead the attack, which was successful. Unfortunately Pritilata was injured during the attack and was about to be captured; but she consumed cyanide before the British could arrest her.

From a tip by his own relative, Netra Sen, finally the British arrested Surya Sen on 16th February 1933.

He was tried and hanged on 12th January 1934, along with Tarkeshwar Dostidar, who had made a plan to rescue Sen from jail.

Prior to hanging, the British officials tortured Surya Sen by breaking his teeth, limbs, and joints with a hammer. Surya Sen was unconscious owing to the torture when he was hanged. His body was put in a metallic cage and thrown into the sea.
Read 6 tweets
Jun 23, 2025
Understanding Halal Economics: why Hindus/Non-muslims are losing their spaces in the markets.

🧵 1/3….

Rajendra Sachar was the biggest liar to emerge in post-independence India. Those who cite his report to prove that Muslims in independent India are in a dire state are either hypocrites or know nothing of economics. Muslims possess around 12% of the global purchasing power. So who is buying the remaining 85% of halal products? Of course, the Kafirs (non-Muslims).

The size of the halal economy exceeds the GDP of countries like India, Germany, or Japan. Then why wouldn’t there be halal banks? This leads us to three core questions:
1.Interest (usury) is forbidden in Islam, so how will a halal bank generate income?
2.If they open their own bank, how will it concern us?
3.Why would anyone deposit money without earning interest?

Answers:

First, in Islam, while interest is haram (forbidden), profit-sharing is not. So if someone takes a loan, they must share profits. The borrower will need to present their company’s financials. That means the bank will have insider knowledge of most businesses.

Secondly, halal banks will only invest in halal businesses — and that too, without interest. This implies that the same product, if produced by a halal-certified company, will have access to cheaper and lower-risk capital. Consequently, over time, non-halal companies will be forced out of the market due to losing in fair competition.

Thirdly, who and why would anyone deposit money without earning interest? For the same reason people deposit in Swiss banks — they pay a fee for privacy. In this case, a local halal bank offers the same benefit with no fee and no need for hawala or hundi transactions to move money overseas. So why not keep money here instead of Swiss banks?
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Now comes the idea of a Halal Stock Exchange. To understand this, Suppose 57 Muslim countries launch such exchanges. A vast amount of surplus capital will be available for investment. Suppose two Indian companies get listed there to raise funds. Here, halal companies get exemptions from all types of fees. So if investors gradually avoid non-halal companies, the latter will be pressured to obtain halal certification. This way, one after another, Indian companies will start conforming to halal norms, and non-halal companies will disappear from the market. We are already seeing this, where from dairy products, to toothpastes, to fish, to diapers, to spices, grains , and many more things are suddenly appearing with halal certification labels.

After independence, within four decades, the Shekhawati Marwaris replaced Bengalis from Burrabazar (Kolkata’s major trading hub). Now, Bengali-speaking Muslims — once Marwari employees — are replacing the Marwaris. Where did this money come from?

Answer: From the Halal Economic System.
3/3
However, if the American or Chinese capitalism is driven by self-interest, why wouldn’t Islamic finance be? But the purpose of my writing is to understand why we (Hindus/Bengalis) are stepping away from the market. Success in business doesn’t come just from studying economics, finance, or earning an MBA. What’s truly needed is social unity and a sense of ethnic identity, as spoken of by Pulin Das or Aurobindo Ghosh. After World War II, some Indian Muslims proved this — by going to Britain, which ruled the world for 200 years, and displacing the British from their own marketplaces.

The British had a fatal flaw: a false superiority complex — which Hindus, also possess. That’s why they keep invoking the Sachar Committee r eport to prove themselves noble — which only leads Muslims to see us as ignorant.

[I have translated this from a write up in Bengali, written by @SG_363 ]
Read 4 tweets
Jun 19, 2025
History will remember this Islamic State leader for the rapes and torture he inflicted on women and children!

Just one case example: 1/3 🧵 …

The Islamic regime in Iran under this evil leader punished peaceful protesters during the 2022 “Woman Life Freedom” uprising, where women and children were protesting against gender based discrimination and oppression.

From the Amnesty Report 2023, of the 45 survivors, including 26 men, 12 women and seven children, were subjected to rape, gang rape, and/or other forms of sexual violence by intelligence and security forces after their arbitrary arrests.

Sixteen of the 45 survivors whose cases were documented in the report were raped, including six women, seven men, a 14-year-old girl, and two boys aged 16 and 17. Six of them – four women and two men – were gang raped by multiple male agents.   

The State agents raped women and girls vaginally, anally, and orally; while men and boys were raped anally. Survivors were raped with wooden and metal batons, glass bottles, hosepipes, and/or agents’ sexual organs and fingers. Rape took place in detention facilities and police vans, as well as schools or residential buildings unlawfully repurposed as detention places.
2/3

Farzad, who was gang raped in a van belonging to the Special Forces of the police told Amnesty International: “Plainclothes agents made us face the walls of the vehicle and gave electric shocks to our legs…They tortured me through beatings … resulting in my nose and teeth being broken. They pulled down my trousers and raped me…I was really being ripped apart…I was throwing up a lot and bleeding from my rectum.”  

Maryam, who was gang raped in a Revolutionary Guards detention centre, recounted that her rapists told her: “You are all addicted to penis, so we showed you a good time. Isn’t this what you seek from liberation?”
3/3
Amnesty International further documented the cases of 29 survivors, who were subjected to various forms of sexual violence other than rape. These routinely involved state agents grabbing, groping, beating, punching, and kicking survivors’ breasts, genitals and buttocks; enforcing nudity, sometimes in front of video cameras; administrating electric shocks, inserting needles or applying ice to men’s testicles; forcibly cutting women’s hair and/or dragging them violently by their hair; and threats to rape survivors and/or their relatives.  

To date, the Iranian authorities have not charged or prosecuted any officials for the instances of rape and other sexual violence documented in the report!
Read 4 tweets

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