Amar Nag, a forgotten revolutionary

Amar Nag (b. October 1917; d.9 November, 1968)

He was born in Burma. His father, Jitendra Nath was the chief accountant of Burma Development Trust. Amar Nag passed Matriculation from Bengal Academy, Rangoon in 1935. In the next year, he passed I S C and in 1941 he passed Medical examination. He came into contact with Anushilan and Juagantar groups’ members like Jiten Ghosh, Bhola Mukherjee and others and he became member of Bengali Students’ Association in 1924. Later, under the influence of Hari Narayan Ghoshal this organization drifted towards communism. He participated in the student movement of 1937 and declared support for ongoing labour movement in Burma. In 1940, Amar Nag along with ten other students, including Aun Sung, attended Ramgarh Congress.In the same year the Communist Party of Burma (then banned) came into existence. Along with Aun Sung many prominent communist student leaders joined this. This list included along with Amar Nath, Hari Narayan Ghoshal, Amar De, Gopal and Madhav Munshi, Subodh Banerjee, Kanti Ray, Dinesh Basu, Bijoy Sen and others. They were arrested in 1941. During the Second World War, when student leaders were fighting along with the Japanese forces, Amar Nag and others worked as doctors. These services were valued highly and he became very popular. They used this popularity in escaping from Burma. Facing immense adversities, Amar Nag and his companions travelled 290 miles and escaped to India via Manipur and Nagaland route. As he was a doctor he had to treat patients besides other things. He joined Bengal Medical Relief Coordination Committee, formed by Bidhan Chandra Ray and took part in relief works in different parts of Bengal. In 1946, after returning to Burma, he joined Aun Sung and worked for Anti Fascist Peoples’ Liberation Front. Even after Aun Sung’s demise he continued the struggle from the valley. In this struggle, Amar Nag died a martyr’s death in 1968.