"What shall I say to those who have suffered, who are suffering, and to those who are prepared to suffer for the cause of freedom? I repeat the message which was delivered by a Persian Poet.
Truth, love and courage:--that is all you need to learn, all that you need to remember. "Faith, Fortitude, Firmness, will they falter and fail and fade at the hour of trial, in the moment of despair", asked the Saqi in a mournful strain, "Or will they, tried and tested emerge from the fire of life radiant, strengthened, ennobled, purified?"
"Not will I forsake them", answered the youth, "not even were the heavens to fall."
"Thine then" said the Saqi, "is the path of glory, thine a nation's gratitude, thine the fadeless crown.
Would that courage unbent, courage such as thine, be the proud possession of all!
For naught but courage winneth life's battle, naught but courage secureth souls' freedom, man's noblest and highest prize. Let, courage, then, be thy gift, O God, to this wondrous land of love and light."
The day following Chira Ranjan's arrest, Chitta Ranjan's worthy wife Srijukta Basanti Devi and his noble sister Srijukta Urmila Devi along with Srijukta Suniti Devi came out at the head of the volunteers. They drove in a motor car up to the crossing of Harrison Road and College Street. They got down from the car and walked by the foot path requesting every one to wear khaddar, to discard foreign clothes and to observe hartal on the 24th December. When they came back to the crossing again, they were arrested and sent up to the Jorashanko Police station. They were conveyed to the Presidency Jail from the Lalbasar lock-up. Close upon midnight when they had already retired to bed, they were released unconditionally. The splendid message which they gave to their countrymen on their arrest is worth quoting here:--
"We came out fully prepared for arrest. It was torture for us as mothers to stay away when our young boys were going to Jail gloriously. We entreat all our sisters to take up the work left unfinished. Let them not forget that their place is with their brothers and sisters imprisoned. Let them realize that they are practically living in prison, only a bigger one. It is more honourable to live in a real prison than to breathe the polluted air of the slave-land. We appeal to the students of Government institutions to vacate the colleges in a body and take up the struggle for liberty. Now or never is our last word. This noble struggle will lead us either to victory or to death. Both are glorious. It must be life or death, not this slavery any more."
