Volume-I, Issue-V, May 2025 > Volume-I, Issue-VI, July 2025
Volume-I, Issue-VI, July, 2025 |
Received: 20.07.2025 | Accepted: 23.07.2025 | ||
Published Online: 31.07.2025 | Page No:1540-1545 | ||
DOI: 10.69655/atmadeep.vol.1.issue.06W.162 | |||
‘অঙ্গার’: স্বাধীন ভারতবর্ষে পরাধীন কয়লা শ্রমিকদের আন্দোলন ড. শ্রীকান্ত কর্মকার, সহকারী অধ্যাপক, বাংলা বিভাগ, তিলকা মাঝি ভাগলপুর বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়, বিহার, ভারত |
Angar: The Movement of Enslaved Coal Workers in Free India Dr. Srikanta Karmakar, Assistant Professor, Department of Bengali, Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University, Bihar, India | ||
ABSTRACT | ||
Utpal Dutta has shown in his plays that drama can play a major role as a tool to awaken society and protest against injustice. One of his successful plays is 'Angar’. India became independent in 1947, but the coal industry remained privately owned. Most privately owned coal mines continued to operate without planning, without following safety rules and only for profit, neglecting the interests of workers. As a result, various mining accidents continued to occur. Utpal Dutta wrote the plot of the play 'Angar' in 1959, based on the inhuman torture and exploitation of workers by the owners in the Chinakuri coal mine in 1958, and the self-sacrifice of 183 workers. Many say that Utpal Dutt wrote the play 'Angar' based on the incident that occurred in the Baradhemo coal mine near Asansol city in 1956. The third scene of the play shows that the working class is beginning to become aware and that they will no longer tolerate injustice. Their inner anger soon takes the form of protests outside. They leave work and come out of the mine because gas has accumulated in the mine. It has accumulated. This strike lasted for one and a half months. As a result of this long strike, there was a lot of crying all around. Everyone received some help from the union, but it did not last long. After that, they continued to eat half a meal a day. In the end, they pushed themselves to their deaths by entering the gas pit they had been protesting against for a long time. Looking at the faces of the rest of the family, they thought about their suffering. Utpal Dutt's play 'Angar' was a major step in attracting the attention of the general public and the administration of independent India. It can be said that as a result of which, in March 1973, the then Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, nationalized the coal industry. As a result, everything related to coal came under government regulations and private ownership was abolished. The suffering of the workers was alleviated. | ||
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