The Bengalee
Topic: Print Culture and the Modern World · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Bengalee was an English newspaper of Calcutta. Surendranath Banerjea owned and edited it from 1879. It became a leading voice of moderate nationalism in Bengal. It also shows how press freedom itself became a public cause.
Example
In 1883 Banerjea wrote an article in The Bengalee criticising a Calcutta High Court judge. The article was about the judge's handling of a Hindu idol in court. Banerjea was jailed for contempt of court, which means disrespecting a court. His imprisonment set off large public protests in Bengal and beyond.
Don't confuse with
- Bengal Gazette: Hickey's English weekly of 1780, and also Gangadhar Bhattacharya's paper, the first published by an Indian. They have nothing to do with Banerjea's The Bengalee.
Related concepts
- Censorship of Press Act 1799
- Licensing Regulations 1823
- Press Act of 1835
- Licensing Act 1857
- Hindu Patriot
- Som Prakash
- Press and Registration of Books Act 1867
- Amrita Bazar Patrika
- Vernacular Press Act
- The Hindu