Bidhan Chandra Roy

Bidhan Chandra Roy (July 1, 1882 – July 1, 1962), popularly known as B.C.Roy, was a noted Indian physician and a renowned freedom fighter. He served with the Indian National Congress as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for 14 years from 1948 until his death in 1962. In India, his birth anniversary is celebrated as the National Doctor's Day on July 1 every year. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, on 4 February 1961.

Quotes

If we exert ourselves with determination, no obstacle, however formidable, can stop our progress."
- In Quotations by 60 Greatest Indians. Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology.

My young friends, you are soldiers in the battle of freedom-freedom from want, fear, ignorance, frustration and helplessness. By a dint of hard work for the country, rendered in a spirit of selfless service, may you march ahead with hope and courage.
Independence from the colonial rule will remain a dream until and unless the people of India are healthy and strong in mind and body.
Along with independence of India from the British Colonial rule|colonial rule, physical and mental development of masses is necessary for rebuilding the nation
- Above three quotes in Bharat Ratna Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy. Global Politician. Retrieved on 10 December 2013.

“It is no use belittling the fact that people are coming from East Bengal to West Bengal because they find life in East Bengal intolerable.”
- October 25, 1948 , Dr. B. C. Roy, Premier of West Bengal, in: **Talib, S. G. S. (1950). Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus inthe Punjab, 1947. Amritsar: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. [1] [2] [3] 253

“My friend (Finance Minister of Pakistan) states that there has been no case of persecution or oppression in East Bengal. Will he kindly tell us whether it is not a fact that house searches had been made in Jessore, Dinapur, Pabna, Meharpur, Barisal……”
- October 25, 1948 , Dr. B. C. Roy, Premier of West Bengal, in: **Talib, S. G. S. (1950). Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus inthe Punjab, 1947. Amritsar: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. [4] [5] [6] 253

Swaraj, will always remain a dream unless the people are healthy and strong in mind and body. They can not be so unless mothers have the health and wisdom to look after the children properly
- In page 87

Develop your personality, so that you may leave your individual mark in whatever sphere you are privileged to serve
- Convocation address to the students in 1956 in page-89

My young friends, you are soldiers in the battle of freedom- a freedom from want,a freedom from fear,a freedom from ignorance,a freedom from frustration and helplessness....By dint of hard work for the country, rendered in a spirit of selfless service may you march ahead with hope and courage...Remember in this dynamic world you must go forward or else you will be left behind...
- In page -98

I asked at another address to think for themselves, and find out for themselves, how to get over their difficulties. The difficulties are always there-they will always be there, and I am glad that there are difficulties, for they excite the imagination and the intellect, and you can then find out the means by which you can solve the problem
- In page-89

When a job, whether it is generally regarded as important or not, falls to my lot to do....it assumes importance immediately as far as I am concerned. I cannot rest until it is completed…whatever service I have succeeded in rendering to the nation is due, mainly, to this attitude and outlook of mine with regard to work
- In page-91

Cultivate the company and friendship of people outside your community, and come to know them as well as your own. The understanding and appreciation that develop from such social contacts is the best way of removing inter-state differences, and makes life richer and more interesting.
- In page-91

No Gandhiji....I could not treat all patients free. I came to Bombay not to treat Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi but to treat ‘him’, who, to me represents the four hundred million people of my country.
- This was in reply to to Gandhiji’s refusal to take medicine as it was not made in India in page=94

I will only do so...if there is no party interference. I must be free to chose my Minsters on the basis of merit and ability, rather than party membership.
- His reply to Gandhi when he was asked to take the reign of the state as the Congress member wanted it in page=100

We have the ability...and if, with our faith in our future, we exert ourselves with determination , nothing, I am sure, no obstacles, however formidable or insurmountable they may appear at present , can stop our progress...(if) all work unitedly, keeping our vision clear, and with a firm grasp of our problems.
- In page=101

In this province...we have...refugees coming in a state of mental excitement which enables the careerist politician to get hold of them and utilize them for various types of propaganda against the government and the Congress.
- In a communication with Pandit Nehru on the issue of large scale influx of refugees after partition from w:East Bengal in January 1948.Joya Chatterji (2010). The Spoils of Partition. Cambridge University Press. pp. 130–31. ISBN 978-1-139-46830-5.

Why should I take your treatment? Do you treat the four hundred million of my countrymen free, as you have come to give me free treatment.
You are arguing like a third class lawyer in a mofussil (district) court....[and then snapped saying] Bring me the medicine I will take it.
- Above two exchanges are of Gandhiji with B.C.Roy when came to treat him quoted in "Remembering Our Leaders: Mahadeo Govind Ranade by Pravina Bhim Sain" in page=94

Besides being a political stalwart...he was an all-rounder in a way. His contribution towards rebuilding modern India, his contribution in the making of West Bengal, can never be forgotten by anyone.
- Rajiv Gandhi, the former Prime Minister described him in "Bharat Ratna Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy".

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Bidhan Chandra Roy