Das, Chitta Ranjan [key], 1870–1925, Indian political leader. A lawyer who opposed British rule and defended many Indian nationalists, he idealized traditional Indian life. He supported Mohandas Gandhi's noncooperation movement and was imprisoned in 1921. In 1922 he partially broke with Gandhi and founded the Swaraj [self-rule] party, urging Indians to run for political office so that the British administration might be disrupted from within. Das was elected mayor of Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1924 and appeared to be leaning toward cooperation with the British before his death.
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