Chandrashekhar Azad Biography in English
Azad joined the Indian nationalist movement at an early age.
As a 15-year-old activist in Mohandas K. Gandhi's noncooperation movement (1920–1922) in Banares (now Varanasi), he provided the police with the name Azad (Urdu: "Free" or "Liberated") and the address "jail."
Although he was not imprisoned due to his age, he was severely beaten by the police.
He was immediately praised by the Indian National Congress (Congress Party), and he earned popularity among the Indian people.
Gandhi's suspension of the noncooperation movement in February 1922, following the death of several policemen by a revolutionary crowd in Chauri Chaura, disappointed Azad.
Azad participated in multiple violent crimes after joining the radical Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), including the Kakori train robbery (1925) and the murder of a British police officer in revenge (1928).
He was Bhagat Singh's guru. Read Chandrashekar Azad's early life, family, education, revolutionary actions, etc. in the article that follows.
Chandrashekhar Azad Biography in brief
Real name | Chandra Shekhar Tiwari |
Work | Indian Freedom Fighter |
Famous for | Being the Indian revolutionary who fought for India's freedom movements and organized a group of revolutionary youth against British rule. |
Date of Birth | 23 July 1906 (Monday) |
Birthplace | Bhavra, Alirajpur State, British India (Prsently MP) |
Date of Death | 27 February 1931 |
Place of Death | Chandrsekhar Azad Park (Earlier Alfred Park), Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh |
Age (at the time of Martyrdom) | 24 Years |
Nationality | Indian |
Revolutionery Name | Azad |
Azad House | Jail |
Chandrashekhar Azad Family
Marital Status | Unmarried |
Father | Sitaram Tiwari (Gardener) |
Mother | Jagrani Devi (Homemaker) |
Nationality | Indian |
Brother | Sukhdeo (Elder) |
Sister | No |
Revolution Life of Chandrashekhar Azad
After Mahatma Gandhi stopped the non-cooperation movement in 1922, Azad became unhappy.
Manmath Nath Gupta, a teenage revolutionary, introduced him to Ram Prasad Bismil, who had founded the insurgent Hindustan Republican Association (HRA).
He then became an active member of the HRA and began fundraising for the organisation.
The majority of the funds were collected through thefts of government property.
He participated in the 1925 Kakori Train Robbery, the 1928 shooting of John P. Saunders in Lahore to revenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, and the 1929 attempt to explode the Viceroy of India's train.
His comrade Shiv Verma read the Communist Manifesto to Azad.
When Azad was the leader of the revolutionary party, he frequently borrowed the author Satyabhakta's book ABC of Communism to teach his cadres about socialism.
Despite being a member of Congress, Motilal Nehru consistently contributed to Azad's mission. 7
Jhansi : Chandrashekhar's Revolution Centre
Azad used Jhansi as the centre of his group for a while.
He exercised shooting in the Orchha forest, which is 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) from Jhansi.
As an expert sharpshooter, he taught other people in his group how to shoot well.
He built a hut on the banks of the Satar River near a Hanuman temple and lived there for a long time under the name Pandit Harishankar Bramhachari.
He taught kids from the nearby village of Dhimarpura, which helped him get along well with the people there.
He also learned to drive a car at the Bundelkhand Motor Garage in Sadar Bazar while he was living in Jhansi.
Sadashivrao Malkapurkar, Vishwanath Vaishampayan, and Bhagwan Das Mahaur got to know him well and joined his group of revolutionaries.
Raghunath Vinayak Dhulekar and Sitaram Bhaskar Bhagwat, who were in charge of the Congress party at the time, were also close to Azad.
He also spent time at Rudra Narayan Singh's house in Nai Basti and Bhagwat's house in Nagra.
Bundelkhand was one of the people who helped him the most.
The leader of the freedom movement in Bundelkhand, Kesri Dewan Shatrughan Singh, gave Azad money and helped him get weapons and rebels.
Azad went to his fort in Mangrauth several times.
Formation of HRA by Chandrasekhar Azad and others.
Ram Prasad Bismil, Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee, Sachindra Nath Sanyal, and Shachindra Nath Bakshi founded the HRA in 1923.
After the 1925 Kakori railway robbery, the British crushed revolution. Participating Prasad, Ashfaqulla Khan, Thakur Roshan Singh, and Rajendra Nath Lahiri were hanged.
Chandrashekhar Azad, Murari Lal Gupta and Keshab Chakravarthy escaped.
Azad and fellow revolutionaries Shiv Verma and Mahabir Singh reorganised the HRA.
On 8–9 September 1928, he, Bhagat Singh, and other revolutionaries secretly reorganised the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) as the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) to achieve their goal of a socialist India.
Azad collaborated with Shivaram Rajguru, Sukhdev Thapar, and Bhagat Singh to assassinate Superintendent of Police James A. Scott to avenge Lala Lajpat Rai's death.
On 17 December 1928, the plotters mistakenly shot Assistant Superintendent of Police John P. Saunders as he left the District Police Headquarters in Lahore.
HSRA member Manmath Nath Gupta writes about his revolutionary activities. In his biography "Chandrashekhar Azad" in History of the Indian Revolutionary Movement (English version: 1972), Gupta detailed Azad's activities, ideology, and the HSRA.
Kakori Conspiracy
The Kakori Conspiracy, also known as the Kakori Conspiracy Case or Kakori Train Robbery, was an armed robbery of a train in central Uttar Pradesh state, north-central India, on August 9, 1925.
Subsequent court trial by British India against more than two dozen men accused of involvement in the crime.
The train was robbed near Kakori, 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Lucknow, its last destination.
The train carried money from several railway stations to deposit in Lucknow.
In a well-planned operation, Ramprasad Bismil led a group of 10 revolutionary activists who stopped the train, detained the guard and passengers, and forced open the guard's quarters safe before fleeing with the cash.
The raiders were members of the newly formed Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), a militant organisation aiming to liberate India from British control through revolution, including armed struggle.
The HRA robbed trains to fund its operations.
Over two dozen HRA members were arrested for conspiracy and committing the attack within a month.
More arrests followed, totaling 40. The Lucknow special magistrate examined 29 people.
Three—including HRA leader Chandrasekhar Azad—remained at large, while two others turned prosecution witnesses in exchange for lesser punishments.
Leading nationalist lawyers defended the accused for approximately 18 months.
April 6, 1927, saw the final judgments. One man was sentenced to life, and three were hanged.
Two accused were released, and two more were forgiven, but most were sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Azad was unapprehended and killed by police in February 1931. The sentencing, especially the severe penalty, outraged Indians.
A proposal in the United Provinces legislative council and a plea to the British viceroy failed to save the four to be executed.
Four men were executed in December 1927.
Death (Martyrdom of Chandrashekhar Azad)
Sir J. R. H. Nott-Bower, the Allahabad CID chief, received information on February 27, 1931, that Azad was at Alfred Park discussing with his associate and assistant, Sukhdev Raj.
Bower then contacted the Allahabad Police to accompany him to the park and help with the arrest.
Veerbhadra Tiwari and Yashpal, two of Azad's former companions, were also held accountable for spying on two police officers.
The cops surrounded the area on all four sides upon their arrival.
The gunfight began when some constables and DSP Thakur Vishweshwar Singh entered the park with firearms.
Azad requested Raj to go so that he may continue his legacy and work in the party.
Azad provided cover fire for Raj's safe escape. To protect himself, Azad hid behind a tree and opened fire from behind it.
The police returned fire. In keeping with his pledge to always remain Azad (free) and never be captured alive, he shot himself in the head with the final round in his gun after a long gun battle.
Bower and DSP Singh sustained injuries to their right palms and jaws, respectively, during the gunfight.
The police recovered Azad's body after the arrival of additional officers. Even after discovering Azad's death, they feared touching him.
The body was cremated at Rasulabad Ghat without informing the general public.
As word spread, people surrounded the park where the tragedy had occurred. They shouted anti-British Raj slogans and honoured Azad.
Legacy of Chandrashekhar Azad
In his autobiography, Jawaharlal Nehru wrote that Azad asked him a few weeks before his death if the Gandhi-Irwin pact would make him a criminal.
Nehru stated that Azad and many of his associates realised the "uselessness" of his techniques but were not confident that "peaceful methods" would work.
Azad-named schools, colleges, roads, and other public institutions are found across India.
Movies on Chandrashekhar Azad
Many films have depicted Azad since Jagdish Gautam's 1963 Chandrasekhar Azad and Manoj Kumar's 1965 Shaheed.
Azad was performed by Manmohan in 1965, Sunny Deol in 23rd March 1931: Shaheed (2002), Akhilendra Mishra in The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002), and Raj Zutshi in Shaheed-E-Azam (2002).
Aamir Khan played Azad in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's 2006 film Rang De Basanti, which was about Azad, Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru, Ram Prasad Bismil, and Ashfaqulla Khan.
The film drew parallels between the lives of young revolutionaries like Azad and Singh and today's youth and lamented the lack of appreciation among Indian youth for these men's sacrifices.
Chandrashekhar (2018) followed Azad from childhood to revolutionary leader.
Ayaan Zubair, Dev Joshi, and Karan Sharma played Azad in the series.
Conclusion
Chandrashekhar Azad was known for his organising skills, and he was instrumental in the rebuilding of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.
In either event, he desired India's complete independence. In retaliation for the murder of Lala Lajpat Rai, he murdered British Assistant Superintendent of Police John Poyantz Saunders.
Due to his crimes, he was on the police's wanted list, yet he was able to escape arrest for several years.
He was the mentor of Bhagat Singh. Due to the treachery of one of his associates, the British authorities tried to arrest him.
He battled bravely, but when he saw there was no other way out, he shot himself in order to keep his promise of not being captured alive.
