Chandrasekhar Azad
Encyclopedia
Chandra Shekhar Azad (23 July 1906-27 February 1931) (popularly known as Azad, literally "The liberated") was one of the most important India
n revolutionaries who reorganised the Hindustan Republican Association under the new name of Hindustan Socialist Republican Association
(HSRA) after the death of its founder Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil
and three other prominent party leaders, Thakur Roshan Singh
, Rajendra Nath Lahiri and Ashfaqulla Khan
. He is considered to be the mentor of Bhagat Singh and chief strategist of the HSRA.
village of Unnao
district in Uttar Pradesh
. His full name was Chandra Shekhar Sitaram Tiwari
(Azad). His father was Pandit Sitaram Tiwari
. He spent his childhood in the village Bhabhra when his father was serving in the erstwhile estate of Alirajpur
.
He learned archery from the tribal Bhils of erstwhile Jhabua district which helped him later on during the arms struggle against the Britishers.
His mother Jagrani Devi wanted him to be a Sanskrit
scholar and persuaded his father to send him to Kashi Vidyapeeth, Benaras for studying Sanskrit
. In December 1921, when Mohandas K. Gandhi launched the Non-Cooperation Movement
, Chandrashekhar, then a 14 year old student, joined the movement. As a result, he was arrested and presented before a magistrate. When the magistrate asked his name, he immediately replied "Azad", meaning The Liberated. When he was asked to tell his father's name, he answered- "Swatantra" meaning Freedom. Then, the magistrate asked- "Where do you live?" He answered- "Jailkhana" meaning prison. He was sentenced to imprisonment for fifteen days with hard punishments. Over the punishment he again commented- "Sir! I replied so because I was sure you would send me to prison". This reply of Chandrashekhar elicited a round of laughter from the jury. The magistrate, who had totally lost his temper by now, asked the policemen to flog him fifteen times. With each stroke of the whip, he shouted loudly- "Bharat Mata Ki Jai !" (en.Hail Mother India!). From that day onward, Chandrashekhar Sitaram Tiwari
assumed the title 'Azad
' and came to be known as Chandrashekhar 'Azad'.
in 1922 by Gandhi, Azad became more aggressive on his stance. He committed himself to achieve complete independence by any means. Azad also believed that India's future lay in socialism. He met a young revolutionary Pranvesh Chatterji who introduced him to Ram Prasad who had formed the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), a revolutionary organisation. Azad was impressed with the aim of HRA, i.e., an independent India with equal rights and opportunity to everyone without discrimination of caste, creed, religion or social status. On introduction, Bismil was impressed by Azad, when Azad reportedly put his hand over the lighing lamp and did not remove it till his skin burnt. He then became an active member of the HRA and started to collect funds for HRA. Most of the fund collection was through robberies of government property. He also wanted to build a new India based on socialist principles. Azad and his compatriots also planned and executed several acts of violence against the British. Most of his revolutionary activities were planned and executed from Shahjahanpur which was also the hometown of Ram Prasad. He was involved in the famous Kakori Train Robbery
of 1925, in the attempt to blow up the Viceroy's train in 1926, and at last the shooting of J.P. Saunders at Lahore
in 1928 to avenge the killing of Lala Lajpat Rai
.
of 1919, when a British Army unit killed hundreds of unarmed civilians and wounded thousands in Amritsar. The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre deeply influenced young Azad and his contemporaries.
his organisation's hub for a considerable duration. He chose the forest of Orchha
situated at about fifteen kilometers from Jhansi for shooting practice. He was an expert marksman and used to train other members of his group in Orchha. Near the forest he built a hut aside a Hanuman Temple
on the banks of the Satar River. He lived there under the alias of Pandit Harishankar Brahmachari for a long period, and started teaching kids of the nearby village Dhimarpura. In this way he managed to establish good rapport with the local residents. The village Dhimarpura was renamed as Azadpura by the Madhya Pradesh
government.
While living in Jhansi, he also learnt to drive a car at Bundelkhand Motor Garage in Sadar Bazar of the cantonment area. Sadashivrao Malkapurkar, Vishwanath Vaishampayan and Bhagwan Das Mahaur came in close contact with him and became an integral part of his revolutionary group. The then congress leaders from Jhansi Pandit Raghunath Vinayak Dhulekar and Pandit Sitaram Bhaskar Bhagwat were also close to Azad. He also stayed for sometime in the house of Master Rudra Narayan Singh situated at Nai Basti and Pandit Sitaram Bhaskar Bhagwat's house in Nagra.
and Shachindra Nath Bakshi in 1924 just after two year of the Non co-operation movement. In the aftermath of the Kakori train robbery
in 1925, the British clamped down on revolutionary activities. Prasad, Ashfaqulla Khan
, Thakur Roshan Singh
and Rajendra Nath Lahiri were sentenced to death for their participation. Chandra Shekhar Azad, Keshab Chakravarthy
and Murari Lal evaded capture. Chandra Shekhar Azad later reorganized the HRA with the help of revolutionaries like Sheo Verma and Mahaveer Singh. Azad was also a close associate of Bhagwati Charan Vohra who alongwith Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev
, and Rajguru, helped him to transform the HRA into the HRSA in 1928 so as to achieve their primary aim of an independent India based on socialist principles
Jail and met Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi
. He hoped that Vidyarthi would involve in the case of Bhagat Singh and others as he had previously done in the Kakori conspiracy case. Vidyarthi suggested him to go to Allahabad
and meet Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. If he could be convinced, Nehru would be able to persuade Gandhi to talk to the Viceroy Lord Irwin and reach an agreement with the British Government in the forthcoming Gandhi-Irwin Pact
. Azad met Pandit Nehru in the early morning of 27 February 1931 at his residence Anand Bhawan in Allahabad and held talks with him. Nehru was not convinced with Azad's arguments and asked Azad to leave his place. A furious Azad left immediately.
From Anand Bhawan he went to the Alfred Park on his bicycle. He sat under a tree of Jamun (in. Hindi) after propping his bicycle on the tree. He was discussing some confidential matters with a fellow party member, Sukhdev Raj when Deputy Superintendent of Police Bisheshwar Singh along with S.S.P. (C.I.D.) John Nott-Bower
arrived there. Nott-Bower, pointed his finger towards Azad, to tell Bisheshwar Singh that this corpulent man was the person about whom he was informed just now by some reliable sources. Seeing a policeman pointing out his finger towards him, Azad immediately dragged out his Colt pistol from pocket and fired at Nott-Bower, hitting him in the right wrist. Seeing his senior officer soaked in blood, Bisheshwar Singh abused Azad. Azad immediately shot Bisheshwar Singh in his mouth, breaking his jaw. Within a few minutes, the police surrounded Alfred Park. During the initial encounter, Azad suffered a severe bullet wound in his right thigh, making it difficult for him to escape. But even then he made it possible for Sukhdev Raj to escape by providing him a cover fire. After Sukhdev Raj escaped, Azad managed to keep the police at bay for a long time.
Finally, with only one bullet left in his pistol and being completely surrounded and outnumbered, Chandra Shekhar Azad shot himself, keeping his pledge to never be captured alive. However, the British reported that he was killed in the police encounter by a troop lead by John Reginald Hornby Nott-Bower who was awarded with the King's Police Medal (KPM Award) in 1949. According to the reliable sources, a C.I.D. Inspector Ram Vadan Singh reported to Chowdhury Vishal Singh, the Officer-In-Charge of Colonelganj Police Station Allahabad that his S.S.P. alongwith one Dy.S.P. had been seriously injured from an attack by some Indian revolutionary. The police officers who came after the death of Azad did not approach his dead body for about half an hour. Only after a gun filled with buckshot was fired into his thigh, and no movement was noticed in the body, did the police touch his dead body. The file related to Azad is preserved in C.I.D. Headquarters, 1, Gokhale Marg, Lucknow
. The Colt pistol of Chandra Shekhar Azad shown on the left hand side is displayed at the Azad Museum Allahabad.
He once claimed that as his name was "Azad", he would never be taken alive by police. Allegedly, he was aware of the informer who betrayed him to the police.
's 1965 film Shaheed , every film or commemoration of the life of Bhagat Singh has featured the character of Azad. Sunny Deol
portrayed Azad in the movie 23rd March 1931: Shaheed
. In the movie The Legend of Bhagat Singh
, starring Ajay Devgn, Azad was portrayed by Akhilendra Mishra
.
The lives of Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Ram Prasad and Ashfaqulla Khan
were also depicted in the 2006 Aamir Khan
film Rang De Basanti
. The movie, which draws parallels between the lives of young revolutionaries such as Azad and Bhagat Singh and today's youth, also dwells upon the lack of appreciation among today's Indian youth for the sacrifices made by these heroes.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n revolutionaries who reorganised the Hindustan Republican Association under the new name of Hindustan Socialist Republican Association
Hindustan Socialist Republican Association
Hindustan Socialist Republican Association was a revolutionary organisation established in 1928 at Feroz Shah Kotla New Delhi by Chandrasekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and others...
(HSRA) after the death of its founder Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil
Ram Prasad Bismil
Ram Prasad Bismil Ram Prasad Bismil Ram Prasad Bismil (Hindi: राम प्रसाद 'बिस्मिल', Gujarati: રામપ્રસાદ બિસ્મિલ, (Malayalam: രാം പ്രസാദ് ബിസ്മിൽ, Tamil: ராம் பிரசாத் பிஸ்மில், Born: 11 June 1897, Executed: 19 December 1927) was an Indian revolutionary who participated in Mainpuri Shadyantra of...
and three other prominent party leaders, Thakur Roshan Singh
Roshan Singh
and rohanThakur Roshan Singh was an Indian revolutionary who was sentenced in the Bareilly Goli Kand in the Non Cooperation Movement of 1921-22...
, Rajendra Nath Lahiri and Ashfaqulla Khan
Ashfaqulla Khan
Ashfaqulla Khan was a Muslim freedom fighter in the Indian independence movement who had given away his life along with Ram Prasad Bismil. Bismil and Ashfaq, both were good friends and Urdu poets...
. He is considered to be the mentor of Bhagat Singh and chief strategist of the HSRA.
Early life
Chandra Shekhar Azad was born on 23 July 1906 in Saryuparin Brahmins family, in the BadarkaBadarka
Badarka is a small village in Unnao, India which is situated on the Kanpur Unnao road in the state of Uttar Pradesh...
village of Unnao
Unnao
The town of Unnao is the headquarters of Unnao District in Uttar Pradesh, India between Kanpur and Lucknow. It is approximately 18 km from Kanpur & 60 km from Lucknow . It is connected to these two cities by roadway as well as by railway. The nearest airport is at Amausi about...
district in Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
. His full name was Chandra Shekhar Sitaram Tiwari
Tiwari
Tiwari Sanskrit | तिवारी, is a Hindu Brahmin surname found mostly in the northern and central parts of India and Nepal.-About the surname Tiwari:Its other forms are Tewari, Tewary, Tiwary, Tewaree, and Tewarey...
(Azad). His father was Pandit Sitaram Tiwari
Tiwari
Tiwari Sanskrit | तिवारी, is a Hindu Brahmin surname found mostly in the northern and central parts of India and Nepal.-About the surname Tiwari:Its other forms are Tewari, Tewary, Tiwary, Tewaree, and Tewarey...
. He spent his childhood in the village Bhabhra when his father was serving in the erstwhile estate of Alirajpur
Alirajpur
Alirajpur is a city and a municipality in Alirajpur district in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India.Alirajpur State was formerly a princely state of India, under the Bhopawar Agency in Central India. It lies in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh, near the border with Gujarat and Maharashtra. It...
.
His mother Jagrani Devi wanted him to be a Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
scholar and persuaded his father to send him to Kashi Vidyapeeth, Benaras for studying Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
. In December 1921, when Mohandas K. Gandhi launched the Non-Cooperation Movement
Non-cooperation movement
The non-cooperation movement was a significant phase of the Indian struggle for freedom from British rule which lasted for years. This movement, which lasted from September 1920 to February 1922 and was led by Mohandas Gandhi, and supported by the Indian National Congress. It aimed to resist...
, Chandrashekhar, then a 14 year old student, joined the movement. As a result, he was arrested and presented before a magistrate. When the magistrate asked his name, he immediately replied "Azad", meaning The Liberated. When he was asked to tell his father's name, he answered- "Swatantra" meaning Freedom. Then, the magistrate asked- "Where do you live?" He answered- "Jailkhana" meaning prison. He was sentenced to imprisonment for fifteen days with hard punishments. Over the punishment he again commented- "Sir! I replied so because I was sure you would send me to prison". This reply of Chandrashekhar elicited a round of laughter from the jury. The magistrate, who had totally lost his temper by now, asked the policemen to flog him fifteen times. With each stroke of the whip, he shouted loudly- "Bharat Mata Ki Jai !" (en.Hail Mother India!). From that day onward, Chandrashekhar Sitaram Tiwari
Tiwari
Tiwari Sanskrit | तिवारी, is a Hindu Brahmin surname found mostly in the northern and central parts of India and Nepal.-About the surname Tiwari:Its other forms are Tewari, Tewary, Tiwary, Tewaree, and Tewarey...
assumed the title 'Azad
Azad
Azād means "free" in languages that belongs to the Indo-Iranian group like Urdu, Kurdish, Persian and Dari. It may refer to:-People named Azad:* Azad Shah Afghan, founder and first ruler of Azad dynasty.* Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Indian freedom-fighter...
' and came to be known as Chandrashekhar 'Azad'.
Revolutionary life
After suspension of the non-cooperation movementNon-cooperation movement
The non-cooperation movement was a significant phase of the Indian struggle for freedom from British rule which lasted for years. This movement, which lasted from September 1920 to February 1922 and was led by Mohandas Gandhi, and supported by the Indian National Congress. It aimed to resist...
in 1922 by Gandhi, Azad became more aggressive on his stance. He committed himself to achieve complete independence by any means. Azad also believed that India's future lay in socialism. He met a young revolutionary Pranvesh Chatterji who introduced him to Ram Prasad who had formed the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), a revolutionary organisation. Azad was impressed with the aim of HRA, i.e., an independent India with equal rights and opportunity to everyone without discrimination of caste, creed, religion or social status. On introduction, Bismil was impressed by Azad, when Azad reportedly put his hand over the lighing lamp and did not remove it till his skin burnt. He then became an active member of the HRA and started to collect funds for HRA. Most of the fund collection was through robberies of government property. He also wanted to build a new India based on socialist principles. Azad and his compatriots also planned and executed several acts of violence against the British. Most of his revolutionary activities were planned and executed from Shahjahanpur which was also the hometown of Ram Prasad. He was involved in the famous Kakori Train Robbery
Kakori train robbery
The Kakori train robbery was a train robbery that took place between Kakori and Alamnagar near Lucknow, on 9 August 1925 during the Indian Independence Movement against the British.German-made Mauser C96 semi-automatic pistols with wooden stock were used in this historical event by the Hindustan...
of 1925, in the attempt to blow up the Viceroy's train in 1926, and at last the shooting of J.P. Saunders at Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
in 1928 to avenge the killing of Lala Lajpat Rai
Lala Lajpat Rai
Lala Lajpat Rai was an Indian author, freedom fighter and politician who is chiefly remembered as a leader in the Indian fight for freedom from the British Raj. He was popularly known as Punjab Kesari or Sher-e-Punjab meaning the samem and was part of the Lal Bal Pal trio...
.
Formation of Hindustan Socialist Republican Association
Appalled by the brutal violence, Azad felt that violence was acceptable in such a struggle, especially in view of the Jallianwala Bagh MassacreJallianwala Bagh massacre
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre , also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place in the Jallianwala Bagh public garden in the northern Indian city of Amritsar, and was ordered by Brigadier-General Reginald E.H. Dyer...
of 1919, when a British Army unit killed hundreds of unarmed civilians and wounded thousands in Amritsar. The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre deeply influenced young Azad and his contemporaries.
Activities in Jhansi
Chandra Shekhar Azad made JhansiJhansi
Jhansi Hindi:झाँसी, , Marathi: झाशी, is a historical city of India. Jhansi is the administrative headquarters of Jhansi District and Jhansi Division. The original walled city grew up around its stone fort, which crowns a neighboring rock. This district is on the bank of river Betwa.The National...
his organisation's hub for a considerable duration. He chose the forest of Orchha
Orchha
Orchha is a town in Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh state, India. The town was established by Maharaja Rudra Pratap Singh in 1501, as the seat of an eponymous former princely state of central India, in the Bundelkhand region. Orchha lies on the Betwa River , 80 km from Tikamgarh &...
situated at about fifteen kilometers from Jhansi for shooting practice. He was an expert marksman and used to train other members of his group in Orchha. Near the forest he built a hut aside a Hanuman Temple
Hanuman Temple
Hanuman Temple in Connaught Place, New Delhi, is an ancient Hindu temple and is claimed to be one of the five temples of Mahabharata days in Delhi...
on the banks of the Satar River. He lived there under the alias of Pandit Harishankar Brahmachari for a long period, and started teaching kids of the nearby village Dhimarpura. In this way he managed to establish good rapport with the local residents. The village Dhimarpura was renamed as Azadpura by the Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
government.
While living in Jhansi, he also learnt to drive a car at Bundelkhand Motor Garage in Sadar Bazar of the cantonment area. Sadashivrao Malkapurkar, Vishwanath Vaishampayan and Bhagwan Das Mahaur came in close contact with him and became an integral part of his revolutionary group. The then congress leaders from Jhansi Pandit Raghunath Vinayak Dhulekar and Pandit Sitaram Bhaskar Bhagwat were also close to Azad. He also stayed for sometime in the house of Master Rudra Narayan Singh situated at Nai Basti and Pandit Sitaram Bhaskar Bhagwat's house in Nagra.
With Bhagat Singh
The HRA was formed by Ram Prasad Bismil, Yogesh Chandra Chatterji, Sachindra Nath SanyalSachindra Nath Sanyal
Sachindra Nath Sanyal was a famous Indian revolutionary and the founder of Hindustan Republican Association that was created to carry out armed resistance against the British Empire in India. He was the mentor for revolutionaries like Chandrashekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh...
and Shachindra Nath Bakshi in 1924 just after two year of the Non co-operation movement. In the aftermath of the Kakori train robbery
Kakori train robbery
The Kakori train robbery was a train robbery that took place between Kakori and Alamnagar near Lucknow, on 9 August 1925 during the Indian Independence Movement against the British.German-made Mauser C96 semi-automatic pistols with wooden stock were used in this historical event by the Hindustan...
in 1925, the British clamped down on revolutionary activities. Prasad, Ashfaqulla Khan
Ashfaqulla Khan
Ashfaqulla Khan was a Muslim freedom fighter in the Indian independence movement who had given away his life along with Ram Prasad Bismil. Bismil and Ashfaq, both were good friends and Urdu poets...
, Thakur Roshan Singh
Roshan Singh
and rohanThakur Roshan Singh was an Indian revolutionary who was sentenced in the Bareilly Goli Kand in the Non Cooperation Movement of 1921-22...
and Rajendra Nath Lahiri were sentenced to death for their participation. Chandra Shekhar Azad, Keshab Chakravarthy
Keshab Chakravarthy
Keshab Chakravarthy was a prominent Indian revolutionary belonging to Hindustan Republican Association that was created to carry out revolutionary activities against the British Empire in India. He was no other but Keshav Hedgewar who had gone to Calcutta in 1910 to pursue his medical studies...
and Murari Lal evaded capture. Chandra Shekhar Azad later reorganized the HRA with the help of revolutionaries like Sheo Verma and Mahaveer Singh. Azad was also a close associate of Bhagwati Charan Vohra who alongwith Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev
Sukhdev
Sukhdev Thapar was born in Ludhiana, Punjab. He was an Indian freedom fighter who lived from 15 May 1907 to March 23, 1931) who was involved with Shaheed Bhagat Singh andShivaram Rajguru in the killing of a British police officer J.P...
, and Rajguru, helped him to transform the HRA into the HRSA in 1928 so as to achieve their primary aim of an independent India based on socialist principles
Death
In the last week of Feb, 1931 Azad went to SitapurSitapur
Sitapur formerly spelled as Citapore is a town and a municipal board in Sitapur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is in the Lucknow Division of Uttar Pradesh...
Jail and met Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi
Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi
Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi , was an Indian journalist, a leader of the Indian National Congress and an independence movement activist. He is mostly known as the founder-editor of the Hindi language newspaper, Pratap....
. He hoped that Vidyarthi would involve in the case of Bhagat Singh and others as he had previously done in the Kakori conspiracy case. Vidyarthi suggested him to go to Allahabad
Allahabad
Allahabad , or Settled by God in Persian, is a major city of India and is one of the main holy cities of Hinduism. It was renamed by the Mughals from the ancient name of Prayaga , and is by some accounts the second-oldest city in India. It is located in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh,...
and meet Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. If he could be convinced, Nehru would be able to persuade Gandhi to talk to the Viceroy Lord Irwin and reach an agreement with the British Government in the forthcoming Gandhi-Irwin Pact
Gandhi-Irwin Pact
Gandhi–Irwin Pact refers to a political agreement signed by Mahatma Gandhi and the then Viceroy of India, Lord Irwin on 5 March 1931 before the second Round Table Conference in London...
. Azad met Pandit Nehru in the early morning of 27 February 1931 at his residence Anand Bhawan in Allahabad and held talks with him. Nehru was not convinced with Azad's arguments and asked Azad to leave his place. A furious Azad left immediately.
From Anand Bhawan he went to the Alfred Park on his bicycle. He sat under a tree of Jamun (in. Hindi) after propping his bicycle on the tree. He was discussing some confidential matters with a fellow party member, Sukhdev Raj when Deputy Superintendent of Police Bisheshwar Singh along with S.S.P. (C.I.D.) John Nott-Bower
John Nott-Bower
Sir John Reginald Hornby Nott-Bower KCVO KPM OStJ was Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, the head of the London Metropolitan Police, from 1953 to 1958...
arrived there. Nott-Bower, pointed his finger towards Azad, to tell Bisheshwar Singh that this corpulent man was the person about whom he was informed just now by some reliable sources. Seeing a policeman pointing out his finger towards him, Azad immediately dragged out his Colt pistol from pocket and fired at Nott-Bower, hitting him in the right wrist. Seeing his senior officer soaked in blood, Bisheshwar Singh abused Azad. Azad immediately shot Bisheshwar Singh in his mouth, breaking his jaw. Within a few minutes, the police surrounded Alfred Park. During the initial encounter, Azad suffered a severe bullet wound in his right thigh, making it difficult for him to escape. But even then he made it possible for Sukhdev Raj to escape by providing him a cover fire. After Sukhdev Raj escaped, Azad managed to keep the police at bay for a long time.
Finally, with only one bullet left in his pistol and being completely surrounded and outnumbered, Chandra Shekhar Azad shot himself, keeping his pledge to never be captured alive. However, the British reported that he was killed in the police encounter by a troop lead by John Reginald Hornby Nott-Bower who was awarded with the King's Police Medal (KPM Award) in 1949. According to the reliable sources, a C.I.D. Inspector Ram Vadan Singh reported to Chowdhury Vishal Singh, the Officer-In-Charge of Colonelganj Police Station Allahabad that his S.S.P. alongwith one Dy.S.P. had been seriously injured from an attack by some Indian revolutionary. The police officers who came after the death of Azad did not approach his dead body for about half an hour. Only after a gun filled with buckshot was fired into his thigh, and no movement was noticed in the body, did the police touch his dead body. The file related to Azad is preserved in C.I.D. Headquarters, 1, Gokhale Marg, Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
. The Colt pistol of Chandra Shekhar Azad shown on the left hand side is displayed at the Azad Museum Allahabad.
He once claimed that as his name was "Azad", he would never be taken alive by police. Allegedly, he was aware of the informer who betrayed him to the police.
Popular culture
Azad is an icon to the Indians today. Alfred Park, where he was killed in an encounter with the police, has been renamed Chandrashekhar Azad Park. Several schools, colleges, roads and other public institutions across India are also named after him. Starting from Manoj KumarManoj Kumar
Manoj Kumar is an award-winning Indian actor and director in the Bollywood film industry. He is known for acting in and directing films with patriotic themes, and has been given the nickname "Mr Bharat"...
's 1965 film Shaheed , every film or commemoration of the life of Bhagat Singh has featured the character of Azad. Sunny Deol
Sunny Deol
Sunny Deol often credited as "Action King of Bollywood" is an Indian film actor, producer and director. Deol was born to Bollywood actor Dharmendra. He has won two National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards. He went to England to study acting...
portrayed Azad in the movie 23rd March 1931: Shaheed
23rd March 1931: Shaheed
23rd March 1931: Shaheed is a 2002 Hindi film directed by Guddu Dhanoa which depicts the events leading up to the hanging of Indian freedom fighter Bhagat Singh and his companions Rajguru and Sukhdev on 23 March 1931...
. In the movie The Legend of Bhagat Singh
The Legend of Bhagat Singh
The Legend of Bhagat Singh is a 2002 Hindi historic biographical film about Bhagat Singh, a freedom fighter who fought for Indian independence. It was directed by Rajkumar Santoshi and starred Ajay Devgan, Sushant Singh, and Ian Davies...
, starring Ajay Devgn, Azad was portrayed by Akhilendra Mishra
Akhilendra Mishra
Akhilendra Mishra is an Indian film and television character actor. He hails from Magadh, Bihar. He generally plays negative roles and is famous for his work as Kroor Singh in the 1990s Doordarshan fantasy television series Chandrakanta, and Mirchi Seth in the 1999 Bollywood film Sarfarosh.He...
.
The lives of Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Ram Prasad and Ashfaqulla Khan
Ashfaqulla Khan
Ashfaqulla Khan was a Muslim freedom fighter in the Indian independence movement who had given away his life along with Ram Prasad Bismil. Bismil and Ashfaq, both were good friends and Urdu poets...
were also depicted in the 2006 Aamir Khan
Aamir Khan
Aamir Hussain Khan is an Indian film actor, director and producer who has established himself as one of the leading actors of Hindi cinema....
film Rang De Basanti
Rang De Basanti
Rang De Basanti is a 2006 Indian drama film written and directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. It features an ensemble cast comprising Aamir Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Madhavan, Kunal Kapoor, Siddharth Narayan, Sharman Joshi, Atul Kulkarni and British actress Alice Patten in the lead roles...
. The movie, which draws parallels between the lives of young revolutionaries such as Azad and Bhagat Singh and today's youth, also dwells upon the lack of appreciation among today's Indian youth for the sacrifices made by these heroes.
See also
- Ram Prasad BismilRam Prasad BismilRam Prasad Bismil Ram Prasad Bismil Ram Prasad Bismil (Hindi: राम प्रसाद 'बिस्मिल', Gujarati: રામપ્રસાદ બિસ્મિલ, (Malayalam: രാം പ്രസാദ് ബിസ്മിൽ, Tamil: ராம் பிரசாத் பிஸ்மில், Born: 11 June 1897, Executed: 19 December 1927) was an Indian revolutionary who participated in Mainpuri Shadyantra of...
- Indian Independence MovementIndian independence movementThe term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...
- Jallianwala Bagh MassacreJallianwala Bagh massacreThe Jallianwala Bagh massacre , also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place in the Jallianwala Bagh public garden in the northern Indian city of Amritsar, and was ordered by Brigadier-General Reginald E.H. Dyer...
- Bhagat Singh
- Hindustan Socialist Republican AssociationHindustan Socialist Republican AssociationHindustan Socialist Republican Association was a revolutionary organisation established in 1928 at Feroz Shah Kotla New Delhi by Chandrasekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and others...
- Sukhdev Thapar
- Rajguru
- Thakur Roshan Singh
- Ashfaqullah Khan
- Kakori Train RobberyKakori train robberyThe Kakori train robbery was a train robbery that took place between Kakori and Alamnagar near Lucknow, on 9 August 1925 during the Indian Independence Movement against the British.German-made Mauser C96 semi-automatic pistols with wooden stock were used in this historical event by the Hindustan...
- Lala Lajpat RaiLala Lajpat RaiLala Lajpat Rai was an Indian author, freedom fighter and politician who is chiefly remembered as a leader in the Indian fight for freedom from the British Raj. He was popularly known as Punjab Kesari or Sher-e-Punjab meaning the samem and was part of the Lal Bal Pal trio...
- YashpalYashpalNot to be confused with Yash Pal Yashpal was a Hindi author renowned for झूटा सच Jhutha Sach , which is regarded as one of the best Hindi novels ever written...
- BadarkaBadarkaBadarka is a small village in Unnao, India which is situated on the Kanpur Unnao road in the state of Uttar Pradesh...
- JhabuaJhabuaJhabua is a town and a municipality in Jhabua district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of Jhabua District.-History:...