Chandrasekhar Azad Indian revolutionary

Chandrashekhar Sitaram Tiwari, better known asChandrasekhar Azad (Hindi: चंद्रशेखर आज़ाद, Urdu: چندر شیکھر آزاد) (July 23, 1906 Bhavra, Jhabua District, Madhya Pradesh – February 27, 1931, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh) is one of the most importantIndian revolutionaries, and is considered the mentor of Bhagat Singh.

Azad was one among a young generation of Indians who were deeply inspired byMahatma Gandhi and the launch of the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1920 and took an active part in it. But like many, Azad was disillusioned with Gandhi's suspension of the struggle in 1922 due to the Chauri Chaura massacre of 22 policemen. Although Gandhi was appalled by the brutal violence, Azad did not feel that violence was unacceptable in such a struggle, especially in view of theJallianwala Bagh Massacre 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.

He once claimed that as his name was "Azad," he would never be taken alive bypolice. That is why he killed himself towards the end of a shootout with the police. Azad also believed that India's future lay in socialism. Allegedly, he was aware of the informer who betrayed him to the police.

The Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) was formed by Sachindranath Sanyal just after one year of the Non co-operation movement in 1923. In the aftermath of the Kakori train robbery in 1925, the British clamped down on revolutionary activities. Sentenced to death for their participation were Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan,Thakur Roshan Singh and Rajendra Lahiri. Two escaped capture, Sunderlal Gupta as well as Azad. Azad reorganized the HRA with the help of secondary revolutionaries like Shiva Varma and Mahaveer Singh. He was also an associate of Rasbihari Bose. Azad, along with Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru, transformed the HRA into the HSRA (Hindustan Socialist Republican Association) in 1927, whose goal was complete Indian independence based on socialist principles.

Being surrounded, Chandrashekhar Azad shot himself, keeping his pledge to not be captured alive. It is said that the Indian soldiers who saw him die did not approach his dead body for 20 minutes. He had always induced the guilt of Indian soldiers and policemen working

Azad is a hero to Indians today

Virendranath Chattopadhyaya

Virendranath Chattopadhyaya alias Chatto (1880 — September 2, 1937, Moscow) was a prominent Bengali Indian revolutionary who aimed to overthrow the British Raj in India by using violence as a tool. This colourful character has been portrayed as "Chandralal" bySomerset Maugham in his short story "Giulia Lazzari"

On September 22, 1914, Sarkar and Marathé left for Washington, D.C. with a message for then German ambassador, Von Bernstorf. The latter got Von Papen, his Military Attaché, to arrange for steamers, purchase arms and ammunition, to be delivered on the eastern coast of India. On November 20, 1914, Viren sent Satyen Sen, V.G. Pingley and Kartâr Singh to Kolkata with a report for Jatindranath Mukherjee or Bagha Jatin. Bagha Jatin conveyed a note through Pingley and Kartar Singh to Rash Behari Bose asking him to expedite preparations for the proposed armed uprising. ^[6] In 1915, when Viren went to meet Raja Mahendra Pratap in Switzerland and convey him the Kaiser’s personal invitation, there was an attempt to murder Viren, while he was dogged by British agent, Donald Gullick.

With the failure of the Indo-German Zimmermann Plan, in 1917 Viren shifted the Berlin Committee to Stockholm. In 1918, he contacted the Russian leaders Troinovski and Angelica Balabanova, the First General Secretary of the Communist International. In December, he dissolved the Berlin Committee. In May 1919, he arranged for a secret meeting of Indian revolutionaries in Berlin. In November 1920, in his search of financial and political support exclusively for the revolutionary nationalist movement in India, he was encouraged by M.N. Roy (with Borodin’s approval).

Between 1931 and 1933, Viren went on advocating anti-Hitler activities, Asian emancipation from Western powers, independence of India, and Japanese intervention into Chinese revolution. Among his Korean, Japanese and Chinese friends was Zhou Enlai, the future Prime Minister of theCHINA .1936/37 at the department of ethnography of the Academy of Science in Leningrad. Viren was arrested on July 15, 1937. Death list with his name among 184 other persons was signed by Stalin, Molotov, Voroshilov, Zhdanov and Kaganovich on August 31, 1937.^[10] Death sentence was pronounced by Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR on September 2, 1937 and the same day he was shot.

Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon(March 18, 1914 - February 6, 2006)

Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon (March 18, 1914 - February 6, 2006), popularly known as Col. G.S. Dhillon, was an officer in the Indian National Army who was charged with "waging war against His Majesty the King Emperor". Along with Gen.Shah Nawaz Khan and Col. Prem Kumar Sahgal, he was tried by the British at the end of World War II in the INA trialsthat began on November 5, 1945 at Red Fort. Dhillon also played an important role in the Indian independencenegotiations.

By the dawn of 9 February 1941, almost two divisions of the Japanese had landed on the soil of Singapore. On February 10, 1941, 7 MRC was moved to Raffles Square, a business area. By that time it was apparent that the surrender of Singapore was imminent. On February 13, 1941, Raffles Square was bombed. 7MRC suffered heavily with about 300 killed and many more wounded. The second-in-Command of 7 MRC, an English Major and Dhillon had a difficult job disposing of corpses. They dropped them in ocean. Singapore capitulated on February 15, 1941 and British Forces surrendered unconditionally to the Japanese.

The defeated and demoralized Indian soldiers collected themselves at Farrer Park in Singapore. Major Fujiwara addressing the POWs expressed that it was his firm belief that world peace and the liberation of Asia could not be achieved and maintained without a free and independent India. He further said that if Indian POWs in Malaya were prepared to fight the British imperialism for the noble cause of achieving the independence of their motherland, the Imperial Japanese Government would advance all out support. He suggested the formation of Indian National Army. He handed over all the POWs in Malaya to Capt. Mohan Singh, the G.O.C. of the Indian National Army.

[edit]Indian National Army

At the stage on Farrer Park Capt. Mohan Singh addressed the POWs and decided to form an organized and disciplined power in the form of Indian National Army. The erstwhile POWs were to become now the soldiers of India’s Army of Liberation, the army that was to fight under its own leadership, with a real and just cause to wage war.

Mohan Singh was from the same unit from which was Dhillon. He was a close friend of Dhillon. On February 17, 1942, Dhillon decided to join the Indian National Army and took the vow not to drink till India became free. Next morning Capt. Mohan Singh issued orders to march off all the units of various camps on the island where the units were to occupy their allotted accommodation. Dhillon’s unit was to proceed to Neesoon Camp. Neesoon village was situated 13 miles (21 km) away from main town of Singapore. This camp was the Regimental Centre of the Hong Kong and Singapore Royal Artillery.

The Japanese Headquarters had asked the Supreme Headquarters to provide 200 officers to guard the British and Australian prisoners of war at Changi Camp. Dhillon took the risk and volunteered his services for this unpleasant task. At Changi Camp, Dhillon and other Indians were asked by the Japanese to give up the British drill and words of command and adopt Japanese ones. Within a fortnight they learnt the Japanese drill and words of command. Here they kept the Allied POWs in five separate Camps – Australian Camp, Hospital area, 9th Indian Division]] Camp, 11th Indian Division]] Camp and 18th British Camp. Its own officer, usually a General residing in the Camp, commanded each Camp. Changi was under military control of Japanese as well as Dhillon. Dhillon inculcated amongst the prisoners the feelings of national unity, discipline and keen sense of duty through daily lectures personally delivered by him.^{[citation needed]} After some time at Changi Camp Dhillon fell seriously ill. He was released from the command of the Changi Garrison and sent to Seletar Camp and was admitted to POW Hospital.

On The May 17, 1945 the enemy encircled The Indian National Army. So they surrendered without any surrender ceremony. They were put into prison at Pegu. Shah Nawaz and Dhillon were taken to No. 3 Field Interrogation Centre under command of Major C. Ore on May 18, 1945. Later on May 31, Dhillon was sent to Rangoon Central Jail. On the June 9 1945 Shah Nawaz was brought from Pegu and put up with Dhillon in Rangoon Jail.

On July 1, 1945 Dhillon was brought to Calcutta by plane and from there, sent to Delhi by train. On July 6, 1945 he was put in the Red Fort and interrogated by Mr. Bannerjee of the Central Intelligence Department. The interrogation was over by the third week of July. On the August 6, 1945, Shah Nawaz, Sahgal and Dhillon were jointly summoned to the CSDICfor the first time. It was the beginning of the first INA trial at Red Fort. On September 17, 1945 the trio were served a copy of charge sheet. The main charge was waging war against the King. The news of trial was made public through the press and All India Radio.

The Red Fort trial

The historical trial of Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon, Prem Kumar Sahgal and Shah Nawaz Khan at the Red Fort began on November 5, 1945 by a General Court Martial for the charge of waging war against the King. When the trial began a mass demonstration was going on outside the Red Fort. People gave voice to their resentment on the trials by shouting:

Lal Qile se aaee awaz,

Atulkrishna Ghosh (1890-1966)ndianrevolutionary

Atulkrishna (Atul) Ghosh (Ghose) (1890-1966) was a Bengali Indianrevolutionary, member of the Anushilan Samiti, and a leader of the Jugantarmovement involved in Hindu German Conspiracy during World War I.

, Atul became an expert trainer in self-defence at the Pataldanga branch of the Anushilan Samiti : here he came across a number of revolutionaries, including Sachin Sanyal’s Benares group and Biren Datta Gupta whom he recommended to Jatindranath. Biren received from the latter, in January 1910, the mandate to assassinate Samsul Alam, Deputy Superintendent of Police, who was man-handling the under-trial prisoners of the Alipore Bomb case.^[3]. In connection with Biren’s successful mission, Jatindranath with forty-six associates were placed on trial in the Howrah conspiracy case. Inside the prison, Jatindranath learnt from his emissaries abroad that Germany was preparing for war against Great Britain. After his release in 1911, Jatindranath suspended all extremist activities, left Kolkata under the responsibility of Atul, himself forging a grand federation of regional units in the districts. A relentless organiser, Atul sheltered revolutionaries from various units as much in his parents’ house at Jaduboyra, as at the Kolkata residence of Meghamala and K.P. Basu, at 11 Mahendra Gossain’s Lane, where there was a free dormitory with homely meals. Even leaders of rival parties likePratul Ganguli of Dhaka admit having enjoyed this hospitality, at great expense and risk on Atul’s side: “We became great friends with Atulkrishna and had confidence in him. I have very often been to his Darjipara residence and spent nights there. He had grown intimate with several of our members, almost close friends. We considered him to be, somewhat, our own colleague and he sincerely hoped to unite our parties so that we could all work together. Frankly speaking, it was thanks to his wish that I met Jatin Mukherjee…” Disappointed by the duplicity of the Dhaka branch, “some of its important workers, however, like Sachin Sanyal and Nagen (Girija) Datta, severed their connection with it and, introduced by Atulkrishna, worked with Rasbehari Bose in Upper India.” Atul’s elder brother Aghorenath, a civil surgeon, often looked after the bullet wounds received by the patriots.

After the end of the War, Surendranath Banerjee, followed by Barin Ghose and Motilal Roy, successfully negotiated the withdrawal of warrants against the fugitives accused of the Indo-German plot. Atul was adamant in obtaining a promise on these points : (a) there would be no question of surrendering arms; (b) no questions would be raised on their past activities; (c) no parole would be demanded concerning their future conducts. Atul came out in 1921. But his Dada’s (Jatin Mukherjee’s) heroic death, “had knocked out his revolutionary ardour and he gave up active politics.” Yet, in January 1924, when Gopinath Saha killed an Englishman, mistaking him to be Tegart, the much-hated Commissioner of Kolkata Police (reputed to have shot Jatin Mukherjee dead), Atul was made a state-prisoner, to be released in 1926. The same year he married Menokarani Rakshit of Majilpur, 24 Parganas and took to business, dissociating himself completely from politics. They had no issues.

Atul died peacefully in his Kolkata residence, on 4 May 1966.

Badal Gupta freedom fighter and revolutionary. (1912-1930)

The battle at Writers' Building

Bengal Volunteers targeted Col NS Simpson,The Inspector General of Prisons, who was infamous for the brutal oppression on the prisoners in the jails. The revolutionaries decided not only to murder him, but also to strike a terror in the British official circles by launching an attack on the Secretariat Building - the Writers' Building in the Dalhousie square in Kolkata.

On 8 December 1930, Badal along with Dinesh chandra Gupta and Benoy, dressed in European costume, entered theWriters' Building and shot dead Simpson. Badal Gupta was also influenced by the revolutionary activities of his two paternal uncles Late Dharani Nath Gupta and Nagendra Nath Gupta who were victims of famous Alipore Bomb Case and were imprisoned along with Rishi Aurobindo Ghosh.

British police started firing. What ensued was a brief gunfight between the 3 young revolutionaries and the police. Some other officers like Twynam, Prentice and Nelson suffered injuries during the shooting.

Soon police overpowered them. However, the three did not wish to be arrested. Badal took Potassium cyanide, while Benoy and Dinesh shot themselves with their own revolvers. Badal died on the spot

Dinesh Chandra Gupta (1911-1931) was a Bengali Indian freedom fighter and revolutionary.

Dinesh Gupta was born on 6 December 1911 in the village of Josholong in Munshiganj District, now in Bangladesh.^[1]While he was studying in Dhaka College, Dinesh joined Bengal Volunteers - a group organised by Subhas Chandra Bosein 1928 , at the occasion of Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress. Soon the Bengal Volunteers transformed itself to a more active revolutionary association and planned to liquidate infamous British police officers. For a short while, Dinesh Gupta was in Midnapore training local revolutionaries in the use of firearms. Revolutionaries trained by him were responsible for the assassination of three District Magistrates in succession, Douglas, Burge, and Peddy

The battle of Writers' Building

The association targeted Col NS Simpson, the Inspector General of Prisons, who was infamous for the brutal oppression on the prisoners in the jails. The revolutionaries decided not only to murder him, but also to strike a terror in the British official circles by launching an attack on the Secretariat Building - the Writers' Building in the Dalhousie Square inKolkata.

On 8 December 1930, Dinesh along with Benoy Basu and Badal Gupta, dressed in European costume, entered the Writers' Building and shot dead Simpson.

British police started firing. What ensued was a brief gunfight between the 3 young revolutionaries and the police.Some other officers like Twynam, Prentice and Nelson suffered injuries during the shooting.

Soon police overpowered them. However, the three did not wish to be arrested. Badal Gupta took Potassium cyanide, while Benoy and Dinesh shot themselves with their own revolvers. Benoy was taken to the hospital where he died on 13 December 1930.

The trial and hanging

However, Dinesh survived the near-fatal injury. He was convicted and the verdict of the trial was death by hanging for anti-government activities and murder. While awaiting execution, Dinesh wrote a number of letters from his prison cell on the heroism of the revolutionaries and his belief in the greatness of self-sacrifice.

Dinesh Chandra Gupta was 19 when he was hanged on 7 July 1931 at Alipore Jail.

Pritilata Waddedar Indian revolutionary

Pritilata Waddedar (Bangla: প্রীতিলতা ওয়াদ্দেদার) (5 May 1911 – 23 September 1932) was an anti-British pro-India revolutionary in East Bengal, (then part of Province of Bengalin pre-independence India), now in Bangladesh.

Born in Chittagong on 5 May 1911, she was a meritorious student at the Dr. Khastagir Government Girls' School of Chittagong and passed the matriculation examination in the first division in 1928.^[1] She continued her education in Eden College, Dhaka and in 1929, she passed the Intermediate examinations securing the fifth place among all the candidates from Dhaka Board.^[1] Two years later, Pritilata graduated in Philosophy with distinction from Bethune College of Kolkata. In her college days, Pritilata was used to visit Ramkrishna Biswas, a rebel who later was hanged. Pritilata received combat training from Nirmal Sen. He died on 10/11 June 1932.

In early 1930s, Pritilata joined Mastarda Surya Sen's armed resistance movement. In 1932, Surya Sen planned an attack on the Pahartali European Club, which bore the notorious sign 'Dogs and Indians not allowed'. He assigned Pritilata to lead a team of 10-12 men that would attack the Club on September 23, 1932.^[1][2] Members of the team were instructed to carry potassium cyanide with them so that in case they were caught by police they could swallow it before the arrest. Kalpana Dutt, a fellow revolutionary of Pritilata said, "Surya Sen told us he does not support suiciding. But he took Potassium Cyanide from me before he went".^[1] The raid was successful but Pritilata, dressed as a man was trapped without a way of escape on that fateful night. She committed suicide by swallowing the cyanide, thus ending her short endeavor in fighting for freedom of her country.