RAM PRASAD BISMIL- A UNSUNG HERO OF THE INDIAN FREEDOM STRUGGLE

On June 11, 1897, in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh a boy was born to Murlidhar and Moolmati. Little did they know that the boy will be one of the freedom fighters of the country. He was named Ram Prasad, later he added Bismil in his name because he was influenced by the Urdu poet Bismil Azima Badi. Ram Prasad Bismil learned Sanskrit from his father and Urdu from a maulvi he was proficient in both the language and it can be seen in his writings, his pen names were ‘Bismil,’ ‘Ram’ and ‘Agyat.’

Bismil’s parents were also patriotic and were against the alien rule, from an early age he was affected by the British brutality and he began leaning towards revolutionary ideas.

Ram Prasad was also influenced by the Arya Samaj from a youthful age, he attends the Arya Samaj Temple daily it was once he was visiting the Temple that he got to know that the death sentence was passed on Bhai Parmanand by the British government. This news hit him hard and his anger towards the British government grew he wrote his anger in his poem titled ‘MERA JANAM’ when he was just 18.

His ideologies were in contrast to Gandhi for him India won’t get freedom if people follow means of non-violence.

So, he formed a revolutionary organization of his own which was called ‘MATRIVEDI’, along with the help of Genda Lal Dixit, a school teacher from Auraiya, they collect young and brave people from Etahwah, Mainpuri, Agra, and Shahjahanpur districts to make their organization strong. But they also needed funds to let the organization operation keep on going so, for that Bismil started to publish his writing and looting the government treasure that was transported by train, they looted 3 times in the year 1918. The police started to search for them all around mainpuri but on the first occasion when Bismil was selling his books and the police were about to catch him he escaped. When he was planning for another looting Delhi and Agra, a police team arrived and started firing, and in the reply, Bismil also fired back. He jumped into the Yamuna and swam underwater the police thought that he was dead but Bismil escaped once again. Dixit was arrested and Bismil went underground for a year. The incident is known as the “Mainpuri Conspiracy” and it was the first major event in the life of Bismil where he gained the name in the league of freedom fighters.

From 1919–1920 Bismil went underground and moved from village to village and produced several writings which also include one of his best-known works which were his collection of poems “MAN KI LAHAR’’.

Bismil was upset with the congress and the way of working of the congress. He was also furious and opposed when Gandhi Ji without finding the facts behind the Chauri Chaura incident (1922) and declared an immediate stop to the non-co-operation movement without consulting any executive committee member of Congress. When Gandhi refused to overturn his decision in the Gaya session of the Indian National Congress (1992), its then-president Chittranjan Das resigned. Eventually, the party broke down and the rich group formed a new Swaraj Party under the leadership of Moti Lal Nehru and Chittranjan Das and the youth under the leadership of Bismil formed a new revolutionary party.

On 3 October 1924 at Kanpur a constitutional Committee meeting was held under the chairmanship of Sachindra Nath Sanyal and it was decided that the name of the party will be the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA). Bismil was declared the District Organizer of Shahjahanpur and Chief of Arms Division and given the Provincial Organizer of United Province (Agra and Oudh) was also entrusted to him. In 1925, the party's manifesto was distributed in the form of pamphlets with no publisher name or any other details. Later likes of Chandrashekar Azad and Bhagat Singh joined the party and HRA became HSRA (Hindustan Socialist Republican Association).

On August 9, 1925, Ram Prasad along with companions Ashfaq Ulla Khan and others planned to loot a train carrying government treasury at Kakori, near Lucknow in U.P. they stopped the Shahjahanpur Lucknow passenger at Kakori station. They used semi-auto pistols in this action and was a new weapon for the people in this operation. While opening the treasury chest Ashfaq Ulla khan gave the weapon to Manmath Nath Gupta and started breaking the chest. Manmath Nath was curious while holding the weapon and by mistake fired it and the bullet killed a passenger. This event is known as the Kakori conspiracy.

Within a month of the attack, the angered colonial authorities arrested more than 40 people including some passengers who also were arrested while only 10 persons had taken part in the dacoity.

Following more than one year of legal process, Bismil, Ashfaq Ulla Khan, Roshan Singh, and Rajendra Nath Lahiri were sentenced to death. Bismil was hanged on 19 December 1927 at Gorakhpur Jail. He was just 30-years old. His body was taken to the Rapti river for a Hindu cremation, and the site became known as Rajghat.

Unfortunately, today after all his struggle he is not so well known in the young generation of the country and is listed in the list of ‘Unsung Heroes’. His friendship with Ashfaq Ullah Khan, a fellow revolutionary, is a notable example of communal friendship during the freedom struggle.

So, we must teach our young and future generation about these real heroes.

I would like to end my writing with one of the lines of Ram Prasad Bismil which tells us how great of a personality he was

“Desh hit paida huye hai
Desh par marr jayenge
Marte marte desh ko
zinda magar kar jayenge”

( we are born to favour our country, we will die for our country, but while dying we will make the country alive)