chandrashekhar azad biography

Chandrashekhar Azad biography-Indian Revolutionaries

Chandra Shekhar son of Sita Ram Tiwari, popularly known as Chandra Shekhar Azad (चंद्रशेखर आज़ाद) (July 23, 1906, Bhanvra, in Jhabua Distt. of Madhya Pradesh who was martyred on February 27, 1931, at Company/Alfred Bagh, Allahabad U.P., is one of the most important Indian Revolutionaries, who reorganised the well established revolutionary set up Hindustan Republican Association after the assasination of its founder Ram Prasad Bismil and three other party pillers viz.Thakur Roshan Singh, Rajendra Lahiri and Ashfaq Ullah Khan with the support of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Bhagwati Charan Vohra under the new name of Hindustan Socialist Republican Assocition.

Early Life

Chandra Shekhar Azad, most oftenly called Pandit Ji by his partymen after the death of Bismil as a token of regard, was a daredevil revolutionary. After the first Indian Rebellion of 1857, he was one amongst the many Indian revolutionaries to use arms in their fight for independence against the British rulers. Although he was born in a poor Brahmin family, yet he believed that it was his prime duty or Dharm in Hindi to fight for the right of others. It was also his belief that a soldier never relinquishes his weapon.
He was born on 23 July 1906 in the village Bhanvra of Alirajpur Estate in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh. His father Pt. Sita Ram Tiwari, whose ancestors belonged to Badaraka village of Unnao district now in the state of U.P., was serving in Alirajpur Estate. His mother Jagrani Devi wanted to make his child Chandu a great sanskrit scholar, so she pressurised his father to sent him to Kashi Vidyapeeth, Benaras for studying Sanskrit. In Dec 1921, when Mahatma Gandhi launched the Non-Cooperation Movement, so many students came out of their schools and colleges to join the movement. Chandra Shekhar was also one of them who not only actively participated in the protest movement but also faced the brutal conflict with the police. As a result he was arrested and received his first punishment at the teen age of fifteen and a half years. For this act of civil disobedience, when the magistrate asked his name, he immediately replied- "Azad" meaning bondless. When he was asked to tell his father's name, he told- "Swatantra" meaning self-esteemed. The magistrate became annoyed and asked in a rough tone- "Where is thy abode?" Without any hesitation he answered- "Jailkhana" meaning prison. Then the magistrate tried to teach him a lesson for his nonsense replies. He immediately ordered him for a fifteen days' imprisonment. Over the punishment he again commented- "Sir! I had correctly mentioned my abode because I knew you will certainly keep me there." The people present in the court laughed very loudly over the reply of Chandra Shekhar. The magistate, who had totally lost his temper asked the policemen to punish him with the strong strokes of fifteen lashes. With each stroke of the whip he shouted boldly- "Bharat Mata Ki Jai !" (en.hail my motherland). From that point onwards, Chandra Shekhar assumed the title of 'Azad' and came to be known as Chandra Shekhar 'Azad'.

Revolutionary Life

After suspension of the non-cooperation movement in 1922 by Gandhiji, Azad became more aggressive and violent. He committed himself to achieve complete independence by any means. To fulfil his commitment he was in search of an organisation. He met an young revolutionary Pranvesh Chatterji who introduced him to Pandit Ram Prasad 'Bismil' who had till then formed a revolutionary organisation with the name of Hindustan Republican Association. In the very first introduction Bismil was impressed by Azad, when he put his hand over the lighing lamp and did not remove till the smell of burning the skin did not spread all over the atmosphere. Bismil extinguished the lamp by firing a bullet from his pistol and embrashed Azad. This is a true incidence of Shahjahanpur. He became active member of H.R.A. and started participating in the actions of party to collect the funds for H.R.A. These actions were nothing but the dacoities (en.robberies) in the party's code words. The ultimate aim of H.R.A. was full Indian independence where there be equal right and equal opportunity to every one without cast, creed, religion or social status and Azad liked it since very begining. 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 executed from Shahjahanpur which was the home town of Ram Prasad Bismil. He was physically involved in the famous Kakori Train Robbery of 1925. Later on in the attempt to blow up the Viceroy's train in 1926, and at last the shooting of John Poyantz Saunders at Lahore in 1928 to avenge the killing of Lala Lajpat Rai.

Formation of Hindustan Socialist Republican Assocition

Appalled by the brutal violence, Azad did not feel that violence was unacceptable in such a struggle, especially in view of the Jallianwala 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 by police.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.
Azad was a true follower and confident friend of Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil moreover he was very strong pillar of Hindustan Republican Association. When he converted the party into a new one H.S.R.A. Vishwanath Vaishampayan was known as the right hand of Azad who also wrote the Biography of Azad, which has many secret and valuable facts about revoloutionary movement.

Activities In Jhansi

In his very brief life of 25 years, Chandra Shekhar Azad had made Jhansi his organisation's hub for a considerable duration. He chose the forest of Orachha situated at about fifteen kilometers from Jhansi for shooting practices. He was a brilliant shooter and he used to train other members of his group in Orchha. Near the forest he had built up a hut aside a Hanuman Temple on the banks of a small river called Satar. He lived there in the disguise of Pandit Hari Shankar 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 is now named after him and is known as Azadpura by the M.P. 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- all the three activist came in his close contact 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.
No doubt Jhansi was a safe place in his own words and true to them, as soon as he left Jhansi, he fell victim to the betrayal of a former group member, the residents of Jhansi suspect so.

With Bhagat Singh

The Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) was formed by Ram Prasad Bismil,Sachindra Nath Sanyal and Sachindra 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. Sentenced to death for their participation were Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaq Ullah Khan, Thakur Roshan Singh and Rajendra Lahiri. Three escaped capture; one was Keshav Chakravorty, and the other was Chandra Shekhar Azad and third was Murari Lal. Keshav Chakravorty was no other but Dr K.B.Hedgevar who formed a new organisation in the name of R.S.S. in the year 1925, whereas Chandra Shekhar Azad reorganized the Hindustan Republican Association with the help of secondary revolutionaries like Shiva Verma and Mahaveer Singh. He was also a close associate of Bhagwati Charan Vohra who helped Azad, alongwith Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru,to transform the H.R.A. into the H.S.R.A. (Hindustan Socialist Republican Association) in 1928 in order to achieve their fundamental aim of complete Indian independence based on socialist principles.

Dare-Devil's Death

In the last week of Feb, 1931 Azad went to Sitapur Jail and met Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi. He had a hope in his mind that Vidyarthiji would do something 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 because he would be more useful than any body else. If he is convinced he can persuade Gandhiji to talk to the Viceroy Lord Irwin in reaching an aggreement with the British Government in the forthcoming Gandhi-Irwin Pact. Azad met Pandit Nehru in the early morning of 27 Feb, 1931 at his residence Anand Bhawan in Allahabad. He tried to convince Nehru but the result was not fruitful. In stead of getting convinced by arguements Nehru asked Azad to leave his place go away from there. Azad could not tolerate it at all and moved away murmuring something in his mouth. From Anand Bhawan he reached straightforward to the Alfred Park on his bicycle. He sat under a tree of Jamun (in Hindi) after standing his bicycle behind the tree. He was discussing some confidential matter with Sukhdev Raj who was a man of his party. In the meantime a police jeep arrived there. Deputy Superintendent of Police Visheswar Singh alongwith S.S.P.(C.I.D.) J.R.H. Knott Wauber got down from the jeep. C.I.D. S.S.P. by pointing his finger towards Azad wanted to tell the Dy.S.P. that this corpulent man is the exact person to whom he was informed just now. Seeing a police man pointing out his finger towards him, Azad immediately dragged out his Colt Pistol from pocket and fired at the right wrist of S.S.P. Knott Wauber. "What a wonderful shot!"- cried Sukhdev Raj and took the shelter of tree. Visheswar Singh abused Azad and called him with bad names. Another bullet from his pistol hit his mouth breaking the jaw of Dy.S.P. Visheswar Singh. Within a few minutes policemen surrounded the whole park. During the initial encounter, Azad suffered a .303 bullet wound in his thigh, making it difficult for him to escape. But even than he made it possible for Sukhdev to escape by providing him cover fire. After Sukhdev 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.

Popular Culture

Azad is an icon/hero to the Indians today. Alfred Park, where he faught his last battle was renamed Chandra Shekhar Azad Park, so were scores of schools, colleges, roads and other public institutions across India. Ever since Manoj Kumar's film released in 1965 Shaheed the character of Azad has become central to any film or commemoration of the life of Bhagat Singh. His role was played by Sunny Deol in the movie 23rd March 1931: Shaheed. In the movie The Legend of Bhagat Singh, starring Ajay Devgn where the prominent role of Azad was played by Akhilendra Mishra.
The patriotism of Chandra Shekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla Khan was also depicted in Rang De Basanti- a contemporary Bollywood film starring Aamir Khan, released on 26 January 2006. 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. Aamir Khan reprised the role of Azad. The film also depicts the famous Kakori Train Robbery.

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