2017-08-09 Wed

Plundering and stealing government money to buy weapons and arms to revolt against the very government seems like a crazy plan. Doesn’t it?

Well...our Freedom Fighters were crazy with their love and passion for our motherland! This idea of a political dacoit and the plan to rob a government treasury was devised by Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan and other members of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA).

With the objective of achieving independence from the British Empire, the plan was to shake the foundation of the British rule by plundering the British Government Treasury which was being carried by that particular train.

On 9th August 1925, Ramprasad Bismil led a band of 10 revolutionists who stopped the train at the town of Kakori, about 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Lucknow, subdued the train’s guard and passengers, and stole around Rs. 8000/- and escaped successfully. Within a month of the attack, more than 40 HRA members had been arrested for conspiracy and for having perpetrated the act and around 29 were put on trial before the special magistrate.

Ram Prasad Bismil, Thakur Roshan Singh, Rajendra Nath Lahiri and Ashfaqullah Khan were sentenced to death while a others got different punishments ranging from life time imprisonment to deportation. There were widespread protests against the Court's decision all over the country. However, all of the sentences were executed without the slightest change.

A daring act indeed! Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqullah Khan were 30 years and 27 years of age, respectively. To be driven by such passion for one’s country at such a young age when most of us in the similar age group are just running behind our selfish motives!

Really all of our Freedom Fighters, the people who sacrificed their lives for our freedom were made of stardust and nothing else. A heartfelt tribute to all those divine souls!