The unsung heroes of freedom struggle

On the occasion of India's 61st anniversary of Independence, nation pays homage to the tallest leaders of the freedon struggle like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. But there were many patrotic citizens who laid down their lives for the cause of free India even before the Independence movement gained momentum under Mahatma's leadership. We salute the memory of some of the little known warriors of freedom struggle.

1) Hari Shivaram Rajguru: Martyrdom at 23
Hari Shivaram Rajguru was an Indian revolutionary from Maharashtra. He is best known as an accomplice of Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev in the killing of a British police officer J.P. Saunders at Lahore in 1928. Saunders was murdered to take revenge for the death of veteran leader Lala Lajpat Rai due to excessive police beating. After the murder, Rajguru went into hiding in the house of an RSS worker in Nagpur.But after some days he went to Pune and later was arrested there. All the three were convicted of the crime and hanged in Lahore Central Jail on March 23, 1931. At the time of his martyrdom, Rajguru was hardly 23 years of age. The execution of the young revolutionaries was regarded as a national disaster and national mourning was observed throughout the country.

2) Sukhdev: Brutality even after hanging
Sukhdev Thapar was hanged along with Bhagat Singh and Shivram Rajguru, for killing a British police officer J.P. Saunders in 1928. They were done to death against all norms of hanging. The dead bodies were secretly taken away by breaking the back walls of the jail and were seceretly burnt on the banks of River Satluj at Hussainiwala, about 50 miles away from Lahore. The bodies were cut into pieces to make the burial quick.Sukhdev also participated in the 1929 Prison hunger strike to protest against the inhuman treatment of inmates. His letter to Mahatma Gandhi written just prior to his hanging, protesting against the latter's disapproval of revolutionary tactics, reveals the disparities between the two major schools of thought among Indian freedom fighers.

3) Khudiram Bose: Smiling at the gallows
Khudiram Bose was a Bengali Indian freedom fighter, one of the youngest revolutionaries in the early Indian independence movement. He was disillusioned with the British following the partition of Bengal conflagration in 1905. At the nascent age of sixteen, Bose defied police by planting bombs near police stations and targeting government officials. He was arrested three years later on charges of conducting a series of bomb attacks. After a pretense of a trial lasting two months, Khudiram was sentenced to death and hanged on August 11, 1908. But the one thing that surprised everyone was that as he was hanged he was still smiling. And to this, the Bengali poet Kaji Najrul Islam wrote a poem to honor him.

4) Jatindranath Mukherjee: A proclaimed `terrorist'
Jatindranath Mukherjee was a Bengali Indian revolutionary philosopher who fought against the British rule. He was the principal leader of the Yugantar party that was the central association of revolutionaries in Bengal. Having personally met the German Crown-Prince in Calcutta shortly before the World War I, he obtained the promise of arms and ammunition from Germany. As such, he was responsible for the planned German Plot during World War I. Another of his contributions was the indoctrination of the Indian soldiers in various regiments in favour of an insurrection. Jatin, together with fellow revolutionaries, set up a terrorist bomb factory near Deoghar, with the aim of eliminating certain Indian and British officers serving the Crown. The British police launched an extensive manhunt to quell the Yugantar uprising and Jatin fell to their bullets on September 10, 1915.

5)Captain Lakshmi: Netaji's Rani of Jhansi
Dr Lakshmi Sahgal, better known as Captain Lakshmi, was an activist of the Indian independence movement and a close associate of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose. A doctor by profession, Captain Lakshmi came into the limelight in India towards the end of World War II for her role as the commander of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment of the INA and her role as a minister in Subhas Bose's Azad Hind government. She later became involved in politics in independent India, serving as a member of parliament in the Upper House and later unsuccessfully running for President as a left wing candidate.

6)Rash Behari Bose: INA's backbone
Rash Behari Bose was a revolutionary leader against the British Raj in India and was one of the key organisers of the Ghadar conspiracy and later, the Indian National Army. It was on the organisational spadework of Rashbehari Bose that Subhash Chandra Bose built the Indian National Army. He was hunted by the colonial police due to his active participation in the failed bomb throwing attempt directed at the Governor General and Viceroy Lord Charles Hardinge in Delhi. During World War I, he became extensively involved as one of the leading figures of the Ghadar Conspiracy that attempted to trigger a mutiny in Inda in February 1915. Trusted and tried Ghadrites were sent to several cantonments to infiltrate into the army. The revolution failed and most of the revolutionaries were arrested. But Rash Behari managed to escape British intelligence and reached Japan in 1915. Bose was instrumental in persuading the Japanese authorities to stand by the Indian nationalists and ultimately to support actively the Indian freedom struggle abroad.

7)Lala Lajpat Rai: The Lion of Punjab
Lala Lajpat Rai, popularly known as Punjab Kesari(The Lion of Punjab), was one of the most prominent Hindu Nationalist members of the Indian National Congress, who fought for, and gave their lives during the Indian independence movement in the first half of the twentieth century. Rai led the Punjab protests against the Amritsar Massacre and the Non-Cooperation Movement. He was repeatedly arrested. Rai however disagreed with Mahatma Gandhi's suspension of the movement due to the Chauri Chaura incident, and formed the Congress Independence Party, which was particularly pro-Hindu in voice and policy. He was one of the victims of a brutal lathi charge unleased while leading a demonstration against the Simon commission. He succumbed to the fatal injuries on November 17, 1928. His death led to great disturbances in the country and it inspired national struggle for freedom.

8)Maulana Azad: Champion of Hindu-Muslim amity
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was a Muslim scholar and a senior political leader of the Indian independence movement. He was one of the most prominent Muslim leaders to support Hindu-Muslim unity, opposing the partition of India on communal lines. Azad was one of the main organisers of the Dharasana Satyagraha in 1931. He served as Congress President from 1940 to 1945, during which the Quit India rebellion was launched and Azad was imprisoned with the entire Congress leadership for three years. Amidst communal turmoil following the partition of India, he worked for religious harmony. Azad took up responsibility for the safety of Muslims in India, touring affected areas in Bengal, Bihar, Assam and the Punjab, guiding the organisation of refugee camps, supplies and security. Azad gave speeches to large crowds encouraging peace and calm in the border areas and encouraging Muslims across the country to remain in India and not fear for their safety and security.