[History] Chandrasekhar Azad Biography [PDF]

Chandra Shekhar Tiwari who was popularly known as Chandrashekhar Azad was an Indian Revolutionary leader and a Freedom fighter. After the deaths of the founder of Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), Ram Prasad Bismil, and three other prominent party leaders, Roshan Singh, Rajendra Nath Lahiri, and Ashfaqulla Khan, he reorganized the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) under the new name of Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA). When signing pamphlets as the commander in chief of the HSRA, he often used the alias “Balraj”.

In this biography of Chandrashekhar Azad, we will learn about Chandrashekhar Azad’s early life and career, his revolutionary life, his freedom movement, and Chandra Shekhar Azad’s death.

Chandra Shekhar Azad History about His Early Life, Family and Education

• Chandrashekhar Azad’s birth date is 23 July 1906.

• Chandrasekhar Azad’s birthplace is the present-day Alirajpur district of Madhya Pradesh. 

• His real name was Chandra Shekhar Tiwari.

• Chandrasekhar Azad’s father’s name was Sitaram Tiwari and his mother’s name was Jagrani Devi.

• He received his early education at Bhavra.

• Later he went to Kashi Vidyapeeth, Banaras for higher education.

• At a young age, Chandrasekhar Azad became involved in revolutionary activities. In 1921 he joined the non-cooperation movement started by Mahatma Gandhi to protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

• He was imprisoned for the first time when he was captured by Britishers at the age of 15 and sentenced to 15 lashes.

• Following this incident, he took the surname Azad and became known as Chandrashekhar Azad.

Revolutionary Activities of Chandra Shekhar Azad

• Mahatma Gandhi suspended the Non-Cooperation movement in February 1922 as a result of the Chauri-Chaura incident, which was a blow to Azad’s Nationalist sentiments.

• He then determined that a massive approach would be more effective in achieving his goal. 

• During this time he met a lot of young Revolutionary Leaders of India. 

• Ram Prasad Bismil, Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee, Sachindra Nath Sanyal, Shachindra Nath Bakshi, and Ashfaqulla Khan formed the Hindustan Republican Association in 1923.

• Chandra Shekhar Azad met Manmath Nath Gupta, a young revolutionary who introduced him to Ram Prasad Bismil, the founder of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), a revolutionary group.

• He then became a member of the Hindustan Republican Association and began fundraising for it. Robberies of government property are used to collect the rest of the funds.

• He was involved in the Kakori Train Robbery that happened in 1925. In the year 1928, he shot J.P. Saunders to take revenge of Lala Lajpat Rai’s murder in Lahore. Also, he had attempted to blow away India’s Viceroy’s train in 1929.

• The British clamped down on revolutionary movements in the wake of the Kakori train robbery in 1925.

• Prasad, Ashfaqulla Khan, Thakur Roshan Singh, and Rajendra Nath Lahiri were all found guilty and sentenced to death.

• Azad, Keshab Chakravarthy, and Murari Sharma managed to escape being apprehended. 

• Later, with the aid of revolutionaries including Sheo Verma and Mahaveer Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad reorganized the HRA.

• Azad and Bhagat Singh secretly renamed the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) as the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) on September 9, 1928 to achieve their primary goal of a socialist-based independent India.

• For a time, Azad made Jhansi the headquarters of his HRA organisation. He practiced shooting in the forest of Orchha, 15 kilometers from Jhansi, and, as an expert marksman, he also taught other members of his tribe.

• For a long time, he lived in a hut near a Hanuman temple on the banks of the Satar River under the alias of Pandit Harishankar Bramhachari.

• He developed a good relationship with the local residents by teaching children from the nearby village of Dharampura.

• He learned to drive a car at the Bundelkhand Motor Garage in Sadar Bazar while living in Jhansi.

• Sadashivrao Malkapurkar, Vishwanath Vaishampayan, and Bhagwan Das Mahaur became close friends with him and joined his revolutionary party.

• Azad was also loyal to the then-congress leaders Raghunath Vinayak Dhulekar and Sitaram Bhaskar Bhagwat.

• He also stayed at Rudra Narayan Singh’s house in Nai Basti and Bhagwat’s house in Nagra for a while.

• Bundelkhand was one of his most devoted supporters. Dewan Kesri Shatrughan Singh, the father of the Bundelkhand freedom movement, aided Azad financially as well as with arms and fighters. Azad paid numerous visits to his fort in Mangrauth.

Azad and Bhagat Singh

The Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) was created by Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee, Bismil, Sachindra Nath Bakshi, Sachindra Nath Sanyal in 1923. After the Kakori train robbery in 1925, the Britishers attempted to suppress revolutionaries. Ashfaqulla Khan, Prasad, Rajendra Nath Lahiri, and Thakur Roshan Singh were sentenced to death for their participation in the revolutionary activities.

Murari Lal Gupta, Chakravarthy, Azad and Keshab evaded capture. With the help of revolutionaries like Mahavir Singh and Shiv Verma, Chandrashekhar Azad reorganized the association.

Azad along with Bhagat Singh and other revolutionaries secretly restructured the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) in 1928 and renamed it the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) on 8-9 September in order to achieve their primary goal of an independent India based on the idea of socialism.

The revolutionary activities of Azad are described by Manmath Nath Gupta, a member of HSRA in his multiple writings. Gupta has also dedicated a section in his book “History of the Indian Revolutionary Movement” to describe the works of Azad. He named this section “Chandrashekhar Azad”. 

Chandra Shekhar Azad Death

• After being surrounded by police and finding no way out after the ammunition ran out, Chandra Shekhar Azad shot himself and died on 27 February 1931 at Alfred Park which is now famously known as Azad Park in Allahabad.

• After Veerbhadra Tiwari, their old companion who later turned traitor told them of his presence in the park, the police surrounded him.

• In the course of defending himself, he was wounded, and Sukhdev Raj killed three police officers and injured others. Sukhdev Raj was able to flee as a result of his actions.

• Without telling the general public, the body was taken to Rasulabad Ghat for cremation. People crowded the park where the incident occurred as soon as word got out. They chanted anti-British slogans and thanked Azad.

Chandrashekhar Azad Quotes

Some of the famous Chandra Shekhar Azad slogans during the Indian Independence movement were as follows:

• Aisi jawaani kisi kaam ki nahi jo apni matra bhoomi ke kaam na aa sake.

• Ab bhi jiska khoon na khaula khoon nahi wo pani hai, jo desh ke kaam na aaye woh bekar jawani hai (If yet your blood does not rage, then it is water that flows in your veins. For what is the flush of youth if it is not of service to the motherland).

• Don’t see others doing better than you, beat your own records every day because success is a fight between you and yourself.

• I believe in a religion that propagates freedom, equality and brotherhood.

• A plane is always safe on the ground, but it is not made for that. Always take some meaningful risks in life to achieve great heights.

In this biography of Chandrashekhar Azad, we got to know about Chandrashekhar Azad’s birthday, his education, career, his Revolutionary movement, and his death.

Chandrashekhar Azad Legacy

Many schools, roads, colleges, and other public institutes in India are named after him. Starting from Jagdish Gautam’s film Chandrashekhar Azad released in 1963 and Manoj Kumar’s film Shaheed in 1965, many films have portrayed the character of Azad. The Bollywood actor Manmohan portrayed Azad in a 1965 film, Sunny Deol played his character in the movie 23 March 1931: Shaheed. Akhilendra Mishra also played Azad in the movie The Legend of Bhagat Singh and Raj Zutshi played Azad in the movie Shaheed-E-Azam. In the film, Rang De Basanti directed and produced by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, Aamir Khan portrayed Azad.

Jawaharlal Nehru writes in his autobiography that he met Azad a few weeks before his death, discussing the impact of the Gandhi-Irwin pact. Nehru saw the futility of Azad’s methods and was not completely convinced by his peaceful methods.

The lives of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Azad, and Ashfaq were depicted in the film Rang De Basanti released in 2006 in which Aamir Khan portrayed Azad. The movie described the lives of these young revolutionaries so today’s youth can take inspiration from them.

The 2018 television series Chandrashekhar displayed the journey of Chandrashekhar Azad from a young boy to a revolutionary leader. In this series, Ayaan Zubair portrayed the early life of Azad, Dev Joshi played Azad in his teens and Karan Sharma played adult Azad. 

Conclusion 

Chandrashekhar Azad was known for his organizational abilities, and he was instrumental in the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association’s reorganization. In either case, he desired full independence for India. To avenge Lala Lajpat Rai’s murder, he assassinated British Assistant Superintendent of Police John Poyantz Saunders. He became a wanted man as a result of his crimes, but he was able to elude the cops for several years. He was Bhagat Singh’s mentor. One of his friends betrayed him, and the British police seized him. He fought valiantly, but when he saw no other way out, he shot himself to keep his promise of not being captured alive.