By C.N. Vaze
Chartered Accountant
So far through this column, we remembered with reverence the great freedom fighters like Lokmanya Tilak, Madanlal Dhingra, Khudiram Bose, Ramprasad Bismil and Ramsingh Kuka; and also, the visionary entrepreneur Jagannath Nana Shankarsheth. Today, we will pay our respect to the great revolutionary freedom fighter Chandrashekhar Azad.
Azad is considered as mentor of Bhagat Singh. He inspired many youngsters to enter the struggle for India’s freedom. These included Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Batukeshwar Dutta and Rajguru. He said it was his ‘Dharma’ (duty) to fight for the nation. He was involved in the Kakori Train attack (1926) in the attempt to blow up the Viceroy’s train and also in shooting of Saunders a British officer at Lahore (1928). This was as a revenge of the brutal killing of Lala Lajpat Rai.
Azad was born
on 23rd of July, 1906 in Badarka village of Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh. His real name was Chandrashekhar Sitaram Tiwari. His mother’s name was Jagarani. His father served in the former estate of Alirajpur (now in Madhya Pradesh). He spent his early childhood in Bhabra village and then on his mother’s insistence, went to Varanasi Vidyapeeth (Benaras) to study Sanskrit. Since he spent his childhood in a tribal community, he was good at shooting arrows.
In the year 1921, at the age of 15, he joined the non-cooperation movement of Mahatma Gandhi. He was arrested and in the court, he declared his name as Cha
