We are in the platinum jubilee year of our independence. Therefore, through this column, I am making a small attempt to introduce to the readers those martyrs and patriots who sacrificed everything for our independence; and about whom most of us may not be aware of the inspiring details. It is our sacred duty to offer our Namaskaars to them. I wrote on Lokmanya Tilak (
BCAJ issue of August, 2021) and Madanlal Dhingra (
BCAJ issue of December, 2021).
Today, I am writing about a not very commonly known martyr – Ramprasad Bismil. He was hanged by the Britishers at Gorakhpur on 19th December, 1927. He was born in 1897 to a very poor family at Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh. His father Murlidhar left his job in the municipality and became a small trader. Income was very meagre.
Ramprasad learnt Hindi and Urdu. Since, his father, who was not very educated, refused to give money for buying books, Ramprasad started ‘stealing’ the money from his house. His father stopped it. Ramprasad went into bad company and took up habits of smoking and other drugs. As a result, he ducked the 5th standard twice. At his mother’s request, he was admitted to an English School. There was a priest in a nearby temple who influenced Ramprasad. He then became rather religious. Thanks to a good friend called Sushilchandra Sen, he gave up all bad habits. A gentleman named Munshi Indrajit introduced him to Arya Samaj, founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswati. Ram got inspiration by reading good books. His father drove him out of the house. While wandering in the jungle, he came across Guru Somdev. Under his guidance, Ram learnt yoga, religion and political science. He studied upto 9th standard.
Bhai Paramanand, another revolutionary involved in Lahore conspiracy had written a book ‘Tavarikh-e-Hind’ which greatly influenced Ram and he vowed to dedicate his life to the struggle for India’s freedom. He met Lokmanya Tilak at the Lucknow Congress. Ram joined the revolutionary group. The revolutionary movement needed funds. Ram borrowed Rs. 400 from his mother and sold literature about revolutions. He wrote and published a book ‘How America secured freedom’. Also, a small booklet titled ‘My message to my countrymen’. Both these things were banned by the British Government. Ram earned Rs. 600 and repaid his mother’s loan. He helped the revolutionaries in procuring knives, rifles, pistols and other weaponry. He gained knowledge about the weapons and their prices. He secured a revolver from a Superintendent who was about to retire. The Superintendent was afraid; but Ram ‘created’ a document that he was the son of a resourceful landowner, and ‘obtained’ signatures of three persons to convince the Superintendent! Then he sold some banned revolutionary publications under the ‘guise’ of an ambulance service group in the Congress session.
There was an occasion when his three pseudo revolutionary friends attempted to kill him by betrayal. Ram escaped very luckily. The police were hunting for Ram. His mother who was always supportive, advised him to escape to Gwalior.
There, he started farming and animal husbandry; but never gave up his revolutionary movement. He wrote many books – like Bolshevic revolution, Man ki Tarang, Catherin, Swadeshi Rang; and also translated a few books – like Yogic Sadhana written by Maharshi Aurobindo. He is still recognised as a good writer in Hindi literature.
Then he again started paying attention to his very poor family. His publication business was not very successful. So, he took up a job as a manager in a factory. Then he collected some capital and started a factory of silk clothes. It was running well. From the money earned, he got his sister married. He entrusted the factory to a trusted friend and again turned to freedom struggle. He was focused on raising funds for the revolutionary movement, including looking after their families.
Once he was travelling from Shahjahanpur to Lucknow by train. He observed that on every station, the station master used to handover a money-bag to the guard of the train. There was not much security arrangement. So Ram planned an attack on a train at Kakori Station. He did it on 9th August, 1925 on the train ‘8 down’. The British Government was stunned! All the people involved in this attack except Chandrashekhar Azad were arrested. The trial continued for about 18 months; and 4 persons – Ramprasad, Ashfakulla, Roshansingh and Rajendra Lahiri were sentenced to death. Ram went to the gallows with a smiling face, chanting mantras from Sanskrit scriptures. His mother met him on the previous day and expressed her pride for his supreme sacrifice. Ram pledged that he would like to be born 1000 times of the same mother and sacrifice everything for the country.
While in jail, he had at least two good opportunities to escape. However, he avoided it on one occasion since Roshansingh’s brother who was a clerk in that jail would have come into serious trouble. On another occasion, a policeman expressed his trust in Ram and avoided tying him by a chain. Ram honoured the trust reposed in him and did not run away!
He secretly wrote his autobiography “Bismil ki Atmakatha” while in jail. It was published in 1929 but immediately banned. Finally, it was again published when India became free.
Friends, for want of space, I have avoided many details which reveal the calibre and character of this great son of our country! It is important to note that Ramprasad did all this within a short life of just 30 years! I feel, our country’s present plight is because we forgot them!
Namaskaars to Ramprasad Bismil.
