Chandrashekhar Azad

Chandrashekhar Azad (actually Chandrashekhar Sitaram Tiwari ; Hindi : चंद्रशेखर आज़ाद, Candraśekhar Āzād ; born July 23, 1906 in Badarka , Uttar Pradesh ; † February 27, 1931 in Allahabad , Uttar Pradesh) was an Indian revolutionary and independence fighter .

Life

Chandrashekhar spent his childhood in Jhabua , where he attended elementary school. He then went to a Sanskrit school in Varanasi . Chandrashekhar's parents Sitaram Tiwari and Jagarani Devi were Hindus. He himself was a follower of the Hindu god Hanuman , whose priest he called himself.

Deeply concerned by the Amritsar massacre in April 1919, Chandrashekhar began to be active in the Indian independence movement. While participating in the campaign of non-cooperation that Mohandas Gandhi initiated in 1921, Chandrashekhar came into conflict with the British colonial power for the first time. He served his first prison sentence at the age of 15. Here he gave himself the nickname "Azad" (which means freedom) and was henceforth known as Chandrashekhar Azad.

After leaving the campaign of non-cooperation, Azad turned to violent resistance against the British occupation. He was a co-founder of the radical Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), whose goal was the absolute independence of India and the establishment of a state based on socialist principles. Together with other Indian revolutionaries such as Bhagat Singh , Sukhdev Thapar , Batukeshwar Dutt and Shivaram Rajguru he initiated several actions against the British colonial power, such as the robbery on the Kakori railway line (1926) or the attack on the British governor John Poyantz Saunders (1928) .

On February 27, 1931, Chandrashekhar Azad was ambushed by the police at a secret meeting in Alfred Park in Allahabad . After a lengthy firefight, the park was surrounded by police. To avoid capture and execution by the British military, Chandrashekhar Azad shot himself in the head .

After being recovered from the park, Chandrashekhar Azad's body was put on public display by British troops to deter other insurgents.

Chandrashekhar Azad is considered one of the most famous Indian revolutionaries and a mentor of Bhagat Singh . Azad is held in high regard in India today. In Europe, in contrast to the non-violent resistance of Mahatma Gandhi, the militant Indian resistance is hardly known. The Bollywood film Rang De Basanti - The Color Saffron from 2006 deals with Chandrashekhar Azad and the actions of the HSRA.