Bhagat Singh, a symbol of heroism, was born in a Sikh family in Layalpur, Punjab on September 27, 1907. He was a national hero who gave a new wave to the revolutionary movement in India. His only goal in life was the destruction of British Empire.
Bhagat started his education in DAV School in Lahore but was not able to complete his studies because he was highly disturbed and influenced by the Jalianwala Bagh massacre at the age of 12. His desire to drive British out from India became stronger and he joined the Non-Cooperation Movement called by Gandhi Ji in 1921. The incidence of Chauri-Chaura in Gorakhpur made Bhagat violent and he decided to earn freedom with armed revolution rather than non-violence. He then joined the National College in Lahore, a center of revolutionary activities.
To spread message of revolution in Punjab, Bhagat formed a union of revolutionaries by the name ‘Naujavan Bharat Sabha’ and gave a call for mass mobilization. In 1928, he went to Delhi to attend a meeting of revolutionaries’ and there he came in contact with Chandrashekhar Azad. With a common aim to establish republic in India they both formed ‘Hindustan Samajvadi Prajatantra Sangha’. There were protests against of Simon Commission visit to India and in this protest Lala Lajpat Rai was brutally lathi charged and later on he died. This added to the anger and discontent of Bhagat and he was determined to kill the British official and Deputy Inspector General Scott responsible for the death of Lala Lajpat Rai. By mistake, he killed assistant superintendent Saunders and ran from Lahore to escape punishment. He threw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly on April 18, 1929 and was sentenced to death on March 23, 1931.
Though dead, Bhagat Singh is still living in the history of humanity and remembered as a prominent face of the freedom struggle.
Chandrashekhar, a fearless revolutionary and a great freedom fighter, was born on July 23, 1906 in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh. He was the son of Pandit Sita Ram Tiwari and Jagrani Devi. He started his education in Bhavra and at the age of 14 he went to Varanasi where he was taught to live the austere life of a Brahamachari.
During his stay in Varanasi he was highly inspired by the Non Cooperation movement of Mahatma Gandhi. He actively participated in the movement for which he was sentenced to fifteen lashes of logging at the age of 15. In the court he addressed himself as ‘Azad’, and gave his father’s name as ‘Swadhin’ and his mother’s name as ‘Dhart Ma’. With endurance, courage and fortitude he tolerated all the lashes. With each stroke of the whip he shouted ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. From then, he was honored and titled as ‘Azad’ by the local Indians. Thereafter, he got the name Chandrashekhar Azad. When he was released, he took a pledge that he would never be arrested by the Britishers and will die as a free man.
When the Non Cooperation Movement was suspended due to Chauri-Chaura incidence, Azad switched over to armed revolution and formed ‘Hindustan Socialist Republican Association’ with other revolutionaries to spread the message of complete independence. He actively participated in revolutionary activities and was involved in Kakori Train Robbery and the attempt to blow up the Viceroy's train in 1926. For British Government, he was a terrorist because he killed John Poyantz Saunders to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai.
On 27th February 1931, Azad was betrayed by one of the associates who informed the British Police. In Alfred Park, Allahabad he was besieged by the British police. He fought bravely for quite some time but seeing no other way he shot himself and fulfilled his desire to die a 'free man'. A great Indian leader, Chandrashekhar Azad was the heart of all revolutionary leaders and his poetic composition, ‘Dushman ki goliyon ka hum samna karenge, Azad hee rahein hain, azad hee rahenge' is still recited by Indian soldiers fighting for free India.
Born in a well-cultured Brahim family on July 23, 1856 in Ratangari, Maharashtra, Bal Gangadhar Tilak was a multifacet personality. He is considered to be the ‘Father of Indian Unrest’. He was a scholar of Indian history, Sanskrit, mathematics, astronomy and Hinduism. He had imbibed values, cultures and intelligence from his father Gangadhar Ramchandra Tilak who was a Sanskrit scholar and a famous teacher. At the age of 10, Bal Gangadhar went to Pune with his family as his father was transferred. In Pune, he was educated in an Anglo-Vernacular school. After some years he lost his mother and at the age of 16 his father too he got married to a 10-year-old girl named Satyabhama while he was studying in Matriculation. In 1877, Tilak completed his studies and continued with studying Law.
With an aim to impart teachings about Indian culture and national ideals to India’s youth, Tilak along with Agarkar and Vishnushstry founded the ‘Deccan Education Society’. Soon after that Tilak started two weeklies, ‘Kesari’ and ‘Marathi’ to highlight plight of Indians. He also started the celebrations of Ganapati Festival and Shivaji Jayanti to bring people close together and join the nationalist movement against British. In fighting for people’s cause, twice he was sentenced to imprisonment. He launched Swadeshi Movenment and believed that ‘Swaraj is my birth right and I shall have it’. This quote inspired millions of Indians to join the freedom struggle. With the goal of Swaraj, he also built ‘Home Rule League’. Tilak constantly traveled across the country to inspire and convince people to believe in Swaraj and fight for freedom. He was constantly fighting against injustice and one sad day on August 1, 1920, he died.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak was one of the prime architects of modern India and is still living in the hearts of millions of India.
Dr. Rajendra Prasad, first President of independent India, was born on December 3, 1884 in Ziradevi village in Bihar’s Siwan district.
He was the youngest son of Mahadev Sahay and Kamleshwari Devi. As per their custom, he was put under a Maulavi to learn Persian at the age of 5. Later on, he also learnt Hindi and arithmetic. He got married to Rajvanshi Devi at the age of 12. After marriage, he gave the entrance examination for Calcutta University and got scholarship there. He was a brilliant student and earned Masters Degree in Law.
In 1905, Dr Rajendra Prasad plunged a headlong into the Swadeshi Movement and later on joined the Dawn Society run by Satish Chandra Mukherjee and Sister Nivedita.
A new awareness was dawning into him under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi. Highly impressed by Gandhi Ji’s dedication, courage and conviction, he joined him in the freedom struggle. He was actively involved in the Non Cooperation Movement, Salt Stayagraha and Champaran Agrarian Agitation.
In 1934, while Prasad was in jail, a devastating earthquake struck Bihar. Prasad was soon released after that and he completely dedicated himself to raise funds for the victims of earthquake. He was successful in doing so and further to it in 1935 during the Quetta earthquake he had set up relief committees.
In 1934, he was elected as the President of Indian National Congress and in 1950 as President of independent India. As a President, he served the country for twelve years and was retired in 1962.
In the subsequent year he was honored with the Bharat Ratna Award, the nation’s highest civilian award. He lived for almost a year after that and then left for his heavenly abode on February 28, 1963
Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, popularly known as ‘Rajaji’ or ‘C.R.’, was born in a Tamil Brahmin family on December 10, 1878 in a village of Salem district.He was a great patriot, astute politician, incisive thinker, and one of the greatest statesmen.C.R. completed his graduation from central Hindu College of Madras and took a Law Degree from Madras Law College. In 1900, he shifted his interest form law to politics.Rajaji actively participated in Home League Rule under Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Later in 1919, he was highly influenced by the work of Gandhi Ji and chose to join him in the freedom struggle. Thereafter, he came into contact with Nehru, Patel, Annie Besant, Rajendra Prasad and Maulana Azad. In 1921, under Mahatma Gandhi, he was selected as General Secretary of Congress Party and soon after that his daughter got married in the Gandhi family.Later, in 1937 he was selected as the Chief Minister of Madras. He maintained his position as the top leaders of the Congress until independence. In 1946, he became minister in the interim government and finally in 1947, after independence, he was appointed as the governor of West Bengal. In 1948, he was honored with the title ‘First Indian Governor General of India’.In 1957, Rajaji found the Swatantra Party with an aim to oppose the license system required to set up a business in India. He also published the Hindu epic Mahabharata that was translated from Sanskrit to Tamil and then to Hindi. Till his last breath that he took on December 26, 1992, he constantly had served the country and worked for betterment.
Gopal Krishna Gokhale, a pioneer of Indian National Movement, was bron on May 9, 1866 in Kothapur, Maharashtra.
This great son of Krishna Rao and Valubai was the political guru of Gandhi Ji. He received his early education at Rajaram High School in Kothapur and later on moved to Bombay in 1884 to receive higher education.
It is said that Gokhale was one of the first Indians who completed graduation. Higher education made him understand the importance of liberty, democracy and parliamentary system. He wanted to widespread the knowledge he gained and so moved on to teaching. With strong command over English he was able to communicate with the Britishers but he also wanted local Indians to speak in a way that their voices are heard.
In 1885, Gokhale along with his Deccan Education Society colleagues founded the Fergusson College in Pune. In the subsequent year he met a great scholar and a social reformer Mahadev Govind Rane. Being highly influenced by the social works of Ranade, Gokhale called him guru and started moving on the path of social reforms. He founded the Servants of India Society in 1905. The main objective of this society was to train Indians to raise their voices and serve their country.
Gokhale was actively involved in the Morley-Minto reforms of 1909 that gave Indians right to access highest posts in the government. He also wrote articles for Tilak’s weekly paper. Through his articles he tried to awaken the lost voices, latent patriotism and the feeling of liberty.
Gokhale had greatly contributed to India’s independence and development in all spheres. He was a patient of diabetes and asthma and unfortunately died on February 19, 1915.
Born on November 14, 1889 in Allahabad, Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India. The only son of Motilal Nehru and Swarup Rani was a patriot, a freedom fighter and the most highly respected personality. He completed his early education in a boarding school in England. For higher studies he went to Cambridge University and returned to India in 1912 as a barrister. Just after his studies, in 1916 he got married to Kamala Kaul.
Nehru was an intellectual with strong feelings of patriotism, liberty and unity. Being highly influenced by Gandhi Ji, he wanted to join the freedom struggle. During the struggle he was imprisoned several times. He had spent almost 14 years of his life in prison. For consequently 5 times he was elected as the President of Indian National Congress and under his influence Congress adopted the goal of complete independence. After centuries of struggle, India became independent in 1947 and soon after that Nehru was appointed as the first Prime Minister of the country.
Even after independence he had served the country that had left a profound influence on the social structure, intellectual development and overall development of the country. He is said to be the architect, the maker of modern India. On May 27, 1964 India lost its architecture.
