Ashfaqulla Khan (22 October 1900 – 19 December 1927) was an
Indian independence activist
The Indian independence movement consisted of efforts by individuals and organizations from a wide spectrum of society to obtain political independence from the British, French and Portuguese rule through the use of a many methods. This is a l ...
in the
Indian independence movement
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.
The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...
and co-founder of the
Hindustan Republican Association.
Early life
Khan was born in the
Shahjahanpur
Shahjahanpur () is a municipal corporation, town and district headquarters of Shahjahanpur District in Uttar Pradesh, India.
The city is between Bareilly and Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh.
History
Shahjahanpur was established by Dil ...
district of the
United Provinces to Shafiq Ullah Khan and Mazharunissa,
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
Pathans
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...
of the Khyber tribe who belonged to the landlord class.
He was the youngest among his five siblings.
In 1918, while Khan was in the seventh standard, police raided his school and arrested the student Rajaram Bhartiya in relation to the Mainpuri Conspiracy, in which activists organised looting in
Mainpuri
Mainpuri is a city in Mainpuri district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of Mainpuri district and is situated to the north-east of Agra and is 270 km from New Delhi. Mainpuri forms part of the an ...
to fund the publication of anti-colonial literature. The arrest spurred Khan's engagement in revolutionary activities in the United Provinces.
Khan met
Ram Prasad Bismil
Ram Prasad Bismil ( Hindi: राम प्रसाद "बिस्मिल") (11 June 1897 — 19 December 1927) was an Indian poet, writer, revolutionary and an Indian freedom fighter who participated in the Mainpuri Conspiracy of 1918, a ...
, a revolutionary who was closely involved in the Mainpuri Conspiracy, through a friend. He soon became closely tied to Bismil and joined him in activities related to
non-cooperation, the
Swaraj Party, and the
Hindustan Republican Association.
Bismil and Khan were also both poets, with Khan writing Urdu poetry under the pseudonym Hasrat.
Like others in the Hindustan Republican Association, Khan was strongly inspired by
Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...
and the
Bolshevik Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
in Russia. He expressed beliefs in the liberation of the poor and the rejection of
capitalist
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
interests. He also spoke against
religious communalism, identifying it as a British tool to control the Indian population and prevent Indian independence.
Involvement in the Kakori train robbery
The revolutionaries of the Hindustan Republican Association organised a meeting in Shahjahanpur on 8 August 1925 to determine how to raise funds for arms and ammunition. They decided to rob a train carrying government cash through
Kakori
Kakori is a town and a nagar panchayat in Lucknow district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, 14 km north of Lucknow. Kakori was a centre Urdu poetry, literature and the Qadiriya Qalandari Sufi order. On 9 August 1925 Indian revolution ...
. The HRA had previously executed similar
train robberies
In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often know ...
, inspired by the
Russian Bolshevik technique of using robbery to fund revolutionary operations.
He was originally against the
Kakori train robbery
The Kakori Train robbery (''prapt'' of Kakori Conspiracy) was a train robbery that took place at Kakori, a village near Lucknow, on 9 August 1925, during the Indian Independence Movement against the British Raj. It was organised by Hindustan R ...
, but eventually agreed to participate when others in the HRA expressed approval of the plan.
On 9 August 1925, Khan and other revolutionaries, namely Ram Prasad Bismil,
Rajendra Lahiri
Rajendra Nath Lahiri (29 June 1901 — 17 December 1927), known simply as Rajendra Lahiri, was an Indian revolutionary, who was a mastermind behind the Kakori conspiracy and Dakshineshwar bombing. He was active member of Hindustan Republican As ...
,
Thakur Roshan Singh
Thakur Roshan Singh (22 January 1892 — 19 December 1927) was an Indian revolutionary, born in the village of Nabada in Shahjahanpur district, Uttar Pradesh in A kshatriya Rajput family, who was sentenced in the Bareilly shooting case durin ...
,
Sachindra Bakshi
Sachindra Nath Bakshi (25 December 1904 – 23 November 1984) was a prominent Indian revolutionary and one of the founding members of Hindustan Republican Association (HRA, which after 1928 became the Hindustan Socialist Republican Associatio ...
,
Chandrashekhar Azad
Chandra Shekhar Tiwari ( (23 July 1906 – 27 February 1931), popularly known as Chandra Shekhar Azad, was an Indian revolutionary who reorganised the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) under its new name of Hindustan Socialist Republican ...
,
Keshab Chakravarty
Keshab Chakravarty (Keshab Chakravarty) was an Indian freedom fighter and one of the youth involved in the Kakori conspiracy.
Early life
Keshab Chakravarthy was a student at Calcutta Medical College and a close ally of Sham Sundar Chakravarthy, w ...
,
Banwari Lal,
Murari Lal Gupta,
Mukundi Lal, and
Manmathnath Gupta, attacked and robbed a government train in Kakori near
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
.
After the robbery, the British government launched an extensive investigative campaign to catch the perpetrators.
[ On the morning of 26 October 1925, Bismil was caught by the ]police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
. Khan fled to Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
to evade capture. From Nepal, he travelled to Kanpur
Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...
and then Daltonganj
Medininagar, formerly Daltonganj, is a city municipal corporation in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is the headquarters of Palamu division and Palamu district, as well as the subdivision and block of the same name. The city is situated on ...
, where he worked as a clerk at an engineering firm under a pseudonym.
Capture and trial
Eventually, Khan decided to travel to Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
to continue his revolutionary activities. While in Delhi, he met with a Pathan friend he had known in Shahjahanpur, who secretly reported his whereabouts to the police. On the morning of 7 December 1926, Khan was captured and arrested by the Delhi Police. He was detained in the District Jail at Faizabad
Faizabad (Hindustani pronunciation: ɛːzaːbaːd is a city situated near the southern banks of Saryu river in Ayodhya district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The area of this Faizabad region is administered by Ayodhya Municipal Corpo ...
and a case was filed against him.
The trial of the Kakori train robbers was held for over a year in Lucknow and received significant interest from the public. The HRA had released an official statement in 1925 claiming that they did not consider themselves terrorists
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
and instead saw their revolutionary activities as a way to fight back against the violence of the colonial government. While in prison, Khan wrote a letter that expressed a similar sentiment, confirming that he did not aim to spread violence through the HRA but only hoped to ensure India's independence.
Death and aftermath
The case for the Kakori dacoity
Dacoity is a term used for "banditry" in the Indian subcontinent. The spelling is the anglicised version of the Hindi word ''daaku''; "dacoit" is a colloquial Indian English word with this meaning and it appears in the ''Glossary of Colloquial ...
was concluded by imposing the death sentence on Bismil, Khan, Lahiri, and Roshan. The others were given life sentences. Khan was sentenced to death by hanging
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging ...
and executed on 19 December 1927 at the Faizabad Jail. He is considered a martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
for the cause of India's independence
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.
The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged from Bengal. ...
.
After the hangings of Khan, Bismil, Lahiri, and Roshan, the HRA changed their name to the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army and began officially espousing socialist and Marxist ideologies.
In popular culture
The actions of Khan and his compatriots have been depicted in the Hindi film ''Rang De Basanti
''Rang De Basanti'' () is a 2006 Indian drama film written, produced and directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, and co-written by Rensil D'Silva. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Aamir Khan, Siddharth, R. Madhavan, Atul Kulkar ...
'' (2006), where his character is depicted by Kunal Kapoor Kunal Kapoor may refer to:
* Kunal Kapoor (actor, born 1959), Indian film actor
* Kunal Kapoor (actor, born 1977), Indian actor, writer and entrepreneur
* Kunal Kapoor (cricketer) (born 1987), Indian cricketer
* Kunal Karan Kapoor (born 1982), In ...
. Chetanya Adib portrayed Khan in the Star Bharat television series ''Chandrashekhar Chandrasekhar, Chandrashekhar or Chandra Shekhar is an Indian name and may refer to a number of individuals. The name comes from the name of an incarnation of the Hindu god Shiva. In this form he married the goddess Parvati. Etymologically, the nam ...
''. ''Mujahid-E-Azadi – Ashfaqullah Khan'', an Indian television series that aired on DD Urdu
DD Urdu is an Indian free-to-air television channel broadcasting from the Doordarshan Studios in Delhi. It broadcasts entertainment, cultural , news and infotainment
Infotainment (a portmanteau of ''information'' and ''entertainment''), al ...
in 2014, starred Gaurav Nanda
Gaurav Nanda is an Indian actor and producer. He works in films, serials and theatre. He is a method acting coach and the founder of Actor Studio India.
He has acted in '' Bamdini'', '' Parvarrish – Kuchh Khattee Kuchh Meethi'', '' Yeh Ha ...
in the titular role.
See also
* Ram Prasad Bismil
Ram Prasad Bismil ( Hindi: राम प्रसाद "बिस्मिल") (11 June 1897 — 19 December 1927) was an Indian poet, writer, revolutionary and an Indian freedom fighter who participated in the Mainpuri Conspiracy of 1918, a ...
* Mohammad Abdullah
* Sher Ali Afridi
Sher Ali Afridi, also called Shere Ali, is known for killing Lord Mayo, the Viceroy of India, on 8 February 1872. He was a prisoner on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands at the time, sentenced for murder.
Early life
Sher Ali worked for the colonia ...
* Shivaram Rajguru
Shivaram Hari Rajguru (24 August 1907 – 23 March 1931) was an Indian revolutionary from Maharashtra (then Bombay State), known mainly for his involvement in the assassination of a British police officer named John Saunders. He was an active ...
* Hindustan Socialist Republican Association
Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), previously known as the Hindustan Republican Army and Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), was an Indian revolutionary organisation founded by Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Sachindra ...
Citations
General bibliography
*
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People executed by British India by hanging
People from Shahjahanpur
Indian Muslims
Indian people of Pashtun descent
Executed Indian people
20th-century executions by British India
Hindustan Socialist Republican Association
Indian nationalists
Indian independence armed struggle activists