Manmath Nath Gupta (7 February 1908 – 26 October 2000) was an Indian Marxist

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

writer and author of autobiographical, historical and fictional books in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

, English and

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the ...

. He joined 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 ...

at the age of 13 and was an active member of the

Hindustan 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, Sachindr ...

. He participated in the famous Kakori train robbery in 1925 and was imprisoned for 14 years. On release from jail in 1937, he started writing against the

British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

. He was sentenced again in 1939 and was released in 1946 just a year before India's independence in 1947. He has written several books on the history of the Indian struggle for independence from a revolutionary's point of view, including ''They Lived Dangerously – Reminiscences of a Revolutionary''. He was also the editor of the Hindi literary magazine ''Aajkal''.

Early life

Manmath Nath Gupta was born to Veereshvar Gupta on 7 February 1908 at Banaras in the state of United Province in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. His grandfather Adya Prasad Gupta was an original resident of Hugli district in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

who had migrated from there in the year 1880 and settled in

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

at Banaras. Manmath got his early education in Viratnagar of

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 ma ...

where his father was posted as a school headmaster. Since his father got a job later in the Banaras, Manmath was admitted in Kashi Vidyapeeth for his further studies.

First imprisonment

Manmath Nath Gupta joined the Indian nationalist movement as early as the age of 13 years. In 1921, he was distributing pamphlets in the Gadolia area of

Benares Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic t ...

calling for a boycott of the reception of the Edward, Prince of Wales by the

Maharaja Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great Monarch, king" or "high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Em ...

of Banares. When a police officer approached him, he stood his ground instead of running away. During the court proceedings, he told the judge, "I will not cooperate with you" He was jailed for three months.after he was even tortured in jail for distributing pamphlets.

Chauri Chaura

He joined the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...

as a volunteer worker and went from village to village spreading the message of the Congress. He was dissatisfied with the slowness of the work and its inability in producing any short-term results. When

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure ...

called off the

Non-cooperation movement The Non-cooperation movement was a political campaign launched on 4 September 1920, by Mahatma Gandhi to have Indians revoke their cooperation from the British government, with the aim of persuading them to grant self-governance.incident at Chauri Chaura in 1922, Gupta was severely disappointed with the Congress and Gandhi.

Hindustan Republican Association

He joined the

, a group of young revolutionaries whose aim was to end the British rule of India, by violent means if necessary. "We were called revolutionaries but we were just ordinary people ready to sacrifice our lives for our country", he once said. He also introduced

Chandrasekhar 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 ...

to the association. In his book ''They Lived Dangerously'', he recalls an incident in which Azad nearly shot him.

"Chandrasekhar Azad was learning how to load and unload a
Mauser Mauser, originally Königlich Württembergische Gewehrfabrik ("Royal Württemberg Rifle Factory"), was a German arms manufacturer. Their line of bolt-action rifles and semi-automatic pistols has been produced since the 1870s for the German arm ...
pistol. He had learned how to load and unload many other brands of revolvers and pistols, but this was a new make. He had liked it more than other brands. He went on with his work and I began to read something. Suddenly seized perhaps by the warmth of the machine, which he had come to adore during the last half an hour, he aimed the empty pistol—empty according to his knowledge—towards me and said, 'Be on your guard, I am going to shoot you.' Before I could say anything he had pulled the trigger and bang whizzed the bullet that had remained inside the barrel without his knowledge. Fortunately for us Azad was not yet the marksman that he was destined to be later on. Although he had fired from a close range, the bullet had missed my head by two inches and had buried itself in the wall. Imagine the consternation of Azad. He thought he had shot me through. I informed him that he had missed me. This, however, did not console him. He was almost in tears. With great difficulty I pacified him."

Kakori Conspiracy

The Kakori train robbery was the turning point in his life. On 9 August 1925, ten revolutionaries including Manmath Nath Gupta stopped a train near Kakori and looted the government treasury travelling in it. A passenger named Ahmed Ali was killed in this action by the bullet fired by Manmath. He was arrested along with all other revolutionaries and tried for this incident in the court, but being a teenager at that time, he was not sentenced to death. Instead, he was sentenced for 14 years' rigorous imprisonment. When he was released in 1937 he started writing against the British Government. He was again arrested in 1939 and imprisoned for life. He also spent some time in the Cellular Jail in Andaman.

After Independence

It was 1946 when he was released from imprisonment; just one year before India gained independence on 15 August 1947.Asharani Vohra ''Swadhinta Senani Patrakar'' Pratibha Pratishthan' New Delhi page-239 He became a prolific writer, producing about 120 books in Hindi, English, and Bengali. In his book ''They Lived Dangerously'' he narrates the life of revolutionaries how they saw and reacted to the various events in

. This often presents an alternative point of view to the commonly accepted account. Speaking of the Chauri Chaura incident, he said, "India would have attained independence in 1922 but for Gandhi's bungling, as many competent writers have said, there is no doubt that on this occasion Gandhi had failed badly." He became a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and remain active in the political and social movements. He joined the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and edited the Planning Commission's prestigious publications, including ''Yojna''. He was also the editor of ''Bal Bharti'', a children's magazine, and ''Aajkal'', a Hindi literary magazine. Manmath Nath Gupta was also present as an Indian delegate in the ''International Symposium on India and World Literature (IWL)'' at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on 27 February 1985 which was organised by the Department of Modern European Languages, University of Delhi. He was much pleased when a paper on his leader titled as ''Pt. Ram Prasad 'Bismil': A Warrior of Pen & Pistol'' was placed before the delegates.

Death on Diwali

His last interview on television was telecast in India on 19 December 1997 from

DD National DD National (formerly DD1) is a state-owned public entertainment television channel in India. It is the flagship channel of Doordarshan, India's public service broadcaster, and the oldest and most widely available terrestrial television channe ...

Channel in a 20-minute documentary entitled ''Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna''. In this interview Manmath Nath Gupta, confessed the mistake he made on 8 August 1925 when he fired the Mauser accidentally and a passenger was killed in the Kakori train robbery. Because of his mistake, 4 revolutionaries including his beloved leader

Pandit 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 ...

were hanged. He also expressed regret for not also being given a death sentence, because of his young age. Manmath Nath Gupta died in the night of the Indian festival of

Diwali Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It i ...

on 26 October 2000 at his residence in Nizamuddin East New Delhi. He was 92 and very active right up to his death.

Selected bibliography

*Chandrasekhar Azad *They Lived Dangerously – Reminiscences of a Revolutionary (1969) *Bhartiya Krantikari Andolan Ka Itihas (Revised: 1993) *History of the Indian Revolutionary Movement (English version of above: 1972) *Gandhi and His Times (1982) *Bhagat Singh and His Times *Aadhi raat ke atithi (Guests at Midnight) *Congress ke sau varsh (Hundred Years of the Congress) *Din Dahare (In Broad Daylight) *Sar par kafan bandh kar (With My Funeral Shroud as My Turban) *Toram Phoram *Apane samaya ka surya Dinkar (The sun of his times: Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar') *Shahadatnama (Declaration of Martyrdom)

References

Obituary in The TribuneObituary in the Daily PioneerA review of ''They Lived Dangerously''

External links

They lived dangerously: reminiscences of a revolutionaryHistory of the Indian revolutionary movementBhagat Singh and his times
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gupta, Manmath Nath 1908 births 2000 deaths Revolutionary movement for Indian independence Revolutionaries from Varanasi Writers from Varanasi Hindustan Socialist Republican Association Indian political writers Indian independence activists from Uttar Pradesh 20th-century Indian non-fiction writers Communist Party of India politicians from Uttar Pradesh