Chandra Shekhar Sitaram 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
Association (HSRA) after the death of its founder, Ram Prasad Bismil, and three other prominent
party leaders, Roshan Singh, Rajendra Nath Lahiri and Ashfaqulla Khan. He hailed
from Bardarka village in Unnao district of United Provinces and his parents were Sitaram Tiwari
and Jagrani Devi. He often used the pseudonym "Balraj" while signing pamphlets issued as the
commander-in-chief of the HSRA.[2] Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram
Rajguru worked closely with him as his pupil.
Early life
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Chandra Shekhar Azad was born on 23 July 1906 in Bhabhra village as Chandra Shekhar Tiwari,
in a Kanyakubja Brahmin family, in the princely state of Alirajpur. His forefathers were
from Badarka village, of the Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh.[3] His mother, Jagrani Devi, was the
third wife of Sitaram Tiwari, whose previous wives had died young. After the birth of their first
son, Sukhdev, in Badarka, the family moved to the Alirajpur State.[4][5]
His mother wanted her son to be a great Sanskrit scholar and persuaded his father to send him to
Kashi Vidyapeeth at Banaras to study. In 1921, when the Non-Cooperation Movement was at its
height, Chandra Shekhar, then a 15-year-old student, joined. As a result, he was arrested on 24
December. On being presented before the Parsi district magistrate Justice M. P. Khareghat two
weeks later, he gave his name as "Azad" (The Free), his father's name as "Swatantrata"
(Independence) and his residence as "Jail". The angered magistrate punished him with 15 blows.
[6]
Revolutionary life
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After the suspension of the non-cooperation movement in 1922 by Mahatma Gandhi, Azad
became disappointed. He met a young revolutionary, Manmath Nath Gupta, who introduced him
to Ram Prasad Bismil who had formed the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), a
revolutionary organisation. He then became an active member of the HRA and started to collect
funds for HRA. Most of the fund collection was through robberies of government property. He
was involved in the Kakori Train Robbery of 1925, the shooting of John P. Saunders at Lahore in
1928 to avenge the killing of Lala Lajpat Rai, and at last, in the attempt to blow up the Viceroy
of India's train in 1929.
Azad got to read Karl Marx's Manifesto of the Communist Party from his Comrade Shiv Verma.
When Azad was the commander-in-chief of the revolutionary party, he often used to borrow a
book called ABC of Communism from writer Satyabhakta to teach socialism to his cadres.
Despite being a member of Indian National Congress, Motilal Nehru regularly gave money in
support of Azad.[7]
Activities in Jhansi
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Azad made Jhansi his organisation's hub for some time. He used the forest of Orchha, situated 15
kilometres (9.3 mi) from Jhansi, as a site for shooting practice and, being an expert marksman,
he trained other members of his group. He built a hut near to a Hanuman temple on the banks of
the Satar River and lived there under the alias of Pandit Harishankar Bramhachari for a long
period. He taught children from the nearby village of Dhimarpura and thus managed to establish
a good rapport with the local residents.
While living in Jhansi, he also learned to drive a car at the Bundelkhand Motor Garage in Sadar
Bazar. Sadashivrao Malkapurkar, Vishwanath Vaishampayan and Bhagwan Das Mahaur came in
close contact with him and became an integral part of his revolutionary group. The then congress
leaders, Raghunath Vinayak Dhulekar and Sitaram Bhaskar Bhagwat were also close to Azad.
He also stayed for some time in the house of Rudra Narayan Singh at Nai Basti, as well as
Bhagwat's house in Nagra.
Chandrasekhar Azad in Jhansi, in Rudranarayan's house
With Bhagat Singh
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HSRA pamphlet after Saunders' murder, signed by Balraj,
a pseudonym of Azad
The Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) was formed by Ram Prasad Bismil, Jogesh
Chandra Chatterjee, Sachindra Nath Sanyal and Sachindra Nath Bakshi in 1923. In the aftermath
of the Kakori train robbery in 1925, the British suppressed revolutionary activities.
Prasad, Ashfaqulla Khan, Thakur Roshan Singh and Rajendra Nath Lahiri were sentenced to
death for their participation. Azad, Keshab Chakravarthy and Murari Lal Gupta evaded capture.
Azad later reorganised the HRA with the help of fellow revolutionaries like Shiv
Verma and Mahabir Singh.
In 1928, along with Bhagat Singh and other revolutionaries he secretly reorganised the
Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), renaming it as the Hindustan Socialist Republican
Association (HSRA) on 8—9 September,[8] so as to achieve their primary aim of an independent
socialist India. Azad then conspired with revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev
Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru to assassinate the Superintendent of police, James A. Scott in
order to avenge Lala Rajpat Rai's death.[9] However, in a case of mistaken identity, the plotters
assassinated John P. Saunders, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, instead of Scott. Azad also
shot dead an Indian police head constable Channan Singh who attempted to chase Singh and
Azad, as he was leaving the District Police Headquarters in Lahore on 17 December 1928. [10] An
insight into his revolutionary activities is provided by Manmath Nath Gupta, a fellow member of
HSRA in his numerous writings. Gupta has also written his biography titled "Chandrashekhar
Azad" in his book History of the Indian Revolutionary Movement (English version of above:
1972) which provides further insights on Azad's activities, his ideologies, and the HSRA.
Death
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The tree in Chandrashekhar Azad Park, Prayagraj where
Azad died
On 27 February 1931, the CID head of the police at Allahabad, J. R. H. Nott-Bower was tipped
off that Azad was at Alfred Park and was having a talk with his companion and aide Sukhdev
Raj Shukla. On receiving it, Bower called on the Allahabad Police to accompany him to the park
to arrest him. The police arrived at the park and surrounded it from all four sides. Some
constables along with DSP Thakur Vishweshwar Singh entered the park armed with rifles and
the shootout began. Azad killed three policemen but was badly wounded in the process of
defending himself and helping his colleague Raj. Azad told him to move out in order to continue
the freedom struggle and gave him cover fire for Raj to safely escape from the park. Azad hid
behind a jamun tree to save himself and began to fire from behind it. That tree no longer survives
because it was cut down by the British on the same day, now Azad's statue stands at the place of
tree. One of the shots from Azad hit Bower's wrist, who was hiding behind a Moolashree tree.
The police fired back. After a long shootout, holding true to his pledge to always
remain Azad (Free) and never be captured alive, he shot himself in the head with his gun's last
bullet. In the shootout, Bower and DSP Singh were injured in the right hand and jaws
respectively. The police recovered Azad's body after the other officers arrived at the site. They
were hesitant to come close to Azad after finding him dead.
The body was sent to Rasulabad Ghat for cremation without informing the general public. As it
came to light, people surrounded the park where the incident had taken place. They chanted
slogans against the British government and praised Azad.[11]
Legacy
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Chandra Shekhar Azad 1988 stamp of India
Statue of Azad at Alfred Park in Prayagraj
Jawaharlal Nehru in his autobiography wrote that Azad met him a few weeks before his death,
inquiring about the possibility of not being considered an outlaw as a result of Gandhi-Irwin
pact. Nehru wrote that Azad also saw the 'futility' of his methods and so did many of his
associates, though was not completely convinced that 'peaceful methods' would work either.[12]
Several schools, colleges, roads, and other public institutions across India are also named after
Azad.
Starting from Jagdish Gautam's 1963 film Chandrasekhar Azad and Manoj Kumar's 1965
film Shaheed, many films have featured the character of Azad. Manmohan played Azad in the
1965 film, Sunny Deol portrayed Azad in the movie 23rd March 1931: Shaheed (2002), Azad
was portrayed by Akhilendra Mishra in The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002) and Raj
Zutshi portrayed Azad in Shaheed-E-Azam (2002). In the 2006 film, Rang De Basanti, produced
and directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Azad was portrayed by Aamir Khan, which was
about the lives of Azad, Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru, Ram Prasad Bismil, and Ashfaqulla
Khan; the film drew parallels between the lives of young revolutionaries such as Azad and
Singh, and today's youth, and dwelt upon the lack of appreciation among Indian youth today for
the sacrifices made by these men.[13]
The 2018 television series Chandrashekhar chronicled the life of Azad from his childhood to his
being a revolutionary leader. In the series, young Azad was portrayed by Ayaan Zubair, Azad in
his teens by Dev Joshi and the adult Azad by Karan Sharma.[14]
In 2023 DD National serial Swaraj included a full episode (epi:65) on Chandra Shekar Azad.
The title role of Chandra Shekar Azad was played by actor Manish Naggdev.
See also
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Bhagat Singh
Ashfaqulla Khan
Kakori Train Robbery
History of India
Partition of India
Partition of Bengal (1905)
Independence Day (India)
Indian independence movement
Revolutionary movement for Indian independence
Women of the Indian independence movement
References
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1. "REVEALING THE TRUTH BEHIND THE REAL BIRTH PLACE AND DATE OF AZAD! – A
Soul Window". 28 January 2017.
2. "Mahatma Gandhi tried his best to save Bhagat Singh". Retrieved 4 September 2018.
3. "Pratappur Bhaunti इस the ancestral village of Chandrashekhar Aazad". inext live. 2024.
4. The Calcutta review. University of Calcutta. Dept. of English. 1958. p. 44. Retrieved 11
September 2012.
5. Catherine B. Asher, ed. (June 1994). India 2001: reference encyclopedia. South Asia
Publications. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-945921-42-4. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
6. Rana, Bhawan Singh (2005). Chandra Shekhar Azad (An Immortal Revolutionary of India).
Diamond Pocket Books. pp. 22–24. ISBN 9788128808166.
7. Mittal, S. K.; Habib, Irfan (June 1982). "The Congress and the Revolutionaries in the
1920s". Social Scientist. 10 (6): 20–37. doi:10.2307/3517065. ISSN 0970-0293. JSTOR 3517065.
8. Habib, Irfan (September 1997). "Civil Disobedience 1930–31". Social Scientist. 25 (9/10): 43–
66. doi:10.2307/3517680. JSTOR 3517680.
9. Gupta, Amit Kumar (September 1997). "Defying Death: Nationalist Revolutionism in India,
1897-1938". Social Scientist. 25 (9/10): 3–27. doi:10.2307/3517678. JSTOR 3517678.
10. Nayar, Kuldip (2000). The martyr : Bhagat Singh experiments in revolution. New Delhi: Har-
Anand Publications. p. 39. ISBN 81-241-0700-9. OCLC 46929363.
11. Khatri, Ram Krishna (1983). Shaheedon Ki Chhaya Mein. Nagpur: Vishwabharati Prakashan.
pp. 138–139.
12. An Autobiography. Nehru, Jawaharlal. 1936. p. 262. ISBN 9780143031048.
13. Is The Indian Script Unique. Film Writers Association. 13 April 2012. Event occurs at
23:34. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2016 – via
YouTube.
14. "This peace is the result of the sacrifice of freedom fighters like Azad: Ayaan Zubair". The Times
of India. 31 March 2018.
Further reading
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Brahmdutt, Chandramani. Kranti Ki Laptain. ISBN 81-88167-30-4 (in Hindi)
Krishnamurthy, Babu. Ajeya ("Unconquered"). Biography of Azad (in Kannada)
Amar Shaheed Chandrashekhar Azad by Vaishampayan (in Hindi)
Waiting for Swaraj: Inner Lives of Indian Revolutionaries by Aparna Vaidik