Chandrashekhar Azad 115th Birth Anniversary: Know More About The Revolutionary Freedom Fighter

Today India is celebrating the 115th birth anniversary of the great revolutionary freedom fighter Chandrashekhar Azad. Azad shot himself dead because of his oath to never be captured alive by the British. As long as Azad lived, no one could imprison him. When Azad was arrested by the British government during the non-cooperation movement, he was asked to identify himself in court, to which he replied, “I’m Azad (free), my father Swatantra (Independence) and my home is Jail.”

Ramprasad Bismil and Chandrashekhar Azad along with fellow revolutionaries carried out the historic Kakori train robbery to loot the British treasury and buy weapons. This incident shook the British government. On the evening of 9 August 1925, it was starting to get a bit darker. Saharanpur Passenger Express was moving to Lucknow. Before Lucknow, 10 revolutionaries boarded the Kakori station and robbed the train.

Avenging death of Lala Lajpat Rai
Azad, Rajguru and Bhagat Singh had planned to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai. On 17 December 1928, Azad, Bhagat Singh and Rajguru surrounded the office of the Superintendent of Police in Lahore in the evening, and as JP Saunders came out on a motorcycle with his bodyguard, Rajguru fired the first shot. Bhagat Singh then went ahead and fired 4-6 bullets. When Saunders’ bodyguard chased him, Chandrashekhar Azad killed him with his bullet. After this, posters were put up everywhere in Lahore that the death of Lala Lajpat Rai has been avenged.

Then one day, he was called to Alfred Park in Allahabad by his friend Sukhdev Raj. While he was talking, the police surrounded him and started an open fire. There was firing from both sides. Chandrashekhar Azad had taken an oath that he would never be captured alive by the British officers. So he shot himself with his last bullet. After independence, the park in which he took his own life was renamed Chandrashekhar Azad Park in Allahabad. And the village in which he lived in Madhya Pradesh was renamed Azadpura.