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Khudiram Bose was born on December 3, 1889 in the village Medinipur of Bengal. He was the son of Trailokyanath Basu and Lakshmipriya Devi. He was one among the youngest revolutionaries of India’s freedom struggle.
Khudiram had always lived a virtuous and generous life. Since childhood he was fond of the sacred words of Vande Matram and in later years got inspired by the notions of karma and norms of Bhagvad Gita. During the partition of Bengal, discontent and anger against the Britishers compelled him to get involved in revolutionary activities. He was resolved to free India from the rule of British Empire. To learn more about the revolutionaries and their activities he joined Jugantar – the party of revolutionaries.
Bose, at the age of 16, threw the first bomb over the British who were crushing India. He had planted these bombs near the police station where many officials were killed. Further, he was arrested for placing a series of bomb but that was not the end. He along with his friend again planned to throw a bomb to assassinate the Chief Presidency Magistrate Kingsford who was known to make brutal and blatant judgments against freedom fighters.
Khudiram was arrested on the charges of bomb attack and was sentenced to death on August 11, 1908. He died with the holy book Bhagwad Gita in his hands and amiling with the slogan Vande Matram on his lips.
Tatia Tope, like other freedom fighters, was one of the great heroes who fought courageously for India’s freedom in 1857. He was born in 1814 in a village Yeola in Maharashtra. His father Pandurang Rao Tope shifted with Peshwa to Bithur. Tantia and the adopted sons, Nana Sahib and Maharaja Madhav, of Peshwa became good friends. All his loved ones called him Tatia because he always used to wear a hat that was gifted to him by Peshwa.
Tatia moved his first step against the British in 1851, when Lord Dalhousie deprived Nana Sahib of his father’s pension. In May 1857, he joined the political movements and established Nana Sahib’s authority. Britishers were trying to grab everything- the wealth, kingdom and the whole empire of the country. This became the biggest reason of discontent and revolt. He occupied Kanpur and then shifted to Kalpi to join Rani Lakshmi Bai to occupy Gwalior. Unfortunately, they lost the battle, Rani was killed and Britishers expanded their rule in Gwalior. After losing, he collected a huge force to fight against Britishers and was successful in capturing many forts of India. In Kalpi, he had established a center to manufacture arms. When he came to know that Britishers are short of resources, he took advantage of it and confronted Kanpur. Altogether, he fought 150 battles.
Tantia, the name of terror for the English, was the one who shook the established niche of the British Empire. He was constantly fighting to win over the whole of India but unfortunately he was betrayed by one of his friend. Britishers caught hold of him and hung him to death on April 18, 1859. This incident brought tears in all eyes and he became the Supreme Commander of India’s independence.
Sucheta Kriplani, a great freedom fighter, was born in June 1908 in Ambala. She took her education from Indraprastha College and Stephen College in Delhi. Soon after her studies she started her career as a lecturer in Banaras Hindu University.
Sucheta was greatly inspired by the works of Mahatma Gandhi and in 1946 she joined the Kasturba Gandhi Memorial Trust as Organizing Secretary. In her later years, she started working with Gandhi Ji. She was actively involved in Quit India Movement and the partition riots. She also worked to combat the sufferings of Indian people. In 1946, she went with Gandhi to Noakhali and there she became the real mother of the victims of atrocities. She also got elected to the Constituent Assembly and sang the national song in the Independence session of Constituent Assembly on August 15, 1947.
Even after independence she had not stopped working for the weaker sections of the society and was greatly involved in the upliftment of Indians. In 1952 and 1957, she was elected as the member of Lok Sabha and had also served as the Minister of State. She was the first woman who was appointed as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1963.
Due to ill health Sucheta took retirement in 1971 and on December 1, 1974 she died of a massive heart attack.
Bipin Chandra Pal was one of the mightiest prophets of nationalism who fought bravely for a noble cause of India’s independence. He was a great patriot, orator, journalist and warrior, born on November 7, 1858 in Sylhet in a wealthy Kayastha family. He was admitted to Presidency College in Calcutta but unfortunately could not complete his education and started his career as a headmaster.
In the later years, while Bipin was working as a librarian in Calcutta public library he met many political leaders like Shivnath Shashtri, S.N Banerjee and B.K. Goswami. He was influenced to quit teaching and start up a new career in politics. He was further inspired by the work, philosophy, spiritual ideas and patriotism of Tilak, Lala and Aurbindo.
Being highly influenced and inspired by all these political leaders, Bipin decided to devote himself to the freedom struggle. He also went to England to study comparative ideology in 1898. In a span of one year he returned to Indi and since then he started preaching local Indians with the idea of Swaraj. Being a good journalist and orator he always used articles, speeches and other write ups to spread nationalism, humanity and social awareness and the need for complete independence.
Pal had ‘never say die’ attitude and with great courage he participated in Bombay session of Indian National Congress in 1904, Partition of Bengal in 1905, Swadeshi Movement, Non Cooperation Movement and Bengal Pact in 1923. He had also published a lot of journals, weekly and books to spread nationalism and the idea of Swaraj. Most prominent books of Pal include Indian Nationalism, Nationality and Empire, Swaraj and the Present Situation, The Basis of Social Reform, The Soul of India, The New Spirit and Studies in Hinduism.
Bipin was a great warrior and till the end he fought against ill practices of Indian culture and for freedom of India. He expired in 1932 leaving behind a remarkable feeling of Free India.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, popularly known as a ‘Man of Steel’, was born on October 31, 1875 at Nadiad, Gujarat. He passsed his high school studies in Nadiad and came out with a strong desire to become a lawyer. Because of financial reasons he could not join any school of law so he studied at home and passed the law exam with flying colors.
Sardar started his legal practice in Godhra and at the age of 36, he went to England for further studies. He returned to India in 1913 and started his practice in Ahemdabad. He soon became a successful lawyer but his dream and career soon flourished.
Inspired by the work and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, he decided to join the freedom struggle. His first attempt was to fight for the cause of peasants in Kheda, Bardoli and other parts of Gujarat who were asked to pay heavy taxes to the British Government. Patel, under the leadership of Gandhi Ji, launched non-violent Civil Disobedience Movement against the payment of raised taxes. The Government tried to suppress the revolt but unfortunately could not do so. Finally, the taxes were suspended and thereafter everyone addressed Patel as Sardar. Further, he was also involved in Salt Satyagraha in Nagpur and Quit India Movement in 1942. He also opposed alcoholism, untouchability, caste discrimination and violence. In 1931, he was elected as the President of Indian National Congress.
After independence he was appointed as the first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India. He had served the country during the tenure but Gandhi Ji’s death gave him a major heart attack and he died on December 15, 1950.
Dadabhai Naoroji was a man who laid the foundation of India’s freedom struggle. He was fondly known as ‘the promise of India’ in his youth and ‘the grand old man of India’ in the later years of his life. This great man was personified as the symbol of purity, sincerity, generosity, bravery and patriotism.
Dadabhai was born on September 4, 1825 in Bombay in a Parsi priest’s family. His childhood was uplifted by his mother Maneckbai because his father Naorji Palanji Dordi expired when he was just four years old. He studied in the Elphinstone College in Bombay and after completing his studies he was appointed as the Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in the same college.
Naorji started with his political career in 1852. He strongly opposed the misrule of British Government and wrote several petitions to Governors and Viceroys regarding the sufferings of Indian people. There was no action taken to it and later he realized that this is because of the ignorance of Indian people. To promote education and propagate the seeds of Free India, he founded the Gyan Prasarak Mandal.
In 1855, Dadabhai left for England to join the first Indian business firm and later in 1859, he established his own business firm there. During his time in England, he endeavored to educate local people through various learned societies, articles and speeches. Most of his life he had spent writing on India’s plight, trying to influence people to realize the importance of freedom.
Naorji was the driving spirit of Indian National Congress and was elected three times as the President of the Congress in 1866, 1893 and 1906. He demanded for Swaraj, self government for India, publicly during his third term of presidentship and strongly opposed violence and revolutionary methods as means of attaining freedom.
This great noble life lived for almost a century and came to end on June 30, 1917. The people around the world still believe that Dadabhai came to earth with a mission to achieve Self-Rule for India.
Subhas Chandra Bose is one of those great freedom fighters who martyred their lives for India’s independence. He is popularly known as Netaji because he was considered to be a born leader. He was born on January 23, 1897 in Cuttack, Orissa. And was the ninth child of a famous lawyer Janaki Nath Bose and a religious lady Prabhavati Devi. He completed his graduation in Calcutta and went to England in 1919 to appear for Indian Civil Service Examination and achieved fourth place on merit.
Filled with the feelings of patriotism, Bose was resolved to drive British out of the country. When in England, he was shaken by the incident of Jalianwala Bagh massacre and returned back to India in 1921. Under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi he joined the Indian National Congress and actively participated in Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930.
Subash along with Tilak and Auribindo were not convinced with Gandhi Ji’s method of achieving independence. They were in favor of armed revolution and Netaji strongly believed that the only way to earn freedom was by shedding blood. With this strong belief, he involved himself in various revolutionary activities for which he was imprisoned many times.
In 1938, Subash was elected as the President of All India Congress. At the time of World War II, Gandhi and Nehru did not support him for armed revolution and so he escaped to Germany to approach Hitler for help. Being impressed by Netaji, Hitler helped him to organize the Indian National Army with the soldiers of the prisoners of war. On October 21, 1943, Subash declared the formation of Azad Hind Government and hosted the Indian National Flag in Kohima, Assam on March 18, 1944.
In August 1945, Japan surrendered the territory and somehow Netaji escaped from there. He left in a war plane to an undisclosed destination and expired due to plane crash on August 17, 1945.
