Ashfaqullah Khan was an Indian freedom fighter and activist in India’s freedom struggle. He was the co-founder of the organization Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA). He was considered the mastermind of the Kakori train robbery in 1922.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Ashfaqullah Khan was born on Monday, 22 October 1900 (age 27 at the time of death) in Shahjahanpur, United Provinces, British India. His zodiac sign was Libra.
Physical Appearance
Hair Color: Black
Eye colour: black
Family
Ashfaqullah Khan belonged to a Muslim Pathan family of the Khyber tribe.
parents and siblings
His father’s name was Shafiqullah Khan and mother’s name was Mazharunnisa. He had three elder brothers. The names of his two brothers were Chhota Ullah Khan and Riyasatullah Khan.
Friendship with Ram Prasad Bismil
After the arrest of Mahatma Gandhi after the Chauri-Chaura incident in 1922, he stopped his non-cooperation movement. Many revolutionary youth associated with this non-cooperation movement considered themselves victims of deception and as a result, they turned towards the movement led by Ram Prasad Bismil of Shahjahanpur. One of these youth was Ashfaqullah Khan. In 1924, Khan decided to form a separate organization against British rule with like-minded revolutionaries and freedom fighters. As a result, Hindustan Republican Association was established. The main objective of this movement was to organize and organize armed revolutions to achieve independence from British rule.
A photograph of Ashfaqullah Khan, Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil and Roshan Singh
kakori train robbery
In 1925, Ashfaqullah Khan and his party members decided to promote their Hindustan Republican Association movement with arms and ammunition to vigorously execute their revolutionary activities against the British rule in India. On 8 August 1925, a meeting was organized by the rebels of the Hindustan Republican Association in Shahjahanpur. At the end of the meeting it was decided to loot the government treasury carried by the British in trains, which actually belonged to India. Ashfaqulla Khan, Ram Prasad Bismil, Rajendra Lahiri, Thakur Roshan Singh, Sachindra Bakshi, Chandrashekhar Azad, Keshav Chakraborty, Banwari Lal, Murari Lal Gupta, Mukundi Lal and Manmathanath Gupta were the names of those revolutionaries who looted the train carrying Indians. Took the money on 9 August 1925 in Kakori, Lucknow. That day, the train left Shahjahanpur for Lucknow. In the middle of the journey, suddenly someone pulled the chain and stopped the train. Ashfaq Ullah Khan along with his colleagues Sachindra Bakshi and Rajendra Lahiri came out of the second class compartment of the train. The train guard also came out of the train to see who pulled the chain. Meanwhile the guard was caught by two revolutionaries. The other two revolutionaries pushed the driver out of the train and started keeping an eye on him. The remaining two revolutionaries stood at the end of the train and started firing from their pistols. At that time he also warned the railway passengers. They said,
Travelers, don’t be afraid. We are revolutionaries fighting for freedom. Your life, money and respect are safe. But take care not to peek out of the train.”
As per the plan, four revolutionaries pushed the money box from the guard’s van and made it fall down. The box was closed with a strong lock; But, there was a small opening at the top of it. The hole was small enough that bags of money could be inserted into it, but nothing could be taken out. The revolutionaries tried hard to break the small hole in the box with the help of a hammer. Ashfaqullah Khan was the most powerful of them all. He also tried to widen the mouth of the money box. Meanwhile, when this train was stopped for robbery, the sound of another train coming from Lucknow was heard. Ram Prasad Bismil trembled for a moment due to the fear of train collision. Bismil ordered his men to stop firing. He said,
Cease firing. Lower the pistols. Don’t hit the box. Ashfaq, wait a little.”
The second train was on another track and passed safely towards Lucknow. The hole in the box widened due to the continuous attacks of the revolutionaries. Soon, the moneybag was easily taken out of the box. All passengers on the train, including the British personnel, remained silent during the robbery. Reportedly, the revolutionaries were seen busy taking out money from the boxes and running towards Lucknow with bundles of moneybags in their hands. A lot of investigations were conducted by the British government but no robbers were arrested after a month of the robbery.
A newspaper clip showing the names of Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqullah Khan after the Kakori robbery
On 26 October 1925, Ram Prasad Bismil was arrested by the police. The police also tried to capture Ashfaqullah Khan, but he managed to hide in the sugarcane fields half a mile from his home. By then, all the other revolutionaries involved in the train robbery were caught and arrested by the police. First, Khan fled to Nepal and then to Kanpur, where he met Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi who was also a distinguished freedom fighter. After this Khan managed to reach Kashi. There he met his friends at Banaras Hindu University. Khan remained in hiding in Banaras for ten months and worked in an engineering firm in Daltonganj in Palamu district to earn his livelihood. There he met Lala Har Dayal and decided to go abroad to master engineering to support the freedom struggle in a stronger way. Soon, he moved to Delhi to exit the country. He took the help of one of his Pathan friends from Shahjahanpur. Ashfaq Ullah Khan hid in his house and Pathan was also happy to meet his old friend. The night before his arrest, they had dinner together. Till 11 pm he kept remembering the old days and times. The next morning, Ashfaq was in deep sleep when he was woken up by a loud knock on the door. He opened the door with sleepy eyes and was trapped by the British police on 17 July 1926. This Pathan friend betrayed Khan by informing the British police. Later Ashfaqullah Khan was kept in Faizabad jail. Ashfaqullah Khan’s elder brother Riyasatullah Khan was his legal advisor. Reportedly, Khan used to recite the Quran in jail and he fasted strictly during the month of Ramadan. The British government had sentenced Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan, Rajendra Lahiri and Thakur Roshan Singh to death for masterminding and executing the Kakori train robbery case. Other members who assisted in the robbery were sentenced to life imprisonment.
legacy
In 2006, the character of Ashfaq Ullah Khan and his companions was played in the Hindi film Rang De Basanti. The character of Ashfaqullah Khan was played by Indian actor Kunal Kapoor in this film. In 2014, an Indian television series titled ‘Mujahid-e-Azadi – Ashfaqullah Khan’ was aired on DD Urdu in which Gaurav Nanda played the role of Ashfaqullah Khan. In 2018, a television series Chandrashekhar was aired on Star Bharat channel in which Chetanya Adeeb played the role of Ashfaqullah Khan.
Death
On 19 December 1927, Ashfaq Ullah Khan was hanged in Faizabad jail. His last words before being hanged were:
My hands are not dirty by killing humans. The allegation leveled against me is false. God will do justice”. La ilahi il Allah, Mohammad ur Rasool Allah.”
Facts/General Knowledge
- Ashfaq Ullah Khan was a great poet and writer of Urdu language. He had the habit of writing diaries. In one of his writings he mentions that no one in his father’s family was educated; However, his maternal grandfather and his family members were well educated and held prestigious positions under the English Empire.
- Ashfaqullah Khan’s elder brother Chhota Ullah Khan was a classmate of Indian revolutionary and prominent freedom fighter Ram Prasad Bismil. When Bismil was declared a fugitive by the British government after the Mainpuri Conspiracy, Ashfaq Ullah Khan used to tell stories of Bismil’s bravery to his elder brother.
- In 1920, Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil came to Shahjahanpur and Ashfaq Ullah Khan tried hard to meet him. In 1922, when the non-cooperation movement was started by Mahatma Gandhi, Ashfaqullah Khan was successful in meeting Bismil. He met Bismil in public meetings organized under this movement. The meetings between the two were limited only to exchange of poetry and mushairas. Khan used to show his poetry and ghazals to Bismil.
- Ram Prasad Bismil was a Hindu devotee; However, he did not believe in religion and caste. Ashfaqullah Khan was a Muslim who joined Bismil’s movement. Bismil’s goal as the leader of the movement was to bring freedom to the country irrespective of caste, color and religion. This ultimately led to their friendship becoming deeper. Ashfaq Ullah Khan, grandson of Ashfaq Ullah Khan, said in an interview that initially, Bismil was hesitant to accept Khan into his Hindustan Republican Association movement. He revealed,
Like other Pathans of Shahjahanpur, Khan’s family was prosperous and well off. His father was a Kotwal and hence it took time for Bismil to include him in the party. Bismil admitted that Khan had to endure a lot of pressure to reject him but he never relented. Their friendship was higher than ordinary friendship because it was based on similar ideologies, ideals and patriotism.
- To meet the expenses of the HRA movement, Ram Prasad Bismil and his associates looted some local villages before the Kakori train robbery in 1922. Ashfaqullah Khan used his brother’s licensed rifle and participated in these activities. When Ram Prasad Bismil planned the Kakori train robbery and explained the entire idea to his comrades, Khan listened to him quietly and later gave his opinion. Initially, he was against the robbery and said to abandon the plan as it would result in the death of many innocent people. He said,
Friends, I consider this a hasty step. This may be a good plan in some ways. But let us think about our strength and the strength of the government. A normal robbery does not involve much money. Moreover, the government will consider this as one of many normal incidents. So we will have to face what the police usually do in such cases. When he interferes with government money it will be a different story. The entire government machinery will be used to find and crush us. In my opinion we cannot escape investigation and punishment. Our party is not that strong. Let us abandon this plan.
However, the revolutionaries were in high spirits and did not heed Khan’s advice. Later they all decided to rob the train.
- Ashfaq Ullah Khan was martyred and became a great hero of Indian history. He is known as a patriot with clear thinking, courage and loyalty towards India, who fought against the British rule till his last breath.
- On 19 December 1997, a two-rupee stamp bearing the names and portraits of Ashfaqullah Khan and Ram Prasad Bismil was issued by the Indian Postal Service to honor their sacrifice during the freedom struggle.
A stamp bearing the names and photographs of Ashfaqullah Khan and Ram Prasad Bismil
- In January 2020, the Uttar Pradesh government announced the construction of a 121-acre zoo in the name of Shaheed Ashfaqullah Khan. The proposal provided an amount of Rs. 234 crores for zoological park.
- Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil’s grandson Raj Bahadur Tomar, while talking to a media house, revealed about the friendship between Ashfaqullah Khan and Ram Prasad Bismil. He said,
They were close friends, they lived and worked together. It is said that in the same room Bismil performed Havan and Khan offered Namaz. In fact, his life needs to be showcased as an example to emulate.”
An excerpt from a poem by Ashfaqullah Khan
- Brief biography of Shaheed Ashfaqullah Khan.
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Source: vcmp.edu.vn