“Jaunga khali magar yeh dard saath hi jayega, jane kis din Hindostan azzad watan kehlayega.”
- Ashfaqulla Khan
Ashfaqulla Khan was a freedom fighter in the Indian Independence movement. He was born on Oct. 22, 1900, in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh. His father Shafiqur Rahman worked in the police department.
In 1920, Mahatma Gandhi launched the non-cooperation movement against British rule, which had a great significance in his life and later encouraged him to become a freedom fighter. However, after the Chauri Chaura incident in 1922, Mahatma Gandhi decided to withdraw the call for a non-cooperation movement - many young people felt depressed and Khan was one of them.
At that time he felt the urge to free India from British rule as soon as possible. Thus, he decided to form an organisation with like-minded freedom fighters; which resulted in the formation of the Hindustan Republican Association. Founded in 1924, the purpose of this association was to organise armed revolutions in order to free India.
During that period, he formed a good friendship with Ram Prasad Bismil, a prominent revolutionary of Shahjahanpur and a member of the Arya Samaj. Though they had differences in faith, their objective was to free India from the shackles of British rule.
On Aug. 8, 1925, the revolutionaries organised a meeting in Shahjahanpur and decided to rob the government treasury carried on the train to buy arms. On Aug. 9, 1925, a group of extremists, including Bismil and Khan robbed the train in Kakori village. The ‘Kakori Train Robbery’ is one of the biggest known robberies in history.
Following the robbery, Khan was labelled as a terrorist by the British government. However, even after one month of the train robbery, the British government was unable to arrest any of the train robbers.
On Sept. 26, 1925, the police caught Bismil and Khan was the only one untraced by the police. At that time, Khan had already left Bihar and started working in an engineering company in Banaras. He worked there for around 10 months and he desired to move abroad in order to learn engineering to further help the freedom struggle.
Therefore, he decided to go to Delhi to figure out the ways to move out of the country. Unfortunately, the fate was not working in his favour. He took the help of his previous classmate, but his friend betrayed him and informed the police about Khan’s whereabouts.
After that, Khan was detained in the Faridabad jail and later the police concluded the Kakori case, awarding a death sentence to Bismil, Khan, and other freedom fighters. Khan was hanged on Dec. 19, 1927, at Faridabad jail. His compatriots have been depicted in the film Rang De Basanti, where his character was played by Kunal Kapoor.
It is the birthright and good fortune of every Indian to serve India. To whatever religion a man belongs, his first and highest duty is to serve the nation- this was the lesson he wrote in the hearts of all people. He became a martyr and a legend among his people due to his love for the motherland, his clear thinking, his courage, and his loyalty.