Ram Prasad Bismil was an Indian revolutionary who participated in Mainpuri conspiracy of 1918, and the Kakori conspiracy of 1925, and struggled against British imperialism. As well as being a freedom fighter, he was also a patriotic poet and wrote in Hindi and Urdu using the pen names Ram, Agyat and Bismil. But, he became popular with the last name "Bismil" only. He was associated with Arya Samaj where he got inspiration from Satyarth Prakash, a book written by Swami Dayanand Saraswati. He also had a confidential connection with Lala Har Dayal through his guru Swami Somdev, a preacher of Arya Samaj.
Bismil was one of the founder members of the revolutionary organisation Hindustan Republican Association. Bhagat Singh praised him as a great poet-writer of Urdu and Hindi, who had also translated the books Catherine from English and Bolshevikon Ki Kartoot from Bengali. Several inspiring patriotic verses are attributed to him; these include the poem Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna.
Contents
Ram Prasad Bismil was born on 11 June 1897 to Murlidhar and Moolmati at Shahjahanpur, in United Province, British India. He learnt Hindi from his father at home and was sent to learn Urdu from a moulvi.
He was admitted to an English-language school, despite of his father's
disapproval, and also joined the Arya Samaj in Shahjahanpur. Bismil
showed a talent for writing patriotic poetry.
Contact with Somdev
As an 18-year old student, Bismil read of the death sentence passed on Bhai Parmanand, a scholar and companion of Har Dayal.
At that time he was regularly attending the Arya Samaj Temple at
Shahjahanpur daily, where Swami Somdev, a friend of Paramanand, was
staying. Angered by the sentence, Bismil composed a poem in Hindi titled
Mera Janm (en: My Birth), which he showed to Somdev. This poem demonstrated a commitment to remove the British control over India.
Lucknow Congress
Bismil left school in the following year and travelled to Lucknow with some friends. The Naram Dal (of the Indian National Congress) was not prepared to allow the Garam Dal
to stage a grand welcome of Tilak in the city. They organised a group
of youths and decided to publish a book in Hindi on the history of
American independence, America Ki Swatantrata Ka Itihas, with the
consent of Somdev. This book was published under the authorship of the
fictitious Babu Harivans Sahai and its publisher's name was given as
Somdev Siddhgopal Shukla. As soon as the book was published, the
government of Uttar Pradesh proscribed its circulation within the state.
Mainpuri Conspiracy
Bismil formed a revolutionary organisation called Matrivedi (Altar of Motherland) and contacted Pt. Genda Lal Dixit, a school teacher at Auraiya.
Som Dev arranged this, knowing that Bismil could be more effective in
his mission if he had experienced people to support him. Dixit had
contacts with some powerful dacoits of the state. Dixit wanted to
utilise their power in the armed struggle against the British rulers.
Like Bismil, Dixit had also formed an armed organisation of youths
called Shivaji Samiti (named after Shivaji). The pair organised youths from the Etawah, Mainpuri, Agra and Shahjahanpur districts of United Province (now Uttar Pradesh) to strengthen their organisations.
On 28 January 1918, Bismil published a pamphlet titled Deshvasiyon Ke Nam Sandesh (A Message to Countrymen), which he distributed along with his poem Mainpuri Ki Pratigya (Vow of Mainpuri).
To collect funds for the party looting was undertaken on three
occasions in 1918. Police searched for them in and around Mainpuri while
they were selling books proscribed by the U.P. Government in the Delhi
Congress of 1918. When police found them, Bismil absconded with the
books unsold. When he was planning another looting between Delhi and
Agra, a police team arrived and firing started from both the sides.
Bismil jumped into the Yamuna
and swam underwater. The police and his companions thought that he had
died in the encounter. Dixit was arrested along with his other
companions and was kept in Agra fort.
From here, he fled to Delhi and lived in hiding. A criminal case was
filed against them. The incident is known as the "Mainpuri Conspiracy"
against the British King Emperor. On 1 November 1919 the Judiciary
Magistrate of Mainpuri B.S. Chris announced the judgement against all
accused and declared Dixit and Bismil as absconders.
Underground activities
From 1919 to 1920 Bismil remained inconspicuous, moving around
various villages in Uttar Pradesh and producing several books. Among
these was a collection of poems written by him and others, entitled Man Ki Lahar, while he also translated two works from Bengali (Bolshevikon Ki Kartoot and Yogik Sadhan) and fabricated Catherine or Swadhinta Ki Devi from an English text. He got all these books published through his own resources under Sushilmala – a series of publications except one Yogik Sadhan
which was given to a publisher who absconded and could not be traced.
These books have since been found. Another of Bismil's books, Kranti Geetanjali, was published in 1929 after his death and was proscribed by British Raj in 1931.
Formation of Hindustan Republican Association
In February 1920, when all the prisoners in the Mainpuri conspiracy
case were freed, Bismil returned home to Shahjahanpur, where he agreed
with the official authorities that he would not participate in
revolutionary activities. This statement of Ram Prasad was also recorded
in vernacular before the court.
In 1921, Bismil was among the many people from Shahjahanpur who attended the Ahmedabad Congress. He had a seat on the dias, along with the senior congressman Prem Krishna Khanna, and the revolutionary Ashfaqulla Khan. Bismil played an active role in the Congress with Maulana Hasrat Mohani and got the most debated proposal of Poorna Swaraj passed in the General Body meeting of Congress. Mohandas K. Gandhi,
who was not in the favour of this proposal became quite helpless before
the overwhelming demand of youths. He returned to Shahjahanpur and
mobilised the youths of United Province for non-co-operation with the
Government. The people of U.P. were so much influenced by the furious
speeches and verses of Bismil that they became hostile against British
Raj. As per statement of Banarsi Lal (approver) made in the court – "Ram Prasad used to say that independence would not be achieved by means of non-violence."
In February 1922 some agitating farmers were killed in Chauri Chaura by the police.
The police station of Chauri Chaura was attacked by the people and 22
policemen were burnt alive. Gandhi, without ascertaining the facts
behind this incident, declared an immediate stop the non-co-operation
movement without consulting any executive committee member of the
Congress. Bismil and his group of youths strongly opposed Gandhi in the Gaya session of Indian National Congress (1922). When Gandhi refused to rescind his decision, its then president Chittranjan Das resigned and the Indian National Congress was divided into two groups – the Naram Dal and the Garam Dal. In January 1923, the rich group of party formed a new Swaraj Party under the joint leadership of Pt. Moti Lal Nehru and Chittranjan Das, and the youth group formed a revolutionary party under the leadership of Bismil.
Yellow Paper constitution
With the consent of Lala Har Dayal, Bismil went to Allahabad where he drafted the constitution of the party in 1923 with the help of Sachindra Nath Sanyal and another revolutionary of Bengal, Dr. Jadugopal Mukherjee. The basic name and aims of the organisation were typed on a Yellow Paper and later on a subsequent Constitutional Committee Meeting was conducted on 3 October 1924 at Kanpur in U.P. under the Chairmanship of Sachindra Nath Sanyal.
This meeting decided the name of the party would be the Hindustan Republican Association
(HRA). After a long discussion from others Bismil was declared there
the District Organiser of Shahjahanpur and Chief of Arms Division. An
additional responsibility of Provincial Organiser of United Province
(Agra and Oudh) was also entrusted to him. Sachindra Nath Sanyal, was
unanimously nominated as National Organiser and another senior member Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee, was given the responsibility of Coordinator, Anushilan Samiti.
After attending the meeting in Kanpur, both Sanyal and Chatterjee left
the U.P. and proceeded to Bengal for further extension of the
organisation.
Manifesto of H.R.A.
Main article: Manifesto of H.R.A.
A pamphlet entitled as The Revolutionary was distributed
throughout the United Province in India about the end of January 1925.
Copies of this leaflet, referred to in the evidence as the "White
Leaflet", were also found with some other alleged conspirators of Kakori
Conspiracy as per judgement of the Chief Court of Oudh. A typed copy of
this manifesto was found with Manmath Nath Gupta. It was nothing but the Manifesto of H.R.A.
in the form of a four paged printed pamphlet on white paper which was
circulated secretly by post and by hands in most of the districts of
United Province and other parts of India.
This pamphlet bore no name of the printing press. The heading of the
pamphlet was: "The Revolutionary" (An Organ of the Revolutionary Party
of India). It was given 1st number and 1st issue of the publication. The
date of its publication was given as 1 January 1925.
Kakori conspiracy
Bismil executed a meticulous plan for looting the government treasury carried in a train at Kakori,
near Lucknow in U.P. This historical event happened on 9 August 1925
and is known as the Kakori conspiracy. Ten revolutionaries stopped the 8
Down Saharanpur-Lucknow passenger train at Kakori – a station just
before the Lucknow Railway Junction. German-made Mauser C96
semi-automatic pistols were used in this action. Ashfaqulla Khan, the
lieutenant of the HRA Chief Ram Prasad Bismil gave away his Mauser to Manmath Nath Gupta
and engaged himself to break open the cash chest. Eagerly watching a
new weapon in his hand, Manmath Nath Gupta fired the pistol and
incidentally a passenger Ahmed Ali, who got down the train to see his
wife in ladies compartment, was killed in this rapid action. More than 40 revolutionaries were arrested whereas only 10 persons
had taken part in the decoity. Persons completely unrelated to the
incident were also captured. However some of them were let off.
The government appointed Jagat Narain Mulla as public prosecuter at an
incredible fee. Dr Harkaran Nath Mishra (Barrister M.L.A.) and Dr. Mohan
Lal Saxena (M.L.C.) were appointed as defence councellers. The defence
committee was also formed to defend the accused. Govind Ballabh Pant, Chandra Bhanu Gupta
and Kripa Shankar Hajela defended their case. The men were found guilty
and subsequent appeals failed. On 16 September 1927, a final appeal for
clemency was forwarded to the Privy Council in London but that also failed. Following 18 months of legal process, Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Roshan Singh and Rajendra Nath Lahiri were sentenced to death. Bismil was hanged on 19 December 1927 at Gorakhpur Jail, Ashfaqulla Khan at the Faizabad Jail and Roshan Singh at Naini Allahabad Jail. Lahiri had been hanged two days earlier at Gonda Jail.
Cremation
Bismil's body was taken to the Rapti river for a Hindu cremation, and the site became known as Rajghat.
Literary works
Bismil was known for his poems that acted as motivation for his fellow revolutionaries. Among them, Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna is the most well-known.
He had also published a pamphlet titled Deshvasiyon ke nam sandesh (en: A message to my countrymen. While living underground, he translated some of Bengali books viz. Bolshevikon Ki Kartoot (en: The Bolshevik's programme) and Yogik Sadhan (of Arvind Ghosh). Beside these a collection of poems Man Ki Lahar (en: A sally of mind) and Swadeshi Rang was also written by him. Another Swadhinta ki devi: Catherine was fabricated from an English book into Hindi. All of these were published by him in Sushil Mala series. Bismil wrote his autobiography while he was kept as condemned prisoner in Gorakhpur jail.
The autobiography of Ram Prasad Bismil was published under the cover title of Kakori ke shaheed by Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi in 1928 from Pratap Press, Kanpur.
A rough translation of this book was got prepared by the Criminal
Investigation Department of United Province in British India. Translated
book was circulated as confidential document for official and police
use throughout the country.
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