- 11th June, 2021, marks the 124th birth anniversary of Ram Prasad Bismil, a poet-turned-revolutionary.
- Bismil, was born in 1897 in Shahjahanpur. He is credited as one of the key persons to have given impetus to the country’s struggle to free itself from decades of colonial rule.
- Apart from being a freedom fighter, he was a patriotic poet and wrote in Hindi and Urdu using the pen names Ram, Agyat and Bismil.
- At an early age, the death of a prominent Hindu Mahasabha leader stirred up feelings of patriotism in Bismil and he joined the Arya Samaj.
- Bismil was one of the founding members of the Hindustan Republican Association, a revolutionary organisation earlier known as Hindustan Republican Army.
- He formed an organisation “Matrivedi” with Genda Lal Dixit. Through this, they wanted to organise the youth of the country to fight the British government.
- Bismil was involved in the Mainpuri Conspiracy of 1918 in which police found a few young people including Bismil selling books that were proscribed by the government. Bismil escaped arrest by jumping into the Yamuna River.
- Bismil is perhaps most remembered for the Kakori Conspiracy Case. He was the mastermind behind the plan which was to loot a train carrying government money.
- The incident occurred on 9th August 1925, at Kakori, near Lucknow. Bismil stopped the train and looted the government treasury. He was joined by Chandrashekhar Azad, Ashfaqullah Khan, Roshan Singh and other revolutionaries.
- Bismil, Lahiri, Khan and Thakur Roshan Singh were awarded death sentences. While lodged in Gorakhpur Central Jail, Bismil went on a hunger strike demanding to be treated as a political prisoner.
- Bismil was hanged on 19th December, 1927, at Gorakhpur Jail. At the time he was just 30 years old.
- The freedom fighter had also published a pamphlet titled ‘Deshvasiyonkenamsandesh’. He translated some of Bengali books too.
- Besides these, a collection of poems – ‘Man Ki Lahar’ and ‘Swadeshi Rang’ was also written by him.
- “SarfaroshkiTamanna ab hamaredilmeinhai, dekhnakizorkitnabaazu-e-qatilmeinhai” – these immortal lines were also popularised by Bismil.
