India@75: Ashfaqulla Khan, the youngster who fought against British rule

Ashfaqulla Khan was the youngster who was the co-founder of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association along with Bhagat Singh. Khan was born in a Pathan family at Shahjahanpur in present Uttar Pradesh. 

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Even as a boy, he was attracted to the freedom movement. Khan was among the young nationalists disillusioned with the withdrawal of the non-cooperation movement by Gandhiji after the violent incident at Chauri Chaura. They formed a new organisation for an armed uprising against foreign rule. 

On August 9, 1925, Khan, Chandrasekhar Azad and their friends made headlines by waylaying and robbing a government train at Kakori near Lucknow. They intended to raise funds for their organisation. 

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Khan managed to escape the police and reached Delhi. Before leaving the country, a friend betrayed him and tipped the police about Khan’s whereabouts.

Khan was arrested in connection with the Kakori case and executed along with his comrades like Ram Prasad Bismil, Rajendra Lahiri, Roshan Singh and others at Faizabad jail on December 19 1927. 

The famed Hindi film Rang De Basanti is based on Khan and his comrades. A zoological garden at the cost of Rs 230 crores is coming up in Uttar Pradesh in Khan’s name.

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