Revolutionaries of the freedom struggle

Secret societies and fiery papers

From the late 19th century, newspapers in English and Indian languages exposed colonial injustice. The Bengali paper Yugantar, run by Barindra Ghose’s group and linked to the Anushilan Samiti (founded in 1902), openly called for revolt. In Maharashtra, V.D. Savarkar’s Abhinav Bharat was active. These groups trained young people and believed that only force would end British rule.

Khudiram Bose and the Alipore trial

In April 1908, Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki threw bombs at a carriage they thought carried judge Douglas Kingsford, known for harsh sentences on Swadeshi activists; two British women were killed instead. Prafulla shot himself, and Khudiram, just 18, was hanged; crowds showered flowers on his funeral procession. Aurobindo Ghose, his brother Barindra and others were then arrested. In the year-long Alipore Bomb trial, Aurobindo, defended by Chittaranjan Das, was acquitted; Barindra’s death sentence was reduced to life in the Andamans. More attacks followed: at Nashik in 1909, near Tirunelveli in 1911 and on Viceroy Hardinge in Delhi in 1912.

Ghadar and Bagha Jatin

The Ghadar Party, founded by Indians in North America such as Lala Hardayal and Sohan Singh Bhakna, planned a mutiny in the British Indian Army in 1914–15, during World War I. In India, Rash Behari Bose, Sachin Sanyal and Kartar Singh Sarabha tried to win over soldiers, but the plot was discovered; Kartar Singh was hanged at 19, and Rash Behari Bose escaped to Japan. Bagha Jatin, of the Anushilan Samiti, prepared to receive German arms; surrounded near Balasore on 9 September 1915, he and his companions fought a 75-minute gun battle, and he died of his wounds the next day.

Kala Pani

Many revolutionaries were sent to the Cellular Jail in the Andaman Islands, known as ‘Kala Pani’, black water. Built for solitary confinement, it was meant to break their spirit with brutal labour, such as pressing oil by hand, and harsh punishments. Barindra Ghose and V.D. Savarkar later described its horrors; many prisoners died there. The jail became a symbol of sacrifice.

Kakori, Bhagat Singh and after

In the 1920s, those who found Gandhi’s nonviolence too slow formed the Hindustan Republican Association. Its members, with Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan and Azad among their leaders, seized government money from a train at Kakori; Bismil and Ashfaqulla were later executed. Renamed the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, it was led by Azad and Bhagat Singh. To avenge Lala Lajpat Rai, they shot a British police officer in 1928; in 1929 Bhagat Singh dropped two low-intensity bombs in the Central Legislative Assembly ‘to make the deaf hear’. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were hanged in 1931, aged 22 to 23. Women joined too: Suniti Chowdhury, Shanti Ghosh and Bina Das acted in 1931, and in 1940 Udham Singh shot O’Dwyer in London.

Their place in the story

The revolutionaries rarely achieved their immediate aims, but their courage won wide popular support and rattled the government. Historians today count them among the many forces that ended British rule. Compare their path with others in early nationalism and reform and Gandhi and the mass movements, or see the Chapter 2 notes and NCERT solutions.