Unsung heroes of India's freedom movement: Ram Prasad Bismil

New Delhi: Born on 11 June 1897 in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, Ram Prasad Bismil was a brave revolutionary who gave up his life smilingly for the sake of the Motherland. He was persecuted by an enraged British government, hunted by the police and betrayed by follow workers. And yet he lit the fire of revolution to push India on the road to freedom. He led the famous Kakori rail dacoity conspiracy. His poetry is also a lamp lighted at the altar of Motherland. Bismil was one of the founder members of the revolutionary organisation Hindustan Republican Association. Shaheed 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. The poem Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna is also popularly attributed to him, although some writers say that "Bismil" Azimabadi actually wrote the poem and Ram Prasad Bismil immortalized it. Ram Prasad Bismil first participated in the Mainpuri Conspiracy in the year 1918. He later, joined the Hindustan Republican Association, where he met Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and others. These people inspired him to become a revolutionary and fight for the freedom of his motherland. His name is primarily connected with the Kakori Train Robbery. With his friend, another great revolutionary of India, Ashfaquallah Khan, Bismil carried out revolutionary activities in Shahjahanpur. In the year 1925, during his journey by train from Shahjahanpur to Lucknow, he discerned that bags filled with money were taken into the guard's van and kept inside an iron safe. On August 9, 1925, they executed a plan to rob money from the train at Kakori. This incident made him quite popular as it had the imprint of Ram Prasad Bilmil. This incident wobbled the British government and they issued a warrant against the revolutionaries of the Hindustan Republican Association, except against Chadrashekhar Azad. On 26th September, Ram Prasad Bismil was arrested and taken into custody by the British government, after a month long search and was produced in court. Indian lawyers tried to the best of their abilities to save him as well as the other revolutionaries, but they failed. Bismil was found guilty of the incident and was given death sentence together with Ashfaqullah Khan and two others and the rest were sentenced to life imprisonment. On 19th December 1927, at the age of 30, Bismil was hanged till death. His death was a great loss to the nation as it lost a great leader as well as a great patriot."Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai, Dekha hai zor kitna baaju-e-qaatil me hai", wrote Bismil, and thus ended the brave life of an Indian revolutionary.