Ashfaqulla Khan

Ashfaqulla Khan (Urdu: اشفاق اللہ خان, Hindi: अशफा़क़ुल्ला ख़ान) (October 22, 1900 - December 19 1927) was a freedom fighter in Indian independence movement.

Childhood

Ashfaqulla Khan was born in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh. His father, Shafiqur Rahman was posted in the police department. His mother's name was Mazharunissa. Ashfaqullah was the youngest amongst his six siblings. Ashfaq was in school when Mahatma Gandhi Called the Non-Cooperation Movement.

Non-cooperation Movement

After Mahatma Gandhi withdrew the Non-Cooperation Movement after the Chauri Chaura incident, many Indian youths were left dejected. [ [http://pib.nic.in/feature/feyr2000/fdec2000/f151220001.html] "ASHFAQULLA KHAN : THE IMMORTAL REVOLUTIONARY" - Government of India] Ashfaq was one of them. He felt that India should become free as soon as possible and so he decided to join the revolutionaries and also win the friendship of Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, a famous revolutionary of Shahjahanpur.

Friendship with Pandit Ramprasad Bismil

Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, a member of the Arya Samaj, was eager to explain the greatness of the Hindu religion to those belonging to other religion. Initially this was a difficulty for Ashfaq who was a devout Muslim. Nevertheless, the common goal of Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaq was India's freedom. This helped him to win over the friendship of Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil. They died on the same day, as martyrs for India, but in different jails. [ [http://pib.nic.in/feature/feyr2000/fdec2000/f151220001.html Feature ] ] .

Kakori train robbery

To give a fillip to their movement and buy arms and ammunition to carry out their activities, the revolutionaries organised a meeting on August 8 1925 in Shahjahanpur. After a lot of deliberations it was decided to loot the government treasury carried in the trains. On 9 August 1925 Ashfaqulla and other revolutionaries, namely Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, Rajendra Lahiri, Thakur Roshan Singh, Sachindra Bakshi, Chandrashekar Azad, Keshab Chakravarthy, Banwari Lal, Mukundi Lal, Manmathnath Gupta looted the train carrying British government money in Kakori near Lucknow.

On the morning of 26 September 1925, Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil was caught by the police and Ashfaq was the only one untraced by the police. Ashfaq went into hiding and moved to Banaras from Bihar where he worked in an engineering company for 10 months. Ashfaq wanted to move abroad to learn engineering to further help the freedom struggle and so he went to Delhi to find out ways to move out of the country. He took the help of one of his Pathan friend who in turn betrayed him by informing the police about his whereabouts." [ [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/799244.cms] Times of India - "Daredevilry of sons of the soil"]

Ashfaqullah Khan was detained in the Faizabad jail. A case was filed against Ashfaqullah. His brother Riyasatullah was his counsel who fought the case till the very end. While in jail, Ashfaqullah recited the Quran. The case for the Kakori dacoity was concluded by awarding death sentence to Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Lahiri and Thankur Roshan Singh. The others were given life sentences.

Popular media portrayal

The actions of Ashfaqullah Khan and his compatriots have recently been depicted in an Aamir Khan starrer hit Bollywood movie Rang De Basanti, where his character was depicted by actor Kunal Kapoor. accessdate=09-03-2006]

ee also

*Hindustan Socialist Republican Association
*Communist Party of India (Marxist)
*Sukhdev Thapar
*Chandrashekar Azad
*Rajguru
*Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil
*Thakur Roshan Singh
*Shahjahanpur
*Shahjahanpur District

References