Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil

In News

Recently, the Ministry of Culture has held a special ceremony at Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, the birthplace of Ram Prasad Bismil, to mark his 124^th birth anniversary.

• This event was held as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

About Ram Prasad Bismil

(Image Courtesy: IE)

• Birth: Born to a Brahmin family on 11^th June, 1897 in Shahjahanpur (Uttar Pradesh).
• Early Life
  • He was associated with the Arya Samaj from an early age and joined it despite his father’s disapproval.
  • The ideals of freedom and revolution got first ingrained in his mind after he read the death sentence passed on Bhai Parmanand, an Indian nationalist and Arya Samaj missionary.
  • He started writing powerful patriotic poems in Urdu and Hindi under the pen names of ‘Bismil’, ‘Ram’ and ‘Agyat’ from the age of 19.
  • He used to sell his books to buy weapons needed for the revolution.
• Contributions
  • He was among the most notable Indian revolutionaries who fought British colonialism.
  • He was a revolutionary personality and an inspiration to the youngsters of the country.
  • His ideals of freedom struggle stood in stark contrast to that of Mahatma Gandhi’s non violence.
  • He attended the 1921 session of the Indian National Congress at Ahmedabad.
  • After conflicting views and growing resentment with the Congress party, he formed the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) with leaders like Bhagat Singh and Chandrasekhar Azad, in 1924.
    • The association was based on equal rights and an end to discrimination.
  • He participated in the Mainpuri conspiracy of 1918 and the Kakori conspiracy of 1925 with Ashfaq Ullah Khan and Roshan Singh to protest against the British Rule.
• Literary Works
  • He expressed his anger on the death sentence of Bhai Parmanand in the form of his poem ‘Mera Janm’.
  • He had a good command of Urdu and Hindi and was also a multilingual translator.
  • His poem Manipuri’s Pratigya became very famous.
  • While in jail, he wrote ‘Mera Rang De Basanti Chola’, ‘Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna’ and his autobiography which is considered as one of the finest works in Hindi literature.
    • It was later published under the cover title of ‘Kakori ke Shaheed’.
• Death
  • For his role in the Kakori conspiracy, the British government executed him at the age of 30, on 19^th December 1927 in Gorakhpur Jail, Uttar Pradesh.
  • He was cremated on the banks of Rapti river and the site later came to be known as Raj Ghat.
    • Rapti joins Ghaghara river, which is a major left bank tributary of the Ganga.

Source: AIR