Early Life
Chandra Shekhar Azad, the most powerful man rendered his life for the sake of India and its freedom, he is most often called Pandit Ji by his partymen after the death of Bismil as a token of regard, was an armed revolutionary. After the first Indian Rebellion of 1857, he was one amongst the many Indian revolutionaries to use arms in their fight for independence against the British rulers. He was born to an impoverished Brahmin family. He believed that it was his prime duty (Dharm in Hindustani) to fight for the right of others. It was also his belief that a soldier never relinquishes his weapon.
Chandra Shekhar Azad was born on July 23,1906 in Bhabra,dist. Alirajpur Madhya Pradesh,India . His father, Pandit Sita Ram Tiwari, was serving in Alirajpur State- former princessly state of Madhya Pradesh in British India and stayed there at Bhavra village where this child, whose nick name was Chandu used to play with the orphans of Bhil tribes. He learnt from them the natural archery and shooting of birds and forest animals. His mother Jagrani Devi wanted to make her son a great Sanskrit scholar, so she pressurised his father to send him to Kashi Vidyapeeth, Benaras for studying Sanskrit. In December 1921, when Mohandas K. Gandhi launched the Non-Cooperation Movement, many students came out of their schools and colleges to join the movement. Chandra Shekhar was also one of them, who not only actively participated in the protest movement, but also faced the brutal conflict with the police. As a result he was arrested and received his first punishment at the teen age of fifteen and a half years. For this act of civil disobedience, when the magistrate asked his name, he immediately replied- "Azad" meaning bondless. When he was asked to tell his father's name, he told- "Swatantra" meaning self-esteemed. The magistrate became annoyed and asked in a rough tone- "Where is thy abode?" Without any hesitation he answered- "Jailkhana" meaning prison. Then the magistrate tried to teach him a lesson for his nonsense replies. He immediately ordered him for a fifteen days' imprisonment. Over the punishment he again commented- "Sir! I had correctly mentioned my abode because I knew you will certainly keep me there." The people present in the court laughed very loudly over the reply of Chandra Shekhar. The magistrate, who had totally lost his temper asked the policemen to punish him with the strong strokes of fifteen lashes. With each stroke of the whip he shouted boldly- "Bharat Mata Ki Jai !" (en.hail my motherland). From that point onwards, Chandra Shekhar assumed the title of 'Azad' and came to be known as Chandra Shekhar 'Azad'.
Revolutionary life
After suspension of the non-cooperation movement in 1922 by Gandhi, Azad became more aggressive and violent. He committed himself to achieve complete independence by any means. To fulfil his commitment he was in search of an organisation. He met a young revolutionary Pranvesh Chatterji who introduced him to Ram Prasad who had till then formed the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), a revolutionary organisation. In the very first introduction Bismil was impressed by Azad, when he put his hand over the lighing lamp and did not remove till the smell of burning the skin did not spread all over the atmosphere. Bismil extinguished the lamp by firing a bullet from his pistol and embraced Azad. This is a true incidence of Shahjahanpur. He became active member of HRA and started participating in the actions of party to collect the funds for HRA These actions were nothing but the dacoities (en.robberies) in the party's code words. The ultimate aim of HRA was full Indian independence where there be equal right and equal opportunity to every one without caste, creed, religion or social status and Azad liked it since very beginning. He also wanted to build a new India based on socialist principles. Azad and his compatriots also planned and executed several acts of violence against the British. Most of his revolutionary activities were planned executed from Shahjahanpur which was the home town of Ram Prasad. He was physically involved in the famous Kakori Train Robbery of 1925. Later on in the attempt to blow up the Viceroy's train in 1926, and at last the shooting of J.P. Saunders at Lahore in 1928 to avenge the killing of Lala Lajpat Rai.
Daredevil's Death
In the last week of Feb, 1931 Azad went to Sitapur Jail and met Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi. He had a hope in his mind that Vidyarthiji would do something in the case of Bhagat Singh and others as he had previously done in the Kakori conspiracy case. Vidyarthi suggested him to go to Allahabad and meet Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru because he would be more useful than any body else. If he is convinced he can persuade [Gandhi to talk to the Viceroy Lord Irwin in reaching an agreement with the British Government in the forthcoming Gandhi-Irwin Pact. Azad met Pandit Nehru in the early morning of 27 February 1931 at his residence Anand Bhawan in Allahabad. He tried to convince Nehru but the result was not fruitful. In stead of getting convinced by arguments Nehru asked Azad to leave his place go away from there. Azad could not tolerate it at all and moved away murmuring something in his mouth.
From Anand Bhawan he reached straightforward to the Alfred Park on his bicycle. He sat under a tree of Jamun (in. Hindi) after standing his bicycle behind the tree. He was discussing some confidential matter with Sukhdev Raj who was a man of his party. In the meantime a police jeep arrived there. Deputy Superintendent of Police Bisheshwar Singh alongwith S.S.P.(C.I.D.) John Nott-Bower got down from the jeep. Nott-Bower, by pointing his finger towards Azad, wanted to tell Bisheshwar Singh that this corpulent man is the exact person to whom he was informed just now by some reliable sources. Seeing a policeman pointing out his finger towards him, Azad immediately dragged out his Colt pistol from pocket and fired at the right wrist of S.S.P. John Nott-Bower. "What a wonderful shot!"- cried Sukhdev Raj and took the shelter of a tree at once. Looking his senior officer soaked in blood, Bisheshwar Singh abused Azad and called him with bad names. Immediately another bullet from Azad's pistol hit his mouth breaking the jaw of Bisheshwar Singh. Within a few minutes a huge number of policemen surrounded the whole ground of Alfred Park. During the initial encounter, Azad suffered a severe bullet wound in his right thigh, making it difficult for him to escape. But even than he made it possible for Sukhdev Raj to escape away by providing him a cover fire. After Sukhdev Raj escaped, Azad managed to keep the police at bay for a long time.
Finally, with only one bullet left in his pistol after being completely surrounded and outnumbered, Chandra Shekhar Azad shot himself, keeping his pledge to never be captured alive. However, British managed to fabricate the story in the police report as well as in Post Mortem record and stated that he was killed in the police encounter by a troop leaded by John Reginald Hornby Nott-Bower. This police officer was also awarded by King's Police Medal (KPM Award) in 1949 for encountering Chandra Shekhar Azad. According to the reliable sources a C.I.D. Inspector Ram Vadan Singh had given this information to Chowdhury Vishal Singh, the Officer-In-Charge of Colonelganj Police Station Allahabad that his S.S.P. alongwith one Dy.S.P. have been seriously injured from a severe attack by some Indian revolutionary. The police officers who came after the death of Azad did not approach his dead body for about half an hours. When a buckshot gun was fired into his tibia bone and no movement was noticed in the body only then the police could touch his dead body.[1] The secret file related to Azad is preserved in C.I.D. Headquarters, 1, Gokhale Marg, Lucknow. The Colt pistol of Chandra Shekhar Azad shown hereinabove on left hand side is displayed at the Azad Museum Allahabad alongwith a rare photo of his dead body, sketch of which is also given here on left hand side.
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