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Ashfaqulla Khan(October 22, 1900-December 19 1927) was a freedom fighter in Indian independence movement.
Childhood
Ashfaqulla Khan was born to in Shahjanpur, 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. 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 Ram Prasad Bismil, a famous revolutionary of Shahjahanpur.
Frienship With Ramprasad Bismil
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. This was a difficulty for Ashfaq who was a devout Muslim. Nevertheless, the common goal of Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaq was India's freedom. This helped him to win over the friendship of Ram Prasad. They died on the same day, as martyrs for India, but in different jails. .
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 Ram Prasad Bismil, Rajendra Lahiri, Thakur Roshan Singh, Sachindra Bakshi, Chandrashekar Azad, Keshab Chakravarthy, Banwari Lal, Mukundi Lal, Man- mathnath Gupta looted the train carrying government money in Kakori village.
On the morning of 26th September 1925, 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. Tasadruk Khan then superintendent of police tried to play the caste politics with Ashfaq and tried to win him over by provoking him against Hinduism but Ashfaq was a strong willed Indian who surprised Tasadruk Khan by saying "Khan Sahib, I am quite sure that Hindu India will be much better than British India."
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 Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Lahiri and Roshan the others were given life sentences.
Death
Ashfaqullah Khan was hanged on 19 December 1927. The mausoleum of Ashfaqullah Khan in Shahjahanpur is now a memorial. It has been said by some historians that Ashfaqulla Khan was the first Muslim to be hanged in a conspiracy case. His last message to the nation wrote, "I take pride in the fact that I will be the first and foremost Muslim to embrace death on the gallows for the freedom of my country."
References
- "ASHFAQULLA KHAN : THE IMMORTAL REVOLUTIONARY" - Government of India
- http://pib.nic.in/feature/feyr2000/fdec2000/f151220001.html
- Times of India - "Daredevilry of sons of the soil"