Kakori Train Action Centenary: A Revolutionary Deed That United a Divided Country

August 9, 2024 marks the beginning of centenary year celebrations of the famous Kakori Train Dacoity which was led by Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan, Chandrashekhar Azad and others during a glorious phase of our freedom struggle. Interestingly, this act, full of daredevilry and heroism, happened at a time when India was deeply divided due to rampant communal polarisation and Hindu-Muslim riots had torn apart the social fabric of North India. And yet one incident changed everything and reunited the Indian people against their common enemy i.e. the British Raj. What is the importance of this event in our history and contemporary times?

HRA — The Organisation Behind Kakori Train Action

HRA or the Hindustan Republican Association was formed in 1923 by veteran revolutionary Sachindranath Sanyal, who had just returned from kalapani and unlike V D Savarkar had not asked for pardon from the British, following the withdrawal of Non-Cooperation Movement by Gandhiji and the success of Russian Revolution in 1917. In the manifesto of HRA, The Revolutionary, Sanyal wrote:

“The immediate object of the revolutionary party in the domain of politics is to establish a federal Republic of United States of India by an organized and armed revolution. The final constitution of this Republic shall be framed and declared at a time when the representatives of India shall have the power to carry out their decision. But the basic principles of this Republic will be universal suffrage and abolition of all system which make the exploitation of man by man possible, e.g. the railways and other means of transportation and communication, the mines and other kinds of great industries such as the manufacture of steel and ships, all these shall be nationalised. In this Republic the electors shall have the right to recall (emphasis mine) their representatives, if so desired, otherwise the democracy shall become a mockery. In this Republic, the legislature shall have the power to control the executive and replace it whenever necessity will arise.

The revolutionary party is not national but international in the sense that its ultimate object is to bring harmony in the world by respecting and guaranteeing the diverse interests of the different nations. It aims at cooperation between the different nations and in this respect it follows the footsteps of great Indian Rishis of the glorious past and of Bolshevik Russia in the modern age. Good for humanity is no vain and empty word with the Indian revolutionaries.” 

Apart from colonial oppression, communal disharmony was on rise in North India in the 1920s and there had been several riots in districts like Kanpur which were strongholds of HRA. HRA revolutionaries openly came out against communal politics and declared “the revolutionary party contemplates to grant whatever rights the different communities may demand, provided they do not clash with the interests of other communities and they lead ultimately to hearty and organic union of different communities in the near future.” What a mature and relevant ideological position for our times!

They further stated:

“In the domain of economic and social welfare the party will foster the spirit of cooperation on as large a scale as possible. Instead of private and unorganised business enterprises, the party prefers cooperative union. In the spiritual domain the party aims at establishing the Truth and preaching that the world in not Maya, an illusion to be ignored and despised at, but that it is the manifestation of the one individual soul, the supreme source of all power, all knowledge and all beauty.”

HRA’s manifesto was a pathbreaking document, as for the first time our freedom fighters openly stood for a democratic, secular and socialist India. These young revolutionaries aimed at establishment of a federal Republic which was again a vision much ahead of its times.

Kakori: An Act of Daredevilry

HRA organised a number of ‘money actions’ to raise funds for the revolutionary movement and raided the houses of rich landlords, moneylenders, and traders. But soon the party’s military in-charge, Ram Prasad Bismil, realised that these actions put the lives of innocent people in danger and hence were not worth it. That is why he decided to attack the government treasury this time and planned the Kakori train action. His most trusted friend and comrade Ashfaqullah Khan opposed it as this would put the party into direct clash with the government which could be detrimental for the former (eventually this proved to be right) but Bismil’s proposal was accepted by majority of the members of the organisation. Being a disciplined soldier of the party, Ashfaq accepted the decision and participated in the action wholeheartedly.

On August 9, 1925, ten HRA revolutionaries boarded the 8-down passenger train from Lucknow which was bound to Saharanpur. They stopped the train near a sleepy town called Kakori by pulling the emergency chain. Then they got down from the train and got the trunk carrying government treasury from the driver’s coach. While the rest of the revolutionaries continuously fired in the air so that no passenger or police official attacks them, Ashfaq broke open the trunk and the revolutionaries fled with all its contents. It was Rs 8,000 rupees in total, which was a huge sum back then.

The 10 daredevils who participated in the action were- Bismil, Ashfaq, Rajendranath Lahiri, Sachindranath Bakshi, Manmathnath Gupta, Chandrashekhar Azad, Mukundilal Gupta, Keshav Chakravarti, Murari Sharma and Banwari Lal (who later became government approver).

This incident sent a shockwave throughout the country and the colonial administration went berserk to arrest the conspirators. Around 40 people were arrested from different parts of Uttar Pradesh (then United Provinces) in September and ultimately 28 were put on trial.

While Bismil, Roshan Singh, Rajendra Lahiri and other leading members of HRA were arrested, Ashfaq and Sachindranath Bakshi avoided arrest for one more year but were subsequently captured and brought under trial in the Kakori Supplementary Case. These cases went on for more than one year and created a sensation amongst the people. On their way to the courtroom, the revolutionaries used to sing the song “Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai, Dekhna hai zor kitna bazu-e-katil me hai” and raise the slogan: Long live the Indian Republic!

The judge sentenced Bismil, Ashfaq, Roshan Singh and Lahiri to capital punishment and 15 others were awarded life imprisonment, including Sanyal, founder of the party. Bismil, Ashfaq and Roshan were executed on December 19, 1927 while Lahiri was mysteriously hanged two days before on December 17.  

The execution of Kakori heroes and their last appeals to fellow countrymen from condemned cells gave a very strong message of Hindu-Muslim unity and joint struggle against British Raj in those times of communal violence and sectarian conflict. In his last message, Ashfaq wrote these more relevant than ever lines from the condemned cell:

Sunaye gam ki kise kahani, humein to apne sata rahein hain,

Hamesha subah-o-sham dil par, sitam ke khanjar chala rahe hain.

Na koi English, na koi German, na koi Russian, no koi Turki,

Mitane wale hain apne Hindi, jo aaj humko mita rahe hain.

(Who should we share our grief with? Our own people have turned against us,

They are piercing our heart with dagger day and night.

Neither English, nor German, Neither Russian, nor Turks,

It is our own fellow countrymen who are destroying us.)

After the withdrawal of Non-Cooperation Movement, there were 88 incidents of riots in UP alone. The Hindu communalists had become very aggressive and defeated the secular Swaraj Party in the municipal elections of 1925. This led to an increasing tension between Hindus and Muslims.

In this context, the sacrifices made by Bismil, Ashfaq and others once again created a sense of communal harmony and solidarity among Indians and they came together to oppose the Simon Commission under the leadership of the Indian National Congress.

Their martyrdom not only isolated the communal forces but subsequently also paved the way for a very influential revolutionary campaign under the leadership of Bhagat Singh in the years to come and also the radicalisation of Congress, leading it to demand ‘Purna Swaraj’ in 1929 and launching the Civil Disobedience Movement in the next year.

Relevance of Kakori Heroes in Today’s Times

In present times, when minority communities of India are facing attacks every day, sometimes in the form of draconian laws against the bogus idea of “love jihad” or discriminatory policies of the UP government when it asks restaurant owners to write their names on their shops during kanwar yatras or the continuous propaganda on Uniform Civil Code just to demean the different religious communities that constitute India apart from Hindus, the story of Bismil and Ashfaq becomes more and more relevant. It is not a surprise that they became such authoritative symbols of anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) and anti-NRC (National Register of Citizens) protests in 2019-2020.

Once more, the need of the hour is to spread the ideology of HRA among the masses of India, especially its youth who are also suffering a lot due to the present socio-economic scenario which has led to large scale unemployment, fund cuts in education, scams in examinations like NEET, UGC-NET, UPSC and even CUET and uncontrolled privatisation of educational institutions and mafia raj of coaching centres.

The struggles of young people like Bismil, Ashfaq, Durga Devi Vohra, Bhagat Singh can be a huge source of inspiration for students and youth to overcome the venomous propaganda by Right-wing forces and openly come out in favour of secularism, social justice, economic equality, and gender parity.

The attacks on Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe reservations also go against the spirit of revolutionaries like Bismil who stated, “what right has a country to be free where almost six crore “human beings” are considered untouchable’?” Bismil also advocated measures to uplift women through education and also says that efforts be made to overthrow the patriarchal consciousness which ‘considers woman as worthless.’

The Kakori martyrs recognised the need for welfare of farmers and workers for the true prosperity of India, and their writings are real lessons pointing out toward the urgency of a powerful farmers’ struggle to come out of the present agrarian crisis prevailing in our country. The horrible rate of farmers’ suicides in India is a shameful betrayal of the dreams of our young revolutionaries.

Last but not the least, as the HRA Manifesto declared that ever-lasting freedom and harmony would only be possible when there is no exploitation of man by man, let us stand in solidarity with the struggling people of Gaza who are facing brutal oppression at the hands of Israeli forces. This will be our real tribute to the heroes of Kakori.

HRA’s radical vision was carried forward by Bhagat Singh and his comrades and the party was transformed into Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. On release, most HRA leaders joined the socialist or communist movement. No doubt, their struggle against exploitation, oppression, poverty, hunger, injustice and communalism will continue to inspire the Indian masses for generations to come. Just few days before his execution, Ashfaqullah Khan wrote from Faizabad Jail:

Utho Utho So Rahe Ho Nahak Payame Bange Jaras To Sun Lo,

Badho Ki Koi Bula Raha Hai Nishane Manzil Dikha-Dikhakar.

(Rise, rise and awake and hear the trumpets of war,

March forward as we have shown you the righteous path.)

The writer is co-author of the book Bhagat Singh Ke Sathi published by LeftWord in 2022. The views are personal.