Source: DD News
Context: Prime Minister of India paid tribute to the revolutionaries of the Kakori incident on its 100th anniversary, honouring their courage and sacrifice in India’s freedom struggle.
About Kakori Train Robbery (Kakori Conspiracy Case):
- What It Is?
- A daring armed action carried out by members of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) on 9 August 1925 to seize British government treasury funds from a train, aiming to fund the revolutionary movement and send a political message against colonial exploitation.
- Key Personalities Involved:
-
- Ram Prasad Bismil
- Ashfaqulla Khan
- Chandrashekhar Azad
- Rajendra Lahiri
- Roshan Singh
- Manmathnath Gupta
- Background:
-
- The HRA believed verbal protests and petitions were insufficient against British imperialism.
- Funding was urgently required for revolutionary activities.
- The target chosen was a train carrying government treasury money between Saharanpur and Lucknow.
- The Incident:
-
- Date: 9 August 1925
- Location: Near Kakori railway station, Uttar Pradesh.
- Action: Revolutionaries stopped the 8-Down train and seized cash from the guard’s coach.
- Outcome:
- Massive British crackdown followed.
- Arrests: Most participants caught within months.
- Sentences:
- Hanged (1927) – Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Lahiri, Roshan Singh.
- Others received long-term imprisonment.
- Chandrashekhar Azad evaded capture and continued the struggle until 1931.
- Subsequent Developments (Later Phase):
-
- The HRA, weakened after the incident, reorganised in 1927–1928.
- Leaders like Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Shiv Verma infused socialist ideology into the movement.
- The organisation was renamed Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) in 1928, marking a shift towards a revolutionary socialist programme.
