News: Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to the revolutionaries of Kakori incident on its 100th anniversary.
100th Anniversary of the Kakori Train Action
- The Kakori Train Action took place on August 9th, 1925.
- Incident: On 9th August, the revolutionaries of Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) stopped the Number 8 down train near Kakori (in Uttar Pradesh) and looted the money from the guard cabin belonging to the British Government Treasury.
- Objective: The objectives of this robbery were to fund the HRA with the money of British administration taxed from the Indians and to protest against the British administration collecting a lot of tax from the Indian people.
- Revolutionaries involved: There were total of 10 revolutionaries directly involved in this action.
- Ram Prasad Bismil, who hatched the robbery plan, was joined in its execution by Ashfaqullah Khan, Rajendra Lahiri, Chandrashekhar Azad, Sachindra Nath Bakshi, Keshab Chakravarthy, Manmathnath Gupta, Murari Sharma, Mukundi Lal and Banwari Lal.
- Outcome
- The British authorities were enraged, undertaking a violent crackdown and soon arresting many members of the HRA.
- Death sentences: Ram Prasad Bismil, Roshan Singh, Rajendra Nath Lahiri and Ashfaqullah Khan were sentenced to death while the others got varying jail terms, including a deportation to the infamous Kala Pani (Cellular Jail in Port Blair) for five of them.
- On December 17, 1927, Lahiri was hanged at Gonda jail.
- On December 19, 1927, Ashfaqullah, Roshan and Bismil too were put to death — Ashfaqullah at Faizabad jail, Roshan at Naini (Allahabad) jail and Bismil at Gorakhpur jail.
- Bismil is said to have famously sung Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai; Dekhna hai zor kitna baju-e katil mein hai.
- The only major leader of HRA at this time who evaded arrest was Chandrashekhar Azad.
