Thread by @sheshapatangi1

From PFI to Owaisi, Congress to Communists, they want to glorify Tipu, never #AshfaqullaKhan. Why?

Dec 18, 1927, a day before he was hanged by British, Ashfaqulla wrote
“I shall go empty handed but with the pain, that when will Hindustan be a free nation once again.

Bismil is a Hindu he says “I shall come, I shall come again and again, till I free Bharat from the foreigner”. I also wish to say the same as Bismil, but am bound by my religion. I am a Muslim, do not believe in rebirth; but if I meet Allah, I shall spread my arms in front of

him, and ask him not for Jannat, but just one opportunity to be reborn again to free India.

Ashfaqulla Khan was born on 22 Oct 1900 in Shahjahanpur, UP. His father’s family was Pathan while his mother’s was mainly involved in administrative services.
Khan had a flair for Urdu

poetry and wrote under the pseudonyms Varasi (or Warsi) and Hazarat.
Growing up, Khan heard stories from his eldest brother about the “bravery and shayari Urdu poetry of [Ram Prasad] Bismil”.

It was around that time, he came in touch with Ram Prasad Bismil and after reading

Bankimda’s Anand Math, he jumped into freedom struggle whole-heartedly, with high spirit and some disenchantment with his own community where he did not find support.
Ram Prasad Bismil, his mentor and closest friend, also refers to the charming honesty of Ashfaqulla’s soul,

when he writes that people looking at the ‘Shuddhikarn’ of converted Muslims to Hinduism which Bismil used to undertake as a staunch Aryasamaji questions why he does not purifies Ashfaq; he says, almost surrendering- “how do I purify a soul which is inherently so pure.”

When the 1922 Chauri Chaura incident prompted MKG to end the NCM, Khan was one of the many youngsters left disappointed.
He felt a “dwindling faith in non-violent strategies” & started to believe that freedom from the shackles of colonialism called for more “radical methods”.

Ashfaq joined Azad & Bismil in newly formed HRSA.

HSRA published its manifesto titled “The Revolutionary” in 1925, which, among other things, said, “The immediate object of the revolutionary party in the domain of politics is to establish a federal Republic of United State 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.
The manifesto added, “The Indian revolutionaries are neither terrorists

nor anarchists. They never aim at spreading anarchy in the land and therefore they can never properly be called anarchists. Terrorism is never their object and they cannot be called terrorists. They do not believe that terrorism alone can bring independence and they do not want

terrorism for terrorism’s sake although they may at times resort to this method as a very effective means of retaliation.”
To give a boost to their movement & buy arms, ammunition to carry out their activities, the HSRA organised a meeting on 8 August 1925 in Shahjahanpur.

After a lot of deliberations, it was decided to loot the government treasury carried in the trains. On 9 August 1925, Chandrashekhar Azad, Ashfaqulla, Bismil, Rajendra Lahiri, Thakur Roshan Singh, Sachindra Bakshi, Keshab Chakravarty, Banwari Lal, Mukundi Lal, Manmathnath Gupta

looted the train carrying British government money in Kakori near Lucknow.

Within few months, British arrested/eliminated everybody involved in Kakori except for Ashfaq, He went into hiding & moved to Banaras from Bihar, where he worked in an engineering company for 10 months.

He 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 friends who also was his classmate in the past. This friend, in turn, betrayed him by

informing the police about his whereabouts and on the morning of 17 July 1926 police came to his house and arrested him.

Riyasat Ulla Khan, Ashfaq’s elder brother & classmate of Bismil, appointed Kripa Shankar Hajela as the advocate of Ashfaqulla, Hajela writes that when

Ashfaq’s brother-in-law suggested that he should turn approver and gain clemency, Ashfaq was much saddened. Ashfaq responded- “I am only Muslim in this case & I was advised to get a Muslim lawyer to represent me but I trusted you and do not expect you to suggest such betrayal.”

He writes the day a bold and buoyant Ashfaqullah entered the court of Sessions Judge wearing Saffron dress, people were amazed at his courage and confidence. When his brothers Riyasat and Shahanshah visited him with the nephews, Mr Hajela mentions and I quote, Ashfaq said,

“Please tell my brothers not to weep for me. Among Hindus, there have already been martyrs like Khudiram and Kanhaiyyalal Dutt, laid down their lives for the nation; I, among the Muslims, am the first fortunate one to lay down my life for the motherland. My brothers should

rather rejoice.” In his last letter, Ashfaq tells his nephews to read about his trial to understand the idea of nationalism.
The case for the Kakori dacoity was concluded by awarding death sentence to Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Lahiri and Thakur Roshan Singh. The others

were given life sentences.

On 19th December 1927, Ashfaqulla Khan, the valiant freedom fighter was hanged at Faizlabad Jail.

Instead of going behind Tipu & Mughals, the BJP Government should celebrate Ashfaqulla Jayanti and spread his message to the world.

#VANDEMATARAM