Thread by @sheshapatangi1

He was hanged 2 months before his 20th birthday....
And Hemu Kalani, carried Bhagavad Geeta with him to the gallows.

This is the funeral photo of one of the youngest revolutionaries executed for fighting for Indian independence.

He stated to the police and the court that if

the British rulers could justify putting down the independence movement by force of weapons and armaments, then he, was totally right for endeavouring to eradicate these same weapons and armaments.

Hemu was born in the Sindhi city of Sukkur in united India on March 23, 1923.

In his youth, Hemu admired the engagements of his uncle, Dr Mangharam Kalani, who was a famous Congress elder in Sukkur and a veteran of the anti-colonial struggle. He became a member of the ‘Swaraj Sena’ (a youth organization) and was elected its figurehead after being

influenced by his uncle’s precedent. He frequently led the youth of his area in holding the Congress tricolour and in convincing folks to shun foreign articles.
Hemu was attracted to rebellious engagements swiftly and began joining political gatherings, demonstrations, early

morning processions, strikes, sloganeering ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ and ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ at the top of his voice.

The Khudai Khidmatgars, led by #FrontierGandhi, had made North-West Frontier province a veritable hell for the British Empire. On October 2 1942, the revolutionary

group Swaraj Sena received top-secret intelligence that a train carrying military soldiers and equipment would travel between Quetta and Rohri to end the political movement there. Hemu Kalani, a fervent supporter of Indian Independence, decided to derail the railway to prevent

the ammunition from reaching its destination. He convened a meeting of his Revolutionary Group, during which it was planned that he and the other two associates would remove the fishplates from the railway near Sukkur and cause it to derail.

But, prior to the conclusion of the

task they were detected by the British contingents and Hemu, in his attempt to rescue his associates, was apprehended.

Hemu was prosecuted for treason against the British Empire then, and the authorities condemned him to life in jail. At the time, Sindh was under Martial Law,

and his case was submitted to a Martial Law Court.
Colonel Richardson, the senior officer in charge, decided to set an appropriate example to put an end to the anticipated flurry of patriotic emotions and increase the verdict from life imprisonment to death sentence.

When Hemu was arrested, Congress didn't provide a lawyer...
Hemu was represented by Abdul Sattar Pirzada who was close to Communists..
(Pirzada later joined IUML, became Law Minister of Pakistan).

After his death, Nehru visited his family and showered praises on his courage.

On August 21, 2003, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee unveiled Hemu Kalani’s life-size monument at the Parliament Complex.

#ForgottenHeroes

#VANDEMATARAM

This teenage anticolonialist and rebel were executed on January 21 1943, 80 years ago today.