Tantia Tope

Tatia Tope, like other freedom fighters, was one of the great heroes who fought courageously for India’s freedom in 1857. He was born in 1814 in a village Yeola in Maharashtra. His father Pandurang Rao Tope shifted with Peshwa to Bithur. Tantia and the adopted sons, Nana Sahib and Maharaja Madhav, of Peshwa became good friends. All his loved ones called him Tatia because he always used to wear a hat that was gifted to him by Peshwa.

Tatia moved his first step against the British in 1851, when Lord Dalhousie deprived Nana Sahib of his father’s pension. In May 1857, he joined the political movements and established Nana Sahib’s authority. Britishers were trying to grab everything- the wealth, kingdom and the whole empire of the country. This became the biggest reason of discontent and revolt. He occupied Kanpur and then shifted to Kalpi to join Rani Lakshmi Bai to occupy Gwalior. Unfortunately, they lost the battle, Rani was killed and Britishers expanded their rule in Gwalior. After losing, he collected a huge force to fight against Britishers and was successful in capturing many forts of India. In Kalpi, he had established a center to manufacture arms. When he came to know that Britishers are short of resources, he took advantage of it and confronted Kanpur. Altogether, he fought 150 battles.

Tantia, the name of terror for the English, was the one who shook the established niche of the British Empire. He was constantly fighting to win over the whole of India but unfortunately he was betrayed by one of his friend. Britishers caught hold of him and hung him to death on April 18, 1859. This incident brought tears in all eyes and he became the Supreme Commander of India’s independence.

                   lal bahadur shastri

Lal Bahadur Shastri, the second Prime Minister of India, was born on October 2, 1904 at Mughalsarai, a railway colony located at seven miles away from Varanasi. He imbibed boldness, courage, selflessness, self-respect and other virtues from his parents Shradha Prasad and Ramdulari Devi.

In 1921, Gandhi Ji launched Non Cooperation Movement and called to the youth to fight for the noble cause of freedom. Shastri was highly influenced by the movement and joined the freedom struggle at the age of 17. He was arrested during the movement but was later released. He then joined Kashi Vidya Peeth and earned the degree of ‘Shashtri’. After earning this degree, he joined ‘The Servants of the People Society’ that was started by Lala Lajpat Rai in 1921, with the aim to train youth who were resolved to dedicate their lives for the country.

Bahadur Shastri married Lalita Devi in 1927. Being a true follower of Gandhi Ji, he took a spinning wheel and few yards of khadi in dowry. In response to the call of Gandhi Ji, he actively participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement, Salt Stayagraha and Quit India Movement for which he was sentenced to imprisonment several times. Finally, in 1947 Britishers were forced to quit India. Thereafter, in 1947, he was appointed as Minister of Police and Transport in Pant’s Cabinet and in 1964 as Prime Minister of India.

In 1965, war started between India and Pakistan. During this war, Shastri played a key role in maintaining internal security of the country. He coined a slogan ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’ to bring unity within the country and finally led India to victory. He died on January 10, 1966 at Tashkent after he had signed the Joint Declaration with President Agha Khan of Pakistan.

                        lala lajpat rai

Lala Lajpat Rai, popularly known as Punjab Kesari or Lion of Punjab, was born on January 28, 1865 in Jagraon in Ludhiana. He was the eldest son of Munshi Kishan Azad and Gulab Devi who inculcated strong moral values in him. He studied law from Government College in Lahore and thereafter started his legal practice in Hissar.

His political career started in 1888 with the Indian National Congress Session at Allahabad. At the next session at Bombay in 1889, he was linked with other two leading freedom fighters Bipin Chandra Pal and Bal Gangadhar Tilak. The trio was popularly known as Lal-Bal-Pal. Lalaji was actively involved in struggle against partition of Bengal. During the struggle he galvanized Indians for a campaign of Swadeshi and was imprisoned for six months for creating turmoil.

After his release in 1907, he went to Britain in April 1914 to explain the position of India. During his stay in Britain, the First World War broke out but he was unable to return. So, he went to USA for promoting the cause of India’s freedom struggle. There he founded the India Home League Society of America. He returned to India in 1920 and formed the Congress Independence Party in protest against the Jalianwala Bagh Massacre and Non Cooperation Movement.

In 1928, Simon Commission that came to India to discuss constitutional reforms was protested by Lalaji because the commission had no Indian members. The shrewd Britishers brutally lathicharged Lalaji during the protest and because of severe head injuries he expired on November 17, 1928.

                Indian Freedom Fighters

‘Free India’ was a dream of all Indians under the British rule. Everyone during that rule fought in some way or the other with a common aim of ending British and other colonial authorities in India. After a century of revolutions, struggle, blood shedding, battles and sacrifices, India finally achieved independence on August 15, 1947.

India was free in 1947 from the British Empire but the country lost many men and women who were filled with undaunted courage and spirit of patriotism. Today, they are known as freedom fighters because they sacrificed their lives for their motherland.

Indian freedom fighters with their true spirit and undaunted courage had faced various tortures, exploitations and hardships to earn us freedom.

The pioneers of the freedom movement were Mangal Pandey, Tantia Tope, Rani of Jhansi and the great Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi who introduced non-violent ways of fighting the enemy. Other notable freedom fighters of India are Annie Besant, Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bhagat Singh, Bipin Chandra Pal, Sukhdev, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Chandrashekhar Azad, Sarojini Naidu>, Dadabhai Naoroji, Sucheta Kriplani and Chakravarti Rajagopalachari.

There are endless number of men and women other than the above list who daringly fought for India’s freedom.