This article delves into the revolutionary activities led by the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) and its transformation into the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) in Punjab, the United Provinces, and Bihar.
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Revolutionary Activity in Punjab-United Provinces-Bihar
The revolutionary activity in this region was led by the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), later renamed the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA).
The HRA was founded in October 1924 in Kanpur by key figures such as Ramprasad Bismil, Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee, and Sachin Sanyal.
The primary aim of the HRA was to organize an armed revolution to overthrow the British colonial government.
The ultimate goal was to establish a Federal Republic of the United States of India, based on the principle of adult franchise.
In September 1928, younger revolutionaries, determined to recover from the Kakori setback and inspired by socialist ideas, sought to reorganize the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA).
A historic meeting was held in the ruins of Ferozshah Kotla in Delhi, where the decision was made to rename the HRA to Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA).
The reorganization was led by Chandra Shekhar Azad and included key participants such as Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Bhagwaticharan Vohra from Punjab, and Bejoy Kumar Sinha, Shiv Verma, and Jaidev Kapur from the United Provinces.
The HSRA adopted a collective leadership approach and officially embraced socialism as its primary goal.
The death of Lala Lajpat Rai due to lathi blows during a lathi-charge on an anti-Simon Commission procession in October 1928 reignited the HSRA’s focus on individual assassination.
In response, Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad, and Rajguru assassinated Saunders, the police officer responsible for the lathi-charge in Lahore.
The assassination was justified by the revolutionaries with the statement: “The murder of a leader respected by millions of people at the unworthy hands of an ordinary police officer...was an insult to the nation. It was the bounden duty of young men of India to efface it... We regret to have had to kill a person but he was part and parcel of that inhuman and unjust order which has to be destroyed.”
The HSRA leadership decided to raise public awareness about its revised objectives and the necessity of mass revolution.
On April 8, 1929, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly to protest the passage of the Public Safety Bill and Trade Disputes Bill, which sought to limit civil liberties, especially for workers.
The bombs were deliberately designed to be harmless, intended to "make the deaf hear" by drawing attention to their cause without causing casualties.
The revolutionaries aimed to be arrested, using their trial as a platform to spread their ideology and movement to a broader audience.
Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru were tried in the Lahore Conspiracy Case, while other revolutionaries faced trials in several related cases.
In jail, these revolutionaries protested the deplorable conditions through hunger strikes, demanding respectful treatment as political prisoners.
Jatin Das became the first martyr after fasting for 64 days.
Congress leaders organized the defense of these young revolutionaries, and Bhagat Singh's name became widely known across the country.
Azad attempted to blow up Viceroy Irwin’s train near Delhi in December 1929.
In 1930, there were numerous violent actions in Punjab and towns in the United Provinces, with 26 incidents occurring in Punjab alone.
Azad died in a police encounter in a park in Allahabad in February 1931, while Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru were hanged on March 23, 1931.
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