: Hanged for trying to derail military train, Hemu Kalani became a martyr at 19 #IndiaNEWS #National He was only 19 when he was hanged for attempting to derail an ammunition train and steadfastly refusing

@IndiaNEWS

Posted in: #IndiaNEWS #National

Hanged for trying to derail military train, Hemu Kalani became a martyr at 19 #IndiaNEWS #National
He was only 19 when he was hanged for attempting to derail an ammunition train and steadfastly refusing to betray his accomplices.
A leading member of the Swaraj Sena, a student organisation affiliated to the All India Students Federation (AISF), Hemu Kalani (March 23, 1923 to January 21, 1943) was one of the youngest revolutionaries to be martyred during Indias freedom struggle, being executed by the British colonial authorities two months before his 20th birthday.
On August 21, 2003, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had unveiled a life-size statue of Hemu Kalani in the Parliament Complex.
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi released a stamp in his memory on October 18, 1983 at the Viswa Sindhi Sammelan in New Delhi. There are also innumerable memorials in Kalanis name at various cities in northern and western India, including a Shaheed Hemu Kalani Savodaya Bal Vidyalaya in New Delhi.
His birthday coincides with the day Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were sent to the gallows and as a child and young man, he campaigned with his friends for the boycott of foreign goods and tried to persuade people to use Swadeshi goods.
It is said that Kalani was so happy upon being handed the death sentence that, contrary to usual, he gained a good deal of weight during the time between his sentencing and his execution. On the day of his execution, he appeared extremely overjoyed and walked to the gallows with a copy of the Bhagavad Gita in his hands, smiling and humming the whole way.
Mahatma Gandhi had declared the Quit India Movement on August 8, 1942, and inspired by his uncle, Kalani, born in a middle-class family residing at Sukkur in Sindh, who was highly influenced by the movement, joined the Swaraj Sena revolutionary organisation and became its leading member.
This outfit, at one of its secret meetings created a Revolutionary Command to undertake some drastic revolutionary deeds for removing the shackles of slavery from India.
Seldom would people of his age even think of doing something for the nation, but here was a student on the verge of appearing for his matriculation exam, fanatic to the cause of driving the British away from Indian soil.
On October 2, 1942, the Swaraj Sena received secret information that a train carrying military personnel and hardware was to proceed to quell the political uprising in the North-West Frontier Province, where the Khudai Khidmatgars of the Frontier Gandhi, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan had created virtual hell for the British colonialists.
Kalani resolved to stop the ammunition from reaching its destination and decided to derail the train. He called an urgent meeting of his revolutionary group where it was decided that he along with two companions would remove the fishplates despite the fact that neither he nor his colleagues had the necessary tools and so had to use a rope as a means to uproot the fixings.

Intraday stocks under 50 NSE India Twitter of India

Vote Up Vote Down

Login to post a comment!