Indian Champion Chandrasekhar Azad

Chandrasekhar Azad (Freedom Fighter)


When I first read about the saga of courage and self-sacrifice of the heroic freedom fighter Chandrasekhar Azad (1906-1931), the following declaration made by Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) on 13 November, 1787 in a letter to his friend Col William Smith came to my mind: 'The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure'.

Chandrasekhar Azad was born on 23 July 1906 in village Bhavra in Jhabua district of the present Madhya Pradesh to Pandit Sitaram Tiwari and Jagarani Devi. At that time Bhavra was a Tahsil of Alirajpur State. His father, Pandit Sitaram Tiwari, had moved from Badarka village of Unnav District in Uttar Pradesh to Bahvra village in Madhya Pradesh, during the famine of 1856 and settled down as a milk vendor. Azad received his early schooling in Bhavra. He used to mix with the Bhils of his village, joining them in their hunting expeditions into the nearby forests. He had learnt the art of archery and became an expert archer. Endowed with extraordinary physical prowess and courage, he easily became the unquestioned leader of the village boys.

Pandit Sitaram Tiwari sent his son Azad to Benaras for further studies. During his stay in Benaras, Chandrasekhar Azad studied Sanskrit Grammar and other Hindu scriptures at the Government Sanskrit College there. When the Jallianwala Bagh massacre shook the country in April 1919, Azad was only 13 years old. He was drawn into the national movement. He used to attend public meetings in Benaras. He frequented public libraries and kept himself posted about the activities of freedom fighters in different parts of India at that time.

When the Non-Cooperation Movement started in 1921, Chandrasekhar plunged headlong into it. As a tender boy of less than 15 years, Azad was arrested in 1921 for participating in the Non-Cooperation Movement and offering Sathyagraha in front of the Government Sanskrit College at Benaras. Azad was produced before a Parsi Magistrate called Khareghat who was known for his cruelty and inhuman treatment of political workers and prisoners. When he asked the boy his name, pat came the reply:

My name is 'Azad' (Free).

'Father's name?'

Swadheen (Independent)

'Place of residence?'

Jail

Khareghat, who was a tyrant, considered the answers given by Chandrasekhar Azad as totally impertinent and uncalled for. He wanted to teach a lesson to the young boy. He passed an order to the effect that Azad should be given 15 whip stripes. Accordingly Azad was taken to the Central Jail where he was stripped naked and tied so fast that he could not move any part of his body. A stout sweeper wielded the whip and the jailor counted the strokes. As each stroke of the whip lashed his bare back, Azad shouted slogans like 'Vande Mataram', 'Bharat Mata Ke Jai' and 'Mahatma Gandhi ke Jai'. Like Veer Hanuman, he stood his ground even as the whip strokes came in torrents, making his entire back a mess of wounded flesh and oozing blood. Till that moment this brave and courageous boy was known as Chandrasekhar Tiwari. After this gruesome episode, he came to be known as Chandrasekhar Azad. The news of the crowd and cruel punishment meted out to a young boy of less than 15 years spread like a wild fire and when he came out of the prison he was given an ovation at a mammoth public meeting at Gnanbapi at Benaras. Thus Chandrasekhar Azad emerged as the unsurpassed hero of millions of his countrymen. 'The Maryada', a newspaper edited by Sampoornanand, published his photograph with a caption: (FEARLESS BOY AZAD)

When Mahatma Gandhi suddenly withdrew the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1922, like thousands of his countrymen, Azad too was greatly disappointed. Even as he came out of the prison after the historic punishment meted out to him, Azad had taken a pledge to the effect Azad will ever remain Azad (Independent!) and never will he enter the four walls of any Jail.

From that moment Chandrasekhar Azad resolved to answer the British in the language of pistols and bombs a fitting reply he thought for the inhuman atrocities perpetrated by them on the innocent people of India. Babu Shiv Prasad Gupta, a patriot and a rich man in Benaras took a fancy to Chandrasekhar Azad and started helping him in a significant way with financial assistance towards his revolutionary activities. Chandrasekhar Azad became a member of the revolutionary group working under the leadership of Ramaprasad Bismil.

In January 1926, the revolutionaries which included Rajendra Lehri, Ramaprasad Bismil, Roshan Singh, Ashfaqulla and Chandrasekhar Azad stopped railway train at KAKORI VILLAGE in Lucknow District and looted the train. They succeeded in taking away the railway cash to the tune of thousands of rupees. The accused were charged under Section 121 A (Waging war against King Emperor), Section 129 (Criminal conspiracy) and Section 302 (Murder). Of the ten persons who participated in the train hold-up at Kakori, Rajendra Lehri, Ramaprasad Bismil, Roshan Singh and Ashfaqulla were sentenced to death. Chandrasekhar Azad had managed to escape.

CHANDRESHEKAR AZAD AND HIS COMRADES


THE BRAVE MEN BEHIND KAKORI CONSPIRACY

After the train hold-up at Kakori, a meeting of important revolutionaries was held at Meerut. Two special invitees were Bhagat Singh from Lahore and Jatindra Nath Das from Calcutta. Chandrasekhar Azad took up the responsibility of organizing the revolutionary forces in northern India. Bhagat Singh and Chandrasekhar Azad thought that the best way to begin with was to rescue senior and tested revolutionaries like Sachindranath Sanyal, Jogesh Chatterji and Ramaprasad Bismil from Jail. They drew up a secret plan for the rescue operation. However the police got scent of the secret plan and consequently the attempt of the revolutionaries became futile.

On 8 September 1928, Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev and other revolutionaries met at Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi and established the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA) for the armed liberation of India. Though Chandrasekhar Azad was not present at that meeting, yet he was unanimously elected as the Commander-in-Chief of the HSRA. Factories for making bombs were set up at Lahore, Saharanpur, Calcutta and Agra. In Kanpur, Azad set up a bomb factory for which the raw materials were produced in another factory in Gwalior. Azad later set up a bomb factory in Delhi which functioned under the name �The Himalayan Toilets�. In the day time this factory produced toilet soaps and in the night materials for bomb manufacture.

As the Commander-in-Chief of the HSRA, Chandrasekhar Azad was actively involved in the attempt to blow up the viceroy's train (1926), the shooting of Saunders at Lahore (1928) to avenge the killing of Lala Lajpatrai and the Assembly bomb incident at Delhi (1929).

Chandrasekhar Azad was constantly on the run after 1928 and was pursued by the police. On 27 February, 1931, Azad, Yashpal and Pandey had assembled at Allahabad to chalk out the future course of action. Later Azad went to Alfred Park to meet another revolutionary leader Sukh Dev. A member of the HSRA, Birbhadra Tiwari, betrayed them and passed on the information to the police. When Azad and Sukh Dev were engaged in a conversation, a large police party under the leadership of an English police Officer called Nutt Bower, surrounded the park. Azad jumped up and whipped out his revolver, instructed Sukh Dev to escape and challenged the police to take him alive. Gun shots were exchanged. A bullet from Nutt Bower hit Azad on the thigh. However Azad was overpowered by the police and before they could arrest him, he shot himself to death.Thus he fulfilled his vow 'Azad will ever remain Azad' (Independent).

Chandrashekar Azad’s dead body kept on public display by the British to serve as a warning message for other revolutionaries.

Indian Champion Mangal Pandey

Mangal Pandey

Born - 19 July 1827
Died - 8 April 1857

Achievements - A sepoy working under the British East India Company, Mangal Pandey's name got etched into the pages of the Indian history after he attacked his senior British officers in an incident, which is today remembered as the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 or the India's First War of Independence. The reason behind this was the rumor that the cartridges used by Indian sepoys were greased with the fat of cow and pig.

Mangal Pandey, whose name is often preceded by Shaheed meaning a martyr in Hindi, was an Indian soldier during the pre-independence era. A member of the 34th Regiment of the Bengal native infantry of the East India Company, Mangal Pandey is counted among the most popular figures associated with India's freedom struggle in present times. He was born on 19 July 1827 in the Nagwa village in the Ballia district of the Uttar Pradesh state. There still exist families in this village who claim to the descendents of Mangal Pandey.

Born in the village of Nagwa, district Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, Mangal Pandey was introduced to history books as the sepoy who played a major role in the Indian uprising of 1857.

He was a soldier of the 34th Native Infantry whose attack on a superior officer came to be recognised as the event that sparked India's First War of Independence. Little is known of his life before that momentous incident but he has been declared a martyr since.

What happened that day?

Pandey attacked his British sergeant and wounded an adjutant. The office in charge, General Hearsay, noticed that Pandey was in the throes of some sort of 'religious frenzy', and ordered a jamadaar to arrest him. The latter refused.

Surrounded by guards and European officers, Pandey tried to commit suicide by shooting himself. He was seriously wounded, and promptly arrested.

Following a court-martial on April 6, he was hanged at Barrackpore on April 8, 1857. As a collective punishment for his act, the entire regiment was also dismissed.

Was he India's first freedom fighter?

According to records at the Jabalpur Museum, Pandey was to be executed on April 18. But he was hanged 10 days earlier to prevent the regiment from harbouring ill will against superiors. The English were also aware that news of Pandey's death could spark more unrest.

Going by the date on which he was executed, Mangal Pandey became the first freedom fighter and martyr of 1857.

His name has since been synonymous with revolt.

Has Pandey been in the news before?

Yes. He made an appearance in newspapers not so long ago, with the release of Mangal Pandey: Brave Martyr or Accidental Hero?, a book by Rudranghsu Mukherjee.

The author claimed Pandey was an ordinary sepoy who, under the influence of bhang, committed a reckless act for which he was hanged. Mukherjee's analysis examined whether Pandey really was the heroic figure history had made him out to be, or just a soldier who happened to get lucky.

The book had its share of controversial statements such as: 'Nationalism creates its own myths. Mangal Pandey is part of that imagination of historians. He had no notion of patriotism or even of India. For him, mulk was a small village, Awadh.'

It also went on to claim that Pandey's action was contrary to the spirit of insurgency: 'A rebellion is a collective will to overthrow an oppressive order. Pandey acted alone; he was a rebel without a rebellion. The name Mangal Pandey meant nothing to the sepoys who raised the revolt in 1857.' Luckily for us, no post-publication riots ensued.

Does he ever appear outside history books?

You might want to try the post office. The Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department has issued four commemorative stamps in the memory of freedom fighters, one of which sports the face of Mangal Pandey. Interestingly, British author Zadie Smith's award-winning novel White Teeth also has a reference, with Pandey cast as the fictional protagonist Samad's great grandfather.

Why did Mangal Pandey do what he did?

There are a number of reasons. To understand his action, one must analyse the religious, social and political milieu in which he operated. In a nutshell, the British already had given the Indians much cause for unhappiness, thanks to the doctrine of Lapse, the forcible introduction of a British system of education, and social reforms that didn't exactly go down well with the higher castes. The sepoys were also dissatisfied with army life. Coupled with low pay, their need to constantly pit themselves against their countrymen also took its toll.

To make things worse, the East India Company introduced the Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle. Its cartridges were covered by greased membrane that, apparently, had to be cut by the teeth before loading. There was a rumour that this membrane was greased by cow or pig fat, which was offensive to Hindu as well as Muslim soldiers.

The British tried reasoning with the sepoys, and even asked them to make their own grease from vegetable oils. The rumour, however, persisted. General George Anson, Commander in Chief in India, reacted by saying, 'I'll never give in to their beastly prejudices.' He refused to compromise.

Then, on March 29, 1857, at Barrackpore near Kolkata, Mangal Pandey started an open mutiny, inviting his comrades to join him.

The Rising had begun.

Indian Champion Rajguru

Shivaram Rajguru (Freedom Fighter)
Date of Birth	:	1908
Date of Death	:	Mar 23, 1931
Place of Birth	:	India

Hari Shivaram Rajguru was an Indian revolutionary. He is best known as an accomplice of Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev in the killing of a British police officer in 1928 in order to take revenge for the death of veteran leader Lala Lajpat Rai due to excessive police beating. All three were convicted of the crime and hanged on March 23, 1931. Rajguru was hiding in Nagpur. He met Dr. K. B. Hedgewar and was hiding in one of the RSS worker's house. But after some days he went to Pune and later was arrested there.

Indian Champion Sukhdev

UKHDEV(Freedom Fighter)

Son of Ram Lal, he was born at Lyallpur (now in Pakistan).

He was a member of the Revolutionary Party in Lahore and a close associate of Saheed Bhagat Singh. Like Bhagat Singh, he took active part in revolutionary activities and helped in organizing revolutionary cells in the Punjab and other areas of North India. He was privy to the plot of shooting which resulted in the death of Saunders, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Lahore on December 17, 1928.

He was arrested along-with Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt at Delhi on April 15, 1929 after the bomb explosions in the Central Legislative Assembly Hall. He was tried as one of the principal accused in the Second Lahore Conspiracy Case and was sentenced to death. He died on the gallows in the Lahore jail on March 23, 1931 along with Bhagat Singh and Rajguru.

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SUKHDEV'S LETTER TO GANDHIJI

[Gandhiji was negotiating with the government for the release of political prisoners not convicted of violence. He was also appealing to the revolutionaries to stop their movement. It was in this context that Sukhdev wrote this letter. It was published in Young India, April 23, 1931, after the execution of Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru and Sukhdev.]

MOST GRACIOUS MAHATMA JI,

Recent reports show that, since the successful termination of your peace negotiations, you have made several public appeals to the revolutionary workers to call off their movement at least for the present and give you a last chance to try your non-violent cult. As a matter of fact the calling off any movement is neither an ideological nor a sentimental act. It is the consideration of the peculiar needs of different times that force the leaders to change their tactics.
Let us presume that at the time of peace parley, you did not overlook the fact even for a single moment, and did not make a secret of it, that this was not going to be the final settlement. I think all intelligent people would have understood quite easily that the final stage was not reached. The Congress is bound by its Lahore resolution to carry on the struggle relentlessly till the Complete Independence is achieved. In face of the resolution, the peace and compromise is but a temporary truce which only means a little rest to organise better forces on a larger scale for the next struggle. The possibility of compromise and a truce can be imagined and justified in the light of the above consideration alone.
At regards the proper opportunity and the conditions on which any truce can be effected, it rests with the leaders of the movement to decide. In face of the Lahore resolution you have thought it expedient to call off the active movement for the present, but nevertheless that resolution stands. Similarly, as is evident from the very name - The Hindustan Socialist Republican Party - the revolutionaries stand for the establishment o the socialist republic which is not a half-way house. They are bound to carry on the struggle till their goal is achieved and their ideal is consummated. But they would be quite apt to change their tactics according to the changing circumstances and environment. Revolutionary struggle assumes different shapes at different times. It becomes sometimes open, sometimes hidden sometimes purely agitational and sometimes a fierce life-and-death struggle. In the circumstances, there must be special factors, the consideration of which may prepare the revolutionaries to call of their movement. But no such definite idea had been advanced by you. Mere sentimental appeals do not and cannot count much in the revolutionary struggle.
Since your compromise you have called off your movement and consequently all of your movement and consequently all of your prisoners have been released. But, what about the revolutionary prisoners? Dozens of Ghadar Party prisoners imprisoned since 1915 are still rotting in jails; inspite of having undergone the full terms of their imprisonments scores of martial law prisoners are still buried in these living tombs, and so are dozens of Babbar Akali prisoners. Deogarh, Kakori, Machhua Bazar and Lahore Conspiracy Case prisoners are amongst those numerous still locked behind bars. More than half a dozen conspiracy trials are going on at Lahore, Delhi, Chittagong, Bombay, Calcutta and elsewhere. Dozens of revolutionaries are absconding and amongst them are many females. More than half a dozen prisoners are actually waiting for their executions. What about all of these people? The three Lahore Conspiracy Case condemned prisoners, who have luckily come into prominence and who have acquired enormous public sympathy, do not form the bulk of the revolutionary party. Their fate is not the only consideration before the party. As a matter of fact their executions are expected to do greater good than the commutation of their sentences.
But, inspite of all this, you are making public appeals, asking them to call off their movement. Why should they do so? You have not mentioned any very definite things. In these circumstances your appeal means you are joining hands with bureaucracy to crush that movement, and your appeals amount to preaching treachery, desertion and betrayal amongst them. If that were not the case, then the best thing for you would have been to approach some of the prominent revolutionaries and balk over the whole thing with them. You ought to have tried to convince them to call off their movement. I do not think you also share the general conservative nation that the revolutionaries are devoid of reason, rejoicing in destruction and devastation. Let us inform you that in reality the case is quite contrary. They always consider the pros and cons of every step they take and they fully realise the responsibility which they thus incur and they attach greater importance to the constructive phase of the revolutionary programme than to any other, though in the present circumstances, they cannot but occupy themselves with the destructive part of their programme.
The present policy of the government towards them is to deprive them of the sympathy and support of the masses which they have won in their movement, and then crush them. In isolation they can be easily hunted down. In face of that fact any sentimental appeal to cause demoralisation amongst their ranks would be utterly unwise and counter-revolutionary. It would be rendering direct assistance to the government to crush them.
Therefore we request you either to talk to some revolutionary leaders - they are so many in jails - and come to terms with them or to stop these appeals. Please, for goodness sake, pursue one of these two alternative courses and pursue it whole-heartedly. If you cannot help them, then please have mercy on them. Let them alone; they can better take care of themselves, they know that the hegemony of the revolutionary party in the future political struggle is assured. Masses are rallying around them and the day is not far off when they will be leading the masses under their banner towards their noble and lofty ideal - the socialist republic.
Or, if you seriously mean to help them, then have talk with them to understand their point of view, and discuss the problem in detail.
Hope you will kindly consider the above request and let your view be known publicly.

Yours,
One of the Many.

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Indian Champion Bhagat Singh

Bhagat Singh's Original Photographs
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S. Arjan Singh (Grandfather) S.Kishan Singh (Father)


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At the age of 11 yrs .......... At the age of 17 yrs


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At the age of 20 yrs .........At the age of 21+
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Letter, Writtings and Statements of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and his Copatriots

Letter to Shaheed Sukhdev
This letter deals with the views of Bhagat Singh on the question of love and sacrifice in the life of a revolutionary. It was written on April 5, 1929 in Sita Ram Bazar House, Delhi. The letter was taken to Lahore by Shri Shiv Verma and handed over to Sukhdev it was recovered from him at the time of his arrest on April 13 and was produced as one of the exhbits in Lahore Conspiracy Case.

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DEAR BROTHER
By the time you receive this letter I will be gone, going to a far off destination. Let me assure that I am prepared for the voyage inspite of all the sweet memory and inspite of all the charms of my life here. Upto this day one thing pinched in my heart and it was this that my brother, my own brother, misunderstood and accused me of a very serious charge - the charge of weakness. Today I am quite satisfied, today more than ever do I feel that was nothing, but a misunderstanding, a wrong calculation. My overfrankness was interpreted as my talkativeness, and my confession as my weakness. And now I feel it was misunderstanding and only is understanding. I am not weak, not weaker than anyone amongest us, brother. With a clear heart I go, will you clear too? It will be very kind of you. But note that you are to take no hasty step, soberly and calmly you are to carry on the work. Don't try to take the chance at the very outset. You have some duty towards the public, and that you can fulfil by continuing this work. As a suggestion I would say that M.R. Shastri* appeals to me more than ever. Try to bring him in the arena, provided he himself may be willing, clearly knowing the dark future. Let him mix with men and study their psychology. If he will work in the right spirit, he will be the better judge. Arrange as you may deem fit. Now, brother, let us be happy.

By the way, I am say that I cannot help arguing once again my case in the matter under discussion. Again do I emphasise that I am full of ambition and hope and of full charm of life. But I can renounce all at the time of need, and that is the real sacrifice. These things can never be hinderance in the way of man, provided he be a man. You will have the practical proof in the near future. While discussing anybody's character you asked me one thing, whether love ever proved helpful to any man. Yes, I answer that question today. To Mazzini it was. You must have read that after the utter failure and crushing defeat of his first rising he could no bear the misery and haunting ideas of his dead comrades. He would have gone mad or committed suicide but for one letter of a girl he loved. He would as strong as any one, nay stronger than all. As regards the moral status of love I may say that it in itself is nothing BUT PASSION, not an animal passion but a human one, and very sweet too. Love in itself can never be an animal passion. Love always elevates the character of man. It never lowers him, provided love be love. You can't call these girls - mad people, as we generally see in films - lovers. They always play in the hands of animals passions. The true love cannot be created. It comes of its own accord, nobody can say when. It is but natural. And I may tell you that a young man and a young girl can love each other, and with the aid of their love they can overcome the passions themselves and can maintain their purity. I may clear one thing here; when I said that love has human weakness, I did not say it for an ordinary human being at this stage, where the people generally are. But that is most idealistic stage when man would overcome all these sentiments, the love, the hatred, and so on. When man will take reason as the sole basis of his activity. But at present it is not bad, rather good and useful to man. And moreove while rebuking the love. I rebuked the love of one individual for one, and that too in idealistic stage. And even then, man must have the strongest feelings of love which he may not confine to one individual and may make it universal. Now I think I have cleared my position. One thing I may tell you to mark; we inspite of all radical ideas that we cherish, have not been able to do away with the overidealistic Arya Samajist conception of morality. We may talk glibly about all the radical things that can possible be conceived, but in practical life we begin to tremble at the very outset. This I will request you do away with. And may I, Without fear at all the misapprehension in my mind, request you do kindly lower the standard of your over-idealism a bit, not to be harsh to those who will live behind and will be the victims of a disease as myself ? Don't rebuke them and thus add to their woes and miseries. They need your sympathy. May I repeat that you, without bearing any sort of grudge against any particular individual, will sympathise with those who needed the most ? But you cannot realise these things unless and until you yourself fall a victim to this. But, why I am writing all this? I wanted to be frank. I have cleared my heart.
Wish you all success and happy life.

Yours.
B. S

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Bhagat Singh's last petition

To
The Punjab Governor

Sir,
With due respect we beg to bring to your kind notice the following:
That we were sentenced to death on 7th October 1930 by a British Court, L.C.C Tribunal, constituted under the Sp. Lahore Conspiracy Case Ordinance, promulgated by the H.E. The Viceroy, the Head of the British Government of India, and that the main charge against us was that of having waged war against H.M. King George, the King of England.
The above-mentioned finding of the Court pre-supposed two things:
Firstly, that there exists a state of war between the British Nation and the Indian Nation and, secondly, that we had actually participated in that war and were therefore war prisoners.
The second pre-supposition seems to be a little bit flattering, but nevertheless it is too tempting to resist the desire of acquiescing in it.
As regards the first, we are constrained to go into some detail. Apparently there seems to be no such war as the phrase indicates. Nevertheless, please allow us to accept the validity of the pre-supposition taking it at its face value. But in order to be correctly understood we must explain it further. Let us declare that the state of war does exist and shall exist so long as the Indian toiling masses and the natural resources are being exploited by a handful of parasites. They may be purely British Capitalist or mixed British and Indian or even purely Indian. They may be carrying on their insidious exploitation through mixed or even on purely Indian bureaucratic apparatus. All these things make no difference. No matter, if your Government tries and succeeds in winning over the leaders of the upper strata of the Indian Society through petty concessions and compromises and thereby cause a temporary demoralization in the main body of the forces. No matter, if once again the vanguard of the Indian movement, the Revolutionary Party, finds itself deserted in the thick of the war. No matter if the leaders to whom personally we are much indebted for the sympathy and feelings they expressed for us, but nevertheless we cannot overlook the fact that they did become so callous as to ignore and not to make a mention in the peace negotiation of even the homeless, friendless and penniless of female workers who are alleged to be belonging to the vanguard and whom the leaders consider to be enemies of their utopian non-violent cult which has already become a thing of the past; the heroines who had ungrudgingly sacrificed or offered for sacrifice their husbands, brothers, and all that were nearest and dearest to them, including themselves, whom your government has declared to be outlaws. No matter, it your agents stoop so low as to fabricate baseless calumnies against their spotless characters to damage their and their party's reputation. The war shall continue.
It may assume different shapes at different times. It may become now open, now hidden, now purely agitational, now fierce life and death struggle. The choice of the course, whether bloody or comparatively peaceful, which it should adopt rests with you. Choose whichever you like. But that war shall be incessantly waged without taking into consideration the petty (illegible) and the meaningless ethical ideologies. It shall be waged ever with new vigour, greater audacity and unflinching determination till the Socialist Republic is established and the present social order is completely replaced by a new social order, based on social prosperity and thus every sort of exploitation is put an end to and the humanity is ushered into the era of genuine and permanent peace. In the very near future the final battle shall be fought and final settlement arrived at.
The days of capitalist and imperialist exploitation are numbered. The war neither began with us nor is it going to end with our lives. It is the inevitable consequence of the historic events and the existing environments. Our humble sacrifices shall be only a link in the chain that has very accurately been beautified by the unparalleled sacrifice of Mr. Das and most tragic but noblest sacrifice of Comrade Bhagawati Charan and the glorious death of our dear warrior Azad.
As to the question of our fates, please allow us to say that when you have decided to put us to death, you will certainly do it. You have got the power in your hands and the power is the greatest justification in this world. We know that the maxim "Might is right" serves as your guiding motto. The whole of our trial was just a proof of that. We wanted to point out that according to the verdict of your court we had waged war and were therefore war prisoners. And we claim to be treated as such, i.e., we claim to be shot dead instead of to be hanged. It rests with you to prove that you really meant what your court has said.
We request and hope that you will very kindly order the military department to send its detachment to perform our execution.

Yours'
BHAGAT SINGH

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Champions of 26 November

Mumbai under attack

Late Wednesday night, Mumbai, India found itself the target of a ferocious terrorist attack, and the situation remains unresolved even now, three days later. According to reports, upwards of 60 young men entered Mumbai in small inflatable boats on Wednesday night, carrying bags filled with weapons and ammunition, and spread out to nine locations to begin their attacks. Lobbing grenades and firing their weapons, they entered hotels, a railway station and several other buildings, killing scores and wounding even more. As of this moment, the identity of the attackers has yet to be definitively determined, though there are reports indicating some of the gunmen were Pakistani - at least nine of them have been killed, nine more arrested. As of this writing, there were a reported 151 people killed from 11 different countries - though nearly 100 were Indian. More than 300 injuries have also been reported - those numbers may yet rise as several hostage situations still exist in the city.

Activities

An Indian paramilitary soldier lies on ground as he looks toward the Taj Mahal Hotel where suspected militants are holed up during an assault in Mumbai, India, Friday, Nov. 28, 2008.(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Employees and guests of the Taj Mahal hotel, site of one of the shootouts with terrorists, are recued by firefighters as fire engulfs the top floor on late November 26, 2008. (LORENZO TUGNOLI/AFP/Getty Images)

An Indian commando runs into Taj Hotel prior to a gun battle in Mumbai November 28, 2008. A chief of an Indian commando unit flushing out militants at the hotel said on Friday that he saw 12 to 15 bodies in one room. (REUTERS/Arko Datta)

A member of the anti-terrorist squad takes a position during an engagement with suspected militants at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, India, Friday, Nov. 28, 2008. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

A National Security Guard commando fires at suspected militants believed to be hiding in Nariman House, in Mumbai November 28, 2008. (REUTERS/Peter Keep)

Indian commandos are airdropped in Nariman House, where the armed militants are believed to be holed up in Mumbai November 28, 2008. (REUTERS/Stringer)