Introduction
Ashfaqullah khan was a true son of India, and at the age of 27, he sacrificed his life happily for the independence of India, he was a martyr by hanging, but even before hanging, he kissed the rope that was caused him to be hanged.
Ashfaqullah khan was fond of Poetry, he wrote some poetry in Urdu. He played an important role in the Kakori incident along with his friends such as Ramprasad Bismil.
Early Life
He was born on 22 October 1900 at a place called Jalalnagar in the Shahjahanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. And his full name was Ashfaq Ullah Khan Warsi. His family was financially compelled. And his father was from a Pathan family.
His mother’s name was Mazhur-un-Nisa and she was a housewife. And almost all the members of Ashfaq’s mother’s family were educated. And many of them worked in high positions. Ashfaqullah Khan was the youngest member in his family, due to which everyone loved him very much and apart from this, he had three elder brothers.
Since childhood, Ashfaqullah Khan was fond of playing, reading, riding, writing, poetry, shooting, and swimming, he has written many poems in Urdu. At that time Britishers were ruling India and Ashfaq had witnessed the atrocities of the British on Indians, due to which he wanted to do something good for India. He wanted to be part of a revolutionary party from an early age. For this, he contacted many people.
Friendship with Ramprasad Bismil
His elder brother Riyasat Ullah Khan was a colleague of Ramprasad Bismil. And he used to narrate tales of Bismil’s bravery to Ashfaq. Ashfaq’s brother also told him that Bismil is also very fond of poetry and he is a poet just like you.
After the Mainpuri incident in 1920, when Ashfaq Ullah Khan came to know that Ramprasad Bismil had come to his city, he tried hard to meet Bismil, but that time he could not meet him.
In 1922, when Mahatma Gandhi‘s non-cooperation movement was going on, Ramprasad Bismil came to Shahjahanpur again. And he had read a poem during a meeting. Ashfaq was very happy to hear his poem and said, Amen, then he praised that poem very much.
After seeing all this, Ramprasad Bismil called Ashfaq near him and asked to introduce him. And Ashfaq had told Bismil that he is the younger brother of the Riyasat and also an Urdu poet.
Within few days, they had a deep friendship. And after that Ashfaq started working as an active member of Ramprasad Bismil’s organization “Matrivedi”
Both these friends were strong supporters of Hindu-Muslim unity.
Kakori Incident
On 9 August 1925, the British Government was sending the treasury to England by rail, which was looted by the revolutionaries near the railway station named Kakori near Lucknow.
Eight other revolutionaries, including Ashfaqullah Khan, were involved in the execution of this robbery under the leadership of Ramprasad Bismil.
A great role was played by Ashfaqullah Khan in this robbery. Because it was Ashfaq who stopped the train by placing a gun on the train driver’s head. But a total of 4601 rupees was robbed in this robbery. And then all ten revolutionaries escaped from there. But because of Banarasilal, a partner of Bismil, the police came to know everything about this robbery.
On the night of 26 September, 1925, Bismil and Ashfaq along with eight other revolutionaries were also arrested. But Ashfaqullah Khan and Shachindranath Bakshi were arrested after the main verdict of the Kakori case.
Ashfaqullah Khan Death
On Monday, December 19, in the year 1927, Ashfaq was hanged in a prison named Kaal Koth Atri of Faizabad, for looting the government treasury.
Ashfaqullah Khan poetry
We’ve translated his poem from Urdu to English, therefore the meaning could be a little different.
We have determined to something, and we’ll do it
Either we shall be free or Sacrifice our life
We shall never back down from your fear
If you will raise your hands, so we will extend our legs.
We’re not unarmed because We have the power spinning wheel.
And we shall show you its power
We don’t care about sorrow or grief
We will sacrifice our lives in a blink of an eye.
We will not make even the slightest sound, if you lift the sword, we will bow the head.
We have learned a new way of fighting,
if you use a machine gun, we will defend it from the chest.
We say hang us, but after a death, we will make an army of martyrs.
We will call those people after Independence, whom you have tortured.
Ashfaqullah Khan quotes
We have played our important role for the country, we do not know what we have done wrong or right, but whatever we did is only for the independence of India, some people will be happy with our work, some people will be angry, but even enemies will praise our valor and courage.
I did not kill anyone but I was falsely accused and I would get justice from God.
I did not have to make my name famous, if I had to make my name famous, I would have preferred to be a leader instead of a revolutionary.
You might think that I have become slim due to the jail but there is nothing like that I have reduced food nowadays and I do more prayer because doing so makes the mind in worship.
If we wanted, we could have killed an intelligence police officer or even a witness, but our aim was not to kill anyone. We had to hang like Kanhaiya Lal Das, Khudiram Bose, and Gopimohan.
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