Ram Prasad Bismil led the Kakori Conspiracy of 1925, one of the most daring revolutionary actions against British rule. He recited his most famous lines, “Sarfaroshi ki tamanna,” on his way to the gallows, though he never wrote them.
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Modern History · ModHist0110
Ram Prasad Bismil
The revolutionary poet who led the Kakori Conspiracy
11 Jun 1897
Born in Shahjahanpur, present-day Uttar Pradesh.
Oct 1924
Co-founds the Hindustan Republican Association, at Kanpur.
9 Aug 1925
Leads the Kakori Conspiracy, a train robbery near Lucknow.
19 Dec 1927
Hanged at Gorakhpur Jail, aged 30.
A battle cry he never wrote
Bismil recited “Sarfaroshi ki tamanna” on his way to the gallows, but the poem itself was written by a different poet, Bismil Azimabadi.
Must Know
- Ram Prasad Bismil was born on 11 June 1897, in Shahjahanpur, present-day Uttar Pradesh.
- He joined the Arya Samaj as a young man. Swami Dayananda Saraswati’s Satyarth Prakash inspired him.
- He formed a revolutionary group, Matrivedi, and took part in the 1918 Mainpuri Conspiracy.
- He co-founded the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), in October 1924, at Kanpur.
- He planned and led the Kakori Conspiracy, a train robbery near Lucknow, on 9 August 1925.
- He was one of four revolutionaries sentenced to death for the Kakori case.
- He was hanged on 19 December 1927, at Gorakhpur Jail, at the age of 30.
- He wrote in Hindi and Urdu, under the pen names Ram, Agyat, and Bismil.
Good to Know
- The HRA’s stated goal was armed revolution, to establish a federal Republic of India.
- During the Kakori action, ten revolutionaries stopped a train and looted government treasury bags worth about ₹4,600.
- A pistol went off during the robbery. It killed a passenger by accident, not a guard.
- Three other men also received death sentences in the same case: Ashfaqulla Khan, Roshan Singh, and Rajendra Lahiri.
- Rajendra Lahiri was hanged two days early, on 17 December 1927, at Gonda Jail.
- Ashfaqulla Khan and Roshan Singh were hanged the same day as Bismil, but at Faizabad and Naini Jails.
- He wrote his own autobiography in prison, while awaiting execution.
Test Yourself
Great to Know
- Bismil’s famous line, “Sarfaroshi ki tamanna,” was not his own poem.
- A different poet, Bismil Azimabadi of Patna, wrote it in 1921.
- Ram Prasad Bismil made the line famous, reciting it on his own way to the gallows.
- His body was cremated on the banks of the Rapti River, at a site now called Rajghat.
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