MAHATMA GANDHI
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is the real name of the hero of Indian Independence Movement who is known in India worldwide as "Mahatma Gandhi" and as "Bapu" for he is the Father of The Nation.He was born on 2nd October (Now celebrated as International Day of Non-Voilence) 1869 in Porbandar,Gujarat,India.
He was the pioneer of "Satyagraha" firmly based on AHIMSA or Non-Violence.Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for the alleviation of poverty, for the liberation of women, for brotherhood amongst differing religions and ethnicities, for an end to untouchability and caste discrimination, and for the economic self-sufficiency of the nation, but above all for Swaraj—the independence of India from foreign domination.
Gandhi famously led Indians in the disobedience of the salt tax on the 400 kilometre Dandi Salt March in 1930, and in an open call for the British to Quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned for many years on numerous occasions in both South Africa and India.
In May 1883, at the age of 13, Gandhi was married through his parents' arrangements to Kasturba Makhanji (also spelled "Kasturbai" or known as "Ba").
Gandhi's first major achievements came in 1918 with the Champaran agitation and Kheda Satyagraha, although in the latter it was indigo and other cash crops instead of the food crops necessary for their survival.Non-cooperation and peaceful resistance were Gandhi's "weapons" in the fight against injusticeAs the war progressed, Gandhi intensified his demand for independence, drafting a resolution calling for the British to Quit India. This was Gandhi's and the Congress Party's most definitive revolt aimed at securing the British exit from Indian shores.
ASSASINATION:
On January 30, 1948, Gandhi was shot and killed while having his nightly public walk on the grounds of the Birla Bhavan (Birla House) in New Delhi. The assassin, Nathuram Godse, was a Hindu radical with links to the extremist Hindu Mahasabha, who held Gandhi responsible for weakening India by insisting upon a payment to Pakistan.Godse and his co-conspirator Narayan Apte were later tried and convicted; they were executed on 15 November 1949.
SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE
Netaji as he is popularly known was born on 23rd January,1897 in cuttack,Orissa,India.He was one of the most prominent leaders of the Indian Independence Movement against the British Raj.Bose was elected president of the Indian National Congress for two consecutive terms but resigned from the post following ideological conflicts with Mahatma Gandhi. Bose believed that Mahatma Gandhi's tactics of non-violence would never be sufficient to secure India's independence, and advocated violent resistance.
His stance did not change with the outbreak of the second world war, which he saw as an opportunity to take advantage of British weakness. At the outset of the war, he fled India and travelled to the Soviet Union, Germany and Japan seeking an alliance with the aim of attacking the British in India. With Japanese assistance he re-organised and later led the Indian National Army, formed from Indian prisoners-of-war and plantation workers from Malaya, Singapore and other parts of Southeast Asia, against British forces. With Japanese monetary, political, diplomatic and military assistance, he formed the Azad Hind Government in exile, regrouped and led the Indian National Army to battle against the allies in Imphal & Burma during the World War II.
He is believed to have died on 18 August 1945 in a plane crash over Taiwan. However, contradictory evidence exists regarding his death in the accident.Recently an Indian central commission of inquiry confirmed one popular version, that Bose's death was staged to facilitate an escape to the USSR.
BHAGAT SINGH
Shaheed Bhagat Singh (Shaheed meaning "Martyr") ,born on 28th September,1907 in Lahore, Punjab, British India is
considered to be one of the most famous revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement.He is also believed by many to be one of the earliest Marxists in India. He was one of the leaders and founders of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association(HSRA).
Born to a family which had earlier been involved in revolutionary activities against the British Raj in India, Bhagat Singh, as a teenager, had studied European revolutionary movements and was attracted to anarchism and communism.
His uncles, Ajit Singh and Swaran Singh, as well as his father were both part of the Ghadr Party led by Kartar Singh Sarabha.As a child, he was deeply affected by the Jalianwala Bagh Massacre that took place in Punjab in 1919.When Mahatma Gandhi started the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1920, he became an active participant at the age of 13.On April 8, 1929, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw bombs onto the corridors of the assembly and shouted "Inquilab Zindabad!" ("Long Live the Revolution!").This was followed by a shower of leaflets stating that it takes a loud voice to make the deaf hear.The bomb neither killed nor injured anyone.
EXECUTION
Shortly after his arrest and trial for the Assembly bombing, the British came to know of his involvement in the murder of J. P. Saunders. Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev were charged with the murder. He was hanged for shooting a police officer in response to the killing of veteran social activist Lala Lajpat Rai on 23rd March,1931 together with his fellow comrades Rajguru and Sukhdev.
On October 28, 2005, a book entitled Some Hidden Facts: Martyrdom of Shaheed Bhagat Singh -- Secrets unfurled by an Intelligence Bureau Agent of British-India [sic] by K.S. Kooner and G.S. Sindhra was released. The book asserts that Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev were deliberately hanged in such a manner as to leave all three in a semi-conscious state, so that all three could later be taken outside the prison and shot dead by the Saunders family. The book says that this was a prison operation codenamed "Operation Trojan Horse." Scholars are skeptical of the book's claims.
RANI LAKSHMIBAI
Lakshmi Bai was a Maharashtrian born sometime around 1828 at Kashi (presently known as Varanasi),Uttar Pradesh,India was one of the leading figures of the Indian rebellion of 1857, and a symbol of resistance to British rule in India.Her childhood name was Manikarnika.She got married to Raja Gangadhar Rao Niwalkar, the Maharaja of Jhansi in 1842, and became the queen of Jhansi.In 1853 Gangadhar Rao fell very ill and he was persuaded to adopt a child. To ensure that the British would not be able to contest the adoption, the Rani had it witnessed by the local British representatives.
At that time, Lord Dalhousie was the Governor General of British India. Though little Damodar Rao, adopted son of late Maharaja Gangadhar Rao and Rani Lakshmi Bai, was Maharaja's heir and successor under Hindu tradition, the British rulers rejected Rani's claim that Damodar Rao was their legal heir. Lord Dalhousie decided to annex the state of Jhansi under the Doctrine of Lapse.Jhansi became a center of the rebellion upon the outbreak of violence in 1857.
In September and October of 1857, the Rani led the successful defense of Jhansi from the invading armies of the neighboring rajas of Datia and Orchha.
In January of 1858, the British Army started its advance on Jhansi, and in March laid siege to the city. After two weeks of fighting,the British captured the city, but Rani escaped in the guise of a man, strapping her adopted son Damodar Rao closely on her back. She fled to Kalpi where she joined Tatya Tope.
During the battle for Gwalior the Rani met her death on 17 June. During this battle the Rani's original horse was mortally wounded. He had to be replaced by a younger, more energetic, but less trained horse.