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Revolutionary Thought -"One should not interpret the word “Revolution” in its literal sense. Various meanings and significances are attributed to this word, according to the interests of those who use or misuse it. For the established agencies of exploitation it conjures up a feeling of blood stained horror. To the revolutionaries it is a sacred phrase." - Bhagat Singh, HSRA

As per our earlier promise we will be shortly publishing 7 part article showcasing the revolutionary politics & parties of pre-independent India. These articles are not our original work. The original source will be credited at the end of each part of the article.

The party of focus for this article is..

Hindustan Socialist Republican Association(HSRA) formerly Hindustan Republican Association(HRA)


Bhagat Singh


Chandra Sekhar Azad


Sukhdev Thapar


Shivram Rajguru


Batukeshwar Dutt


Ram Prasad Bismil


Ashfaqulla Khan


Udham Singh

Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) was a revolutionary organisation, also known as Hindustan Socialist Republican Army established in 1928 at Feroz Shah Kotla New Delhi by Chandrasekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and others. Previously it was known as Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) whose written constitution and published manifesto titled The Revolutionary was produced as a witness in the Kakori conspiracy case of 1925. Likewise the Hindustan Republican Association, HSRA. was also a revolutionary organisation which worked more dangerously from 1928 to 1931 in the Indian subcontinent to uproot the British Raj from the country through armed struggle.

In 1922, When Gandhi refused to rescind his decision, the Indian National Congress was divided into two groups - one liberal and the other for rebellion. In January 1923, the rich group of party formed a new Swaraj Party under the joint leadership of Pt. Moti Lal Nehru and Chittranjan Das, and the youth group formed a revolutionary party under the leadership of Ram Prasad Bismil.

The party led by Ram Prasad Bismil soon came to be known as Hindustan Republican Association(HRA). The stated objective of the HRA was establishment of a "Federated Republic of the United States of India by an organised and armed revolution". Armed struggle, terrorism and retaliatory strikes were the favored tactics in the attempt to defeat the British empire.

From 1924 to 1925, the HRA grew in numbers with the influx of new members like Bhagat Singh, Chandrasekhar Azad, Sukhdev and Ram Prasad Bismil. The Kakori train robbery was the first well known action by the HRA. On 9 August 1925 the members of the group looted government money that was being transferred in a train. The Kakori conspiracy case led to the hanging of Ashfaqullah Khan, Ram Prasad Bismil, Roshan Singh and Rajendra Lahiri. Sanyal and Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee were sentenced to life imprisonment. The Kakori arrests decimated the leadership of the HRA and dealt a major blow to its activities. Of the original conspirators, only Azad and Kundan Lal Gupta escaped. During this period the HRA splintered into various factions based in Kanpur, Lahore and Bengal. In 1927 a new group of revolutionaries like Jatindra nath Sanyal (brother of Sachindra), Phanindra Nath Ghosh and Bhirendra Nath Bhattacharjee emerged as active members. Ghosh was behind the attempted assassination of Rao Bahadur JN Banerjee in Benares in 1928. BN Bhattacharjee was the prime accused in the Deogarh Conspiracy Case.

In September 1928, the Lahore faction (Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev) and Kanpur faction (Azad, Kundan Lal Gugta) of the HRA merged with the Bengali revolutionary faction led by Phanindra Nath Ghosh to form the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association(HSRA). This amalgamation came into existence at a meeting of the various factions at Feroz Shah Kotla grounds in Delhi. Bhagat Singh declared socialism as their ultimate goal and that their party's new name should reflect that. Azad was appointed as the Commander-in-chief and Bhagat Singh placed in charge of ideology. The HSRA's manifesto titled Philosophy of the Bomb was written by Bhagawathi Charan Vohra.

The HSRA decided to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai in a police lathi charge (a form of crowd control in which the police use heavy staves or `lathis' in Hindi) in November 1928 by assassinating J A Scott, the Superintendent of Police, Lahore who had ordered the lathi-charge. The plan was to be executed by Bhagat Singh, Shivram Hari Rajguru, Azad and Jai Gopal. The assassination attempt was carried out on 17 December 1928 in Lahore. It was planned that Jai Gopal would give a signal to Bhagat Singh and Rajguru as soon as Scott came of his office. However, Jai Gopal misidentified J. P. Saunders, the Assistant Superintendent of Police as Scott and gave the signal. Saunders was shot dead by Bhagat Singh and Raj Guru. A head constable was also killed while trying to chase the shooters. The next day the HSRA acknowledged the assassination by putting up posters in Lahore.

The next major action HSRA carried out was the bombing of the Central Assembly in Delhi. This was done to protest the introduction of the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill. The HSRA decided to bomb the Assembly while the bills were being introduced to arouse public opinion against them. On April 8, 1929 Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw bombs at the empty treasury benches. They made no attempt to escape and courted arrest while shouting Inquilab Zindabad (Long Live the Revolution) and Samrajyavad ko nash ho (Down with Imperialism). Their rationale for the bombing was explained in a leaflet titled "To Make the Deaf Hear" (paraphrasing the words of Édouard Vaillant). This leaflet was also thrown in the assembly and was reproduced the next day in the Hindustan Times. No one was killed in the bombing as it was designed as a propaganda operation. On April 15, 1929 police raided the HSRA's bomb factory in Lahore and arrested Kishori Lal, Sukhdev and Jai Gopal. The Assembly Bomb Case trial followed and Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were hanged on 23 March 1931 for their actions.

In December 1929, the HSRA bombed the special train of Viceroy, Lord Irwin. The viceroy escaped unhurt. Later the Lahore faction of HSRA broke away and formed the Athisi Chakar (Fire Ring) party under the leadership of Hansraj 'Wireless'. They carried out a series of bombings across Punjab in June 1930. On 1 September 1930, the Rawalpindi faction made a failed attempt to burgle the Office of the Controller of Military Accounts. During this period the leading members of the HSRA were Azad, Yashpal, Bhagwati Charan Vohra and Kailash Pati. In July 1930 the HSRA robbed the Gadodia stores in New Delhi and carried away 14,000 Rupees. This money was later used to fund a bomb factory. In December 1930, an attempt was made to assassinate the Governor of Punjab, which wounded him in his arm.

By 1931, most of the HSRA's main leaders were either dead or in jail. Kailash Pati was arrested in October 1930 and turned approver (witness for the prosecution). On 27 February 1931, Chandrasekar Azad shot himself during a gunfight with the police in a famous incident of Alfred Park. Bhagat Singh, Sukdhev and Rajguru were hanged in March 1931. After Azad's death there was no central leader to unite the revolutionaries and regional differences increased. The organisation split into various regional groups and they carried out bombings and attacks on Indian officials without any central coordination. In December 1931 another attempt was made to revive the HSRA at a meeting in Meerut. However this attempt failed with the arrests of Yashpal and Daryao Singh in 1932. This effectively ended the HSRA as a united organization though the various regional factions kept up their armed struggle till 1936.

Udham Singh, a former member of HSRA, on 13 March 1940, almost 21 years after the Jallianwala Bagh killings, fired Michael O'Dwyer at a joint meeting of the East India Association and the Central Asian Society. O'Dwyer was hit twice and died immediately. Then Singh fired at Zetland, the Secretary of State for India, injuring him but not seriously. Incidentally, Luis Dane was hit by one shot, which broke his radius bone and dropped him to the ground with serious injuries. A bullet also hit Lord Lamington, whose right hand was shattered. Udham Singh did not intend to escape. He was arrested on the spot. Udham Singh was formally charged with the murder of Michael O'Dwyer and On 31 July 1940, Udham Singh was hanged at Pentonville Prison. As with other executed prisoners, he was buried later that afternoon within the prison grounds.


Original Source can be accessed Here

Regards

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.