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Ashfaqulla Khan (22 October 1900 – 19 December 1927) was a freedom fighter in the Indian independence movement who had given away his life along with Ram Prasad Bismil. Bismil and Ashfaq, both were good friends and Urdu poets (Shayar). Bismil was the pen name or Takhallus of Ram Prasad whereas Ashfaq used to write poetry with the pen name of 'Hasrat'. Both were hanged on the same day, date and time but in different jails.
Early life
Ashfaq ullah Khan was born on 22 October 1900 in Shahjahanpur, a historical city of Uttar Pradesh. His father, Shafiq Ullah Khan belonged to a Pathan
family who was famous for military background. His maternal side was
more knowledgeable where so many members had served in the police and
administrative services of British India.
His mother Mazhoor-Un-Nisa Begum was an extremely pious lady. Ashfaq
ullah was the youngest amongst all his four brothers. His elder brother
Riyasat Ullah Khan was a class mate of Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil. When
Bismil was declared absconder after the Mainpuri Conspiracy, Riyasat used to tell his younger brother Ashafaq about the bravery and shayari Urdu poetry
of Bismil. Since then Ashfaq was very keen to meet Bismil, because of
his poetic attitude. In 1920, when Bismil came to Shahjahanpur and
engaged himself in business Ashfaq tried so many times to contact him
but Bismil paid no attention.
In 1922, when Non-cooperation movement
started and Bismil organised meetings in Shahjahanpur to tell the
public about the movement, Ashfaq ullah met him in a public meeting and
introduced himself as a younger brother of his class mate. He also told
Bismil that he wrote poems under the pen-names of 'Warsi'
and 'Hasrat'. Bismil listened to some of his couplets in a private get-
together at Shahjahanpur and since then they became good friends.
Ashfaq often wrote something and showed it to Bismil who immediately
corrected or improved the same. Thus a very good poetic alignment
between Ashfaq and Bismil developed and it was so familiar that
whosoever listened to them in any of the poetic conferences called Mushaira in Urdu language was overwhelmed with surprise.
Friendship with Bismil
When Mahatma Gandhi withdrew the Non-Cooperation Movement after the Chauri Chaura incident in 1922, so many Indian youths were left dejected. Ashfaq was also one of them. He felt that India should become free as soon as possible and so he decided to join the revolutionaries and also win the friendship of Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, a famous revolutionary of Shahjahanpur.
Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, an active member of Arya Samaj,
Shahjahanpur was eager to explain the greatness of the Hindu religion
to those belonging to other religions, although he never bore in mind
any prejudice against any religious community. This was the only reason
behind it that won the heart of Ashfaq and he became a confident friend
of Bismil. Although Ashfaq was a devout Muslim
yet both of them had the common objective of a free and united India.
They sacrificed their lives on the same day of 19 December 1927 as martyrs for India, but in different jails of Faizabad and Gorakhpur.
Kakori train robbery
The revolutionaries felt that soft words of non violence could not
win India its Independence and therefore they wanted to make use of
bombs, revolvers and other weapons to instill fear in the hearts of the
Britishers living in India. Although the British Empire
was large and strong yet very few Englishmen had conquered India due to
its untrained armies and political divisiveness. The withdrawal of the
non cooperation movement by so-called leaders of Congress united
revolutionaries scattered throughout the country. But the newly started
revolutionary movement required money to support its need. One day while
traveling on a train from Shahjahanpur to Lucknow
Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil noticed every station master bringing money
bags into the guard's cabin which was kept there in cash chest. This
cash chest was handed over to the station superintendent of Lucknow
junction. Bismil decided to loot the government money and utilise it
against the same government who had been continuously looting India for
more than 300 years. This was a beginning of a Dacoity called Kakori train robbery.
To give a fillip to their movement and buy arms and ammunition to
carry out their activities, the revolutionaries organised a meeting on 8
August 1925 at Shahjahanpur. After a lot of deliberations it was
decided to loot the government treasury carried in the 8-Down Saharanpur
- Lucknow passenger train. On 9 August 1925, Ashfaqulla Khan and eight
other revolutionaries looted the train under the leadership of Pandit
Ram Prasad Bismil. They were Rajendra Lahiri from Varanasi, Sachindra Nath Bakshi from Bengal, Chandra Shekhar Azad from Unnao, Keshab Chakravorthy from Calcutta, Banwari Lal from Rai Bareli, Mukundi Lal from Etawah, Manmath Nath Gupta from Benaras and Murari Lal from Shahjahanpur.
Conspiracy case filed
British Government was astonished at the courage of revolutionaries. The Viceroy deployed the Scotland Yard
Police to investigate the case. Within a month the C.I.D. collected the
clues and decided to arrest almost all the revolutionaries overnight.
On the morning of 26 September 1925, Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil and others
from Shahjahanpur were arrested by the police but Ashfaq was the only one untraced by the police. Ashfaq went into hiding and moved to Banaras, from there he went to Bihar where he worked in an engineering company for about ten months. He also wanted to go abroad and meet Lala Har Dayal for his concrete help in the freedom struggle. He went Delhi to find out the ways how to move out of the country. In Delhi, he took the help of one of his Pathan friend who in turn betrayed him by informing the police who arrested Ashfaq.
Tasadduk Husain, the then superintendent of police tried to play
communal politics between Bismil and Ashfaq. He also tried to win the
confidence of Ashfaq by provoking him against Hinduism
but Ashfaq was a strong willed Indian who surprised the S.P. Tasadduk
Husain Khan by saying- "Khan Sahib!, I know Pandit Ram Prasad better
than you, he is not such a person as you say but even if you are right
then I am also quite sure that a Hindu India will be much better than
your British India to whom you are serving like a servant."
Ashfaqulla Khan was detained in the Faizabad
jail. A case was filed against him. His brother Riyasat Ulla Khan
deployed Kripa Shankar Hajela, a senior advocate to plea his case as a
counsellor. Mr Hajela fought the case till the very end but he could not
save his life. While in jail, Ashfaq daily performed five times Islamic prayer (in Urdu 'Namaz') and reciting the verses from Quran to convince Allah in favour of his revolutionary activities. The case of the Kakori conspiracy was concluded by awarding death sentence to four daredevils viz. Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Lahiri and Thakur Roshan Singh. The sixteen others were awarded the rigorous punishment varying from four years up to life sentence.
By an eyewitness account, on a Wednesday, four days before he was hanged, two English
officers looked into the solitary cell where Ashfaqulla Khan was
lodged. He was in the middle of his namaz. "I’d like to see how much of
that faith remains in him when we hang the rat", quipped one of them.
But Ashfaq continued his prayer as usual and both of them went away
murmuring like a wind's way.
On Monday, 19 December 1927, Ashfaqulla Khan is known to have taken
two steps at a time, as he walked up to the post. When his chains were
released, he reached for the hanging rope and kissed it by saying these
words: "My hands are not soiled with the murder of man. The charges
framed against me are a bare false. Allah will give me the justice." And
at last he recited in Arabic the shahadah. The noose came around his neck and the movement lost one of its shining stars in the sky.
Few words from Ashfaq's diary
Ashfaq was a very good Urdu poet who wrote beautiful couplets and ghazals with the pen-name of 'Warsi' and 'Hasrat'. But very few people know that he had also written in Hindi as well as in English.
While he was confined in the solitary cell of Faizabad Jail, he started
writing a diary. Few words of English are reproduced hereunder from his
diary:
- Patrotism brings with him all sort of troubles and pains, but a man who chooses it,all the troubles and pains become comforts and ease for him. That is why we remain cheerful up to our aim.
- Only for the love of our country I suffer so much.
- There is no dream, and if there is,there is only one to see you my children struggling for the same and for which I am expected to be finished.
- Brothers and friends will weep after me but I am weeping over their coldness and infidelity towards our motherland.
- Weep not children, weep not elders; I am immortal ! I am immortal !!
In another letter written to his beloved mother, sisters and nephews
he writes: "We too had done some of the works which we could, but those
were the days, we had the glamour on face and strength in the chest. But
now is the hope only hope from you, you are now grown up and we are at
the verge of setting like a sun in the west." In Urdu he had written:
"किये थे काम हमने भी जो कुछ भी हमसे बन पाये,ये बातें तब की हैं आज़ाद थे और था शबाब अपना;
मगर अब तो जो कुछ भी हैं उम्मीदें बस वो तुमसे हैं,जबाँ तुम हो लबे-बाम आ चुका है आफताब अपना."
Last Night of Ashfaq
Ashfaq was a devout Muslim and his affection to his motherland is unmatching. A Hindi poet Agnivesh Shukla had written a very good poem titled Ashfaq ki aakhiri raat (en. the last night of Ashfaq) in which he had depicted the real sentiments of this great son of India.
Photo of Amar Shaheed Ashfaqulla Khan Gate in Faizabad Jail of U.P. (Pic Courtesy : Utpal Pamdey)
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