Kakori: The Train Robbery That Shook The British Raj

By Prachi Garg

In the 1920s, a group of young revolutionaries under the leadership of Ram Prasad Bismil, took matters into their own hands to achieve freedom from the tyrannical rule of the British.
Bismil and his team set the stage for a defining moment in the Indian freedom struggle by executing the audacious Kakori robbery. This was a direct attack on the British government after a long time, and it rattled them.
Revisit the robbery from the eyes of Bismil as he narrates the tale of bravery, patriotism and brotherhood.
KAKORI is an intensely-researched, comprehensive account of this historical episode, filled with hard-hitting facts and startling insights.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Srishti Publishers
• Release date: Jun 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9789390441341

Book preview

Acknowledgements

This book has been possible due to the enormous love and support that people have given to me. It was their constant support that kept me going and ensured that I should be able to deliver it on time. I would like to thank everyone for making the journey smooth for me.

Family members play a great role to make such accomplishments possible. In my case as well, this holds true. Each one of them has been instrumental and has been there when required. Special thanks to my father Brijesh Garg and my mother Neeru Garg.

Mr Arup Bose from Srishti Publishers for his faith in my concept and agreeing to publish the same.

Stuti and Vini, my editors, who undertook the tedious task of going through my manuscript, editing it and coming out with exciting ideas.

All my friends who provided me with constant moral support to make this happen.

All the readers of Superwomen, SuperCouples, Supersiblings, The Legends of a Startup Guy, Startup Secrets from the Ramayana and Ganesha’s Global Startup, whose love inspired me to venture into the breathtaking historical events of Kakori.

Prologue

"है लिए हथियार दुश्मन ताक में बैठा उधर

और हम तैयार हैं; सीना लिए अपना इधर

खून से खेलेंगे होली, गर वतन मुश्किल में है

सरफ़रोशी की तमन्ना, अब हमारे दिल में है ।"

(The enemy waits there with weapons, and here we are

ready to take their bullets on our chest. We will

shed blood if the nation is in trouble; the feeling of

sacrifice is now in our hearts.)

I am Ram Prasad Bismil. People know me as a businessman, a poet and a freedom fighter. ¹You may have stumbled upon my readings under the name of Bismil, Ram or Agyat.

I don’t know if you have heard my name yet. But if you have, it means the stories of our struggle to get independence for India have reached you. I also hope that you are reading this in independent India, which is my most cherished dream. I hope you are immensely proud to being a citizen of your country. The nation is home to such a vibrant culture, and a history of struggle. Don’t ever take any of this for granted. Freedom was not given to us on a silver platter. My companions and I toiled beyond our capacities to liberate our motherland from the shackles of British rule.

As you soak in the breeze of your free nation, I would like to take you back in time, to the pre-independent era. While I am aware that your history is filled with heroic stories of the freedom struggle, I’m here to elaborate on a defining event which may have slipped the focus of mainstream narratives. Though it might seem like a small incident, it has been pivotal in bringing a revolution across the nation. Through a span of these pages, I will share my journey of participating in the freedom struggle which transformed my life. My intent is to share my life lessons so that you can take inspiration from my experiences and move forward stronger.

If you are sitting in independent India, you must have heard of the heroes who fought courageously in the Indian freedom struggle. I am not sure if I feature in that list, but I can guarantee that I have had the honour of working with a lot of these brave heroes.

Let me tell you about all these incredible people who gave up everything for the country.

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Heroes are not born. It takes years of learning and unlearning involving hardships, conflicts and failures before glory comes to light. It is almost amusing how we are only surrounded by the stories of success, but rarely are told about their most difficult moments which make our heroes more real.

The first struggle for freedom that involved a large number of people came up in 1857. As a result, a full-fledged struggle for independence was brewing when I was growing up. In fact, in the beginning of 1900s, a lot of action was happening as political leaders wanted to come together for more active participation in the governance of the country.

I am sure you will be surprised to know that the initial conversation was not about attaining independence at all. The Congress leaders were hoping to secure a cooperative co- governance of sorts with the British government. But due to a series of failures and disappointments, their demands changed, which gave rise to an organised war of independence.

As I write this, it has been well over a century that the British have established themselves as a permanent rule in our motherland. While our leaders are struggling to have a say in the matters of their country’s governance, the British Raj is strengthening their hold by setting up institutionalised assets. I have witnessed the growth of the railways, post offices, educational institutes and governance bodies which was carried out in full swing by the government to give an impression that the country was advancing under their rule.

I see these signs of progress. But does development hold any significance if it is given at the expense of our rights and liberties? What will we do with these luxuries if we are discriminated against on our very soil!

The general dissatisfaction around the mistreatment of the people is growing as a prominent contrast. It is very prominent in the way the so-called lower class people are treated by the British. These seemingly innocuous episodes of discrimination are leading to a rise of angst amongst my people which culminate into these acts of violent protests.

When I look around and observe the plight of my fellow countrymen, my heart bleeds!

The youth has never been so angry. The peasants are in their worst condition. The country looks up to leaders like Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Though he has stepped into full-blown activism, he firmly believes in continued goodwill and cooperative relationship with the British. A proponent of non-violence and peace, he is championing for a more collaborative arrangement, with inclusion and active participation of Indian members in the government bodies. Most of the leaders whose voices are heard wish to unite the country under the British Raj.

The British philosophy of setting up an infrastructure reflects their intention to stay as the ruling empire and make a long term base in the country. But there are some who perceive it as a means of progressive development for the Indian population as well.

I don’t know what you feel about it, but his approach does not resonate with my sensibilities.

My country is my home and I do not want to serve anyone. I believe in the capability and integrity of my countrymen and refuse to bow down to a foreign master!

Let’s understand that when you come from a state of poverty, you would naturally believe that the establishment of better government infrastructure like the railways, post offices, educational institutes, schools and municipal corporations make your life better.

I understand that leaders like Gandhi have travelled widely and possess a wealth of knowledge. He has been able to envisage a progressive environment for the country. Prominent leaders like him were extremely inclined towards a non-violent and symbiotic alliance with the British. But I did not have a lot of faith in the intentions of the government. No matter how cooperative it may be on the outside, there will always be an implicit hierarchy which will place us in an inferior position.

I barely had access to privileged education in a global environment, which a lot of my rich counterparts did. Even

though I lacked the resource, I did not lack the determination to grow and excel. I was majorly self-taught as I tried to read as much as I could through debate and dialogue about current politics. I was always looking out for media reports and publications so that I could enhance my understanding of what was going on in and outside the country.

Around this time, I got to know about people in the British force, who were more like diplomats, who were more empathetic than some of the privileged Indians. Edwin Samuel Montagu and Lord Chelmsford were some of the men in power who had been active advocates of promoting policies in favour of local governance. They endorsed inclusion of Indians in all possible domains of administration, not only for the purpose of easy operations within the country, but also because it felt like the logical and sustainable way forward to continue their rule peacefully. Given the state of cooperation and participation which was rendered by the educated, upper class of the country, envisaging the collaborative form of governance had not seemed unlikely. However, it was a very myopic perception, as people like me – who did not have come from a position of privilege – were neither given a space for dialogue in this matter, nor taken into consideration.

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It doesn’t take a lot of effort to see that not everything was good under the foreign rule. Casteism and classism was rampant. Since power and money resided in the hands of a few, it was a common cause for dissatisfaction and anger, especially in the commoners. The British were clear about wanting to divide and rule. The conscious division of people along the lines of caste, class and religion was propagated for the rule’s benefit.

What followed was quite expected. There was civil unrest and protests in different states. Though not as a national revolution, they existed in pockets with unorganised sects, with different, albeit overlapping agenda. Since such mutinies were localised and planned around specific matters, they only resulted in short-lived effects and failed to create a lingering impact.

As expected, this angered the government quite a bit, even though they did not want to admit it. More importantly, instances in Punjab, Bengal and even in Uttar Pradesh made their way into publications and newsletters, thereby coming into the knowledge of the common masses.²

I have always believed in the power of words as it has the potential to create a social revolution. When I got to know about these disruptions, I wrote diligently about the ongoing struggle and exploitation, bringing out publications and articles. By themselves, these instances were not able to create any immediate impact, mostly resulting in death, imprisonment and violent oppression of the mutineers. But as a result, a collective wave of consequences was set into motion. These instances stood out as opportunities for people to connect and organise their thoughts and actions.

There’s no denying that this was also a very difficult time for world politics. The First World War had placed England and its empire in a difficult position. That was one of the reasons why political strategies in our country were reset to suit the English landscape. With this, the equation between the Indian leaders – who had so far been in the good books – and the British, changed drastically. Although Gandhi had envisaged an inclusive future, the repressive methodology being adopted by the British to curb even the most fundamental rights and consequential protests were a huge setback for a cooperative relationship with the Indian population.

Did you know that several Indians were forced to take part in the World War and their lives were sacrificed! As many as 1.3 million Indian soldiers were forced to serve in the First World War, and over 74,000 of them were lost to death.³

Sadly, the returning favours were not only unfair, but outright despicable. With the resources of the British heavily focussed towards the war, they had come down with zero tolerance policies towards any kind of civil disobedience in the country. In order to impose law and order, the forces began to exercise arbitrary actions, enforcing punishments without trial, violence even against peaceful workers and dismissal of any pleas brought forth by the Indian leaders.

If we thought that the Empire had been brutal on the downtrodden before, this phase showed us a new low. I knew this was coming. I never believed in their superficial concern, which they portrayed in the guise of infrastructural development. Their true intent was slowly getting revealed.

In fact, this oppressive approach ultimately backfired for the British Raj in India. This autocratic enforcement became a major cause of estrangement and ultimately led to a breach of patience and trust in the common masses, revolutionaries and political leaders alike. In fact, people like me, who had been against the alliance, were getting more eager to find a window to launch the full protest against the British.

However, Gandhi had kept himself uninvolved in protests, till the end of the First World War. At the end of the war, the Montagu-Chelmsford Report⁴ recommended introducing controlled levels of self-governance. It would have been a massive step for the Indian leaders to gain some level of participation and control in the management of the country.

But to