~ Renu Bhardwaj
India owes its Independence to thousands of nameless and unsung heroes who sacrificed their lives to see India free from the clutches of Britishers cruelty. One such hero of our Independence struggle is Sachindra Nath Sanyal an Indian revolutionary and mentor of revolutionaries like Chandrashekhar Azad & Bhagat Singh. Originally belonging from Bengal, Sachindra Nath was born in the North Western province in the city of Banaras, in 1893.
He was the founder of Hindustan Republican Association, a revolutionary organisation created to carry out armed resistance against British imperialism. In 1913 at the age of 20, he founded Anushilan Samiti in Patna. From its foundation to its dissolution during the 1930’s Samiti challenged the British rule in India. He was also involved in the Ghadar conspiracy also known as Ghadar mutiny which was a plan to initiate a pan-Indian mutiny in the British Indian Army in February 1915 to end the British Raj.
Many central figures were arrested and many revolts in smaller units within India were crushed Sachindra Nath went underground after it was exposed in February 1915. However, he was caught and sentenced to life imprisonment due to his involvement in Ghadar conspiracy and was imprisoned at Cellular Jail in Andaman Nicobar Islands where he wrote his famous book “Bandi Jeevan” but was briefly released. The pain
and sufferings he received in prison did not discouraged him from revolting against British Raj, he continued his freedom struggle.
The Non-cooperation movement of 1920 led to large scale mobilisation of Indian population against the British rule. Although intended to be non violent movement, it soon turned out to be violent. After the Chauri Chaura incident MK. Gandhi dismissed the movement to prevent the violence in 1922 without consulting any executive committee member of Congress. Following the end of Non-cooperation movement Sanyal, Ram
Prasad Bismil and many other who wanted an independent India and founded Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) in October 1924. Sanyal wrote the Manifesto of association titled “The Revolutionary”. It was proposed to overthrow British colonial rule and its replacement with what it termed a “Federal Republic of the United States of India”, and that was distributed among
masses in North Indian cities on 31st December 1924.
During the period of 1920-1924 Sanyal and Mahatma Gandhi were engaged in famous debates published in Young India. He argued against Gandhi’s non violent approach. Sanyal was well known for his firm Hindu beliefs; however some
of his followers were Marxists and thus opposed religions. Bhagat Singh also discussed his beliefs in his book “Why I am an Atheist”. His thoughts and ways to achieve liberation from British Raj always inspired the youth of nation. Sanyal was once again imprisoned for his involvement in Kakori
conspiracy. The Kakori conspiracy was a train robbery that took place between Kakori and Lucknow on August 1925 against British government which was organised by Hindustan Republican Association. They looted that specific train because it was supposed to carry the money bags belonging to the treasury of British government. They looted only these bags containing some 8000 rupees and not a single Indian was looted. After this incident, the British authorities started an intense manhunt and arrested several revolutionaries involved in HRA.
The HRA manifesto was also produced as evidence in the Kakori Conspiracy. Due to his involvement in Kakori conspiracy he was once again jailed and sent to the Cellular prison in Andaman. His ancestral home in Varanasi was confiscated by British government. He was forced to live in an environment infested with tuberculosis. Later he contracted Tuberculosis in Jail. He was transferred to Gorakhpur Jail in his final phase of disease where he died in 1942.
These unsung heroes might not be among us today, but their ideas and will have incarnated itself in a thousand lives.
