the youngest freedom fighter of India

 The death Anniversary of Khudiram Basu, the heroic son of Mother India

On 11 August 1908, the youngest revolutionary of India's independence struggle was hanged.

He just laughed when he heard the announcement of the death sentence. Standing on the gallows, wearing a black mask, he smiled for the last time. After his execution, the British newspaper Empire published, "That frozen corpse." But, the smile on his face is that smile. 'This is how the revolutionary Khudiram Basu gave his life for the country. This firefighter is the youngest martyr of India's freedom struggle.

He lost his parents in childhood. Khudiram became involved in revolutionary activities when he was only 12 years old. Hemchandra surprised Kanungo more than a revolver when he was in school. At the age of 16, he picked up a hand grenade for the first time in his fight against the British. He was also caught by the police more than once.

Lord Curzon proposed the partition of Bengal in December 1903. According to this proposal, two provinces named 'West Bengal' centered on Calcutta and 'East Bengal and Assam' centered on Dhaka were proposed. Earlier, as the entire Bengal Presidency was centered in Calcutta, most of the trade, mills and development would have been there, leaving East Bengal deprived.

The Muslim-majority leaders of East Bengal welcomed the proposal, saying that the region would also get a touch of development as a result of the partition of Bengal. But the Hindus of West Bengal saw it as a 'divide and rule' conspiracy of the British and started opposing the partition proposal. But in spite of their opposition, when it came into force on 16 October 1905, they formed an intense movement for the abolition of the Partition of Bengal.

When the abolition of the partition of Bengal was not possible by the constitutional movement, the agitators called for a 'swadeshi movement'. They called for the boycott of all British products and the use of home-grown products instead. In different parts of the world, British products began to be burned openly, while local salt, sugar, weaving, leather goods, etc. began to come into the market. Besides, the influence of Swadeshi movement was also noticeable in literature, education etc.

Those who were involved in the revolutionary movement at that time tried to take advantage of this great opportunity of the Swadeshi movement. They continued their propaganda work to mobilize the people in support of the revolutionary spirit, exploiting the existing English hatred among the people of West Bengal. It was at this time that Khudiram Basu, one of the heroes of history, joined the revolutionary party Jugantar from Medinipur.

Khudiram was naughty and reckless from his childhood. With this fierce nature, Khudiram became a spark of revolutionary consciousness. Khudiram's first meeting with Hemchandra Kanungo, a founding member of the Gupta Sangha in Bengal, gave him some insight.

Khudiram will be thirteen or fourteen years old then. One day Hemchandra Kanungo was walking on the road to Medinipur. Khudiram saw him and ran and stopped his bike; "I have to give you a revolver," he said. Hemchandra was naturally annoyed to hear such a whim from an unknown boy. He asked, "What will you do with the revolver?" Khudiram replied, "Sir, I will kill you." He then began to argue why Mr. Maraben was telling the story of the British torture. Hemchandra reprimanded him that day but was overwhelmed by his motivation.

Khudiram was first discussed while distributing anti-British 'Sonar Bangla' leaflets. An agro-industrial exhibition was organized at Medinipur in February 1908. Khudiram stood at the entrance of the exhibition and started distributing the leaflets to everyone. He was caught by a police constable at that time. But Khudiram is easily caught? It is heard that Khudiram broke the constable's nose that day due to the miracle of boxing, but he could not release himself.

Another revolutionary Satyendranath was then working in the office of a deputy in the Collectorate. He was also the assistant editor of that exhibition. When Khudiram was caught, he tactfully rescued him from the police. Then as long as the police can catch the tactic, Khudiram Hawa. Satyen was fired due to this incident. And in the name of Khudiram a 'treason case' was filed. This was probably the first treason case against the revolutionaries.

After staying in Ferrari for some time, it was decided that Khudiram would be caught by the police. But the revolutionaries feared that Khudiram might expose their activities in the face of police torture. But despite all the exaggerated stories of torture, Khudiram relentlessly prepared to surrender. The revolutionaries were relieved; They realized that no matter what, Khudiram would not divulge anything. In fact, the police could not get anything out of the 16-year-old's mouth after many attempts.

Khudiram's childhood was not easy. He was born in 189, in Medinipur. He lost his parents at an early age and grew up in a relative's house. It is learned that he had to lose his property to pay off the debts left by his father and to pay for the marriage of his sisters. It is easy to imagine what kind of 'respect' an orphaned boy could receive in a relative's home. Khudiram was no exception. And maybe he could feel so much pity for the oppressed because he was oppressed by this society from his childhood.

Anyway, we go back to the time of the independence movement. When the Swadeshi movement also failed to rescind the Partition of Bengal, the revolutionaries decided to go into 'action'. Action meant the assassination of English officials and the robbery of a government treasury or an Englishman's house to raise money for the revolution. The purpose of this 'action' was to spread the news of these attacks all over the country, to discuss and criticize. The message of revolutionaries will reach the people of the country. And since the anti-English sentiment was then evident in the country, people would also support it.

According to this plan, armed attacks of revolutionaries started all over the country. Various clandestine attacks and clashes with police have become commonplace. But one of the most notable plots of the time was the assassination of Governor Fuller and Magistrate Kingsford. In 1906, Khudiram was charged with the murder of Magistrate Kingsford. Kingsford was then a magistrate of the criminal court. They were furious with him for giving a harsher sentence against the revolutionaries in the case.

There was another attempt to assassinate Kingsford even before Khudiram. A book bomb was made and sent to him, it was set in such a way that the bomb would explode as soon as the book was opened. But when the book was sent to Kingsford, he did not open it. He thought that maybe someone had returned the book he had borrowed. So he left it that way. Then for the second time this responsibility fell on the shoulders of Khudiram and Prafulla Chaki.

Mr. Kingsford was then the judge of Mozaffarpur. At the end of April, Khudiram and Prafulla were sent to Mozaffarpur to be taught. Prafulla and Khudiram did not know each other before. They first met at the railway station. After failing a few missions earlier, this time the best two were selected from two completely different teams. Both of them seemed to have succeeded in getting this responsibility.

One evening, Khudiram and Prafulla went to Mozaffarpur, evading the police. Then they began to monitor Kingsford's movements. Kingsford used to return to the bungalow in a white horse-drawn carriage every evening. After regular aiming for seven days in a row, Khudiram and Prafulla realized that this was the best chance to kill him.

Then came that desired day. On April 30, 1908, at 6 pm, they saw a white horse carriage approaching the bungalow. They threw bombs as planned. The car was smashed in a huge explosion. Khudiram and Prafulla thought their mission was successful and left. But what they didn't know was that Kingsford wasn't in that white car that day. Mrs. and Miss Kennedy Nanmi were two English women killed that day.

Although Khudiram and Prafulla worked with complete devotion and sacrifice, they made some mistakes. They were instructed by the revolutionaries to wear clothes imitating the people of another province during the mission, then at the end of the mission they would wear Bengali clothes again. But in hindsight it seems they didn't.

There was one more mistake. Khudiram's weakness towards the revolver genius was already there. It had not been handed over to him before for fear of abuse. But in this mission, he and Prafulla were given one revolver each. Besides, Khudiram hid and took another revolver from the arsenal. They were instructed to drop their revolvers after the bomb exploded. But Khudiram could not do that because of his attraction to revolvers. When he was caught the next day, he was eating with both hands and two revolvers hanging in the pockets of his thin shirt.

They were also told not to open their mouths without consulting a lawyer if caught. But after Khudiram was caught, he gave a confessional statement to the magistrate. However, he did not mention anyone in the Guptasangha except his Prafulya. He said that they had done all the plans together. In this way he tried to keep the Gupta Sangha out of doubt. Meanwhile, Prafulla committed suicide to avoid arrest.

Surprisingly, during Khudiram's trial, no lawyer from West Bengal, namely Calcutta and Medinipur, agreed to stand by him. In the end, some lawyers from Rangpur in East Bengal fought for Khudiram. At the insistence of the lawyers in the court, Khudiram gave a new statement instead of the one given to the magistrate earlier. Since Prafulla is dead, the lawyers tried to reduce Khudiram's sentence by blaming him!

But it did not help. The British were not in a position to make any concessions on the question of revolution. Khudiram was sentenced to death. Khudiram was then hanged on August 11, 1906. According to eyewitnesses, Khudiram accepted the gallows with a smile and pride.

Khudiram died more than a century ago today. This name is still a symbol of revolution to us.