Yesterday I got to know that Udham Singh(The man who took revenge for Jalianwala Massacre by killing Gen. Dyer) worked in two Hollywood movies also. now Udham Singh's nephew works as a daily wage laborer in Punjab. I realized how less we Indians know about our martyrs. Then I searched about the lives of those legends after independence and the facts which I found are really astonishing. Most of the freedom fighters were not fortunate enough to get the due credit for their sacrifices. This article is a humble effort to bring those facts in front of you and pay tribute to them.
1. Batukeshwar Dutt-
The most renowned and unfortunate freedom fighter is Batukeshwar Dutt. Everyone knows about his struggle and sacrifice. Students read about him in history books. Feature films are made about bhagatsingh, Sukhdev, Rajguru and Dutt. But after independence, he had to live in utter poverty and negligence. He had to do various odd jobs to run his family. He died from cancer in poverty. Every year on independence day we sing patriotic songs like "Jara Yaad Karo Qurbani" but we forgot our soldiers who were still alive. Later on, the government realized about him and admitted him in AIIMS but it was too late and we lost him. He died silently and it didn't make the front page news in media like other famous politicians or Movie stars. India didn't deserve those heroes.
2. Sukhdev and Rajguru- Sukhdev and Rajguru were important members of HSRA(Hindustan socialist republican Army).They were equally involved in all revolutionary activities with Chandrashekhar Azad and Bhagatsingh.but the are forgotten by India. Sukhdev was born in Ludhiana's Naugarh area, but nobody connects it to him now. Only the old bus stand and govt. school is named after him. Government is doing a lot in the name of BhagatSinghh but Sukhdev never comes in their list.
Rajguru is somewhat lucky in this sense. His village is situated around 80 km from Pune.in 2017 govt. gave 5 crores to restore the memories of rajguru. Since a long time the file was pending but now it seems that things may change for better.
3. Ram Prasad Bismil- He was one of the leading revolutionaries and hanged in kakori train case. His grandson brijendra singh was given 70 Acres of land by MP government after efforts from president Dr.Raajendra prasad but it was snatched by local goons. They never got justice for it.
4. Tatya Tope-Vinayak Rao tope who was the third generation descendant of Tatya tope runs a small grocery store in Bithur(Near Kanpur). Later on, his two daughters were offered jobs in Indian railway by Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Besides all these names there are many freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for the country but are forgotten by the indifferent government. Now their descendants are struggling to earn their livelihood.
‘Forgotten Heroes and Martyrs of India's Freedom Movement’ (fifth in the series of ‘Aandolan Ek Pustak Se’), a book was written by journalist and activist Shivnath Jha encloses the life story of all these heroes. According to him, there are 170545 freedom fighters who are getting 11331 Rs. monthly from central government and around 7000 to 9000 from the state government. His book comprises of around 200 freedom fighters and martyrs from 1857 to 1947. He is also helping those families of freedom fighters who are in need through earning of this book and organizing various other events.
While writing this article I also got a clip of the movie in which Udham Singh acted. Enjoy the clip on the following link:
https://scroll.in/reel/811025/udham-singh-the-freedom-fighter-motor-mechanic-and-movie-actor
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