- Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born at Porbandar in Gujarat on October 2, 1869. He married Kasthurba at the age of 14. Received Barrister degree from Britain and went to South Africa in 1893 to practice law. Experimented the weapon of Satyagraha against the colour discriminations there. He returned to India in 1914 and became the leader of Indian National Congress very soon. He presided the Congress session of Belgaum in 1924. Gandhiji was in the forefront of the freedom struggle till independence. With his entry, the freedom movement gained a new dimension. He blazed a trail of non-violent fight for freedom of India. 40 million people of India stood behind him and the British rulers gradually forced to leave India. Gandhi spent 2338 days in prison. He was not ready to hold any post when country became free. He wrote about his principles in the newspaper ‘Young India’. Gandhiji was shot dead by a Hindu fanatic Nathuram Godse on January 30, 1948 at Delhi.
- Subhash Chandra Bose (1897-1945)
The great patriot of India who formed INA in 1943 a well organised army against British rule. Subhash Bose was not ready for any compromise with Indian rulers and resigned from the prestigious Indian Civil Service before jumping into freedom struggle. He was popularly called Netaji.
As paralleled to the peaceful struggle of Gandhi, Netaji was engaged in the attempt to organise Indians settled abroad and equip them for fighting against the British. Subhash opposed the participation of Indians in the World War. As a result, he was arrested. He somehow escaped from British capture and left for Germany where he gained support of the German dictator, Hitler to make India free. He organised INA in Japan by joining hands with Ras Behari Bose. His army reached Indian soil in 1944. It is believed that Subhash Chandra Bose died in a plane crash at Burma. However the controversy about this plane crash continues, the contributions of this steel man led Indian patriots like a morning star.
- Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920)
He was a leader of extremist group of freedom fighters and popularly known as ‘Lokamanya’. Tilak published patriotic articles through his journals Kesari and Maratha. He was sentenced for seditious writings. Max Muller and Annie Besant are some of the world leaders who admired Tilak for his wisdom and courage. He was the leader of the Home Rule Movement started in 1908.
A strong advocate of Swaraj or self-rule, Tilak played a pioneering role in building a mass political consciousness towards the Indian independence movement. His call for self-rule with the slogan “Swaraj is my birth right and I shall have it” inspired millions during the freedom struggle. The British colonial authorities called him “The father of the Indian unrest”.
- Lala Lajpat Rai (1865-1928)
One of the pioneers of Indian freedom struggle popularly known as The Lion of Punjab. He was the leader of Swadeshi Movement and founder of Punjab National bank and the Lakshmi Insurance Company. Lajpat Rai helped establishment of few schools in the country. He also founded a weekly paper young India in 1916. Lala Lajpat Rai was inspired by Dayanad Saraswati’s Hindu reformist movement while studying in Lahore and became a member of Arya Samaj. He died of a heart attack weeks after sustaining severe injuries during police assault when protesting against Simon Commission in 1928. His life and death inspired hundreds of revolutionary leaders.
- Bhagat Singh (1907-1931)
A Great Martyr of Indian freedom struggle. In 1907, he formed a group called Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA). The group came into existence as a result of a meeting held at Lahore on December 28, 1908. He is credited with popularizing the catchphrase “Inqilab zindabad” (“Long live the revolution”).
Bhagat Singh became an active member of the Congress party and was soon arrested along with other members of the party’s central executive committee by the British government. In 1928, Bhagat Singh along with Rajguru shot dead a British police officer, John Saunders, in Lahore, mistaking Saunders, for the British senior police superintendent, James Scott, the one they held responsible for the death of Lala Lajpat Rai in a lathi charge of Simon Commission. On 8 April, 1929, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw bombs at the Central Legislative Assembly at Delhi ‘to make the deaf hear’. He, along with Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar, was hanged to death for the murder of Saunders on 23 March 1931.
- Dadabai Navroji (1825-1917)
Dadabai Navroji, popularly known as Old Man of India, was a politician, merchant, scholar and a writer. He was successfully elected as a member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom in July, 1882. Navroji therefore became the first Asian to be elected to the House of Commons. He started Indian National Association with the motive of Indian freedom, which was the inspiration for the formation of Indian National Congress. Navroji became involved in politics and in 1867, he helped establish the East India Association. In 1874 became Prime Minister to the Dewan of Baroda and was also a member of the Legislative Council of Bombay (1885-88). In 1886, he was elected as President of the Indian National Congress.
- Moulana Abdul Kalam Azad (1888-1958)
Abdul Kalam Azad was one of the most significant activists during India’s freedom struggle. He was a writer, poet, scholar and a leader of Indian National Congress. He became the first Minister of Education of Independent India. Recognising his contribution in the establishment of the foundation of education, his birthday is celebrated as National Education Day across India. As a journalist, he criticized British Raj and supported Indian Nationalism. He became closer to Congress after the failure of Khilafat movement. Later, he committed himself to Gandhi’s ideals of non-violent civil disobedience, promoting Swadeshi products and the cause of Swaraj for India. He also worked for Hindu-Muslim unity through the Al-Hilal newspaper. He was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1992.
- Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1893-1909)
Vallabhbhai Patel was a lawyer, political leader, barrister and served as the first Deputy Prime Minister of India and also as the first Home Minister of India from 1947 to 1950. Mahatma Gandhi gave the title of ‘Sardar’ (meaning leader), considering his efficient leadership of the Bardoli Satyagraha. When Gandhi was in prison, Patel was the one to lead the satyagraha in Nagpur against a law banning the raising of Indian flag. He is famously known as the Iron man of India for his contributions in the unification of over 500 princely states into one nation. Vallabhbhai was also responsible in large measure for shaping India’s constitution. He died on December 1950 due to a massive heart attack.