It was the 18th of December 1927. A middle-aged lady was waiting at the main gates of the Gorakhpur Central Jail. Her face was radiant but anxiety was writ large on it. She was eagerly waiting to be called into the prison.
By that time her husband also arrived there. He was surprised that his wife was there before him. He also sat down to wait for the call.
Another young man came there. He was not related to them. He knew that the couple would be permitted to enter the prison.But how could he manage to enter? This was his problem.
The officials of the prison called in the husband and the wife. The young man followed them. The guard stopped him and rudely asked, "Who are you?"
"Permit him also, brother. He is my sister's son", the lady said in an entreating voice. The guard relented.
All the three entered the prison to visit a freedom fighter that was to face his death on the morrow.
The Motherland, trodden under the iron heel of the foreigner, should become free; the right way to achieve it was armed revolution - so he thought. No matter what problems and obstacles came in his way, no matter what thorns crowded his way, he walked with his head held high. Death lay in wait on that path. But yet he did not flinch.
He was never treacherous to anyone. When he suspected treachery, he denounced the traitors without casing for their position or prestige. In a way, he had to die only because he was not prepared to be treacherous.
In his autobiography he has narrated how he was arrested and taken to the police station in connection with the Kakori case. 'The arrests had kept the police officers busy throughout the night and they had not slept. They all went away. Even the one constable who was on guard was fast asleep. Only one clerk was in the station busy writing. He was Roshan Singh's cousin. If I had wished,I could have simply walked out. But that clerk would have got into great trouble. I called him and told him that I would walk away if he was prepared to face the consequences. He knew me well. He fell at my feet and said that he would be arrested if I did so and that his wife and children would have to starve and die. I pitied him.' After a little while Rama- prasad found an excuse to go out; the constable on guard went with him. The other constables said, "Put him in chains" but he declared, " I have faith in him, he will not run away." 'We went to a lonely place. I placed my palms on the wall and looked back. The guard was watching a wrestling match and was absorbed in it. One leap and I could have scaled the wall. After that who could have caught me? But my inner self said, "Would you cheat and send to prison that poor constable who trusted you and gave you so much freedom? Is it right? What will his, wife and children think of you?" This thought filled my mind, I drew a long breath, called the guard and returned to the police station.'
Whether it was a clerk or a constable, the man who had trusted him should not be betrayed. This was his principle. Even in prison, the prison guards had great faith in him because of his conduct. Even after he was sentenced to death, his principles remained unchanged.He was not prepared to escape, leaving those who had trusted him in trouble.
The Kakori Rail Dacoity is a great land, mark in the history of the revolutionary movement in India. It was the brave Rama- prasad Bismil who planned and executed it faultlessly.
Ramaprasad Bismil lives forever in our memory as a revolutionary, as a revolu- tionary - writer and, above all, as an ideal man.
"Even if I have to face death a thousand times for the sake of my Motherland I shall not be sorry. Oh Lord! Grant me a hundred births in Bharath. But grant me this, too, that each time I may give up my life in the service of the Motherland."
This prayer should echo in each and every soul in free India.
