Chandra Shekhar Azad

Biography

Chandra Shekhar Azad, born Chandra Shekhar Sitaram Tiwari in Bhabhra village of present-day Madhya Pradesh, was one of the foremost revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement. After the execution of Ram Prasad Bismil, he reorganised the Hindustan Republican Association into the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) and became its Commander-in-Chief. A fearless marksman, he took part in the 1925 Kakori train action and the 1928 shooting of police officer John Saunders in Lahore alongside Bhagat Singh. On 27 February 1931, surrounded by police at Alfred Park in Allahabad, he fought to the last and, true to his vow never to be taken alive, shot himself with his final bullet at the age of 24.