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The Indian independence movement consisted of efforts by individuals and organizations from a wide spectrum of society to obtain political independence from the British, French and Portuguese rule through the use of many methods. This is a list of individuals who notably campaigned against or are considered to have campaigned against colonial rule on the Indian sub-continent.
Post-independence, the term "freedom fighter" was officially recognized by the Indian government for those who took part in the movement; people in this category (which can also include dependent family members)[1] receive pensions and other benefits such as Special Railway Counters.[2]
A revolutionary, he took part in the Chittagong armory raid.
Abad Behari
Abad Behari was a lecturer at B.T Training College, Lahore, and was actively involved in nationalistic and revolutionary activities in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. He led his students into the fight for independence. He was deeply involved in writing and publishing the seditious pamphlet 'Liberty' against the British Government and in favor of independent India. He also acquired expertise in making and exploding bombs when he came in contact with Rash Behari Bose. He participated in a plot to throw a bomb on Lord Hardinge (Viceroy of India) on 23 December 1912, when he was passing through Chandni Chowk, Delhi in a State procession marking the inauguration of Delhi as the Capital of India. He played a major role in the Bomb explosion in Lawrance Garden, Lahore on 17 May 1913. He was charged with conspiring to kill Lord Hardinge and also accused in the bomb explosion at Lawrence Garden, Lahore. He was tried under the Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy Case and hanged in Delhi Central Jail on 8 May 1915. [3]
At Kashi Vidyapeeth, Acharya Narendra Deva and Acharya JB Kriplani, both renowned freedom fighters, were Anant Maral's teachers. Lal Bahadur Shastri, who rose to become Prime Minister of India after the death of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, was his contemporary at Kashi Vidyapeeth.There was a two-year period between 1930 and 1932 during the Civil Disobedience Movement, when the British had gagged the press, Anant Maral went underground to evade arrest and published the Congress Bulletin and Congress Samachar from Allahabad. He used to write in his own hand and cut stencils to print copies of the Congress bulletin. He used to go on foot from one village to another to distribute it and carry forward the Congress message. He also served as the Youth League secretary in Varanasi. Anant Maral was arrested and kept at the Patna Camp jail during the Quit India Movement in 1942.[4]
Bhikaiji Cama was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) in a large, affluent ParsiZoroastrian family.[5] While in London recovering from the plague, she met Dadabhai Naoroji, then president of the British Committee of the Indian National Congress, and for whom she came to work as private secretary. Together with Naoroji and Singh Rewabhai Rana, Cama supported the founding of Varma's Indian Home Rule Society in February 1905. She was denied re-entry to India after refusing to sign a statement pledging she would not participate in nationalist activities and, while in exile, Cama wrote, published (in the Netherlands and Switzerland) and distributed revolutionary literature for the movement, including Bande Mataram (founded in response to the Crown ban on the poem Vande Mataram) and later Madan's Talwar (in response to the execution of Madan Lal Dhingra).[6] These weeklies were smuggled into India through the French colony of Pondichéry.[citation needed] On 22 August 1907, Cama attended the second Socialist Congress at Stuttgart, Germany, where she described the devastating effects of a famine that had struck the Indian subcontinent. In her appeal for human rights, equality and for autonomy from Great Britain, she unfurled what she called the "Flag of Indian Independence".[n 1]
A staunch nationalist, he was a founding member of the swadeshi movement and campaigned for complete SwarajSwadeshi movement. Pal is known as the Father of Revolutionary Thoughts in India and was one of the freedom fighters of India.Bipin Chandra Pal made a strong plea for repeal of the Arms Act which was discriminatory in nature. Along with Lala Lajpat Rai and Bal Gangadhar Tilak he belonged to the Lal-Bal-Pal trio that was associated with revolutionary activity. Sri Aurobindo Ghosh and Pal were recognised as the chief exponents of a new national movement revolving around the ideals of Purna Swaraj, Swadeshi, boycott and national education. His programme consisted of Swadeshi, boycott and national education. He preached and encouraged the use of Swadeshi and the boycott of foreign goods to eradicate poverty and unemployment. He wanted to remove social evils from the form and arouse the feelings of nationalism through national criticism.
Chandrashekhar Azad was one of the greatest minds of Indian Independence Movement. He was the mentor of many freedom fighters including Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar, and Shivaram Rajguru. Chandrashekhar Azad was originally Chandrasekhar Tiwari. He was also known as Chandrasekhar Azad or Chandra Shekhar. He was involved in several incidents including Kakori train robbery, assembly bomb incident, shooting of Saunders at Lahore, and to avenge the killing of Lala Lajpat Rai.He was born on 23 July 1906 in Bhabra, Madhya Pradesh, and was the son of Pandit Sitaram Tiwari and Jagrani Devi. At Bhavra he received his early education and for higher studies, he went to Sanskrit Pathshala, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. He got involved in revolutionary activities at a very young age. Mahatma Gandhi that time launched a Non-Cooperation movement and he joined it. He got his first punishment at an age of 15 years when he was caught by the Britishers and sentenced to 15 whiplashes. Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (1919) deeply disappointed Chandrashekhar Azad. Mahatma Gandhi launched the Non-Cooperation movement in 1921 and Chandrashekhar Azad participated actively in it. But due to the Chauri-Chaura incident, Gandhi Ji suspended the Non-Cooperation movement in February 1922 that came as a blow to the Nationalist Sentiments of Azad. He then decided Hindustan Republican Association out of a sense of patriotism and took part in several national interest activities including Kakori train robbery, assembly bomb incident, shooting of Saunders at Lahore, and to avenge the killing of Lala Lajpat Rai.He wanted complete independence for India in any which way. He was betrayed by one of his associates and was besieged by the British police. On 27 February 1931, he arranged a meeting with revolutionaries at Allahabad's Alfred Park He fought with bravery but seeing no other way to escape, he shot himself and fulfilled his pledge of not being caught alive.To commemorate the bravery of Chandrashekhar Azad, after independence, Alfred Park in Allahabad was renamed as Chandrashekhar Azad Park. He lived only for 25 years but his role played in India's independence is not forgettable and inspired several Indians to take part in India's freedom struggle.
He was an Indian freedom fighter, anti-colonial nationalist, politician, legislature in Andhra Pradesh Assembly (1955–62, 1967–72) and a human rights activist.
Known as the Grand Old Man of India, Dadabhai Naoroji was born in Navsari, Gujarat within a ParsiZoroastrian family. He was an Indian political leader, merchant, scholar and writer who was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom House of Commons between 1892 and 1895 and the first Asian to be a British MP, other than the Anglo-Indian MP David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre, who was disenfranchised for corruption after nine months in office. Naoroji is renowned for his work in the Indian National Congress, of which he was one of the founding members and thrice — in 1886, 1893, and 1906 — elected president. Dadabhai Naoroji is regarded as one of the most important Indians during the birth of the nascent independence movement. In his writings, he came to the conclusion that the exertion of foreign rule over India was not favourable for the nation, and that independence (or at the very least, responsible government) would be the better path for India.
He met Jawaharlal Nehru in England in 1925. He joined the Indian National Congress and actively participated in the Indian Freedom Movement. In 1942 he was arrested during the Quit India Movement and sentenced to 3+1⁄2 years imprisonment. He was a member of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee from 1936 and of AICC from 1947 to 1974, and remained the Minister of Finance, Revenue and labour in 1948 Gopinath Bordoloi Ministry.
He was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the 5th president of India from 1974 to 1977.
Founder of the Abhinav Bharat Society. He led an armed movement against the British colonial government in India, he was sentenced to transportation for life as a result. Was the brother of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
He was an army officer in the Indian National Army (INA) who was charged with "waging war against His Majesty the King Emperor". He served as Subhas Chandra Bose's chief of staff in Singapore, and accompanied Bose on his last fatal flight from Taipei to Tokyo, sharing the last moments of his life.
A Sindhi politician and influential mayor of Karachi, he fought for Muslim-Hindu unity and the independence movement, particularly in opposing the Simon Commission of 1912. He died while travelling (against doctor's advice) to vote for its boycott.
Babuji, as he was commonly called, was a politician and Indian independence activist from Bihar. After playing a key role in the establishment of the All India Depressed Classes League in 1935, he went on to develop the rural labour movement and was elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1937. The league was devoted to achieving equality for untouchables.
He was a freedom fighter and after independence he was elected as Member of Parliament from Bagaha (Now Valmikinagar) and Bettiah (Now Paschimi Champaran) Constituency respectively he was also in the panel of LokSabha Speaker and was the president of Estimate Committee.
One of the youngest revolutionary martyrs, he was executed following an attempted assassination bombing which accidentally killed two bystanders instead of his intended target, the Viceroy of Bengal.
An Indian freedom fighter and rani of the Kittur, a former princely state in Karnataka. She led an armed force against the British East India Company in 1824 in defiance of the doctrine of lapse in an attempt to maintain Indian control over the region, but was defeated in the third war and died in prison.
Jinnah advocated Hindu-Muslim unity, helping to shape the 1916 Lucknow Pact between the Congress and the All-India Muslim League. Jinnah became a key leader in the All-India Home Rule League, and proposed a fourteen-point constitutional reform plan to safeguard the political rights of Muslims in the Indian subcontinent.
He is the First Freedom Fighter from Kattalankulam in Thoothukudi District, was an early Chieftain and freedom fighter against the British presence in Tamil Nadu. Born into a yadav community family, he became a military leader in the town of Ettayapuram, and was defeated in battle there against the British and Maruthanayagam's forces. He was executed in 1759
In his memory, the government of Tamil Nadu conducts a Pooja ceremony every year on 11 July. A documentary film based on his life was released in 2012.
Coming from an affluent Zamindar family, a leading Independence Activist from Eastern part of Uttar Pradesh. Mr. Chishti fought for the independence of India, actively participated in Quit India Movement and was jailed many times. He strongly opposed Jinnah's two nation theory and rejected his offer many times for ministerial positions in Pakistani Government brought by Raja of Salempur, he dedicated his life to help the underprivileged and economically backward people of India.
He was an educator, lawyer, independence activist and freedom fighter of the Indian National Movement. A stamp was issued in his honour by the Indian Postal Service in 1981 and in 1998.
Hailing from the Parsi Zoroastrian community, Mithuben Petit was a female activist in the Indian independence movement,[14][15] who famously participated in Mahatma Gandhi's Dandi March.[16][17] Petit along with Mahatma Gandhi's wife, Kasturba Gandhi, and Sarojini Naidu played a major part in the Salt March,[18] with Kasturba Gandhi beginning the march at Sabarmati, Sarojini Naidu lifting the salt for the first time at Dandi on 6 April 1930 and Petit standing behind Mahatma Gandhi when he repeated the violation at Bhimrad on 9 April 1930. The march was one of the most important event in the Indian independence movement.[14] In a time when women were required to take a back seat (due to the patriarchal culture at that time in India), Petit was one of the three women who played a pivotal role in the march and the civil disobedience against tax on salt.[18] Petit participated in the Bardoli Satyagraha of 1928 which was a no-tax campaign against the British Raj where she worked under the guidance of Sardar Patel.[19]
During the Indian Independence Movement, he served as the president of both the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League. He was a political figure and patriot from India. He was one of Jamia Millia Islamia University's founders. [21]
He used guerrilla warfare to fight the British in the Cotiote War (Kottayathu war, 1793–1805) to preserve the independence of his kingdom. He was killed at Mavila Thodu at the present Kerala-Karnataka border.[22]
شهيد سورهيه بادشاهه (the Victorious King or the great king) was the title given him by his followers. He was hanged by the British colonial government on 20 March 1943 in the Central Jail Hyderabad, Sind. His burial place remains unknown, despite requests to the government from people living in Sindh.
A Great Jat Ruler of the princely state of Ballabhgarh, he had secured the road from Delhi Gate (Delhi) to Bhadrapur (Bharatpur), who drove the British away from the parganas of Pali (Rajasthan), Palwal and Fatehpur.[24][circular reference]
A freedom fighter who led a campaign against British rule during the 19th century, he eventually built a bamboo fort in Narikelberia village which became the subject of Bengali folk legend. Titumir died of wounds following the storming of the fort by British soldiers.
A freedom fighter from kerala. Born in a rich aristocratic family, Ulloor gopi was drawn towards the national struggle by socialist thoughts. He was arrested five times by the British, in Quit India Movement his contributions could be called historical.
Umaji was the first Ramoshi Freedom Fighter who fought against British Council. Umaji Naik, known honorifically as Vishwa Krantiveer Narveer Raje Umaji Naik (7 September 1791 – 3 February 1832), was an Indian revolutionary who challenged the British rule in India around 1826 to 1832. He was one of the earliest freedom fighter of India. He fought against East India company and company rule
He seized control of a large area from the British rule and set up a parallel government of his Malayalam State in Malabar, named 'Malayala Rajyam' and now part of the Kerala State[34][35][36]
She was a queen of Sivaganga estate from c. 1780–1790. She was the first Indian queen to wage war with the East India Company in India.She is known by Tamils as Veeramangai ("brave woman").
He was an Independence activist, politician and a Hindu Nationalist. He published books advocating complete Indian independence by revolutionary means. One of the books he published called The Indian War of Independence about the Indian rebellion of 1857. In 1910, Savarkar was arrested and ordered to be extradited to India for his connections with the revolutionary freedom group India House. He was sentenced to a total 50 years imprisonment at the Cellular Jail but later released on the promise of renouncing violence.[38]
^"This flag is of India's independence. Behold, it is born. It is already sanctified by the blood of martyred Indian youth. I call upon you, gentlemen, to rise and salute the flag of Indian independence. In the name of this flag, I appeal to lovers of freedom all over the world to cooperate with this flag in freeing one-fifth of the human race."
^Adrawi, Asir. Hazrat Shaykh al-Hind: Hayat awr Karname [Shaykh al-Hind: Life and works] (in Urdu) (April 2012 ed.). Deoband: Shaykh al-Hind Academy, Darul Uloom Deoband.
^Abdul Mabood Qasmi. Mufti Abdur Razzāq Khān, Halāt-o-Khidmāt m'a Tārīkh Tarjuma wāli Masjid [Mufti Abdur Razzāq Khān, Life and services; and the history of Tarjuma wāli Masjid] (in Urdu) (June 2010 ed.). Bhopal: Jamia Islamia Arabia. pp. 241–242.
^Freedom Fighters Remember. Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. 1997. ISBN 978-81-230-0575-1. Archived from the original on 9 April 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
^Ramachandran, D. P. (2008). Empire's First Soldiers. Lancer Publishers. p. 121. ISBN 9780979617478. Archived from the original on 29 September 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
^Muhammad Miyan Deobandi. "Mawlana Uzair Gul". Asiran-e-Malta [Prisoners of Malta] (in Urdu) (January 2002 ed.). Deoband: Naimia Book Depot. pp. 367–376.
