Khudiram Bose - a young freedom fighter who laid down his life for his motherland.As India celebrates its 71st Independence Day, Onmanorama pays tribute to a young freedom fighter who laid down his life for his motherland.
Salute to Khudiram Bose
The flames of patriotic fervor were spreading through India when Khudiram Bose left his home in Midnapore in Bengal to pursue education in Bihar.
The teenager was called into action by the words of Sister Nivedita and Aurobindo Ghosh. He chose the militant path of nationalism.
1905: Khudiram joined the Bengali revolutionary group, ‘Jugandar.' He joined his comrades to blast three police stations. The British Raj was jolted.
1908: Khudiram headed for Muzzafarpur in Bihar to assassinate Calcutta presidency magistrate Kingsford.
April 30: Khudiram and another freedom fighter Prafulla lobbed a bomb at Kingsford’s vehicle. The car was burnt but the victims were barrister Pringle Kennedy’s wife and daughter.
The police caught up with the revolutionaries. Prafulla shot himself in the head.
May 1: Thousands thronged the Muzaffarpur railway station to catch a glimpse of Khudiram. “He came out of a first-class compartment... like a cheerful boy who knows no anxiety... on taking his seat, the boy lustily cried Vandemataram,” The Statesman reported.
June 13: A judge gave the death sentence to a smiling Khudiram. Asked if he had anything to say, he offered to teach the judge how to make a bomb if given some more time.
August 11: Khudiram hanged. “He walked to the gallows firmly and cheerfully and even smiled when the cap was drawn over his head,” Amrita Bazar Patrika wrote.
Khudiram was 18 years old.
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