This week marks the death anniversaries of two freedom fighters on consecutive days – those with two different ideologies but one common goal. The martyrdom day of revolutionary Chandra Shekhar Azad on 27 February precedes the death anniversary of Kamala Nehru the next day.
Though his ancestors originally belonged to Unnao district in UP, Chandra Shekhar Azad was born in a village in the Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh on 23 July 1906. Hailing from a Brahmin family, Chandra Shekhar Tewari, as was his original name, studied in Banaras Sanskrit School and later at Kashi Vidyapeeth. He took part in the Non-cooperation movement in 1921 at the age of 14, arrested but released after receiving a punishment of 15 canes.
In his court statement, he described his name as "Azad", his father as " Swadhin" and his address as " jail". He was hailed as a "young hero" after his release.
Azad: The Lesser Known Revolutionary
Azad joined the Indian Revolutionary Party in 1922 and became a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army founded by Bhagat Singh who, despite being opposed to Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence, drew inspiration from Pt Jawaharlal Nehru and Subash Chandra Bose – both icons of the youth in the 1920-1930s. This was true of all revolutionaries.
They differed from Gandhi but held him and his lieutenants in high regard for they knew they were all fighting for the same cause, only their means were different.
Azad took part in the famous 'Kakori mail dacoity' and was declared an absconder who carried a reward of Rs 30, OOO for his capture. To avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, he, along with Bhagat Singh, organised the shooting of the British superintendent of police, JA Scot but in a case of mistaken identity, instead of Scot, the Deputy superintendent JP Saunders was shot dead.
Azad also helped Bhagat Singh in organising the bomb explosion in the central assembly on 8 April 1928. Bhagat Singh was apprehended and subsequently sentenced to death by hanging two years later. But Azad successfully evaded arrest for as many years but was caught by the police after one of his trusted associates, informed the authorities of his whereabouts.
He was surrounded by the police in Alfred Park, Allahabad on 27 February 1931, and shot dead in an encounter with a pistol in his hand with which he killed many policemen before succumbing to his injuries in the shootout.
The supreme sacrifice of this daring martyr is unfortunately not so well known as his more celebrated, and younger colleague Bhagat Singh who has emerged as the greatest revolutionary icon, not only across India but also in Pakistan as he belonged to what is now part of that country.
Kamala’s Marriage in a Family of Freedom Fighters Rubbed Off on Her
Jawaharlal Nehru recounts an incident before Bhagat Singh's hanging related to Chandra Shekhar Azad in his An Autobiography: "I remember a curious incident about that time... This took place soon after my discharge from prison, either a little before my father's death or a few days after. A stranger came to see me at our house, and I was told that he was Chandra Shekhar Azad."
What could be the motive of the visit of a 'terrorist' (as the colonial govt labelled the revolutionaries those days)? Could it be that the great patriot, Motilal Nehru, known for his lavish spending and generosity, was secretly funding the revolutionaries?
If so it must have been an act of great courage and matchless patriotism –a person wedded to Gandhi's non-violence funding practitioners of violence. After all the cause was one, even though the means were varied.
Kamala Nehru, who died of illness when she was only 47, was born in Delhi's Chandni Chowk on 1 August 1899. Her father, Jawahar Lal Kaul was a wealthy businessman, and her mother Rajpati was an orthodox Brahmin woman well-versed in Ramayana and Mahabharata. At the age of 16, Kamala Kaul married 26-year-old Jawaharlal Nehru in Delhi on Basant Panchami on 8 Feb 1916.
As her husband and father-in-law, the famed Motilal Nehru, under the inspiration of Mahatma Gandhi, threw themselves into the freedom struggle, the life at Anand Bhavan, their palatial residence at Allahabad, turned from luxury to simple living.
This change to austerity was to the liking of Kamala as she was never at home with the earlier Western style of living of her father-in-law who now turned a new leaf with the beginning of the Non-cooperation movement. The change also brought Kamala and Jawaharlal closer to each other as she started taking an interest in his active political life. But it also brought long spells of separation due to Jawaharlal's frequent terms of imprisonment.
'Leading Women Into the Freedom Struggle’
By the end of 1924, Kamala fell grievously ill and was diagnosed with tuberculosis. The doctors advised that she be taken to Switzerland for treatment which was an expensive affair.
Jawaharlal Nehru, who had no regular income, had to sell Kamala's jewellery for her treatment. Though she partially recovered after a long treatment abroad Kamala continued to suffer periodically from TB.
By April 1930, the country was in the grip of the civil disobedience movement and Jawaharlal Nehru was in prison as also most leaders of the Congress. But a remarkable thing happened: Indian women came forward in large numbers, much larger than during the Non-cooperation movement a decade earlier. Kamala played a heroic role in the political awakening of women.
She constantly moved about Allahabad district to mobilise women and youth, picket shops selling liquor, foreign cloth and took out processions and braved lathi charges.
Her mother-in-law, Swaroop Rani was hit on the head in one such charge and was seriously injured. The period 1930-31 saw almost all the members of the Nehru family imprisoned from time to time. Besides Motilal and Jawaharlal Nehru, this included Kamala and her two sisters-in-law, Swarup (Vijayalakshmi Pandit) and Krishna.
The Last Days of Kamala Nehru
The four years of struggle through 1930-34, saw a sharp decline in Kamala's health with Jawaharlal languishing in one jail or the other. The death of Motilal Nehru in February 1931 created a void in the lives of the family and Kamala's health again began to deteriorate.
She found solace in spirituality. In one of the letters to her guru Swami Sivananda of Ramakrishna Math, she wrote, "If I get restless, I think of Lord Krishna. I have started reading the Gita...it gives me much pleasure." Kamala Nehru was taken to Europe for the second and last time – first to Badenweiler sanatorium in the Black Forest of Germany and then to Lausanne (Geneva) where she breathed her last on 28 February 1936.
Subash Chandra Bose who was in Europe at that time rushed to Lausanne and helped his closest comrade with the cremation arrangements. Only a few days earlier, he had written to Jawahar: "If I could be of any service in your present trouble, I hope you will not hesitate to send for me."
Mahatma Gandhi laid the foundation stone of the Kamala Nehru Memorial Hospital at Allahabad and earlier stated in his tribute: "I have not known a truer, braver and more god-fearing woman." Jawaharlal Nehru who had just finished writing his An Autobiography dedicated it to his beloved wife with the touching words: To Kamala who is no more.
(Praveen Davar is the ex Secretary of All India Congress Committee (AICC), ex Army officer, a columnist and the author of Freedom Struggle and Beyond. This is an opinion article and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
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