Chandra Shekhar Azad Birthday Special: Lesser Known facts about the great freedom fighter

Legendary freedom fighter Chandra Shekhar Azad is a household name that has continued to inspire and motivate generations of Indians.

It is our sincere duty to bow down our heads and remember him as we and the whole nation owe a lot to him due to his bravery and unwavering will to the cause of India's freedom. 

As the nation pays tributes to the unforgettable freedom fighter on his birth anniversary, let’s take a look at some lesser-known facts about him:

1. Chandra Shekhar Azad was born on 23 July, 1906 as Chandra Shekhar Tiwari in Bhavra village, present-day Alirajpur district of Madhya Pradesh.

2. Azad’s mother asked his father to send their beloved son to Kashi Vidyapeeth in Varanasi, in order to make his a great Sanskrit scholar.

3. Azad joined the Indian freedom struggle in 1921, when he was just a school student.

4. He learned the art of archery from the tribal Bhils which was helpful during the arms struggle against Britishers.

5. Azad became extremely popular because of the Kakori Rail Dacoity in 1925 and the assassination of policeman John Poyantz Saunders in 1928.

6. The Indian revolutionary adopted the last name Azad as it meant ‘free’ in Urdu. He promised the British police that they would never catch him alive.  

7. Young Azad, emotionally shattered after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919 - where British army units killed hundreds of unarmed Indians – did not feel that violence was unwanted in the freedom struggle.

8. Following the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, a certain Bhagat Singh joined Azad. Singh and others were trained by him.

9. On 23 February, 1931, police surrounded Azad as he a bullet hit his right thigh making it tough for him to escape. The legendary Indian revolutionary kept his pledge and shot himself as he had only one bullet in his pistol.

10. Alfred Park, Allahabad, where Azad breathed his last has been renamed to Chandrashekhar Azad Park.