Revolutionary Activities in Delhi

Delhi has been the cradle of activity of many revolutionaries after the first war of Independence in 1857. In the nation’s march towards freedom, Delhi, the nerve centre of political cross currents, played the pioneering and pivotal role in history of the national movement. The sacrifices and contribution of revolutionaries of Delhi have been of great importance. Their activities in Delhi drew the attention of the people and succeeded in focusing the attention of the country on the supreme need of ‘direct action’ in order to achieve complete independence. Their smiling acceptance of bullets and gallows have shown people how to dare and die for their country’s freedom. This book is stimulative and perceptive survey of the most important events which took place in Delhi during 1907-31 is a saga of revolutionary activities, an exciting story of hold-ups, assassinations, gun battles, tortures in jails, hangings, and self immolation through hunger strikes, etc. An attempt has been made to delineate an objective account of the movement in Delhi in the background of general revolutionary activities in other regions and how the revolutionaries planned and acted to overthrow the British rule from India by armed insurrection. The throwing of bombs on the Viceroy’s state entry into Delhi and in the legislative Assembly reflected the popular sentiments of the people and jolted the British imperialism. The violence and violent reactions have been studied at length. The book is a fascinating detail of every aspect of revolutionary movement in Delhi. It aims to impart a great deal of knowledge about the revolutionaries. It will prove to be of invaluable value to students, teachers, historians and anyone interested in freedom struggle movement. The present work representing the Ph.D. thesis of the author is the first serious attempt to present a comparative study of the revolutionary activities in Delhi in requisite detail.