Underrated Freedom Struggle Fighters - Part 2
Do you know these underrated, lesser-known freedom fighters from our Independence Struggle? Every Indian should thank them!
1) Bhagat Singh’s Comrades
Singh’s sacrifice is legendary - but the circle around him fought just as fiercely.
Sukhdev Thapar (सुखदेव थापर) and Shivaram Rajguru (शिवराम राजगुरु) joined Singh in avenging Lala Lajpat Rai’s death by unaliving J. P. Saunders in Lahore on 17 December 1928. All three were hanged together on 23 March 1931.
Right after the shooting, Durga Devi “Durga Bhabhi” (दुर्गा भाभी) smuggled Singh out of Lahore disguised as her husband, with her child in tow - later leading actions herself.
Then there was Batukeshwar Dutt (बाटुकेश्वर दत्त), who co-threw low-intensity bombs with Singh in the Central Legislative Assembly on 8 April 1929, stayed to court arrest, was sentenced to transportation for life, sent to Cellular Jail, and later died in 1965.
2) Pingali Venkayya (पिंगली वेंकैया)
Known as the “flag man,” he published a 1916 booklet on flag designs, then in 1921 presented the tricolour template to Gandhi at the AICC session in Vijayawada.
Gandhi added the white band; in 1947 the charkha was replaced with the Ashoka Chakra. Venkayya died on 4 July 1963, largely unrecognised, though the flag we salute today rests on his design, so every time you do a salute, please remember his contribution.
3) Alluri Sitarama Raju (अल्लूरी सीताराम राजू)
A sannyasi-organiser who turned tribal anger in the Agency tracts of present-day Andhra Pradesh into the 1922-24 Manyam (Rampa) Rebellion against the Madras Forest Act’s restrictions.
His guerrilla bands raided police stations across East Godavari and Visakhapatnam’s hill country, seizing arms and evading far larger forces for nearly two years, until his capture and execution on 7 May 1924.
4) Ashfaqulla Khan (अशफाकुल्ला ख़ान) & Ram Prasad Bismil (राम प्रसाद बिस्मिल)
This duo symbolised Hindu-Muslim unity in revolution. Bismil, influenced by Swami Dayanand Saraswati’s Arya Samaj, which believed in Vedic revival alongside armed struggle.
Together, they masterminded the Kakori Train Action of 9 August 1925 - seizing government cash to fund the Hindustan Republican Association, which later evolved into the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.
Both were executed on 19 December 1927 - Bismil in Gorakhpur, Ashfaqulla in Faizabad.
Their operation became the template for professional revolutionary logistics across India.