Revolutionaries and their Activities in Northern India

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Although India won freedom in 1947 as yet no historian has attempted a full-length study of the revolutionary activities of the freedom fighters in Northern India during the period 1923-1931. The present book by Dr. Dublish will fill this undesirable lacuna and, consequently, our knowledge of the history of freedom struggle will be much sounder than what it is today.

Dr. Dublish's book is a solid piece of research work which she undertook to write her dissertation for her Ph.D. degree, and is based on historical records that are verifiable. It is not, as many books on the subject usually are, a juicy narrative based on hearsay, anecdotes and tell-tales to titillate our historical curiosity or patriotic sentiment.

She explains in her book who those revolutionaries were, the ideologies that inspired them to sacrifice their lives for the freedom of their country, the nature of their activities, and their contribution to the freedom struggle of India.

Besides information on the above subjects the book contains biographical materials of well-known martyrs like Ram Prasad Bismil, Bhagat Singh, and Chandra Shekher Azad as well as of unknown or little-known revolutionaries. The latter will be found in Dr. Dublish's book in a chapter entitled "Forgotten Revolutionaries".

To make her study authentic Dr. Dublish has provided facts which she gathered from national and state archives, contemporary newspapers, magazines and periodicals as well as reports, proceedings and private papers. She has also undertaken extensive tours of U.P., the Punjab, and Delhi to verify her facts.

Here is a pioneering book and a contribution to the history of freedom struggle of India, and will be welcome by both academics and common readers.

Born in Bombay (October 1942), Dr. Kaushalya Devi Dublish completed her education from Meerut University from which university she also earned her Ph.D. in 1976.

Dr. Dublish belongs to a revolutionary family. Her uncle Shri Vishnu Saran Dublish was an old revolutionary who was convicted and imprisoned in connection with the famous Kakori Conspiracy in which Ram Prasad Bismil and others were hanged. It was he who inspired Dr.Dublish to undertake a thorough research investigation into the activities of the revolutionaries in northern India, and as a result the present book--Revolutionary Activities in Northern India, 1923- 1931 came to be written.

Revolutionary activities constitute an important phase in the freedom struggle of India. But it is a pity that so far these have not attracted the attention of the historians they deserved. This is the reason perhaps that the common man has a hazy, rather an erroneous idea about the revolutionaries even today. The sources regarding their activities are scanty, and the Government accounts like the Sedition Committee Report (1918) 'and Terrorism in India 1917-36 are one-sided and highly coloured. The premature death, imprisonment or deportation of many revolutionary martyrs has also led to the disappearance of valuable sources of information.

In this monograph I have confined my study mainly to the important revolutionary activities in Delhi, the United Provinces and the Punjab from 1923 to 1931. Bihar has been excluded as it does not come under our definition of northern India. The North West Frontier Province and Sindh-though within the geographical boundaries of Northern India-have also been excluded from this study as no important revolutionary activity based on the background of the revolutionary philosophy took place there during the period 1923 to 1931. have made an humble attempt to make a dispassionate study of the circumstances leading to these revolutionary activities, the philosophy behind them, the incidents and the personalities involved, and their contribution to the freedom struggle of India. Apart from the well-known revolutio naries martyrs like Ram Prasad Bismil, Bhagat Singh and Chandra Shekhar Azad, I have included short life-sketches and activities of some of the unknown, martyrs in the chapter 'Forgotten Revolationaries'.

**Contents and Sample Pages**