Centenary of Kakori Train Action | 12 Aug 2025

Why in News? 

A hundred years ago, on 9th August 1925, ten young revolutionaries, including Ram Prasad Bismil, and Sachindranath Bakshi, executed a daring heist on the British railway treasury, known as the Kakori Train Action.  

  • To honor the revolutionaries of the Kakori Train Action, Uttar Pradesh has rebranded its famous Dussehri mangoes from the Kakori-Malihabad region under the new name ‘Kakori Brand.’ 

Key Points About the Kakori Incident 

  • Event: The incident involved the robbery of the Number 8 down passenger train (from Shahjahanpur to Lucknow).  
    • The train was carrying official British cash (railway collections), intended for use in revolutionary activities aimed at undermining British colonial rule. 
  • Key Figures: Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan, Chandrashekhar Azad, Manmathnath Gupta, and Rajendra Nath Lahiri, all prominent members of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA). 
    • In this case 17 were jailed, 4 transported for life and 4 (Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah, Roshan Singh, and Rajendra Lahiri) were hanged. 
  • Impact on the Freedom Struggle: The Kakori Train Action gave the HRA a much-needed financial boost, allowing it to expand and eventually transform into the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), led by Chandrashekhar Azad.

HRA

  • The HRA was founded in October 1924 in Kanpur by Ramprasad Bismil, Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee, and Sachin Sanyal, with an aim to organise an armed revolution to overthrow the colonial government and establish in its place the Federal Republic of United States of India whose basic principle would be adult franchise. 

HSRA 

  • The HSRA determined to overcome the Kakori setback, the younger revolutionaries, inspired by socialist ideas, set out to reorganise Hindustan Republic Association at a historic meeting in the ruins of Ferozshah Kotla in Delhi (September 1928).  
  • Under the leadership of Chandrashekhar Azad, the name of HRA was changed to Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA).  
  • The participants included Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar, Bhagwati Charan Vohra from Punjab and Bejoy Kumar Sinha, Shiv Verma, and Jaidev Kapur from the United Provinces.  
  • The HSRA decided to work under a collective leadership and adopted socialism as its official goal.