Remember Us Once in A While Letters of Martyrs

During the freedom struggle, hundreds of thousands of patriots offered resistance, went to jail and suffered hardships. Innumerable martyrs made the supreme sacrifice to throw out the foreign rulers. This book is a collection of letters written by some of these martyrs to their relatives and comrades. The objective of this publication is to bring the fervor of our freedom movement to the youth of today.

It is true that the British ruled our country for over two centuries but it is also a fact that the people of our country had never fully accepted their rule. The dissent against British rule found expression in one way or the other from the very beginning. By mid 19" century sparks of revolt against British domination had become visible and in 1857 they flared up and took the form of the war of Indian Independence. It is also called a mutiny. It was an armed revolt but it did not succeed. In this freedom struggle great patriots like Rain Lakshmibai of Jhansi, Nana Saheb, Tatya Tope fought under Bahadur Shah Zafar’s leadership.

About half a century later a non-violent movement against British rule started under Mahatma Gandhi’s leadership. The Indian National Congress played a prominent role in it. Along with this a parallel resistance movement had also begun. Those who joined it felt that the non-violent movement was not enough. They thought it necessary to take up arms against the British. In this movement martyrs such as Chandrashekhar Azad, Ram Prasad "Bismil", Ashfaq Ullah Khan, Batukeswar Dutt etc. took an active part and sacrificed their lives for the country.

These revolutionaries from time to time wrote letters to their parents, brother, sisters, friends and comrades. This book is a collection of their letters which inspire us with their intense feeling.

Ram Prasad ‘Bismil’ has, in a long poem expressed the heartfelt feelings of the martyrs. An excerpt: