Childhood and Early Life :

Chandra Shekhar 'Azad' Tiwari was born on 26th of July, 1906 to Pandit Sitaram Tiwari and Jagrni Devi in Bhavra village of Alirajpur District, Madhya Pradesh. While growing with the inhabited Bhill area, he mastered some of their skills which includes swimming, wrestling, archery along with great commond over javlin throw. He as decendent to a Brahmin family was ardent devotee of diety Hanuman. If we reckon his early days, he had developed an enviable physique practising all those skills and sport along with the folks around. In the course of his early education, which he recievd from the same destination, mother Jagrni admired for him to get higher education at Banaras, Kashi Vidhyapeeth in Sanskrit.

The rise of Azad :

The political period at which Chandrashekhar made his debut in Kashi can be termed as an important period of the Indian freedom struggle. As a child he was wayward and preferred outdoors, brillant commond over studies even. He was passionate towards freedom struggle and once met some young nationalists in Banaras. The British persecution culminated in the Jallianwallah Bagh massacre in 1919, had a lasting impact on the Indian Nationalist movement. The exasperated teen was promptly persuaded that it was utterly fine to avenge violently against Britishers.[ref]

The Transformation : From Tiwari to Azad 

M.K. Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement of 1920-1921 sparked the first wave of nationalist sentiments. It became the gateway of young bloods to prop up for the cause. Azad, who was a mere teen took it as opportunity to avenge the freedom and proceed for the ultimate goal. While carrying his revolutionary activities, during Non-Cooperation Movement he was arrested by Britisher's. No wonder, at the minor age of 15 he faced the arrest and was presented to the court room. The interrogating officers were in staggered state while Azad responded to the questions raised by them. An instance of this, when those officers asked him for his personal details he referred his name as "AZAD", his father was "Swatantrata" and "Jail" as his residence, with each hit of whip he bellowed "Bharat Mata Ki Jay." Consequently in particular an ordinary minor widely came to be known as "Chandra Shekhar Azad." Azad then vowed that he'll never fall into the hands of Britisher's and will always remain free i.e. justifying his title "AZAD." [ref]

Revolutionary Life :

Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) & Azad :

The announcement to suspend the non-cooperation movement came as a blow to the nascent Indian Nationalist Sentiments.  But many were disappointed with the suspension of the struggle in 1922 owing to the Chauri Chaura massacre of 22 policemen. Gandhi was shocked by the harsh violence, Azad did not feel that intensity was unacceptable in the fight, especially in view of the Amritsar Massacre of 1919, where Army units killed numbers of defenceless civilians and injured thousands in Amritsar. Azad was much agitated in its aftermath and decided that a fully aggressive course of action was more suitable for his desired outcome. He committed himself for the complete Independence (Purna Swaraj) by any means. Azad and his compatriots would target British Officials known for oppresive actions against ordinary people and freedom fighters.  He met Ram Prasad Bismil, the founder of Hindustan Republican Association formed in 1925, through Pranavesh Chatterji and a young revolutionary Manmath Nath Gupta, impressed by the organization’s ideals he joined HRA and became an active member, concentrated his efforts on collecting funds for the association. He planned and executed daring attempts to rob government treasury to raise funds in order to further their revolutionary activities. [ref]

Kakori Conspiracy :

Throughout all the revolutionary activities and training, Bismil felt shortage of funds. On the meeting of 8th August, 1925 he convinced the idea of looting a train carrying treasury money to fund acquiring of weapons for revolutionary activities. Bismil had noticed several security loopholes in trains carrying treasury money and a suitable plan was devised. They targeted the No. 8 Down train travelling from Shahjahanpur to Lucknow and intercepted it at Kakori. They stopped the train by pulling the chain, overpowered the guard and took 8000 rupees from the guard cabin. In the ensuing gunfight between the armed guards and the revolutionaries, one passenger died. The government declared this as murder and launched an intense manhunt to round up the involved revolutionaries. The British government appointed four detectives of Scotland Yard to investigate it. The Intelligence Police officer Tasadduk Hussein was behind the revolutionaries now. Within a few months, all the big leaders of the Kakori incident got arrested. Only two people could dodge arrests - Kundan Lal Gupta and Chandrashekhar Azad. In such a situation, some old and new revolutionaries, who were left to pursue the revolutionary movement, planned to reorganize the party.  Azad then took charge of the organisation after the other freedom fighters, Ram Prasad Bismil Ashfaqulla Khan, Thakur Roshan Singh and Rajendra Nath Lahiri were sentenced to death in the Kakori train robbery case. Azad was the man of disguise, no one could recognize him, as he was too prompt to change his avatar. 

Activities in Jhansi :

After the Kakori incident, Azad moved to Jhansi because living in Kanpur was risky. Master Rudra Narayan was one of his trusted friends in Jhansi. He there worked as driver in a garage and eventually turned to share cordial bond with Raja Khaalak Singh Judev, King of Khaniaadhana, whom he revelled his state of disguise and managed to let him know that he was Chandra Shekhar Azad. He in Jhansi lived with the name Harishankar. He selects the forest of Orchha situated at about fifteen kilometres from Jhansi for shooting practice. He was a proficient marksman and used to teach other members of his group in Orchha. Near the forest, he built a hut aside a Hanuman Temple on the banks of the Satar River. He lived there under the alias of Pandit Harishankar Brahmachari for a long period and started teaching kids of the nearby village Dhimrapur. In this way, he succeeded to build a good rapport with the local citizens. The village Dhimarpura was renamed as Azadpur by the Madhya Pradesh administration. While prevailing in Jhansi, Azad learnt to drive a car at Bundelkhand Motor Garage in Sadar Bazar of the cantonment region. Sadashivrao Malkapurkar , Vishwanath Vaishampayan and Bhagwan Das Mahaur came in close connection with him and became an indispensable part of his rebellious society. The Congress managers from Jhansi Pandit Raghunath Vinayak Dhulekar and Pandit Sitaram Bhaskar Bhagwat were also close to Azad. He also stayed for some time in the house of Master Rudra Narayan Singh situated at Nai Basti and Pandit Sitaram Bhaskar Bhagwat’s house in Nagra. 

Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HRSA) :

H.R.A. was provided with an All-India format and was named H.S.R.A. (Hindustan Socialist Republican Army). The socialist word added showed the ideological richness and generosity of the members of this organization. Azad had been a labourer in Mumbai and he had not only seen the lives of the labourers but also lived it. That was why he was very well acquainted with the pain of the life of the labourers. Apart from this, he had also led a tribal life with tribal children, while his father himself was a farmer. This was the reason that there was a lot of sympathy for all these sections inside Azad and thus he considered people on the basis of the foundation of the country. His ideological churning was also manifest in this meeting. The second decision in the meeting which was unanimously agreed upon was that Azad was declared the Commander-in-Chief of H.S.R.A. At that time, Azad was the only available and effective organizing coordinator that his name was unquestionably accepted. The major aim of the HSRA was to achieve the dream of an independent India based on socialist principle.

Lala Lajpat Rai's Death and Lahore conspiracy :

 In 1927, a commission came to India, whose name was Simon Commission , in the name of its chairman Simon. The British government, in order to fool people, said that on the basis of its report, the British Government would increase the participation of Indians in the ongoing government in India. This commission was a matter of grave insult for Indian leaders because the first thing was that there was no Indian among the members of this commission. On October 30, 1928, Lala Lajpat Rai led a peaceful protest against the Simon Commission at Lahore. Police Superintendent James Scott ordered lathi strike to thwart the advancement of the march. Lalaji was severely injured in the process and died on November 17, 1928 as a result of the wounds. Azad and his peers held the police superintendent responsible for Lala’s death and they vowed to extract revenge. Together with Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru, he plotted the assassination of Scott. On December 17, 1928, the plan was executed but a case of mistaken identity led to the killing of John P. Saunders, an Assistant Superintendent of Police. The HSRA claimed responsibility for the event the next day and the involved people shot to the top of the British’s most wanted list. Bhagat Singh was arrested following his demonstration in the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi on April 8, 1929. When the HSRA bomb factories in Lahore and Saharanpur were busted, some of the members turned approver for the state. As a result around 21 members were arrested including Rajguru and Sukhdev. Azad along with 29 others were charged in the Lahore Conspiracy Case Trial, but he was among the few who the British authorities were unable to capture.

Martyrdom :

Azad’s impact on the British Raj law enforcement faction was evident from how much effort they put to capture him, dead or alive. They even announced a reward of Rs. 30,000 on his head. The huge amount of money led to vital information on the whereabouts of Azad. In the last week of Feb, 1931 Azad went to Sitapur Jail and met Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi. He hoped that Vidyarthi would involve in the case of Bhagat Singh and others as he had previously done in the Kakori conspiracy case. Vidyarthi suggested him to go to Allahabad and meet Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. If he could be convinced, Nehru would be able to persuade Gandhi to talk to the Viceroy Lord Irwin and reach an agreement with the British Government in the forthcoming Gandhi-Irwin Pact. Azad met Pandit Nehru in the early morning of 27 February 1931 at his residence Anand Bhawan in Allahabad and held talks with him. Nehru was not convinced with Azad’s arguments and asked Azad to leave his place. A furious Azad left immediately. 

From Anand Bhawan he went to the Alfred Park on his bicycle. He sat under a tree of Jamun after propping his bicycle on the tree. He was discussing some confidential matters with a fellow party member, Sukhdev Raj when Deputy Superintendent of Police Bisheshwar Singh along with S.S.P. (C.1.D.) John Nott-Bower arrived there. Nott-Bower, pointed his finger towards Azad, to tell Bisheshwar Singh that this corpulent man was the person about whom he was informed just now by some reliable sources. Seeing a policeman pointing out his finger towards him, Azad immediately dragged out his Colt pistol from pocket and fired at Nott-Bower, hitting him in the right wrist. Seeing his senior officer soaked in blood, Bisheshwar Singh abused Azad. Azad immediately shot Bisheshwar Singh in his mouth, breaking his
jaw. Within a few minutes, the police surrounded Alfred Park. During the initial encounter, Azad suffered a severe bullet wound in his right thigh, making it difficult for him to escape. But even then he made it possible for Sukhdev Raj to escape by providing him a cover fire. After Sukhdev Raj escaped, Azad managed to keep the police at bay for a long time. 

At last, he went on through shortage of ammo cartidge, he was left with one bullet and recalling his vow to always remain free he shot that bullet to himself with reciting his very famous dialogue "Main Azad Tha, Main Azad Hoon aur Azad Rahunga", with this phrase the legendary soul left his body and made him immortal in the sight of everyone.