Context:

India celebrated the 118^th birth anniversary of Chandra Shekhar Azad on July 23rd this year.

About Chandra Shekhar Azad 

• He was born on 23 July 1906 in Bhabra, Madhya Pradesh.
• His father Pandit Sitaram Tiwari was a gardener and his mother Jagrani Devi was a homemaker.
• He went to Sanskrit Pathshala, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh for higher Studies.

Chandra Shekhar Azad’s Contribution to the Freedom Struggle

• He joined the Non-cooperation movement (1921) at the age of fifteen.
• At age 15, Azad received his first punishment when the British sentenced him to 15 whiplashes. After this, he assumed the title "Azad" and became known as Chandra Shekhar Azad.
• He joined the revolutionary organization Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) in 1924.
• HRA was formed in 1924 as a radical revolutionary organization under the aegis of Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Sachindra Nath Bakshi, Sachindranath Sanyal, and Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee. 
• In 1925, he participated in the Kakori Conspiracy to fund the HSRA’s operations.
  Recently, the Uttar Pradesh Government has renamed 'Kakori Kand', to 'Kakori Train Action'.
• Later, in 1928, with the support of Bhagat Singh, he reorganised HRA as the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA).
• In 1928, he was involved in the assassination of British police officer John Saunders to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai.
• On February 27, 1931, surrounded by police at Alfred Park in Allahabad, he took his own life rather than be captured, embodying his commitment to freedom.

Chandra Shekhar Azad’s Philosophy

• His views regarding the freedom struggle had changed considerably he had pondered over the failure of the revolutionary movement to give a definitive shape to the freedom struggle despite many sacrifices.
• He argued that a maximum number of members of the revolutionary party should work among the peasants and workers and a select few of them trained in armed struggle in accordance with the future needs of the movement.