Constitution of H.R.A.

Constitution of H.R.A. (1924) was the pamphlet entitled the Hindustan Republican Association which was found with D. N. Chowdhri (fake name of Govind Charan Kar). Copies of this leaflet, referred to in the evidence as the Yellow Leaflet were also found with some other alleged conspirators of Kakori Conspiracy as per judgement of the Chief Court Of Oudh published in Newul Kishore Press Lucknow in 1927. It can be seen in the National Archives of India situated at Janpath New Delhi in the Home Department file K.W. file no. 53/27 (Political). It is a historical document which was delivered on 22 August 1927 by the British Government in the Criminal Appeals of Ram Prasad Bismil and others versus the King-Emperor.

History

In February 1922 some agitating farmers were killed in Chauri Chaura by the police. The police station of Chauri Chaura was attacked by the people and 22 policemen were burnt alive. Mohandas K. Gandhi, without ascertaining the facts behind this incident^[1], declared an immediate stop the non-cooperation movement without consulting any executive committee member of the Congress. Bismil and his group of youths strongly opposed Gandhi in the Gaya session of Indian National Congress (1922). When Gandhi refused to rescind his decision, its existing president Chittranjan Das resigned and the Indian National Congress was divided into two groups - one liberal and the other for rebellion. In January 1923, the rich^[2] group of party formed a new Swaraj Party under the joint leadership of Pt. Moti Lal Nehru and Chittranjan Das, and the youth group formed a revolutionary party under the sole leadership of Ram Prasad Bismil.^[3]

With the consent of Lala Har Dayal, Bismil went to Allahabad where he drafted this constitution of the party in 1923 with the help of Sachindra Nath Sanyal and another revolutionary of Bengal, Dr. Jadugopal Mukherjee^[4]. The basic name and aims of the organisation were typed on a 'Yellow Paper' and later on a subsequent Constitutional Committee Meeting was conducted on 3 October 1924 at Kanpur in U.P. under the Chairmanship of Sachindra Nath Sanyal in which the final name of this Association was decided as Hindustan Republican Association. Full constitution of H.R.A. is reproduced hereunder in verbatim for the wikipedian viewers.

Name

As per the constitution of H.R.A. the name of this association was decided to be the Hindustan Republican Association^[5].

Objects

The object of the association shall be to establish a Federated Republic of the United States of India by an organized and armed revolution.

The final form of the constitution of the Republic shall be framed and declared by the representatives of the people at the time when they will be in a position to enforce their decisions.

The basic principle of the Republic shall be Universal Suffrage and the abolition of all systems which make any kind of exploitation of man by man possible.

Constitution

Governing body

The Governing Body of the Association shall be the Central Council composed of the representatives of every province of India. All decisions of the Central Council shall be vested with absolute powers.

The principle function of the Central Council shall be to supervise, adjust and coordinate the activities in the different provinces of which it shall have full knowledge.

The Central Council shall be in direct charge of the work to be carried on in countries outside India.

Provincial organisation

There shall be a committee, ordinarily of five men representing the five different departments of the Association in every province, which shall regulate all the activities of Association in the province.^[6]

All decisions of the committee shall be arrived at by unanimous consent.

Departments

Every provincial organisation shall have the following departments:

1. Propaganda,
2. Collection of men,
3. Collection of funds and [terrorism,
4. Collection and storage of arms and ammunitions,
5. Foreign connection.

1. Propaganda shall be carried on:

(a) by an open and a secret press,

(b) through private conversation,

(c) through public platforms,

(d) through a system of organized Kathas, and

(e) though magic lantern slides.

2. Collection of men shall be done by organisers in charge of different districts.

3. Funds shall be collected generally by means of voluntary subscriptions and occasionally by contributions exacted by force. In extreme cases of repressions by agent or agents of a foreign government, it shall be the duty of the association to retaliate in whatever form it shall consider suitable.

4. Every effort shall be made to arm every member of the association; but all such arms shall be stored at different centres and be used according to the directions of the provincial committee only.

No arms shall be removed from any place in the district or used without knowledge and the permission of the district organiser or the officer-in-charge of this department.

5. Foreign Connection. This department shall carry on its work under the direct orders from the CC.

District organiser - duties

The district organiser shall be in sole charge of the members of his distric].

He shall try to start branches of this association in every part of his district. In order to have efficient recruitment he should keep himself in touch with the different public bodies and institutions in his district.

The district organisers shall be subordinate in every way to the provincial committee who shall supervise and direct all the activities.

The district organiser must see that the member are divided into separate groups and the different groups do not know each other.

So far as possible the district organisers of any province must not know the activities of each other and, if possible, they must also not know each other by person or by name.

No district organiser shall leave his station without previously informing his superior.

Qualifications of a district organiser

1. He must have the tact and the ability to guide and handle men of different temperaments.
2. He must have the capacity to grasp political, social and economical problems of the present day with special reference to his motherland.
3. He must be able to grasp the spirit of the history of India, with special reference to the particular civilisation which India has evolved.
4. He must have faith in the mission and the destiny of a free India, which is to bring harmony in the different spheres of human activities, both spiritual and material.
5. He must be courageous and self-sacrificing without which all his brilliant qualities will have no real value.

Provincial Council and Central Council

PC and CC members must see that every member of this association gets full scope and ample opportunity to develop and use his individual abilities, without which the association will tend to disintegrate.

Programme

All the activities of the association shall be divided into two parts: public and private^[7].

Public

1. To start association in the forms of clubs, libraries, Sewa Sammities and the like.
2. To start labour and peasant organisations. Suitable men must be engaged on behalf of the association to organize and control the labourers in the different factories, the railways and in the coalfields, and instil into their minds that they are not for the revolution but that the revolution is for them. Similarly the Kisans must also be organized
3. To start weekly paper in every province to propagate the idea of an independent Indian Republic.
4. To publish booklets and pamphlets with a view to enlighten public as to the course of events and the current of thoughts as prevalent in the countries outside India.
5. To utilise and influence the Congress and other public activities as far as possible.

Private

(a) To establish a secret press and through it to publish such literature which cannot easily be published openly.

(b) To circulate such literature.

(c) To establish branches of this association in every part of the country, district by district.

(d) To collect funds in as many ways as possible.

(e) To send suitable men to foreign countries where they may get military or scientific training so that they may become military or scientific experts to take charge of armies and ammunition factories at the time of open rebellion.

(f) To import arms and ammunitions and also to manufacture them, as far as possible, in the country.

(g) To remain in close touch and to cooperate with the Indian revolutionaries outside India.

(h) To get the members of the association enlisted into the present army.

(i) To enlist the sympathy of the public to our cause by occasional retaliatory measures and propaganda and thus create a band of sympathisers.

Membership

All members shall be recruited by organisers in charge of different districts in every province. Every member must be ready to devote his whole time for the association and to risk his life if necessary.^[8]

He must obey the commands of the district organiser implicitly.

He should develop his own initiative and remember that the success of the association depends much on the resourcefulness, the initiative and the sense of duty of its individual members.

He must behave in a manner that may not prejudice the cause for which his association stands or may not do any harm directly or indirectly to his organisation.

No member of this association shall belong to any other organisation without the consent of the district organiser.

No member shall leave his station without informing the district organiser about it. Every member must try to avoid being suspected of evolutionary connections by the police or public.

Every member must remember that his individual behaviour and mistakes might lead to the ruin of the whole organisation.

No member shall conceal anything from the district organiser as far as his public life is concerned.

Members who will betray shall be punished either with expulsion or death.

The authority of punishment shall rest entirely with the "P.C.".

References

1. ^ Dr.'Krant'M.L.Verma Swadhinta Sangram Ke Krantikari Sahitya Ka Itihas (Vol-1) page-262
2. ^ Dr. Vishwamitra Upadhyay Ram Prasad Bismil Ki Aatmkatha N.C.E.R.T. Delhi page-57
3. ^ 'Krant'M.L.Verma Kranti Geetanjali page-90
4. ^ Dr. Mehrotra N.C. Swatantrata Andolan Mein Shahjahanpur Ka Yogdan page-109 & 146
5. ^ Dr. Mahaur Bhagwan Dass Kakori Shaheed Smriti page-205
6. ^ Dr. Mahaur Bhagwan Dass Kakori Shaheed Smriti page-206
7. ^ Dr. Mahaur Bhagwan Dass Kakori Shaheed Smriti page-207
8. ^ Dr. Mahaur Bhagwan Dass Kakori Shaheed Smriti page-208/209

• Dr. Mahaur Bhagwan Dass Kakori Shaheed Smriti 1977 Ram Krishna Khatri Kakori Shaheed Ardhshatabdi Samaroh Samiti Lucknow U.P. India
• Dr.'Krant 'M. L. Verma Swadhinta Sangram Ke Krantikari Sahitya Ka Itihas (Set of 3 Volumes), 4760-61, IInd Floor, 23, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002, Praveen Prakashan, 2006, ISBN 8177831224.
• 'Krant' M. L. Verma Kranti Geetanjali (Poems of Pt. Ram Prasad 'Bismil'), Delhi, Praveen Prakashan, 2006, ISBN 8177831283.
• Madan Lal Verma 'Krant' Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna (4 Volumes), Research work on Ram Prasad 'Bismil', [Delhi, Praveen Prakashan, 1997.
• Vidyarnav Sharma Yug Ke Devta: Bismil Aur Ashfaq, Delhi, Praveen Prakashan, 2004, ISBN 8177830783.
• Dr. Vishwamitra Upadhyay Ram Prasad Bismil Ki Aatmkatha 1994 Delhi N.C.E.R.T. Publication.
• Gupta Manmathnath Bhartiya Krantikari Andolan Ka Itihas Delhi Atmaram And Sons 1993 ISBN 8170430542.
• Dr. Mehrotra N.C. Swatantrata Andolan Mein Shahjahanpur Ka Yogdan 1995 Shahjahanpur Shaheed-E-Azam Pt.Ram Prasad Bismil Trust.

See also

• Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
• Chandrashekar Azad
• Ram Prasad Bismil
• Thakur Roshan Singh
• Ashfaqullah Khan
• Rajendranath Lahiri
• Bhagat Singh
• Hindustan Socialist Republican Association
• Kakori train robbery
• अमर शहीद राम प्रसाद 'बिस्मिल' की आत्मकथा (on wikisource, in Hindi)
• Manifesto of H.R.A.