1. Veer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
- The first political prisoner in the world who was sentenced to Transportation for Life twice, a sentence unparalleled in the history of the British Empire.
- The first political leader to embrace death voluntarily by way of Atma Samarpan in the highest tradition of Yoga (1966).
- The first Indian political leader to daringly perform a bonfire of foreign (English) clothes (1905).
- The first Indian to organize a revolutionary movement for India's Independence on an international level (1906).
2. Aurobindo Ghosh
Ghosh’s goal was to capture the public through his writing, urging the youth to work for the country. Ghosh formed secret revolutionary societies, members of which were asked to take a solemn oath to "secure the freedom of Mother India at any cost."
3. Ashfaqulla Khan
Ashfaqulla Khan was hanged for his involvement in the Kakori Dacoity incident. He was the first Muslim to embrace death on the gallows for his country. He worked directly under Ram Prasad Bismil and wanted to study engineering abroad but was betrayed by his friend by disclosing his whereabouts.
4. KM Munshi
Under the influence of Aravinda (Aurobindo), he was attracted to armed rebellion against the British and even learnt to make bombs. While studying at Baroda College, he took part in Sardar’s Bardoli Satyagraha and the Salt Satyagraha in 1930 along with his wife. He was imprisoned for six months.
5. Captain Laxmi Sehgal
She was one of the bright lights of a generation of Indians who were inspired by Gandhi’s call to ‘Do or Die’ and Bose’s radicalism. Committed to winning freedom, they threw themselves wholeheartedly into the freedom struggle.
6. KE Memmen
He was 19, and a student of Arts College, when he was first arrested. He was eventually forced to pursue his education in Madras where he was attracted to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s radical ideas. He worked underground for two years and later joined the Indian Socialist Party under Jayaprakash Narayan.
7. Ammembala Balappa
When Gandhi called for the Quit India movement, 20-year-old Balappa participated in the ensuing protests. With some friends, he planted a crude bomb that burnt down the office of the District Court Complex in Bavatagudda, Mangalore. He was arrested and imprisoned in Vellore Jail, where the former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao was also imprisoned.
8. Krishna Kanta Sarma
The peak of Sarma’s rebellion was from 1939-1942 when he was in high school in Guwahati. That was when anti-WWII campaign coincided with the students’ movement and culminated in the Quit India.
9. Jatindra Nath Das
Jatindra Nath Das was a part of the Non-violence movement started by Gandhi and also a member of Anushilan Samiti. Das was a motivated foot soldier of the freedom movement who did not fear death. He staged a hunger strike for 63 days in Lahore jail and died there which stunned the entire nation.
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