Independence Day Special: Mangal Pandey's great grandson remembers India's first freedom fighter

"The names of the revolutionaries who played a key role in the battle of freedom are fading away. This generation is not aware of people who sacrificed themselves for the country's independence. The government should come up with something that could revive the names of those who made India what it is", says 68-year-old Raghunath Pandey, the great grandson of Mangal Pandey who was the first to rebel against the British in 1857.

The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 is understood to have multiple reasons behind it but the final spark was the ammunition provided for the new Pattern 1853 Enfield Rifle. These rifles, which fired Minié balls, had a tighter fit than the earlier muskets, and used paper cartridges that came pre-greased. To load the rifle, sepoys had to bite the cartridge open to release the powder. The grease used on these cartridges was rumoured to include tallow derived from beef, which would be offensive to Hindus, and pork, which would be offensive to Muslims. Mangal Pandey refused to use the weapon which influenced other soldiers to do the same.

Pandey was hanged to death on April 8, 1857 and became the first martyr of the Indian freedom struggle. 

Discussing his family, Raghunath Pandey said, "After he was hanged to death, no one (from the family) was very active in the freedom struggle except my uncle Brahmeshwar Pandey. He was a true Gandhian who always wore khadi. After India got independence, he wished that the Congress had been dissolved. He never went to the Congress office after independence."

Raghunath thinks that the ambassadors of freedom in India have been forgotten and that the government is not doing much to revive them except distributing some reward and money to a few of them. "There is nothing in Mangal Pandey's name in Delhi, where he began his rebellion against the British. Most of us are not aware of who Mangal Pandey was. What can be a more worrying?" he asks.

Raghunath also went to the courts when Aamir Khan-starrer Mangal Pandey: The Rising was released. "That wasn't a film, it was a mockery of Indian history. Mangal Pandey never married in real life, but in the film he was. Films influence people and ironically those who haven't read Mangal Pandey in books, know him only by the film", complains Raghunath. 

He appeals to the Indian government to name roads after such revolutionaries who contributed to the Indian freedom struggle so that the youth come to know of them.

This article was originally published on iamin.in. Visit their website for more hyperlocal stories.