UP to spend Rs 234 crore on zoo named after Ashfaqullah Khan

Freedom fighter Ashfaqullah Khan (Image: Dipankar Bhattacharya/ Twitter)

The Uttar Pradesh cabinet, on January 7, decided to set aside a budget of Rs 234 crore to build a zoological garden in Gorakhpur, which would be named after freedom fighter Ashfaqullah Khan.

The property spread across 121 acres is expected to become a major tourist spot that would not only make us remember martyrs but also generate employment opportunities., reported Indian Express.

Speaking about the zoo-cum-memorial, UP government spokesperson Srikant Shamra, who is also a part of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s cabinet, said: “The purpose of the zoological garden is to conserve wildlife. As of now, there are two zoological gardens in Uttar Pradesh -- one in Lucknow, the other in Kanpur. The proposal to erect another in the memory of Shaheed Ashfaqullah Khand was first floated between the years 2008 and 2009.”

He added: “This zoo will help develop Gorakhpur as a tourist spot that would gain international acclaim.”

Shaheed Ashfaqullah Khan was a noted freedom fighter born in Uttar Pradesh in the year 1900. He was sentenced to death along with his aide Ram Prasad Bismil for being complicit in the Kakori train robbery of 1925.

They were among the youth who were disenchanted with the ploys of the British Raj and Gandhi’s disdain for violent means to attain freedom.

After Gorakhpur’s Chauri Chaura incident, when a disheartened Mahatma Gandhi called off the non-cooperation movement, Khan got disappointed with the move and joined the revolutionaries. That’s where he met Bismil and formed the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association to overthrow the British through an armed revolt.

In popular culture, Ashfaqullah’s character was played by Kunal Kapoor in the Aamir Khan-starrer Bollywood movie ‘Rang De Basanti’; Bismil’s character was played by Atul Kulkarni, while actor Siddharth was cast as Bhagat Singh.