Senapati (Commander) Bapat was a man of single purpose, to free India from the British. He was ready to accept any method which brought him closer to his goal, whether it was violent or non-violent.
Bapat was born in
Ahmednagar (in Maharashtra) on November 12, 1880. He was fearless from his childhood days. He was educated in Edinburgh, Scotland. He returned to India with the basic knowledge of building bombs. He joined the armed revolutionaries, not to kill innocents, but to draw attention to the cause of freedom. He had to go into hiding, because he was falsely accused of a bomb attack. During his hiding, he traveled all over the country. It was then he realized the ignorance of the vast majority of Indians. He shifted his focus from armed struggle to educating the masses regarding the foreign government.
During the course of his fight for freedom, he was jailed three times. On August 15, 1947 when India gained independence, Senapati Bapat was given the honor of hoisting the national flag in Pune, Maharashtra. After independence, Senapati Bapat took an active part in politics. He passed away on November 28, 1967 at the age of 87.
