Bhagat Singh: Revolutionary revered by all

Born on September 27, 1907 to Kishan Singh and Vidyavati in the Lyallpur district (now in Pakistan), of British India, Bhagat Singh belonged to a family that was actively involved in the freedom struggle. Some of his ancestors had also served in Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s army. He had attended Dayanand Anglo-Vedic High School. Till the year 1922, he was a follower of the ideals of non-violence espoused by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

Beginning of revolution

In 1923, Singh enrolled at the National College in Lahore (now in Pakistan). In March 1926, he founded a socialist organization, the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, with an aim to get rid of Britain rule in India. In 1927, the police arrested him on basis of his revolutionary influence and charged him with involvement in Lahore bombing case that took place in 1926. After spending five weeks in prison, he was released and began work for several newspapers in Amritsar under pseudonyms as Vidrohi or Ranjit. In 1928, he formed the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), which later became Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA) with veteran revolutionaries like Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan and Chandrashekhar Azad at Ferozshah Kotla in Delhi. In October 1928, a protest march led by eminent freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai against the British’s Simon Commission in Lahore, came under baton charge by the police after an order issued by police superintendent Scott. During the demonstration, Lala Lajpat Rai was severely injured and passed away on November 17. By that time Singh, who was among the key members of HSRA, along with members Sukhdev, Rajguru and Chandrashekhar Azad, drew up a plan to kill police superintendent Scott in order to avenge Lajpat Rai’s death. Their objective was fulfilled on December 17, 1928, at the district police headquarters in Lahore. Only later did they realise that instead of James Scott, they had mistakenly killed Scott’s assistant John P Saunders.

Setting an example

Inspired by the French anarchist Auguste Vaillant, who had bombed the Chamber of Deputies in 1893, Singh drew up a plan to oppose the Public Safety Bill and Trade Dispute Bill in the Central Legislative Assembly. On April 8, 1929, Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw bombs in the Assembly that was in session. The action was meant to scare British and not to kill people in the assembly. Still some members were injured. After throwing the bombs, Singh and Dutt, instead of running away, stood there and shouted slogan ‘Inquilab Zindabad.’ They did this so that they could be arrested.

In prison

Both of them were sentenced to life imprisonment. The case related to the shooting of the police superintendent was re-opened and Singh was shifted from the prison in Delhi to Mianwali where Singh and his co-prisoners demanded better food, books, newspaper etc. on the grounds that they were political prisoners, not criminals. By June, they organised a hunger strike against the jailers. The strike became popular across the country and even Jawaharlal Nehru went to meet the revolutionaries in prison. On March 23, 1931, Singh was executed by the British with Rajguru and Sukhdev.

INTERESTING FACTS

1. In 1919, the 12-year-old Bhagat Singh visited Jallianwala Bagh just hours after the massacre took place. He brought with himself some mud as memorabilia. He was in school at the time of the incident.

2. In 1923, when Singh enrolled at National College in Lahore, he had also joined a dramatic society and in it he took part in a variety of great plays such as the plays of Rana Pratap and Samrat Chandragupta.

3. Singh was a follower of Kartar Singh Sarabha, founder of Ghadar Party. He admired Marxism and was inspired by writings of Vlaimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky and Mikhail Bakunin.

4. After shooting British police officer Saunders, while leaving Lahore, he changed his attire to avoid detection. Shaving his beard and cutting his hair, he wore a hat and resembled an Englishman.

5. He wrote to his family from Kanpur, “My life has been dedicated to the noblest cause, that of the freedom of the country. Therefore, there is no rest or worldly desire that can lure me now.”

SOURCE: Wikipedia and The Jail Notebook and Other Writings