Bhagat Singh, the Real Hero!

(On the occasion of the 111th birth anniversary of Bhagat Singh)

Pranjal Dutta

(The writer is an Assistant Professor and HoD, Department of English, Sarupathar College, Golaghat. He can be reached at pranjalduttaspr@gmail.com)

Bhagat Singh is indubitably one of the most charismatic revolutionaries in the history of India’s Independence movement. He did not merely take a vigorous role in the freedom struggle but also motivated many other youths to join the same not only while he was alive but even after his death.

A folk hero of the Indian freedom struggle, Bhagat Singh was born in a Sikh family in Banga village in Lyallpur district of the Punjab province of British India on 28th of September, 1907. Many of his family members, including his father Kishan Singh, grandfather Arjan Singh and uncle Ajit Singh were actively involved in the struggle for India’s independence. His father supported Mahatma Gandhi’s policy of non-violence and his call for boycotting government-aided institutions. In 1916, when Bhagat Singh was just 9 years old, he met such political leaders as Lala Lajpat Rai and Ras Bihari Bose and was greatly inspired by them. Moreover, his family members inspired him immensely and the feeling of patriotism was instilled in him from the very beginning. Singh’s family was deeply influenced by the reformist movement of Dayananda Saraswati and Bhagat was enrolled in the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic High School. As a teenager, he studied the European revolutionary movements and was drawn towards the Anarchist and Marxist ideologies. In 1919 at the age of 12, he visited the site of Jallianwala Bagh massacre where thousands of unarmed people were shot dead by the British and collected some soil from the place to keep it as a reminder of violence by British. This incident strengthened his will to push the British out of the country. At the age of 13 years he left school and joined the National College at Lahore and soon he took part in the revolutionary activities and played an active part in inspiring many others to join the same. After the Jalianwala Bagh massacre, it was Lala Lajpat Rai’s death that moved Bhagat Singh deeply. He could not tolerate the cruelty of the British any longer and decided to avenge Rai’s death.

Bhagat Singh was among the youth who did not conform to the Gandhian style of fighting against the British. He believed in the extreme ways of the Lal-Bal-Pal. At the age of 14, he raised his voice against the killing of unarmed people at Gurudwara Nankana Sahit. Having been disillusioned with Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence, Singh took part in revolutionary activities and advocated for the violent overthrow of the British government. He joined hands with those who believed in bringing about revolution by acting aggressively rather than using the method of non-violence.

Bhagat Singh realized that merely driving out the British would not do any good to the nation. He understood and advocated the fact that overthrowing of the British rule must be followed by the reconstruction of the Indian political system. He was of the opinion that the power must be given to the workers.

Bhagat Singh felt the need of building an organization and worked in this direction. In March, 1926, Singh founded Naujawan Bharat Sabha, an Indian nationalistic youth organization. In 1927, he ran away to Cawnpore (now Kanpur) to avoid his marriage arranged by his family stating in a letter that his life had been committed to the noblest cause, that of the freedom of the country and hence there was no rest or worldly desire that could tempt him.

During his struggle for India’s independence, the first organization Bhagat Singh joined was the Hindustan Republican Association. This was in the year 1924. In May, 1927 Bhagat Singh was arrested on the pretext that he had been involved in a bombing that had taken place in Lahore in October, 1926. He was a prominent member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) that vowed to avenge the death of Lala Rajput Rai who had been injured in the lathi charge ordered by the Superintendant of Police, James A. Scott (who himself assaulted Rai) and later died of heart attack. However, the plotters mistakenly shot John P. Saunders, Assistant Superintendant of Police in Lahore on 17 December, 1928. After killing Saunders, Bhagat Singh and his accomplices escaped from the district police headquarters through the DAV College entrance. Singh also planned to explode a bomb inside the Central Legislative Assembly with an aim to protest against the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Dispute Act. However, the actual intention was for perpetrators to allow themselves to be arrested so that they could publicise their cause. On April 8, 1929, Singh along with Batukeshwar Dutt threw two bombs from the public gallery into the Assembly Chamber while it was in session. The smoke from the bombs filled the Assembly chamber and both Singh and Dutt could have escaped, had they wished to do so. Instead, they stayed, threw leaflets and shouted the slogan “Inquilab Zindabad ! (It was Bhagat Singh who popularized the phrase “Inquilab Zindabad” (long live revolution) during the late 1920s, through his speeches and writings).

Bhagat Singh was arrested and sent to jail several times. While in Central Jail, Mianwali he witnessed discrimination between European and Indian prisoners and started hunger strike demanding equality in food standards, clothing, toilet and other facilities. The hunger strike inspired a rise in public support for Singh and his colleagues.

It was on 12 June, 1929, both Singh and Dutt were sentenced to life imprisonment for “causing explosions of a nature likely to endanger life, unlawfully and maliciously”. On 1st May, 1930 the Viceroy Lord Irwin declared an emergency and introduced an ordinance to set up a special tribunal comprising three high court judges for the cases against Bhagat Singh. On 7th October, 1930, the tribunal delivered its 300-page judgement based on all the evidence and concluded that the participation of Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru was proven. All the three convicts were sentenced to death on 24th March, 1931. However, the schedule was moved forward by 11 hours and they were hanged at 7: 30 on 23rd March, 1931.

Bhagat Singh wrote for, and edited, Urdu and Punjabi newspapers, published in Amritsar, and also contributed to low-priced pamphlets. He will always be remembered as a true patriot and charismatic Indian Socialist revolutionary whose extraordinary courage and heroism, as well as his violence against the British and execution at the age of 23, made him a folk hero of the Indian freedom struggle.