March 2012 ~ Legends & Treasures

Inqlaab Zindabaad..!

Even today these words evoke Patriotic Feelings and a Spirit of Nationalism in the heart of every Indian…

Bhagat Singh, an Indian freedom fighter, is often referred to as Shaheed Bhagat Singh, the word Shaheed meaning "Martyr" in a number of Indian languages. He was the clean fighter who faced his enemy in the open field.

Bhagat Singh was born on Sept. 28, 1907 into a Sandhu Jatt family to Sardar Kishan Singh and Vidyavati in Banga village in the Lyallpur district of Punjab. He came from a patriotic Jatt Sikh family who had participated in movements supporting the independence of India.

As a teenager, He became an Anarchist and had studied European revolutionary movements. His father had enrolled him in Dayanand Anglo Vedic High School, an Arya institution.

In 1919, at the age of 12, Bhagat Singh visited the site of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, where non-violent people gathered at a public meeting were fired upon without warning, killing hundreds.

At age 13, He began to follow Mahatama Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement. In support to this movement, he burned his government-school books and British-imported clothing. Following Gandhi’s withdrawal of the movement after the violent murders of policemen by villagers from Chauri Chaura, Uttar Pradesh, he felt resentful and discontent with Gandhiji's nonviolence action. He joined the Young Revolutionary Movement and began advocating a violent movement against the British.

At the age of 14, he welcomed in his village, protestors against the Gurudwara Nankana Sahib firing of 20 February 1921 which killed a large number of unarmed protesters. He studied at the National College in Lahore where he came into contact with other revolutionaries such as Bhagwati Charan, Sukhdev etc.

At the age of 16, Bhagat Singh was completely dedicated to the cause of national liberation.

In 1924, Bhagat Singh was pressurised to get married. Unable to convince his parents of his determination not to marry, Bhagat Singh left his house in Lahore, reached Kanpur and became a member of the organization Naujawan Bharat Sabha. In the note left behind for his father, Bhagat Singh said,

“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...”

In 1928 he came into contact with another famous revolutionary Chandrasekhar Azad. The two combined to form the 'Hindustan Samajvadi Prajatantra Sangha'. In the same year, the British government of India appointed the Simon Commission to enquire into the possibility of granting India the chance to rule itself. This Commission had no Indian representative made it the focus of popular attack in Lahore. Lajpat Rai, the head of a demonstration, was asking the Simon Commission to go back to England. The police in retaliation lathicharged the crowd and Lajpat Rai enfeebled by age, died subsequently. To avenge Lajpat Rai's death, Bhagat Singh and his friends, Sukh Dev and Raj Guru decided to kill the British official responsible for the killing, Deputy Inspector General Scott. But they accidently shot Assistant Superintendent Saunders instead, and then went underground. After killing Saunders, the group escaped to Howrah with the help of Durga Devi Vohra, their friend Bhagwati Charan Vohra's wife and Child.

Later, on April 8, 1929, Bhagat Singh threw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly and thereafter courted arrest. Bhagat Singh's trial began on May 7^th and in the statement made in court on 6th June,

Bhagat Singh said:

“We dropped the bomb on the floor of the Assembly Chamber to register our protest on behalf of those who had no other means left to give expression to their heart-rending agony. Our sole purpose was to make the deaf hear and to give the heedless a timely warning... from under the seeming stillness of the sea of humanity, a veritable storm is about to break out...”

On the 15th of June he launched a hunger strike for jail reforms. Jawaharlal Nehru met Singh and the other strikers in Mianwali jail. After the meeting, he stated:

“I was very much pained to see the distress of the Heroes. They have staked their lives in this struggle. I am quite hopeful that their sacrifice would be crowned with Success...”

In the Prison, Bhagat Singh used to write in a diary. He wrote many notes, pamphlet.

The trial of the Lahore Conspiracy Case started on 10th July, 1929 and ended on the 7th of October, 1930 with a death sentence for Bhagat Singh for his subversive activities. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were hanged on the 23rd of March, 1931. In the 29 March 1931 issue of Young India, Gandhi wrote:

"Bhagat Singh and his two associates have been hanged. The Congress made many attempts to save their lives and the Government entertained many hopes of it, but all has been in a vain.
Bhagat Singh did not wish to live. He refused to apologize, or even file an appeal. Bhagat Singh was not a devotee of non-violence, but he did not subscribe to the religion of violence. He took to violence due to helplessness and to defend his homeland”

The legendary son of India became Shaheed (Martyr) at a tender age of 23. But his famous war cry of “Inquilab Zindabad” lives on..! "Nawashehar" of Punjab is renamed "Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar" in the memory of this Shaheed...

We have four real Pictures of Bhagat Singh. And these are...