On 23rd March, 1931 the legend was born, Bhagat Singh. He is the “Symbol of the heroism of the youth of India.” In other words, he was one of those youngsters of India who spend their entire life in fighting to free India from British rule. Even though, Bhagat Singh was put to death before India’s freedom, he still lives and he will always live in the heart of every true Indian.
Bhagat Singh was born on September 28th, 1907 in Banga village in Layalpur district of Punjab province. He was the son of one of the heroes who fought to free India from British rule, father Sardar Kishan Singh and mother Vidhyavati. Bhagat Singh’s uncles Ajit Singh and Swaran Singh were also the revolutionaries, even his grandfather; Arjan Singh was a freedom fighter. His father and his uncles were even sent to the prison by the government. Later they all were freed from the prison. Bhagat Singh was the third son of his parents.
Bhagat Singh was very friendly. From his childhood he was very much interested in studies. Bhagat Singh was liked by all his classmates and was a favorite person of his teachers. He was the leader in his class. Big boys used to carry him on their shoulder from school to home. Bhagat Singh’s childhood showed a signification that later on in his life he would become a leader of revolutionaries. The patriotism flew in his veins since his childhood days. On April 13, 1919, a very tragic even had taken place. British soldiers opened fire in Jallianwala bagh, Amritsar where countless people were gathered. There was no escape from British bullets and neither had they carried any weapons. Firing went on for quite some while. Innumerable people were dead. This event caused anger in the mind of people all over India. The next day instead of going to school, Bhagat Singh went to Jallianwala Bagh. There he kissed the earth and collected a bottle of mud wet with the blood of Indians and then he returned back home, where he worshipped it with flowers. During this Massacre, Bhagat Singh was only 12 years old. After this terrible event Bhagat Singh’s decision of driving British out of the country became firmer.
Bhagat Singh was with the non-cooperation movement, which was declared by Mohandas Gandhi. In 1922, when Bhagat Singh was only 15 years old, the congress organized a procession in the town of Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur district, where some rogues came and locked up about twenty-two policemen in the house and they put it on the fire which killed all the policemen. This violence made Mohandas Gandhi very sad and he ended the non-cooperation movement. The end of the non-cooperation movement disappointed Bhagat Singh. The questions that weakened his faith in non-violence and non-cooperation were “Should an important movement be given up, just because twenty-two persons died? Before that, a nineteen year of revolutionary by the name Katar Singh has been hanged by the British government. Then none of these supporters of non-violence become so important now?” Bhagat Singh left his school and joined National college. This college was started by the great patriot, Lala Lajpat Rai.
Bhagat Singh was very knowledgeable in history and politics. During the day he listened to the lectures and in the evening he talked about the revolution with his friends. Bhagat Singh in his college life, he played the roles of the great Kings of India like ‘Ranapratap’ and Chadragupta.’
Bhagat Singh didn’t limit himself to the books. His desire of becoming a revolutionary grew as he learned more and more about revolution. Bhagat Singh’s grandmother forced that he should get married. A girl was also chosen, but Bhagat Singh’s aim was to free India from British rule so he didn’t want to marry. He left home and went to Lahore. Nobody knew where Bhagat Singh went. Before leaving, he wrote a letter saying, “The aim of my life is to fight for India’s freedom. I don’t wish for worldly pleasures. At the time of my Upanayanam (the initiation ceremony among the Hindus), my uncle had taken a sacred promise from me; I promised to sacrifice myself for the sake of the country. Accordingly I am now giving up my own happiness and going out to serve the country.” Bhagat Singh’s parents were very worried about their son. Finally, his people searched for him and brought him back home.
After returning back home, Bhagat Singh couldn’t sit idle. During those days Akali Dal had arranged a procession. But the district collector, Dil Bagh Singh issued an order that nobody should provide either food or drink to the members of Akali Dal because they wanted to prevent this procession. Dil Bagh Singh belonged to Bhagat Singh’s family, but because he was government office, he hated revolutionaries. Bhagat Singh went to villagers and explained them about Akali Dal and he arranged the supply of food for them at night very secretly and in the day there were talks about the freedom of India and people’s duties. Bhagat Singh also had chance to talk. Seeing this, collector became very angry. He issued an arrest warrant for Bhagat Singh, but because Bhagat Singh was only 17 years old, a minor, he was not arrested. Collector’s anger grew more and more.
“Bhagat Singh was a fountain of Zeal.” He thought his village, Banga was very small for his revolutionary activities, so he went to Lahore where ‘Naujavan Bharat Sabha,’ the union of revolutionaries was founded and Bhagat Singh was the secretary. This new union started teaching the lesson of revolution to the people of Punjab. Its aim was to spread Indian culture and to strengthen the youth of India. The main goal was to bring revolution of India’s freedom. In few days, this union had started many branches in different places. Sooner the time was changed, the revolutionaires’ birthdays were being celebrated, and people took out the pictures of the revolutionaries and much more. During those days Bhagat Singh used to talk about revolution and about freedom of India in public. Police were looking for him and he was escaping from them. But finally police caught him and put him in the jail. They had arrested him because few days some rogues had thrown bomb on procession during the Dussera festival and it had killed many people and police suspected revolutionaries. They tortured Bhagat Singh in many ways, but he didn’t open his mouth. Finally, magistrate feed him on bail of sixty thousand Rupees for which two rich people Duneedchand and Daulatram came forward. Bhagat Singh was released, but during his bail period he was not supposed to take part in any revolutionary activities otherwise those two rich people would have to pay sixty thousand Rupees. So Bhagat Singh didn’t take any chance and went to his village where his father had opened him a dairy. Bhagat Singh took care of that dairy for few days. Even though, Dussera bomb case was still going on, Bhagat Singh was released, he was not even on bail anymore. He closed his dairy at that time and went on with his work of revolution. In 1928, after he attended the meeting of revolutionaries in Delhi, he never returned back home.
Chandrashekhar Azad, a young revolutionary was introduced to Bhagat Singh in Delhi. In order for police to not to recognize him, he removed his beard and wore a hat. The aim of the ‘Hindustan Samajvadi Prajatantra Sangha’ (The Indian Socialist Republican Party) was “to establish a republic in India by means of an armed revolution.” These revolutionaries were looking for the bomb which could explode by causing a defending sound and destroying everything nearby when thrown on the ground. They needed numerous bombs like this to drive out British. Bhagat Singh went to Calcutta to learn how make these bombs. From there he bought as many bombs as he needed. He learnt making bombs from a revolutionary, Jatindranath Das. In Agra, the revolutionaries started a factory. But they needed money for food, and for the things to make bomb. They started to loot government offices. At last they made bombs and tested successfully at Jhansi Fort.
In February 1928, a committee from England visited India which was known as the Simon Commission. They visited to decide “how much freedom and responsibility could be given to the people of India.” But because there was no Indian in that committee, the people of India were very angry. They decided to drive out the committee back. People protested where ever the Simon Commission went. When Simon Commission entered Lahore, it had to face a big procession by ‘Naujavan Bharat Sabha.’ Thousands of Indians took part in this procession whose leader was an elderly revolutionary, Lala Lajpat Rai. They decided to protest on the railway station as soon as Simon Commission enters Lahore. During the protest, a police superintendent One Scott ordered to start biting people with heavy stick. In that biting, a police officer name Saunders hit Lala Lajpat Rai so hard that he died. The revolutionaries decided to take revenge. Bhagat Singh with the help of Chandrashekhar Azad, Sukhdev and Rajguru planned to kill Scott. Unfortunately they killed Saunders because of the mistaken identity, but it shooked the British government. The next day the posters by ‘Hindustan Samajvadi Prajatantra Sena’ appeared on the walls in the streets of Lahore saying “Lala Lajpat Rai’s death is avenged. Saunders has been murdered.” Also there were warnings for the government. After that event, people’s respect for Kranti Dal grew. Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Chandrashekhar Azad escaped from Lahore. Bhagat Singh dressed as a foreign youth and ran away with Durga bhabhi, wife of revolutionary Bhagavaticharan and their child. Rajguru dressed up as an ordinary worker and Chandrashekhar Azad dressed up as a pundit (scholar) so that no one can recognize them and they went away. The police searched for them but couldn’t find them anywhere.
In April 1929, the central legislative assembly had a meeting in Delhi. The British government had decided to place two bills before the assembly which would definitely harm country’s interests. Even If assembly would reject those bills then viceroy could use his power and make them as a law. ‘Hindustan Samajvadi Prajatantra Sena’ had decided that they won’t let this bill pass, so they send Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt to Delhi. They had decided to go there and throw bomb and get arrested. On April 8th, 1929 both of them went to the assembly with the bomb. First the members rejected the bill, but as soon as the government member said “Viceroy had exercised his special powers,” the bomb fell and explored causing a fearful sound and then the other bomb fell. People were frightened and they were running, but no one was killed because their aim was not to kill anyone. Suddenly red pamphlets were thrown by Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt saying ‘Long Live Revolution!’ The police came to them, but they were afraid because Bhagat Singh had a pistol in his hand. He gave away his pistol and they both got arrested, as planned. This incident drew world’s attention towards them. British government had started trembling. After this incident, government found the revolutionaries’ factories in Lahore and Shaharanpur and they also seized the material that could make seven thousands more bombs. In few, days, many leader of Kranti Dal were arrested. Bhagat Singh and his revolutionary friends were kept in Lahore jail.
The trial had begun. During those days, even political prisoners were not treated properly, they were given rotten food. Bhagat Singh and his revolutionary friends decided to fight against such conditions and treatment, so they went on hunger strike. This hunger strike went on for about two months. Then the government gave up and considered their needs during the prison time. After the sixty-fourth day on the hunger strike, a revolutionary by the name Jatin Das died but never gave up the strike. The trial had drawn the attention of the whole world. The court was guarded by the police. Before entering the court, Bhagat Singh and his companions would shout ‘Long Live Revolution! Down with the Imperialism!’ During the trial Bhagat Sing and Batukeshwar Dutt stated “If the deaf are to hear, the sound has to be very loud. When we dropped the bomb, it was not our intention to kill anybody. We have bombed the British Government. The British must quit India and make her free.” In other words, they explained the whole world their goal of the association. The final judgment was given: Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were to be hanged on March 24th, 1931, whereas some revolutionaries were given life time imprisonment, some were to be kept in prison for five years, some for seven and others for ten years. After hearing the judgment, people all over the country were angry. Thousands of appeals were made, but all of them were rejected. Finally, on March 23rd, 1931 at 7:33pm Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were hanged. They were hanged one day before the official judgment.
As soon as people came to knew that Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were already hanged, they became very angry with the British government. They started killing Britishers very badly. People were also angry at Mohandas Gandhi, they came down on the streets shouting “Down with Gandhi,” due to the fact that he was the one who could have saved those three revolutionaries’ life by not signing the Irwin Pact during the meeting with the Viceroy until the British government agrees to commute the three revolutionaries’ death sentence.
Bhagat Singh became ‘Shaheed’ or Martyr at the age of twenty-four. His patriotism became an inspiration for many Indian youth. Even today people admire him, many poems and songs are written about his courage and many movies are still made on Bhagat Singh. Above all, Bhagat Singh became a Legend on 23rd March 1931 and a symbol of bravery. Bhagat Singh’s achievement is that today India is an Independent Country. It was Bhagat Singh, who wanted the ‘total independence,’ otherwise Mohandas Gandhi was happy with the ‘dominion status.’
Bhagat Singh had stated in his prison diary: “The aim of life is no more to control the mind, but to develop it harmoniously; not to achieve salvation here after, but to make the best use of it here below; and not to realize truth, beauty and good only in contemplation, but also in-the actual experience of daily life’ social progress depends not upon the ennoblement of the few but on the enrichment of democracy; universal brotherhood can be achieved only when there is an equality of opportunity-of opportunity in the social political and individual life.”
Bhagat Singhji will always be alive in the hearts of every true Indian!
Jai Hind!
