BHAGAT SINGH

BHAGAT SINGH

Introduction

1. Bhagat Singh (September 27, 1907-March 23, 1931) was an Indian
revolutionary, considered to be one of the most famous martyr of the Indian freedom
struggle. For this reason, he is often referred to as Shaheed Bhagat Singh. He is also
believed by many to be one of the earliest Marxists in India and has been labelled so by
the Communist Party of India (Marxist) .He was one of the leader and founders of the
Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.

Birth and Upbringing

2. Bhagat Singh was born into a Sikh family to Sardar Kishan Singh and Vidyavati
in the Khatkar Kalan village near Banga in the Jalandhar district of Punjab. As a child, he
was deeply affected by the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that took place in Punjab in 1919.
When Mahatma Gandhi started the Non Co-operation Movement in 1920, he became an
active participant at the age of 13. He had great hopes that Gandhiji would bring freedom
in India. But he was disappointed when Gandhiji called off this movement following the
Chauri Chaura riot in 1922. At this point he had openly defied the British and had
followed Gandhiji's wishes by burning his government-school books and any Britishimported
clothing. In 1923, Bhagat Singh famously won an essay competition set by the
Punjab Hindi Sahitya Sammelan. This grabbed the attention of members of the Punjab Hindi Sahitya Sammelan including its General Secretary Professor Bhim SenVidyalankar. At this age, he quoted famous Punjabi literature and discussed the problems
of Punjab.

Bhagat Singh as a Revolutionary

3. In the face of actions by the revolutionaries, the British government enacted the
Defence of India Act to give more power to the police. The purpose of the Act was to
combat revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh. The Act was defeated in the council by one
vote. However, the Act was then passed under the ordinance that claimed that it was in
the best interest of the public. In response to this act, the Hindustan Socialist Republican
Association planned to explode a bomb in the assembly where the ordinance was going to
be passed. It was decided that Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt, another
revolutionary, would throw the bombs in the assembly.

Inquilab Zindabad

4. On April 8, 1929, Singh and Dutt threw bombs onto the corridors of the assembly
and shouted "Inquilab Zindabad!" ("Long Live the Revolution!"). This was followed by a
shower of leaflets stating that it takes a loud voice to make the deaf hear. The bomb
neither killed nor injured anyone; Singh and Dutt claimed that this was deliberate on their
part, a claim substantiated both by British forensics investigators who found that the
bomb was not powerful enough to cause injury, and by the fact that the bomb was thrown
away from people. Singh and Dutt gave themselves up for arrest after the bomb blast. He
and Dutt were sentenced to 'Transportation for LiRevolutionary
Bombing on June 12, 1929.

Marxism

5. Bhagat Singh's political thought evolved gradually from Gandhian nationalism to
revolutionary Marxism. By the end of 1928, he and his comrades renamed their
organisation the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. He had read the teachings
of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Vladimir Lenin and believed that, with such a large
and diverse population, India could only survive properly under a socialist regime. These
ideals had been introduced to him during his time at the National College at Lahore and
he believed that India should re-enact the Russian revolution. In the case that India were
not socialist, he believed that the rich would only get richer and the poor would only get
poorer.. He became the first socialist leader in India to make any gain. Even today,
socialist leaders sometimes refer back to him as the founder of Indian socialism.

Bhagat Singh and Mahatma Gandhi

6. Mahatma Gandhi, always maintained that he was a great admirer of Singh's
patriotism, but that he simply disapproved of his violent methods. He also said that he
was opposed to Singh's execution (and, for that matter, capital punishment in general)
and proclaimed that he had no power to stop it.

Death

7. Bhagat Singh was known for his fearlessness of death and his appreciation of
martyrdom. His mentor as a young boy was Kartar Singh Sarabha and he eventually was
hanged for avenging the death of martyr Lala Lajpat Rai. In the leaflet he threw in the
Central Assembly on 8th April 1929, he stated that it is easy to kill individuals but you
connot kill the ideas. Great empires crumbled while the ideas survived. He hoped his
death would inspire the youth of India to unite and fight the British Empire
Quotation by Bhagat Singh.

8. "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
realise 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 brotherhod can be achieved only when there is an
equality of opportunity - of opportunity in the social, political and individual life”, from
Bhagat Singh's prison diary.

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