Saheed Bhagat Singh is a national icon! A martyr who has served as a role model for growing generations of free India and continues to be so! He was a true revolutionary whose spirit gave to the Indian freedom movement a different dimension altogether. He, however, cannot be seen in isolation of his two friends, compatriots and brothers in arms, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Hari Rajguru. All three were ideologically wedded to the cause of independence to the extent of sacrificing their lives together. From different backgrounds, religions and regions, they set a great example of the secular and pluralistic nature of the great Indian Nation.
Bhagat Singh was born on September 27, 1907 at Layllpur in Punjab (now in Pakistan) to a Sandhu Jat Sikh family; his father’s name was Kishan Singh and mother was Vidyavati. His family was deeply associated with the freedom movement. In fact, his birth coincided with the release of his two uncles, Ajit Singh and Swarn Singh from jail where they had been interned for being a part of the Ghadar Party. The Ghadar Party was one of the first multi-ethnic revolutionary organisations formed to agitate and rebel against British rule in India. Bhagat Singh was a big fan of Kartar Singh Sarabha, the founder of the Ghadar Party and also of Bhai Parmanand, another founding member. The grandfather of Bhagat Singh, Arjun Singh, was greatly influenced by Arya Samaj, the Hindu reformist movement of Swami Dayanand Saraswati for which reason young Bhagat was enrolled, in the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic High School. After school Bhagat Singh was enrolled in the National College, an institution founded by the great leader Lala Lajpat Rai, at Lahore in 1921. The teachers of National College were also political activists and the college evolved as an all faith institution with a “passion for liberation.” Bhagat Singh was greatly influenced by Lala Lajpat Rai who is one among the tallest leaders of the Indian freedom movement and the Hindu reform movement - Arya Samaj. Popularly known as Punjab Kesari, he has been described as a “lawyer, politician, social reformer, philanthropist, journalist, educationist and writer who contributed to the national struggle for freedom in various capacities.”
While in National Collage, Bhagat Singh and his contemporaries founded the Naujawan Bharat Sabha in March, 1926, an organisation dedicated to attracting the youth towards the freedom struggle and putting an end to evil practices like communalism. He, along with Sukhdev Thapar, was also founder member of the Hindustan Socialist Republic Association (HSRA) which was founded at Feroz Shah Kotla, New Delhi in 1928. It was through this association that they came in touch with the third friend, Shivaram Hari Rajguru.
Sukhdev Thapar, a resident of Ludhiana and also a student of National College was the chief of the Punjab unit of HSRA. Among the group he stood out for his passion towards the study of Indian history and the revolutionary movements the world over.
Shivaram Rajguru was born into middle-class family at Khed in Pune district of Maharashtra on August 24, 1908. At an early age he became disillusioned by the injustice and exploitation that marked British rule. He was a big proponent of the concept of revolution as the best course in the fight for freedom. He got associated with Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev through the HSRA.
Lala Lajpat Rai was martyred in 1928 due to a head injury received while protesting against the Simon Commission. The superintendent of police, James A. Scott personally assaulted Lala Lajpat Rai who died of the injury inflicted on 17 November 1928. Bhagat Singh and his friends took a vow to avenge the death of their leader. Shivaram Rajguru, Chandrashekhar Azad and other revolutionaries joined the cause. The assassination bid was planned and executed in December, 1928. However, in a case of mistaken identity another British Officer named John Saunders was killed instead of James A Scott.
The trio then fled to Howrah (Calcutta) with the assistance of Durgawati Devi, the wife of another Naujawan Bharat Sabha and HSRA member, Bhagwati Charan Vohra. Durgawati Devi, popularly called Durga Bhabhi, is a revolutionary of legendary caliber. She and her husband carried on the ideology of Bhagat Singh and his friends after they were jailed and hanged.
The revolutionaries were determined to continue with their activities. Accordingly, in April 1929, Bhagat Singh along with an associate, Batukeshwar Dutt, exploded two improvised bombs inside the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi. They showered leaflets, shouted slogans, and then allowed the authorities to arrest them. In the impending trial they were awarded life imprisonment. In a short while after the sentencing, the Lahore police managed to crack the HSRA and arrested many of its members. Three among these turned approvers which led to arrest of 21 co-conspirators in the John Saunders killing case including Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru. The three friends were interned in the Lahore jail where they continued with the revolutionary activities by agitating for the rights and better prison conditions for the prisoners. Bhagat Singh, along with a fellow defendant Jatin Das, went on hunger strike that led to the death of Das due to starvation.
The court case known as the Lahore Conspiracy Case lasted two years and is rated as one of the most celebrated in judicial history of India’s freedom struggle. In reply to the criticism heaped on them for the use of force Bhagat Singh is quoted to have said “We hold human life sacred beyond words. We are neither perpetrators of dastardly outrages ... nor are we 'lunatics' as the Tribune of Lahore and some others would have it believed ... Force when aggressively applied is 'violence' and is, therefore, morally unjustifiable, but when it is used in the furtherance of a legitimate cause, it has its moral justification.” All were convicted in the trial and the three friends were sentenced to death.
On being condemned to be hanged the three friends went to the gallows together at Lahore jail on March, 23, 1931, while shouting “Inquilab Zindabad” (long live the revolution) . The hanging date was brought forward by a day. There are differing narrations with regard to the hanging and the cremation. It is widely believed that the cremation took place at Village Ganda Singh Wala in Kasur, where they were taken from the back gate of the Lahore jail. Kasur is about 50 kilometers from Lahore. At Ganda Singh Wala half their burnt bodies were left by the British and the cremation was done once again by the family of Bhagat Singh along Parvati Devi, the daughter of Lala Lajpat Rai. The memorial for the martyrs came up at Hussainiwala which is on the Indian side and near to Ganda Singh Wala. Every year on 23, March, Shaheedi Diwas (Martyrs day) is observed and everyday a beating of the retreat ceremony is carried out at the memorial by India and Pakistan.
The three friends were together in their love for the country and embraced martyrdom together. In their short life spans they created a movement that grew with time to challenge the might of the British Empire. They infused the spirit of self sacrifice that was strategized to great effect by the forthcoming generations.
(Jaibans Singh is a reputed scholar, columnist and author)