September 28, 2019 marks the immortal revolutionary martyr Bhagat Singh’s 112th birth anniversary. On this occasion we are publishing an extract from an article on Bhagat Singh. The full article can be read on Janata blog.
Shahid Bhagat Singh is widely recognised as perhaps the most famous and respected revolutionary of the freedom movement of India. Although he, along with his two comrades Sukhdev and Rajguru, was hanged by the colonial regime at the extremely young age of 23, he had already won so much affection and respect that in vast parts of India his fame rivalled that of Gandhi. This has been acknowledged by the official chronicler of the Congress party. His death (and that of his two colleagues) was mourned by millions across India, from Punjab (his home-province) to Tamil Nadu. Many of them wept openly. Political and other differences were set aside as the vast nation was united by tears over the loss of its most beloved sons. Indeed, there were appeals against this death sentence even from the base of the imperial power, from Britain.
While details of this inspiring saga of Shahid (Martyr) Bhagat Singh have been published widely, nevertheless there remain significant gaps in acknowledging the many-sided achievements and contributions of this remarkable youth, one of the most accomplished among the young leaders of world history. While his predominant role has been that of a freedom fighter, this encompassed many distinguished roles as a scholar, writer, journalist, disaster relief worker, civil liberties activist, and socialist ideologue, all of which he performed with great merit. Among many dedicated comrades, he emerged as almost a natural leader, a reality acknowledged spontaneously by people. On the lighter side, more by force of circumstances (the need to hide his main identity) he also worked for some time as a school teacher (actually a headmaster) and even a small-time dairy entrepreneur (where he is reputed to have distributed free a substantial share of the milk to employees and friends, remonstrating with his annoyed mother that milk should be distributed among all).
How Handcuffed Prisoners Defeated Biggest Imperial Power
After their arrest in 1929, Bhagat Singh and his comrades, by their courage and noble conduct, were able to inspire and mobilise millions of people for greater participation in the freedom movement. This period of the imprisonment of Bhagat Singh and his close comrades thus became one of the most glorious chapters in the freedom movement of India and indeed in all liberation struggles. During these two years, April 1929–March 1931, Bhagat Singh and his close comrades can justly be credited with not justly defying but even defeating the world’s biggest imperial power from behind the bars. The more the colonial government tried to repress and torture them, the more reverence and affection they received in the entire country because of the courage and determination with which they faced the onslaught. This is why the colonial power with its vast reach and strength was defeated by its handcuffed prisoners.
Much more than their own defence, Bhagat Singh, along with B.K. Dutt and other comrades, concentrated on focusing attention on the rights of all political prisoners and issues concerning this. In the course of the various struggles of the freedom movement, a large number of political prisoners (mostly freedom fighters) were all the time being imprisoned and the terrible conditions in jails posed a serious threat to their life and health much beyond the punishment to which they were sentenced by the legal system. Bhagat Singh and his close comrades went on fasts ranging from 60 to 95 days to demand the essential rights of all political prisoners.
Secondly, despite the fact that the colonial government was violating all norms of justice to rush up the case against Bhagat Singh and his close comrades, denying various essential rights to the accused, Bhagat Singh and his colleagues worked very hard to present their views and ideology in careful, well-thought-out ways. As a result it became increasingly clear to the people that these revolutionaries had actually taken all care to save human lives in the Assembly Bombing Case. A terrorist generally tries to take more human lives, whereas these freedom fighters had taken the maximum precaution to ensure that there was no loss to human life. This was evident in the way the bombs were prepared, and the way in which these were used. They had also given away their revolvers on their own to security-men, although they could have used these weapons to make good their escape.
It was becoming increasingly clear to the people from the conduct and statements made by the revolutionary prisoners that far from indulging in any indiscriminate violence, they had planned their activities very carefully keeping in view only the interests of their country and the freedom movement for which they were willing to make any sacrifice and bear any hardship.
This became apparent from the courage and nobility with which they faced torture and beatings. They endured fasting for very long periods. Even as they saw their own health and the health of their dearest friends collapsing before their eyes, they did not surrender. Paralysis gradually spread from one part of the body of the fasting freedom fighter, Jatindranath Das, to another part, and yet he did not break his fast. Prison authorities used to mix milk in the water, so that when they drink water the fast of the revolutionaries would automatically break. Instead of drinking this milk-mixed water, the thirsty prisoners simply broke the pitchers containing this water. When the authorities tried to force feed them in a cruel way, the prisoners still resisted so much that they were injured. Ultimately fearing loss of life due to force feeding the jail officials had to discontinue these efforts.
As news of such acts of courage and determination spread, the support for these revolutionaries grew rapidly in the country, just as these young freedom fighters had hoped.
When fasting freedom fighter Jatindranath Das died on September 13, 1929 after a continuous fast of 63 days, 50,000 funeral processionists marched through Lahore. The Central Legislative Assembly passed a motion of adjournment to censure the government for their policy regarding the hunger striking prisoners in the Lahore Conspiracy Case…. In the Punjab, Drs. Muhammad Alam and Gopi Chand Bhargava resigned from the Punjab Legislative Assembly. Subhas Bose led the miles-long funeral procession in Calcutta…. Rabindranath Tagore was inspired to compose a song.
Later, when Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were sentenced to death, Bhagat Singh Appeal Committees were established in every district of the Punjab. At a Bhagat Singh day on 17 February, 1931, colleges emptied out into streets, 15,000 people met in Lahore. Over 138,000 signatures seeking the commutation of the death sentence were sent by the All Punjab Bhagat Singh Appeal Committee to the Viceroy. In Amritsar, a public meeting organised by the Workers and Peasants Party demanded the immediate release of all political prisoners. The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee insisted that commuting the death sentence was an essential condition for peace.
Indeed the protest against the glaring unjust trial and death sentence even reached Britain where an appeal titled ‘Stop the Lahore Executions!’ was signed by thousands of people. This appeal stated: “We, the undersigned electors in Great Britain, emphatically protest against your sanction being given to the sentences, including three death penalties, passed by the judge in the Conspiracy Case at Lahore, India, after a trial, the character of which arouses the gravest misgivings.
“We are aware that the twenty-seven Indian youths accused in this case were not only tried without a jury but by the special personal instructions of the Viceroy. Extraordinary regulations were adopted to conclude the trial without regard to the usual procedure.
“We regard the sentences passed under these circumstances as a violation of justice and demand that they should be disallowed by you. If the three death sentences are put into operation, we shall hold you and your Government responsible for sanctioning what amounts to the murder of political opponents under the guise of official judicial sentences.
“Without entering into the question whether there was any justification at all for the trial of the accused men at Lahore, whose conviction could only be obtained by such extraordinary means, we desire as strongly as possible to press our views upon you that there should be in all cases, without exception, an open, normal trial by a jury of the countrymen of the accused persons.”
Invaluable Contributions of Great Relevance to Our Times
It is clear that Bhagat Singh and his colleagues with hardly any resources and working in very adverse situations were able to cause a massive impact in terms of creating high levels of commitment and courage for the freedom movement. This they achieved by their personal example of great courage and noble conduct, and also by careful planning of how to make the best possible use of their very adverse circumstances to somehow take their message in a very convincing way to the people. In all of this Bhagat Singh as a strategist played a very significant role. The impact of the fasts and other courageous actions of Bhagat Singh and his colleagues could be specifically seen in the Congress moving rapidly towards the goal of full freedom (complete independence) from colonial rule.
He and his colleagues also made it amply clear to the people that they did not believe in indiscriminate violence and greatly valued human life. All misunderstandings on this score were cleared by them in their statements.
Bhagat Singh wrote very clearly, “non-violence as a policy is indispensable for all mass movements” while force is justifiable only “when resorted to as a matter of terrible necessity”. During the trial, Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt said in a joint statement: “We hold human life sacred beyond words.” When asked to define ‘revolution’ they said equally clearly that it did not mean the cult of ‘bomb and pistol’. A similar message was reiterated to the Punjab Student Conference in Lahore.
Basic changes in the existing system rooted in injustice are needed. The system of capitalism and imperialism has to be confronted on a wider scale to remove the basic causes of exploitation and injustice. Only then conducive conditions will emerge for ending war and establishing real and stable peace based on justice. World level fraternity based on equality in the true sense was emphasised by Bhagat Singh.
On another aspect of peace, Bhagat Singh gave very high priority to ending all sectarian conflicts based on narrow and aggressive interpretations of religious beliefs. He was very active on this front in Punjab, Delhi and Kanpur, establishing close collaboration with others like Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi who were very devoted to this work. The Naujawan Bharat Sabha formed by Bhagat Singh and his colleagues was very active on this front in adverse situations and helped to check the spread of communalism.
Bhagat Singh also gave very high priority to the strong mobilisation of Dalits for ending discrimination and exploitation within the Indian society. He assigned great importance to social revolution based on the mobilisation of Dalits and this was also a part of the freedom struggle. He called upon the Dalits to get united and challenge the entire society against the injustices suffered by them for so long. At the same time he warned them against the manipulations of the bureaucracy of the capitalist system to misguide and use them for its own ends.
Bhagat Singh called upon the youth to mobilise workers and peasants as they are the real strength of the movement. Bhagat Singh equally emphasised workers and peasants, city slums and village huts.
The establishment of a socialist system was emphasised by Bhagat Singh, as is evident from the fact that largely on his insistence the name of their organisation was changed from the Hindustan Republican Association to the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.
All this remains highly relevant for India today and a lot of this is also relevant in the international context. It is amazing that Bhagat Singh as the leading ideologue of his organisation was able to formulate such a mature agenda at an age of 20 to 23 years. All the time he was extremely tied up in various activities of his party or he was jailed, yet he was able to study and write extensively. Finally, all these ideas could be used in such a way as to inspire millions of people only because of the immense sufferings that Bhagat Singh and his comrades were able to face with great courage and nobility of conduct. It is the combination of all these achievements which makes Bhagat Singh one of the greatest freedom fighters of India and also one of the most inspiring figures of all liberation struggles who continues to inspire millions of people even today.
(Bharat Dogra is a free-lance journalist involved with several social initiatives and movements. Jagmohan Singh is the Chairman, Shahid Bhagat Singh Centenary Foundation. Madhu Dogra is a free-lance writer and researcher.)
