Shaheed Bhagat Singh

Shaheed Bhagat Singh was born 27 september 1907th He gave a new direction to revolutionary terrorist movement in India, formed 'Naujavan Bharat Sabha' to spread the message of revolution in Punjab, formed 'Hindustan Samajvadi Prajatantra Sangha' along with Chandrasekhar Azad to establish a republic in India, Killed police official Sanders to avenge death of Lala Lajpat Rai, dropped bomb in Central Legislative Assembly along with Batukeshwar Dutt.

Bhagat Singh was one of the most prominent faces of Indian freedom struggle.

He was a revolutionary advance of his time. By Revolution he meant that the present order of things, which is based on manifest injustice must change. Bhagat Singh studied the European and the revolutionary movement was greatly attracted towards socialism. He realized that the overthrow of British rule should be accompanied by the socialist reconstruction of Indian society and the political power must be seized by the workers.

Bhagat Singh was born into a Sikh (Sandhu) family to Sardar Kishan Singh Sandhu and Vidyavati in Khatkar Kalan village near Banga in Lyallpur district of Punjab. As a child he was deeply affected by the Jalianwala Bagh Massacre that took place in Punjab in 1919.

When Mahatma Gandhi started the non cooperation movement in 1920, he became an active participant at the age of 13 He had great hopes that Gandhi would bring freedom in India. But he was disappointed when Gandhi called off this movement after Chauri Chaura riot in 1922. At this point he had openly defied the British and had followed Gandhi's wishes by burning his government-school books and any British-imported clothing. 

Bhagat famously stole an essay competition set by the Punjab Hindi Sahitya Sammelan. This grabbed the attention of members of the Punjab Hindi Sahitya Sammelan including its Secretary General Professor Bhim Sen Vidyalankar. At this age, he quoted famous Punjabi literature and discussed the problems in Punjab.

In his teenage years, Bhagat Singh started studying at National College in Lahore, but ran home to escape early marriage, and joined the organization Naujawan Bharat Sabha (Translated to 'Youth Society of India'). In Naujawan Bharat Sabha, Singh and his fellow revolutionaries grew popular amongst the young.

He also joined the Hindustan Republican Association at the request of Professor Vidyalankar, which was then headed by Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla Khan. It is believed that he was aware Kakori train robbery.

He wrote and edited the Urdu and Punjabi newspapers published from Amritsar. In September 1928, a collection of various revolutionaries from across India was called at Delhi under the banner of the Kirti Kissan Party. Bhagat Singh was the secretary of the meet. His later revolutionary activities were carried out as a leader of this association. Capture and hanging of the main HRA Leaders also allowed him and Sukhdev to be quickly promoted to higher levels in the party. 

Although portrayed as a terrorist, Sardar Bhagat Singh was critical of the individual terrorism which was prevalent among the revolutionary youth of his time and called for mass mobilization. Bhagat Singh gave a new direction to revolutionary terrorist tradition in India. He differed from its predecessors in two respects.

Firstly, he accepted the logic of atheism and publicly proclaimed it. Secondly, until then revolutionaries had no conception of post-independence society. Their immediate goal was destruction of the British Empire, and they had no desire to work a political alternative. Bhagat Singh, because of his interest in studying and his sense of history gave the revolutionary movement a goal beyond the elimination of the British. A clear-sightedness and determination of purpose distinguished Bhagat Singh from the other leaders of the National Movement. He emerged as the only alternative to Gandhi and the Indian National Congress, especially among young people.

Bhagat Singh was born into a Sikh family in village Banga in Layalpur district in Punjab (now in Pakistan). He was the third son of Sardar Kishan Singh and Vidyavati. Bhagat Singh's family was actively involved in the fight for freedom. His father Kishan Singh and uncle Ajit Singh were members of Ghadr Party founded in the U.S. to oust British rule from India. Familial atmosphere had a great effect on the background of young Bhagat Singh and patriotism flowed in his veins from childhood.

While studying at the local D.A.V. School in Lahore, in 1916, young Bhagat Singh came into contact with some well-known political leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai and Ras Bihari Bose. Punjab was politically very charged in those days. In 1919 took Jalianwala Bagh massacre occurred when Bhagat Singh was only 12 years old. The massacre deeply disturbed him. On the next day of massacre Bhagat Singh went to Jalianwala Bagh and collected soil from the ground and held it as a memorial for the rest of his life. The massacre strengthened his resolve to drive the British from India.

In response to Mahatma Gandhi's call for non-cooperation against British rule in 1921, Bhagat Singh left his school and actively participated in the movement. In 1922, when Mahatma Gandhi suspended Non-cooperation movement against violence at Chauri-chaura in Gorakhpur, Bhagat was greatly disappointed. His belief in non violence weakened and he came to the conclusion that armed revolution was the only practical way to win freedom. To continue his studies, Bhagat Singh joined the National College in Lahore, founded by Lala Lajpat Rai. At this school, which was the center of revolutionary activity, he came into contact with revolutionaries such as Bhagwati Charan, Sukhdev and others.

To avoid early marriage, Bhagat Singh ran away from home and went to Kanpur. Here he came into contact with a revolutionary by name, Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, and learned his first lessons as revolutionary. On hearing that his grandmother was ill, Bhagat Singh returned home. He continued his revolutionary activities from his village. He went to Lahore and formed a union of revolutionaries by name 'Naujavan Bharat Sabha'.

He started spreading the message of revolution in Punjab. In 1928 he attended a meeting of revolutionaries in Delhi and came into contact with Chandrasekhar Azad. The two formed 'Hindustan Samajvadi Prajatantra Sangha'. Its purpose was to establish a republic in India through an armed revolution.

In February 1928, a committee from England, called Simon Commission visited India. The purpose of the visit was to determine how much freedom and responsibility could be given to the people of India. But there was no Indian on the committee.

This angry Indians and they decided to boycott the Simon Commission. While protesting against Simon Commission in Lahore, Lala Lajpat Rai was brutally Lathicharged and later succumbed to injuries. Bhagat Singh determined to avenge Lajpat Rai's death by shooting the British official responsible for the killing, Deputy Inspector General Scott. He shot down Assistant Superintendent Saunders instead, mistaking him for Scott.

Bhagat Singh had to flee from Lahore to escape death punishment.

Instead of finding the real cause of discontent of Indians, took the British government for more repressive measures. During the Defense of India Act, gave it more power for police to arrest persons to stop processions with suspicious movements and actions. Act meant that the Central Legislative Assembly was defeated by one vote.

Even then it was being adopted in the form of a notice in the "public interest". Bhagat Singh, who was in hiding all this while, volunteered to throw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly where the meeting to disclose the communication was achieved. It was a carefully planned plot to cause death or injury but to draw attention to the government that the forms of its oppression can no longer be tolerated. It was decided that Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt would court arrest after throwing the bomb.

On April 8, 1929 Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw bombs in the Central Assembly Hall while the Assembly was in session. The bombs did not hurt anyone. After throwing bombs, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt, deliberately courted arrest by refusing to run away from the scene. Meanwhile the killers of Sanders were identified as treason. 

Bhagat Singh's friends who were "approved". During the trial, Bhagat Singh refused to employ any defense. In prison, he went on hunger strike to protest the inhumane treatment of fellow political prisoners in the jail authorities. On October 7, 1930 Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev and Raj Guru were awarded death sentence by a special tribunal for terrorist activities. Despite great popular pressure and numerous appeals by political leaders in India, Bhagat Singh and his associates were hanged in the early hours of 23 March 1931.