Comrades in arms, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar, and Shivaram Rajguru were hanged to death 91 years back today (23 March). Their lives raged in the fire of Revolution while a million others, led by Gandhi, were protesting non-violently.
Gandhi gathered Indians from all walks of life into a collective freedom struggle. He made calibrated moves–also nurtured diplomacy and correspondence with the British.
Being a barrister aware of the British laws, he protested primarily within its frameworks. It was like fighting a system without antagonizing it blatantly.
His apostles of non-violence attracted many, and the British could never ‘criminalize’ their fight for independence. Though many protesting freedom fighters went to prison, they neither went in as criminals nor were they sent to the gallows. Contrarily, their jail term only added to their sheen.
Gandhi became the emissary of peace, the torchbearer of the Indian freedom struggle, and eventually the role model and father of the nation.
On the other hand, Bhagat Singh signified the spirit of unrelenting India. He was India’s legitimate anger suppressed by the mass pacifist movement Gandhi fostered.
“If cowing down is shameful, then diplomacy is not the language we speak to an oppressor. Who are they, after all? Why should we abide by their laws?
They are thieves who came into the country as businessmen but stayed behind to plunder and loot? They robbed our freedom, enslaved us, and now they are posing as guardians of our land with a constitution to legitimize their colonial rule.”
Bhagat Singh and his allies in the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA) saw Armed Revolution as the means to freedom, not a passive struggle against the brutal British.
After Lala Lajpat Rai succumbs to a baton charge against protestors led by him, Bhagat Singh, Shivram Rajguru, and Chandra Shekar Azad decide to avenge his death. They plot the assassination of James Scott (British Senior Superindent of Police), responsible for the attack.
However, on the day, mistaking John Saunders (a British police officer) for Scott, they gun him down, yet they leave a stern message through posters to the imperialist British Government.
Their posters clearly read they were not bloodthirsty but guilt-prone guileless revolutionaries.
“…We are sorry we killed a man. But this man was a part of cruel, despicable, and unjust system and killing him was a necessity. This man has been killed as an employ of the British Government. This Government is the most repressive Government in the world.
We are sorry for shedding human blood but it becomes necessity to bathe the altar of Revolution with blood. Our aim is to bring about a revolution which would end all exploitation of man by man.”
“Long live Revolution!” – 18 December 1928
After assassinating Saunders, they escape. On the run, hiding and living in many places, Bhagat Singh and his fellow revolutionaries then plan and carry out a non-lethal blast in the empty benches of the Delhi assembly and throw pamphlets from the gallery.
It was not to cause a kill but to surrender and use the media coverage of court proceedings to proclaim who the real criminal is.
The court imprisons them to life. However, being in jail, they go on an indefinite hunger strike fighting for fair and dignified treatment inside the prison. Meanwhile, their fasting in jail and court exchanges result in growing public support. But a fellow-comrade, Jathindra Nath Das dies after a 63-day hunger strike.
Bhagat Singh stays stubborn, continues his fast for 116 days, and ends it only after accepting a Congress party resolution and a personal request by his father. Bhagat Singh and his associates had become a national sensation by that time.
But sadly, our misfortunes come from betrayers and backstabbers among us. P N Ghosh, Hans Raj Vohra, and Jai Gopal, erstwhile Bhagat Singh’s associates arrested after the British raid a Lahore bomb factory, turn witnesses to the prosecution.
This leads to the trial of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajaguru, and several others in Saunder’s murder case. Coming under public and media scrutiny, the British then bend their laws and fast-track the court proceedings.
Finally, they confer the death penalty upon Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajaguru. On 23 March 1931, with a war cry, “Long live Revolution!” they hang to death. Their age when they attained martyrdom was around 22-23.
Their days in hiding, their days in prison, the pains and struggle they withstood is something that every Indian must remember. Their sacrifices must have a meaning; otherwise, their death would only mean unfortunate fate befell them.
Reference: Shaheed Bhagat Singh Avenging Lalaji’s Death – Math in https://mathinfocusanswerkey.com/shaheed-bhagat-singh-avenging-lalajis-death/
Data reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagat_Singh
Image Source: PTI