BIOGRAPHY OF SAHEED BHAGAT SINGH

SAHEED BHAGAT SINGH

Bhagat Singh is one of those martyr sons of India, with

whose blood the history of freedom fight has been written,

whose sacrifices agitated most the Indian minds, whose shrewd

politics put the British imperialists in great difficulties, and of

whom Mother India is proud.

Bhagat Singh was born on 27 September, 1907 in village

Banga (now in Pakistan) in district Layalpur, Punjab. Bhagat

Singh’s father Sardar Kishan Singh and his two uncles Ajit

Singh and Swarn Singh, being against the English regime were

in jail at that time. It was just a matter of chance that they were

released from the jail, on the same day, when Bhagat Singh was

born. On this happy occasion, there was extra merry making in

the family. To commemorate this occasion Bhagat Singh’s

grand mother gave him the name Bhanga wala (Bhagyawala-the

lucky) and later on, he was called by the name Bhagat Singh.

Having been born in a patriotic family Bhagat Singh inherited

patriotism as a matter of course. At the age of five years, Bhagat

Singh was admitted to the village primary school. Among his

companions he became so popular that, at times, they put him

on their shoulders and came to leave him home. Bhagat Singh

had to sit in small rooms in the school and this he did not like.

Leaving his class, he used to go in the open to roam about the

lounge to be as free as the open fields.

After completion of the primary education, he was admitted

to the D.A.V. school Lahore in 1916-17. There he came into

contact with patriotic like Lala Lajpat Rai and Sufi Amba

Prasad. In 1919, demonstrations were being held to protest

against the Rolet Act through out the country. It was during this

time that the Jalianwala Bagh Tragedy took place. Hearing this

tragedy, Bhagat Singh left Lahore and reached Amritsar. He

paid tributes to those who had died in the name of the country,

and kept in a bottle the blood soaked earth, so that he may

always remember that he had to take revenge of the dishonour

done to his motherland and its inhabitants.

He was influenced by the non-cooperation movement of

Mahatma Gandhi, and left the school in 1921. For those

students, who were affected by the non-cooperation movement,

Lala Lajpat Rai founded the National college in Lahore. Bhagat

Singh also got himself admitted in this college. In Punjab

National College, Lahore, Bhagat Singh’s patriotic feelings

were fully developed. Here, in this college, he came into contact

with revolutionaries, such as Yashpal, Bhagwaticharan, Sukh

Deva, Tirth Ram, Jhanda Singh and others. In the college, there

was also a National Drama Club. Through this club he took a

part in the dramas of patriotism,

viz. Rana Pratap, Bharat

Durdasha and Samrat Chandra Gupta.

In 1923, Bhagat Singh passed F.A. (Intermediate) The same

year, his brother, Jagat Singh, expired. There were talks of

Bhagat Singh marriage. To continue the progeny, the family

members wished to have a son and so they wanted to marry

Bhagat Singh at an early date. But for Bhagat Singh, marriage

was an impediment, as he was pledged to remove the chains of

subjugation of Mother India. To escape all this, he fled away

from the college. He reached Delhi and began to work as a

correspondent of Hindi daily ‘Arjun.’ In 1924 he met Sri

Ganesh Shanker Vidyarthi at Kanpur, the director-editor of

‘Pratap.’ There he came in the contact with Batukeshwar

Dutta and Chandra Shekhar Azad. He learnt Bangla from

Batukeshwar Dutta, and he enrolled himself as a member of the

Hindustan Republic Association. Now, Bhagat Singh was fully

involved in the revolutionary activities and the service of the

country. His meeting with Chandra Shekhar was like uniting of

two revolutionary minds or combining of the two patriotic

volcanoes, that were prepared to sacrifice themselves. It

appeared as if these two young men not only made the

revolutionary much stronger, but also they left nothing to

chance to torment the Englishmen.

Bhagat Singh organised ‘Youngmen India Association’

(Naujawan Bharat Sabha) in Lahore in 1926. This association

was not associated with any religion. Every member had to take

a pledge that he would keep the interests of the country above

the interests of his community and religion. To remove the

distinctions of Hindu-Musalman, Casteism, untouchability

and other narrow mindedness, this association did organise

joint fronts. In May 1930, this institution was declared out

lawed.

In December 1927, Ram Prasad Bismal, Ashfaqa Ulla,

Rajendra Lahiri and Roshan Singh were hanged to death in

connection with the Kakori case. Chandra Shekhar Azad did not

fall into the trap of the Englishmen. He was still at liberty.

Disturbance set in the Revolutionary Party, which was disturbing

Chandra Shekhar Azad. He, therefore, contacted Bhagat

Singh. Bhagat and Azad reorganised the party. Ammunition

was collected a new. The British government was determined to

arrest Bhagat Singh at any cost. On the day of Dashhara in

1927, they played a trick and arrested Bhagat Singh. A false

charge was levelled against him and prosecution proceedings

were started. The charges against Bhagat Singh could not be

proved and Bhagat Singh had to be released. On 8th and 9th

September 1928, a meeting of the revolutionaries was held in

the ruins of Firoz Shah on the advice of Bhagat Singh, the name

of the Hindustan Republican Association was changed to

Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. In February 1928,

to examine the sections of government reforms enforced in

1928, the Simon Commission arrived at Bombay. Almost at

every place, opposition to it was expressed. On October 30th,

1928, the Simon Commission reached Lahore. A procession

under the leadership of Lala Lajpat Rai was proceeding peacefully.

The crowd was swelling every moment. Seeing opposition

on such a big scale Assistant Superintendent Sanders got

almost mad and he ordered a lathi charge. On Lala Lajpat Rai

many lathi blows were showered. That he was in pool of blood,

Bhagat was seeing all this with his own eyes. On 17th

November, 1928, Lalaji expired. Bhagat Singh pledged to take

revenge thereof. Hindustan Socialist Republican Association

entrusted the revenge of Lalaji’s murder to Bhagat Singh, Raj

Guru Sukhdeva, Azad and Jaigopal. The revolutionaries killed

Sandars and took revenge of Lalji’s death. The killing of

Sandars made Bhagat Singh a popular leader in the whole

country. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru has described in his autobiography

this incident, thus, “Bhagat Singh became a symbol. The

murder of Sandars was forgotten. But The traces were left

behind. Within a month or so, every village of the Punjab and

most of Northern India reverberated with his name. About him,

many a song was written and thus the popularity of Bhagat

Singh was astonishing.”

To keep himself safe from the British government, Bhagat

Singh began to live in disguise, he got his hair and beard

removed, put on trousers and hat. Thus, by evading the British

government, he reached Calcutta. After spending some days in

Calcutta, he came to Agra.

In a meeting of ‘Hindustan Samajwadi Gantantra Sangh, the

‘Public Safety Bill and Disputes Bill’ were discussed. It was

resolved that as a mark of opposition to these bills Bhagat Singh

would throw a bomb in the Assembly and instructions were

given also that this should be done in such a manner as it does

no harm to any life. After this, the revolutionary would offer

himself for arrest. Bhagat Singh insisted that he would get it

done. Azad was against it. But in the end, Azad was compelled

to accept Bhagat Singh’s proposal. Batukeshwar Datt was

appointed his assistant. On 8th April, 1929, both of them

reached the Assembly on the appointed time. As the President

of the Assembly rose to take the decision on the Bill, Bhagat

Singh threw a bomb and gave the slogan. ‘Inqalab Zindabad

Samrajyavad Ka Nash Ho. Imperialism must end. Together with

this, hand bills were thrown in which the indigation of the public

was expressed. After throwing the bomb, they got themselves

arrested. After their arrest, many revolutionaries were arrested,

amongst them were also Sukhdeva, Jaigopal and Kishorilal.

Bhagat Singh knew fully well how the Englishmen would

behave with him. He did not engage a lawyer for himself. To

reach his wishes to the public, he decided to plead the case

himself. On 7th May, 1929, the drama of justice against Bhagat

Singh and Batukeshwar Datt was enacted. On 6th June, Bhagat

Singh gave his statement in his favour in which he had

expressed his ideas on freedom, imperialism and revolution etc.

and also put before the world the ideas of the revolutionaries.

On 12th June, 1929, the sessions Judge, under section 307

of Indian Penal Code, and section 3 of Explosives Act, sentenced

them to life imprisonment. Both the patriots wanted their

voice to reach the maximum number of people. They, therefore,

filed an appeal against the judgment of the sessions judge in the

High Court Lahore. Here Bhagat Singh, delivered his speech.

On 13th January, 1930, the high court honoured the judgment of

the sessions court and restored the life imprisonment.

Now the Englishmen decided to entangle Bhagat Singh and

Batukeshwar Datt in a new way. They referred their case to a

tribunal. On 5th May 1930, hearing of their case began in

Poonch House Lahore, During this period, Azad made a plan to

take Bhagat Singh out of the jail. But on 28th May Bhagwati

Charan Bohra was wounded and died while examining a bomb.

After that, the plan could not be worked out. The court

proceedings continued for about three months. On 26th August

1930, the court almost completed its Job, the court found

Bhagat Singh guilty under sections 159, 302 of Indian Penal

Code, and section 4 and 6F of Explosive Material Act and also

under section 120 of Indian Penal Code and gave sixty eight

page Judgment on 7th October, 1930, in which all three-Bhagat

Singh, Sukhadeva and Raj Guru were awarded capital punishment.

In Lahore section 144 was imposed against this judgment

an appeal was filed in the Privy Council, but on January 10,

1931, the appeal was rejected.

On rejection of the appeal, voices were raised not only in

India, but also in other countries as well many newspapers also

wrote strongly against the capital punishment of Bhagat Singh,

Rajguru and Sukhadev, so much so that same members of the

Lower House of the British Parliament opposed this cruel

punishment. On the eve of Gandhi. Irwin pact, all eyes of

members and non-members of congress were looking for

Gandhi’s help, but Gandhiji paid no heed to this matter. About

this attitude and behaviour of Gandhiji general of Azad Hind

Fauz Mohan Singh has written, “Gandhiji could have saved

Bhagat Singh from the gallows, if he had made it a point of

national prestige, the whole country was prepared for the

greatest sacrifices.”

Pistol and books were two most reliable friends of Bhagat

Singh. During his life of a capture behind the bars, his pistol

was taken away, he used to make good use of time by reading

books during the solitary confinement in the Jail. He wrote

some books, autobiography, The Door to Death, Ideal of

Socialism and the First Rising of Freedom in Punjab in the

Freedom Fight while reading books in the jail. He often danced

in ecstacy and song these lines of Ram Prasad Bismil’s song—

MERA RANG DE BASANTI CHOLA.....

The time of hanging was fixed early morning 24th March

1931, but the government out of fear, decided to hang the three

revolutionary patriots earlier in place of morning. March 23,

which was cent per cent against the rules. The superintendent of

Jail went to Bhagat Singh cell and said, “Sardar ji, it is time for

execution be ready.” That time, Bhagat Singh was busy in

reading the life of Lenin. He replied, “Please one revolutionary

is meeting the other revolutionary. And then he accompanied

the superintendent of Jail.

Rajguru and Sukhadeva were also brought to the gallows.

Bhagat Singh put his right arm in the left arm of Rajguru and

the left one in the right arm of Sukhdeva. For a moment, they

were silent, and then they sang these lines:-

DIL SE NIKLEGI NA MAR KAR BHI WATAN KI ULFAT,

MERI MEETI SE BHI KUSBHU-A-WATAN AAYEGI

and then, the three swang on the executioners nooses. The

atrocities of the British government on these patriots did not end

here. They decided to dishounour the dead bodies of the

martyrs. They cut their corpses into pieces, packed them in

sacks and took them to the banks of Sutlaj in Firozpur, stealthily

by night. Kerosen was sprinkled and the corpses were set on fire

But this news reached from Firozpur to Lahore with the speed

of whirlwind. The soldiers of the British army fled away when

they saw thousands of people coming with lighted torches. The

crowd of patriots then performed the last rites of the three dead

ones.

The news of martyrdom of Bhagat Singh and his companions

put the whole country in a sea of sorrow. The conditions in

Madras, Bombay and Calcutta became alarming. The news

papers of both India and abroad, were bitterly critical of this act

of the British government. The British administrators had

become so panicy that they used to confiscate even the photographs

of Bhagat Singh. Being impressed by the fame and name

of Bhagat Singh, Dr. Puttabhisitaramayya has written, in the

History of the Indian National Congress, “This would not be too

much to say that the name of Bhagat Singh was as popular in

India as that of Gandhiji.”

On putting Bhagat Singh and his companions, the Urdu

daily ‘Payam’ of Lahore, wrote, “India considers these three

martyrs greater than the whole of Britain. Even by killing

English men in thousands and lacs, we will not be able to

avenge the death of these martyrs. This misdeed can be avenged

only when we make India free. Then and then only the glory of

Britain can be put to dust. Those who are happy, that they

murdered them, are mistaken. They have not killed these three

patriots, they have dug their own graves. Brave Martyrs, you

are alive and you will remain alive always.