About

Bhagath Singh
Public Figure
Bhagat Singh (IPA: [ptt s] ( listen); 28 September 1907 23 March 1931) was an
Indian socialist considered to be one of the most influential revolutionaries of
the Indian independence movement. He is often referred to as "Shaheed Bhagat
Singh", the word "Shaheed" meaning "martyr" in a number of Indian languages. Born
into a Sikh family which had earlier been involved in revolutionary activities against
the British Raj, as a teenager Singh studied European revolutionary movements and
was attracted to anarchist and Marxist ideologies. He became involved in numerous
revolutionary organisations, and quickly rose through the ranks of the Hindustan
Republican Association (HRA) to become one of its main leaders, eventually
changing its name to the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) in 1928.

Seeking revenge for the death of Lala Lajpat Rai at the hands of the police, Singh
was involved in the murder of British police officer John Saunders. He eluded efforts
by the police to capture him. Together with Batukeshwar Dutt, he undertook a
successful effort to throw two bombs and leaflets inside the Central Legislative
Assemblywhile shouting slogans of revolution. Subsequently they volunteered to
surrender and be arrested. Held on this charge, he gained widespread national
support when he underwent a 116 day fast in jail, demanding equal rights for British
and Indian political prisoners. During this time, sufficient evidence was brought
against him for a conviction in the Saunders case, after trial by a Special Tribunal
and appeal at the Privy Council in England. He was convicted and subsequently
hanged for his participation in the murder, aged 23. His legacy prompted youth in
India to begin fighting for Indian independence and he continues to be a youth idol in
modern India, as well as the inspiration for several films. He is commemorated with a
large bronze statue in the Parliament of India, as well as a range of other memorials.

Early life

The ancestral home at Khatkar Kalan, which is preserved as a museum. Singh was neither born nor
lived there.
Bhagat Singh, a Sandhu Jat, was born on 28 September 1907 to Kishan Singh and
Vidyavati at Chak No. 105, GB, Banga village, Jaranwala Tehsil in the Lyallpur
district of the Punjab Province of British India. His birth coincided with the release
from jail of his father and two uncles, Ajit Singh and Swaran Singh. His family were
Sikhs, some of whom had been active in Indian independence movements, and others
having served in Maharaja Ranjit Singh's army. His ancestral village wasKhatkar
Kalan, near the town of Banga in Nawanshahr district (now renamed Shaheed Bhagat
Singh Nagar) of Punjab.

His grandfather, Arjun Singh, was a follower of Swami Dayananda Saraswati's Hindu
reformist movement, Arya Samaj, which had a considerable influence on the young
Bhagat. His father and uncles were members of the Ghadar Party, led by Kartar Singh
Sarabha and Har Dayal. Ajit Singh was forced to flee to Persiadue to pending court
cases against him, while Swaran Singh died at home in 1910 following his release
from Borstal Jail in Lahore.

Unlike many Sikhs of his age, Singh did not attend the Khalsa High School in Lahore.
His grandfather did not approve of the school officials' loyalism to the British
authorities Instead, he was enrolled in the Dayanand Anglo Vedic High School, an
Arya Samaji institution.

In 1919, at the age of 12, Singh visited the site of the Jallianwala Bagh
massacre hours after thousands of unarmed people gathered at a public meeting had
been killed. At the age of 14, he was among those in his village who welcomed
protestors against the killing of a large number of unarmed people at Gurudwara
Nankana Sahibon 20 February 1921. Singh became disillusioned with Gandhi's
philosophy of non-violence after Gandhi called off the non-cooperation movement.
Gandhi's decision followed the violent murders of policemen by villagers who were
reacting to the police killing three villagers in the 1922 Chauri Chaura incident. Singh
joined the Young Revolutionary Movement and began to advocate for the violent
overthrow of the British in India.

A rare historical photograph of students and staff of National College, Lahore, which was started
by Lala Lajpat Rai. Singh can be seen standing fourth from the right.
In 1923, Singh joined the National College in Lahore, where he was also involved in
extra-curricular activities such as the dramatics society. In 1923, Singh won an essay
competition set by the Punjab Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, writing on the problems in
the Punjab. He founded the Indian nationalist youth organisation Naujawan Bharat
Sabha (Hindi: "Youth Society of India") in March 1926. He also joined the Hindustan
Republican Association, which had prominent leaders, such as Ram Prasad
Bismil, Chandrashekhar Azad and Ashfaqulla Khan. The name of the organisation was
changed to Hindustan Socialist Republican Association at Singh's insistence. A year
later, to avoid getting married by his family, Singh ran away from his house
to Cawnpore. In a letter he left behind, he stated:

My life has been dedicated to the noblest cause, that of the freedom of the country.
Therefore, there is no rest or worldly desire that can lure me now ...
Police became concerned with Singh's influence on youths and in May 1927 they
arrested him on the pretext of having been involved in a bombing that had taken
place at Lahore in October of the previous year. He was released on a surety of Rs.
60,000 five weeks after his arrest. He wrote for and edited Urdu and Punjabi
newspapers, published from Amritsar, as well as briefly for the Veer Arjun newspaper
published in Delhi. He also contributed to Kirti, the journal of the Kirti Kisan
Party ("Workers and Peasants Party"), and in September 1928, that party organised
an all-India meeting of revolutionaries in Delhi with Singh as its secretary. He later
rose to become this association's leader.

Later revolutionary activities

Lala Lajpat Rai's death and murder of Saunders

In 1928, the British government set up the Simon Commission to report on the
political situation in India. The Indian political parties boycotted the Commission,
because it did not include a single Indian in its membership, and it met with country-
wide protests. When the Commission visited Lahore on 30 October 1928, Lala Lajpat
Rai led a non-violent protest against the Commission in a silent march, but the police
responded with violence. The superintendent of police, James A. Scott, ordered the
police to lathi charge the protesters and personally assaulted Rai, who was grievously
injured. Rai died on 17 November 1928, probably as a consequence of shock. When
the matter was raised in the British Parliament, the British Government denied any
role in Rai's death. Although Singh did not witness the event, he vowed to take
revenge, and joined other revolutionaries, Shivaram Rajguru, Sukhdev
Thapar and Chandrashekhar Azad, in a plot to kill Scott. However, in a case of
mistaken identity, Singh received a signal to shoot on the appearance of John P.
Saunders, an Assistant Superintendent of Police. He was shot by Rajguru and Singh
while leaving the District Police Headquarters in Lahore on 17 December 1928.
Pamphlet by HSRA after Saunder's murder, signed by Balraj, the pseudo name for Chandrashekhar
Azad
Although the murder of Saunders was condemned as a retrograde action by Mahatma
Gandhi, the Congress leader, others were more understanding of the
motivation. Jawaharlal Nehru wrote that

Bhaghat Singh did not become popular because of his act of terrorism but because
he seemed to vindicate, for the moment, the honour of Lala Lajpat Rai, and through
him of the nation. He became a symbol, the act was forgotten, the symbol remained,
and within a few months each town and village of the Punjab, and to a lesser extent
in the rest of northern India, resounded with his name. Innumerable songs grew
about him and the popularity that the man achieved was something amazing.
Escape
After killing Saunders, the group escaped through the D.A.V. College entrance, across
the road. Chanan Singh, a Head Constable who was chasing them, was fatally injured
by Chandrashekhar Azad's covering fire. They then fled on bicycles to pre-arranged
places of safety. The police launched a massive search operation to catch the
culprits and blocked all exits and entrances from the city; the CID kept a watch on all
young men leaving Lahore. They hid for the next two days. On 19 December 1928,
Sukhdev called on Durgawati Devi, sometimes known as Durga Bhabhi, wife of
another HSRA member Bhagwati Charan Vohra, for help, which she agreed to do.
They decided to catch the train departing from Lahore to Bathinda en
route for Howrah (Calcutta) early the next morning.

Singh and Rajguru left the house early the next morning, with both men carrying
loaded revolvers. Dressed in western attire and carrying Devi's sleeping child, Singh
and Devi passed off as a young couple, while Rajguru carried their luggage as their
servant. At the station, Singh managed to conceal his identity while buying tickets
and the three boarded the train heading to Cawnpore. There they boarded a train
for Lucknow since the CID at Howrah railway station usually scrutinised passengers
on the direct train from Lahore. At Lucknow, Rajguru left separately
for Benares while Singh, Devi and the infant went to Howrah, with all except Singh
returning to Lahore a few days later.
1929 Assembly bomb throwing incident
To subdue the rise of revolutionaries like Singh, the British government decided to
implement the Defence of India Act 1915, which gave the police a free hand.
Influenced by a French anarchist who bombed the French Chamber of Deputies, Singh
proposed to the HSRA his plan to explode a bomb inside the Central Legislative
Assembly, which was agreed to. Initially it was decided that Batukeshwar Dutt and
Sukhdev would plant the bomb while Singh would travel to the USSR. However later
the plan was changed. He entrusted Dutt to plant the bomb. On 8 April 1929, Singh
and Dutt threw two bombs inside the assembly rushing from Visitor's Gallery.
Although there were no deaths due to the bombing, few members were injured. The
injured were George Ernest Schuster (the finance member of the Viceroy's Executive
Council), B. A. Dalal, R. B. Rao, Shankar Rao and S. N. Roy. The smoke from the bomb
filled the Hall and they shouted slogans of "Inquilab Zindabad!" (in Hindustani, this
means "Long Live the Revolution!") and showered leaflets. The leaflet claimed that
the act was done to oppose the Trade Disputes and the Public Safety Bill being
presented in the Central Assembly and the death of Lala Lajapath Rai. A few people
sustained injuries in the explosion but there were no deaths. Singh and Dutt claimed
that the act was intentional and they were arrested. Gandhi, once again, issued
strong words of disapproval for their deed.
Assembly bomb case trial
Singh and Dutt were charged with attempt to murder, and the trial began on 7 May
1929. Doubts have been raised about the accuracy of testimony offered at the trial.
One key discrepancy related to the automatic pistol that Singh had been carrying
prior to his arrest. One witness, Sobha Singh, told the court that Bhagat Singh had
been firing the pistol two or three times before it jammed, and some policemen
stated that Singh was pointing the gun when they arrived. Later Sobha Singh
was knighted as a reward for his testimony. Sergeant Terry, who had confronted and
arrested Bhagat Singh, testified that the gun was pointed downward when he took it
from him and that Singh "was playing with it." According to the India Law Journal,
however, this was incorrect, as Singh had turned over the pistol himself. According to
Kooner, Singh "committed one great blunder" by taking his pistol on that day "when it
was clear not to harm anybody and offer for police arrest without any protest."
Kooner further states that the police connected "the shell of the gun fire found from
the (Saunders') murder site and the pistol." The two were sent to the Sessions Court
of Judge Leonard Middleton, who ruled that Singh and Dutt's actions had
undoubtedly been "deliberate" as the bombs had shattered the one and a half-inch
deep wooden floor in the Hall. Dutt was defended by Asaf Ali, while Singh defended
himself. Their appeal was turned down and they were sentenced to 14 years life
imprisonment.
Further trial and execution
On 15 April 1929, the Lahore bomb factory was discovered by the police, leading to
the arrest of other members of HSRA, out of which seven turned informants, helping
the police to connect Singh with the murder of Saunders. Singh, Rajguru, and
Sukhdev were charged with the murder of Saunders. Singh decided to use the court
as a tool to publicise his cause the independence of India.
Hunger strike and Lahore conspiracy case
Singh was re-arrested for murdering Saunders and Chanan Singh based on
substantial evidence against him, including the statements of his associates, Hans
Raj Vohra and Jai Gopal. His life sentence in the Assembly Bomb case was deferred
till the Saunders' case was decided. He was sent to the Mianwali jail from the Delhi
jail, where he witnessed discrimination between European and Indian prisoners, and
led other prisoners in a hunger strike to protest this.

They demanded equality in standards of food, clothing, toiletries and other hygienic
necessities, as well as availability of books and a daily newspaper for the political
prisoners, whom they demanded should not be forced to do manual labour or any
undignified work in the jail, as detailed in their letter to the Home Member on 24
June 1929.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah spoke in the Assembly supporting Singh, and sympathised
with the prisoners on hunger strike. He declared on the floor of the Assembly:
The man who goes on hunger strike has a soul. He is moved by that soul, and he
believes in the justice of his cause ... however much you deplore them and however
much you say they are misguided, it is the system, this damnable system of
governance, which is resented by the people.

Jawaharlal Nehru met Singh and the other strikers in Mianwali jail. After the meeting,
he stated:

I was very much pained to see the distress of the heroes. They have staked their
lives in this struggle. They want that political prisoners should be treated as political
prisoners. I am quite hopeful that their sacrifice would be crowned with success.

The Government tried to break the strike by placing different food items in the prison
cells to test the hungry prisoners' resolve. Water pitchers were filled with milk so
that either the prisoners remained thirsty or broke their strike but nobody faltered
and the impasse continued. The authorities then attempted forcing food using
feeding tubes into the prisoners, but were resisted. With the matter still unresolved,
the Indian Viceroy, Lord Irwin, broke his vacation in Simla to discuss the situation
with the jail authorities. Since the activities of the hunger strikers had gained
popularity and attention amongst the people nationwide, the government decided to
advance the start of the Saunders murder trial, which was henceforth called the
Lahore Conspiracy Case. Singh was transported to Borstal Jail, Lahore, and the trial
of this case began there on 10 July 1929. In addition to charging them for the murder
of Saunders, Singh and 27 other prisoners were charged with plotting a conspiracy to
murder Scott and waging a war against the King. Singh, still on hunger strike, had to
be carried to the court handcuffed on a stretcher: he had lost 14 pounds (6.4 kg)
weight from 133 pounds (60 kg) before the strike.

By now, the condition of another hunger striker, Jatindra Nath Das, lodged in the
same jail had deteriorated considerably. The Jail committee recommended his
unconditional release, but the government rejected the suggestion and offered to
release him on bail. On 13 September 1929, Das died after a 63-day hunger strike.

Almost all the nationalist leaders in the country paid tribute to Das' death, and
Mohammad Alam and Gopi Chand Bhargava resigned from the Punjab Legislative
Council in protest. Motilal Nehru moved a successful adjournment motion in the
Central Assembly as a censure against the "inhumane treatment" of the Lahore
prisoners. Singh finally heeded a resolution of the Congress party and the request of
his father, ending ended his 116-day hunger strike on 5 October 1929. During this
period, Singh's popularity among common Indians extended beyond Punjab. Singh's
attention now turned to his trial, where he was to face a British team representing
the Crown and comprising C. H. Carden-Noad, Kalandar Ali Khan, Gopal Lal and the
prosecuting inspector, Bakshi Dina Nath. The defence was composed of eight
lawyers. When Jai Gopal turned into a prosecution witness, Prem Dutt, the youngest
amongst the 28 accused, threw his slipper at Gopal in court. The magistrate ordered
that all the accused should be handcuffed, despite all other revolutionaries having
dissociated themselves from the act. Singh and others refused to be handcuffed and
were therefore subjected to brutal beating. The revolutionaries refused to attend the
court and Singh wrote a letter to the magistrate citing various reasons why they had
done so. The trial was henceforth ordered to be carried out in the absence of the
accused or members of the HSRA. This was a setback for Singh as he could no
longer use the trial as a forum to publicise his views.
Special Tribunal
To speed up the slow trial, the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, declared an emergency on 1 May
1930, and promulgated an ordinance setting up a special tribunal composed of three
high court judges for this case. The ordinance cut short the normal process of justice
as the only appeal after the tribunal was at the Privy Council located in England. The
Tribunal was authorised to function without the presence of any of the accused in
court, and to accept death of the persons giving evidence as a concession to the
defence. Consequent to Lahore Conspiracy Case Ordinance No.3 of 1930, the trial was
transferred from Kishan's court to the tribunal composed of Justice J. Coldstream
(president), Justice G. C. Hilton and Justice Agha Hyder (members).

The case commenced on 5 May 1930 in Poonch House, Lahore against 18 accused.
On 20 June 1930, the constitution of the Special Tribunal was changed to Justice
G.C. Hilton (president), Justice J.K. Tapp and Justice Sir Abdul Qadir. On 2 July 1930,
a habeas corpus petition was filed in the High Court challenging the ordinance and said
that it was ultra vires and therefore illegal, stating that the Viceroy had no powers to
shorten the customary process of determining justice. The petition argued that
the Act, allowed the Viceroy to introduce an ordinance and set up such a tribunal
only under conditions of break down of law-and-order, whereas there had been no
such breakdown. However, the petition was dismissed as being premature. Carden-
Noad presented the government's grievous charges of conducting dacoities, bank-
robbery, and illegal acquisition of arms and ammunition amongst others. The
evidence of G. T. H. Hamilton Harding, the Lahore superintendent of police, shocked
the court, when he stated that he had filed the First Information Report against the
accused under specific orders from the chief secretary (D.J. Boyd) to the governor of
Punjab (Sir Geoffrey Montmorency) and that he was unaware of the details of the
case. The prosecution mainly depended upon the evidence of P. N. Ghosh, Hans Raj
Vohra and Jai Gopal who had been Bhagat Singh's associates in the HRSA. On 10
July 1930, the tribunal decided to press charges against only 15 of the 18 accused,
and allowed their petitions to be taken up for hearing the next day. The tribunal
conducted the trial from 5 May 1930 to 10 September 1930. The three accused
against whom the case was withdrawn included Dutt, who had already been awarded
a life sentence in the Assembly bomb case.

The ordinance (and the tribunal) would lapse on 31 October 1930 as it had not been
passed in the Central Assembly or the British Parliament. On 7 October 1930, the
tribunal delivered its 300-page judgement based on all the evidence and concluded
that participation of Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru was proved beyond reasonable
doubt in Saunders' murder, and sentenced them to death by hanging. The remaining
12 accused were all sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment.
Appeal to the Privy Council
In Punjab, a defence committee drew up a plan to appeal to the Privy Council. Singh
was initially against the appeal, but later agreed to it in the hope that the appeal
would popularise the HSRA in Britain. The appellants claimed that the ordinance
which created the tribunal was invalid, while the government countered that the
Viceroy was completely empowered to create such a tribunal. The appeal was
dismissed by Judge Viscount Dunedin.
Reactions to the judgment
After the rejection of the appeal to the Privy Council, Congress party
president Madan Mohan Malviya filed a mercy appeal before Irwin on 14 February
1931. An appeal was sent to Mahatma Gandhi by prisoners to intervene. In his notes
dated 19 March 1931, the Viceroy recorded:

While returning Gandhiji asked me if he could talk about the case of Bhagat Singh,
because newspapers had come out with the news of his slated hanging on March
24th. It would be a very unfortunate day because on that day the new president of
the Congress had to reach Karachi and there would be a lot of hot discussion. I
explained to him that I had given a very careful thought to it but I did not find any
basis to convince myself to commute the sentence. It appeared he found my
reasoning weighty.

The Communist Party of Great Britain expressed its reaction to the case:

The history of this case, of which we do not come across any example in relation to
the political cases, reflects the symptoms of callousness and cruelty which is the
outcome of bloated desire of the imperialist government of Britain so that fear can
be instilled in the hearts of the repressed people.

A plan to rescue Singh and fellow HRSA inmates from the jail failed. HSRA member
Devi's husband, Bhagwati Charan Vohra, attempted to manufacture bombs for the
purpose, but died when they exploded accidentally.
Execution

Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were sentenced to death in the Lahore conspiracy case
and ordered to be hanged on 24 March 1931. That schedule was moved forward by 11
hours and he was hanged on 23 March 1931 at 7:30 pm in Lahore jail with his
comrades Rajguru and Sukhdev. It is reported that no magistrate of the time was
willing to supervise his hanging as was required by law. The execution was
supervised by an honorary judge, who also signed the three death warrants as their
original warrants had expired. The jail authorities then broke the rear wall of the jail
and secretly cremated the three martyrs under cover of darkness outside Ganda
Singh Wala village, and then threw the ashes into the Sutlej river, about 10 kilometres
(6.2 mi) from Ferozepore.
Criticism of the Special Tribunal and method of execution
Singh's trial has been described by the Supreme Court as "contrary to the
fundamental doctrine of criminal jurisprudence" because there was no opportunity
for the accused to defend themselves. The Special Tribunal was a departure from the
normal procedure adopted for a trial and its decision could only be appealed to the
Privy Council located in Britain. The accused were absent from the court and the
judgement was passed ex-parte. The ordinance, which was introduced by the Viceroy
to form the Special Tribunal, was never approved by the Central Assembly or the
British Parliament, and it eventually lapsed without any legal or constitutional
sanctity.
Reactions to the executions
Front page of The Tribune announcing Bhagat Singh's execution
The execution of Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were reported widely by the press,
especially as they were on the eve of the annual convention of the Congress
party at Karachi. Gandhi faced black flag demonstrations by angry youths who
shouted "Down with Gandhi". The New York Times reported:

A reign of terror in the city of Cawnpore in the United Provinces and an attack on
Mahatma Gandhi by a youth outside Karachi were among the answers of the Indian
extremists today to the hanging of Bhagat Singh and two fellow-assassins.

Hartals and strikes of mourning were called. The Congress party, during
the Karachi session, declared:

While dissociating itself from and disapproving of political violence in any shape or
form, this Congress places on record its admiration of the bravery and sacrifice of
Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev and Raj Guru and mourns with their bereaved families the
loss of these lives. The Congress is of the opinion that their triple execution was an
act of wanton vengeance and a deliberate flouting of the unanimous demand of the
nation for commutation. This Congress is further of the opinion that the [British]
Government lost a golden opportunity for promoting good-will between the two
nations, admittedly held to be crucial at this juncture, and for winning over to
methods of peace a party which, driven to despair, resorts to political violence.

In the 29 March 1931 issue of Young India, Gandhi wrote:

"Bhagat Singh and his two associates have been hanged. The Congress made many
attempts to save their lives and the Government entertained many hopes of it, but all
has been in a vain.

Bhagat Singh did not wish to live. He refused to apologise, or even file an appeal.
Bhagat Singh was not a devotee of non-violence, but he did not subscribe to the
religion of violence. He took to violence due to helplessness and to defend his
homeland. In his last letter, Bhagat Singh wrote, " I have been arrested while waging
a war. For me there can be no gallows. Put me into the mouth of a cannon and blow
me off." These heroes had conquered the fear of death. Let us bow to them a
thousand times for their heroism.
But we should not imitate their act. In our land of millions of destitute and crippled
people, if we take to the practice of seeking justice through murder, there will be a
terrifying situation. Our poor people will become victims of our atrocities. By making
a dharma of violence, we shall be reaping the fruit of our own actions.
Hence, though we praise the courage of these brave men, we should never
countenance their activities. Our dharma is to swallow our anger, abide by the
discipline of non-violence and carry out our duty."

Popularity among people

Subhas Chandra Bose said that "Bhagat Singh had become the symbol of the new
awakening among the youths ...". Jawaharlal Nehru acknowledged that the popularity
of Bhagat Singh was leading to a new national awakening, saying

He was a clean fighter who faced his enemy in the open field ... he was like a spark
that became a flame in a short time and spread from one end of the country to the
other dispelling the prevailing darkness everywhere.

Four years after Singh's hanging, the Director of the Intelligence Bureau, Sir Horace
Williamson, wrote:

His photograph was on sale in every city and township and for a time rivalled in
popularity even that of Mr. Gandhi himself.

Ideals and opinions

Singh was attracted to anarchism and communism. He was an avid reader of the
teachings of Mikhail Bakuninand also read Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Leon
Trotsky. Singh did not believe in the Gandhian ideologywhich
advocated Satyagraha and other forms of non-violent resistance, and felt that such
politics would replace one set of exploiters with another.

From May to September 1928, Singh published a series of articles

on anarchism in Kirti. He was concerned that the public misunderstood the concept of
anarchism, writing that "The people are scared of the word anarchism. The word
anarchism has been abused so much that even in India revolutionaries have been
called anarchist to make them unpopular." In his opinion, anarchism refers to
absence of ruler and abolition of state, not absence of order, and "I think in India the
idea of universal brotherhood, the Sanskrit sentence vasudhaiva kutumbakam etc., has
the same meaning." He believed that

The ultimate goal of Anarchism is complete independence, according to which no

one will be obsessed with God or religion, nor will anybody be crazy for money or
other worldly desires. There will be no chains on the body or control by the state.
This means that they want to eliminate: the Church, God and Religion; the state;
Private property.

Historian K. N. Panikkar described Singh as one of the early Marxists in India,

although others have said that he was less interested in class- or communal-based
issues than youth-based ones and the political theorist Jason Adams notes that he
was less enamoured with Marx than with Lenin. From 1926 onwards, he studied the
history of the revolutionary movement in India and abroad. In his prison notebooks,
he quoted Lenin in reference to imperialism and capitalism and also the
revolutionary thoughts of Trotsky. When asked what his last wish was, Singh replied
that he was studying the life of Lenin and he wanted to finish it before his death. In
spite of his belief in Marxist ideals however, Singh never joined the Communist Party
of India.
Atheism
Singh began to question religious ideologies after witnessing the HinduMuslim riots
that broke out after Gandhi disbanded the Non-Cooperation Movement. He did not
understand how members of these two groups, initially united in fighting against the
British, could be at each other's throats because of their religious differences. At this
point, Singh dropped his religious beliefs, since he believed religion hindered the
revolutionaries' struggle for independence, and began studying the works of Bakunin,
Lenin, Trotsky all atheist revolutionaries. He also took an interest in Soham
Swami's book Common Sense (Singh incorrectly referred to Niralamba Swami as the
author of the book, however Niralamba had only written the introduction), which
advocated a form of "mystic atheism". While in his prison cell in 1931, he wrote a
pamphlet entitled Why I am an Atheist in which he discussed and advocated the
philosophy of atheism. This pamphlet was a result of some criticism by fellow
revolutionaries on his failure to acknowledge religion and God in jail; the accusation
of vanity was also dealt with in this pamphlet. He supported his own beliefs and
claimed that he used to be a firm believer in The Almighty, but could not bring
himself to believe the myths and beliefs that others held close to their hearts. In this
pamphlet, he acknowledged the fact that religion made death easier, but also said
that unproved philosophy is a sign of human weakness. In this context, he noted:

As regard the origin of God, my thought is that man created God in his imagination
when he realised his weaknesses, limitations and shortcomings. In this way he got
the courage to face all the trying circumstances and to meet all dangers that might
occur in his life and also to restrain his outbursts in prosperity and affluence. God,
with his whimsical laws and parental generosity was painted with variegated colours
of imagination. He was used as a deterrent factor when his fury and his laws were
repeatedly propagated so that man might not become a danger to society. He was
the cry of the distressed soul for he was believed to stand as father and mother,
sister and brother, brother and friend when in time of distress a man was left alone
and helpless. He was Almighty and could do anything. The idea of God is helpful to a
man in distress.

Randhir Singh, a Ghadar Party revolutionary convicted of the first Lahore Conspiracy
Case, claimed to have met Bhagat Singh in Lahore Central Jail on 4 October 1930
during his release. According to him, Bhagat Singh said that he had shaved "his hair
and beard under pressing circumstances" and that "it was for the service of the
country". He also said that Bhagat Singh told him that his companions had
"compelled him to give up the Sikh appearance", and that he was ashamed.

Many scholars are sceptical about the claims of Randhir Singh, which have no
independent verification and represent a sudden change in Bhagat Singh's highly
critical attitude regarding religion. Singh was condemned on 7 October 1930
contradicting his presence in condemned cells on 4 October. Furthermore, Bhagat
Singh wrote his essay Why I Am an Atheist before his execution; towards the end of
which he wrote:
Let us see how steadfast I am. One of my friends asked me to pray. When informed of
my atheism, he said, "When your last days come, you will begin to believe." I said,
"No, dear sir, Never shall it happen. I consider it to be an act of degradation and
demoralisation. For such petty selfish motives, I shall never pray." Reader and
friends, is it vanity? If it is, I stand for it.
Death
His mentor as a young boy was Kartar Singh Sarabha, whose photo he always carried
in his pocket. Singh is himself considered a martyr by Indians for acting to avenge
the death of Lala Lajpat Rai. In the leaflet he threw in the Central Assembly on 9
April 1929, he stated: "It is easy to kill individuals but you cannot kill the ideas. Great
empires crumbled, while the ideas survived." After studying the Russian Revolution,
he wanted to die so that his death would inspire the youth of India which in turn will
unite them to fight the British Empire. While in prison, Singh and two others had
written a letter to Lord Irwin, wherein they asked to be treated as prisoners of war
and consequently to be executed by firing squad and not by hanging. Prannath
Mehta, Singh's friend, visited him in the jail on 20 March, four days before his
execution, with a draft letter for clemency, but he declined to sign it.

Controversy

There have been suggestions that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had an opportunity
to stop Singh's execution, but refrained from doing so. A variation of this theory is
that Gandhi actively conspired with the British to have Singh executed. Gandhi's
supporters argue that Gandhi did not have enough influence with the British to stop
the execution, much less arrange it, but claim that he did his best to save Singh's
life. They also assert that Singh's role in the independence movement was of no
threat to Gandhi's role as its leader, and so Gandhi would have no reason to want him
dead. Gandhi, during his lifetime, always maintained that he was a great admirer of
Singh's patriotism. He also stated that he was opposed to Singh's execution (and for
that matter, capital punishment in general) and proclaimed that he had no power to
stop it. On Singh's execution, Gandhi said, "The government certainly had the right to
hang these men. However, there are some rights which do credit to those who
possess them only if they are enjoyed in name only." Gandhi also once remarked
about capital punishment, "I cannot in all conscience agree to anyone being sent to
the gallows. God alone can take life, because he alone gives it." Gandhi had managed
to have 90,000 political prisoners who were not members of his Satyagraha movement
released under the Gandhi-Irwin Pact. According to a report in the Indian
magazine Frontline, he did plead several times for the commutation of the death
sentence of Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, including a personal visit on 19 March 1931.
In a letter to the Viceroy on the day of their execution, he pleaded fervently for
commutation, not knowing that the letter would be too late. Lord Irwin, the Viceroy,
later said:

As I listened to Mr. Gandhi putting the case for commutation before me, I reflected
first on what significance it surely was that the apostle of non-violence should so
earnestly be pleading the cause of the devotees of a creed so fundamentally
opposed to his own, but I should regard it as wholly wrong to allow my judgment to
be influenced by purely political considerations. I could not imagine a case in which
under the law, penalty had been more directly deserved.

Legacy

Indian independence movement

Singh's death had the effect that he desired and he inspired thousands of youths to
assist the remainder of theIndian independence movement. After his hanging, youths
in regions around northern India rioted in protest against the British Raj and Gandhi.
Memorials and museums
Statue in the Parliament of India
On 15 August 2008, an 18-foot tall bronze statue of Singh was installed in
the Parliament of India, next to the statues of Indira Gandhi and Subhas Chandra
Bose. A portrait of Singh and Dutt also adorns the walls of theParliament House.

National Martyrs Memorial

The National Martyrs Memorial, built at Hussainiwala in memory of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and
Rajguru
The place where Singh was cremated, at Hussainiwala on the banks of the Sutlej
river, became Pakistani territory during the partition. On 17 January 1961, it was
transferred to India in exchange for 12 villages near the Sulemanki Headworks.
Batukeshwar Dutt was cremated there on 19 July 1965 in accordance with his last
wishes, as was Singh's mother, Vidyawati. The National Martyrs Memorial was built
on the cremation spot in 1968 and has memorials of Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev.
During the 1971 IndiaPakistan war, the memorial was damaged and the statues of
the martyrs were removed and taken away by the Pakistani army. They have not been
returned but the memorial was rebuilt in 1973.

The Shaheedi Mela (Punjabi: Martyrdom Fair) is an event held annually on 23 March and
sees people paying homage at the National Martyrs Memorial. The day is also
observed across the Indian state of Punjab.

Bhagat Singh Museum & Bhagat Singh Memorial

The Shaheed-e-azam Sardar Bhagat Singh Museum opened on his 50th death
anniversary at his ancestral village,Khatkar Kalan. There, memorable belongings of
Singh, including his half-burnt ashes, the blood-soaked sand and blood-stained
newspaper in which the ashes were wrapped, are exhibited. A page of the first
Lahore Conspiracy Case's judgement through which Kartar Singh Sarabha was
sentenced to death and on which Singh put some notes is also exhibited in the
museum. A copy of the Bhagavad Gita with Bhagat Singh's signature, which was given
to him in Lahore Jail, and other personal belongings, are also displayed there. The
Bhagat Singh Memorial was built in 2009 in Khatkar Kalan at a cost of
16.8 crore (US$2.6 million).

Other
The Supreme Court of India established a museum to display landmarks in the
history of India's judicial system, displaying records of some historic trials. The first
exhibition that was organised was the Trial of Bhagat Singh, which opened on 28
September 2007, on the birth centenary celebrations of Singh. In September 2007,
the Governor of Pakistani Punjab, Khalid Maqbool, announced that a memorial to
Singh would be displayed at Lahore Museum. According to the governor, Singh was
the first martyr of the subcontinent and his example was followed by many youths of
the time. However, the promise was not fulfilled.
Modern day
Statues of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev at the IndiaPakistan Border, near Hussainiwala
The youth of India still draw tremendous amount of inspiration from Singh. He was
voted the "Greatest Indian" in a poll by the Indian magazine India Today in 2008, ahead
of Bose and Gandhi. During the centenary of his birth, a group of intellectuals set up
an institution named Bhagat Singh Sansthan to commemorate him and his ideals.
The Parliament of India paid tributes and observed silence as a mark of respect in
memory of Singh on 23 March 2001 and 2005. In Pakistan, after a long-standing
demand by activists from the Bhagat Singh Foundation of Pakistan, the Shadman
Chowk square in Lahore, where he was hanged, was to be renamed as Bhagat Singh
Chowk. As of December 2012, this proposal is on hold due to a legal challenge.

Movies
Several films have been made capturing the life and times of Singh. The first is the
long-ignored Shaheed-e-Azad Bhagat Singh (1954), followed by Shaheed Bhagat Singh (1963),
starring Shammi Kapoor as Bhagat Singh. Two years later, Manoj Kumar portrayed
Bhagat Singh in an immensely popular and landmark film, Shaheed. Three major films
about Singh were released in 2002 but all were unsuccessful: Shaheed-E-Azam, 23 March
1931: Shaheed and The Legend of Bhagat Singh. The 2006 film Rang De Basanti is a film
drawing parallels between revolutionaries of Bhagat Singh's era and modern Indian
youth.

In 2008, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) and Act Now for Harmony and
Democracy (ANHAD), a non-profit organisation, co-produced a 40-minute
documentary on Bhagat Singh entitled Inqilab, directed byGauhar Raza.

Theatre
Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru have been the inspiration for a number of plays in India
and Pakistan, that continue to attract crowds.

Songs
The patriotic Hindustani songs, "Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna" ("The desire to sacrifice")
and "Mera Rang De Basanti Chola" ("O Mother! Dye my robe the colour of spring");
while created by Ram Prasad Bismil, are largely associated with Singh's martyrdom
and have been used in a number of related films.

Other
In 1968, a postal stamp was issued in India commemorating the 61st birth
anniversary of Singh. In September 2006, Indian Government decided to issue
commemorative coins in his memory. However, the coins had still not been issued in
June 2011.

Criticism
 Singh was criticised both by his contemporaries and by people after his death, both
for his violent and revolutionary stance towards the British as well as his strong
opposition to the pacifist stance taken by Gandhi and the Indian National Congress.
The methods he used to convey his message, such as shooting Saunders and
throwing non-lethal bombs, stood in stark contrast to Gandhi's non-violent
methodology.

See also

Udham Singh

References

Notes

1. ^ The National College inside Bradlaugh Hall, Lahore, had been founded
by Lala Lajpat Rai to provide an alternative source of education for people who did
not want to use those operated by the British.
2. ^ An example of the methods adopted to counterattack attempts at
forcefeeding is the swallowing of red pepper and boiling water by a prisoner called
Kishori. This combination made his throat too sore to permit entry of the feeding
tube.
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Further reading

Sanyal, Jatinder (1931). Sardar Bhagat Singh (Online text).

Datta, Vishwanath (2008). Gandhi and Bhagat Singh. Rupa & Co. ISBN 978-81-291-
1367-2.

Habib, Irfan S.; Singh, Bhagat (2007). To make the deaf hear: ideology and programme
of Bhagat Singh and his comrades. Three Essays Collective. ISBN 978-81-88789-56-6.

External links

Bhagat Singh biography, and letters written by Bhagat Singh

Bhagat Singh materials at the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)

His Violence Wasn't Just About Killing, Outlook

Missed target of Bhagat Singh, The Tribune

The indomitable courage and sacrifice of Bhagat Singh and his comrades will
continue to inspire people, The Tribune

Was Bhagat Singh shot dead?, The Tribune