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BORN: Sept. 27, 1907, Punjab, India
1930: Threw bombs in Central Assembly Hall, protesting on imposing severe measures like the Trades Disputes Bill by the
Britishers.
1930: Went on hunger strike to protest the inhuman treatment of fellow-political prisoners by jail authorities.
1930: Sukh Dev and Raj Guru, he was awarded the death sentence. Cremated on the bank of the Sutlej in Ferozepur.
Died: Hanged in the early hours of March 23, 1931.
Cremated at: Ferozepur, Punjab.
INTRODUCTION:
Bhagat Singh was a revolutionary and martyr, born on 27 September 1907 at the village of Banga(Khatkarkalan),the second
son of Kishan Singh and Vidya Vati. Bhagat Singh was imbued from childhood with the family's spirit of patriotism. At the
time of his birth, his father was in jail for his connection with the Canal Colonization Bill agitation, in which his brother,
Ajit Singh (Bhagat Singh's uncle), took a leading part. Through his father, who was a sympathizer and supporter of the Ghadr
campaign of 1914-15, Bhagat Singh became an admirer of the leaders of the movement. The execution of Kartar Singh Sarabha
made a deep impression on the mind of the young man who vowed to dedicate his life to the country.
HIS EDUCATION:
Having passed the fifth class from his village school, Bhagat Singh joined Dayanand Anglo-Vedic School in Lahore. In response
to the call of Mahatma Gandhl and other nationalist leaders, to boycott government aided institutions, he left his school
and enrolled in the National College at Lahore. He was successful in passing a special examination preparatory to entering
college. He was reading for his B.A. examination when his parents planned to have him married. He vehemently rejected the
suggestion and said that, if his marriage was to take place in Slave-India, "my bride shall be only death(LAADI MAUT)".
AFTER EDUCATION:
Bhagat Singh left home and went to Kanpur where he took up a job in the Pratap Press. In his spare time, he studied
revolutionary literature. He joined the Hindustan Republican Association, a radical group, later known as the Hindustan Socialist
Republican Association. When Bhagat Singh was assured that he would not be compelled to marry and violate his vows sworn to
his motherland, he returned to his home in Lahore. This was in 1925 when a morcha had been going on at Jaito to protest against
the deposition by the British of Maharaja Ripudaman Singh of Nabha because of his sympathy with the Akali agitation. A warrant
for the arrest of Bhagat Singh was issued because he had accorded a welcome to one of the jathas, but he managed to elude
the police and spent five months under the assumed name of Balvant Singh in Delhi, where he worked in a daily paper Vir Arjun.
As Akali activity subsided, Bhagat Singh returned to Lahore. He established contact with the Kirti Kisan Party and started
contributing regularly to its magazine, the Kirti. He also remained in touch with the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.
In March 1926 was formed the Naujawan Bharat Sabha. Bhagat Singh, one of the principal organizers became its secretary. As
the Simon Commission arrived at Lahore on 30 October 1928, an all-parties procession, headed by Lala Lajpat Rai, marched towards
the railway station to make a protest. Intercepting the procession, police made a lathi charge and Lala Lajpat Rai received
injuries. He died later. Although the British saw no connection between the lathi charge and Lala Lajpat Rai's death, Bhagat
Singh and his associates did. They plotted the assassination of Mr Scott, the Superintendent of Police, believed to have been
responsible for the lathi blows given Lala Lajpat Rai, but instead J.P. Saunders, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, became
the actual victim owing to mistake in identification. Bhagat Singh and Rajguru had done the actual shooting. They and those
who had served as lookouts escaped through the D.A.V. College grounds. The next day a leaflet was circulated by the Hindustan
Socialist Republican Association announcing that the death of Lala Lajpat Rai had been avenged.
BHAGAT THREW BOMB IN THE ASSEMBLY:
Bhagat Singh escaped to Calcutta disguised as a wealthy personage. He remained quiet for several months, but became
active again when Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill were being debated in Delhi. As his group resolved to explode
a bomb to express disapproval of the bill, Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt volunteered to carry out the plan. They were seated
in the gallery of the Central Assembly Hall awaiting the reading of the proclamation that would enact the bills. When the
announcement was made, Bhagat Singh jumped up and threw a relatively harmless bomb behind one of the members' benches. There
was an explosion, followed by still another from a second bomb. No one was seriously injured. Bhagat Singh and Dutt began
shouting revolutionary slogans and threw leaflets explaining their in tent of making "the deaf hear" with the loud
noise of explosion. Both were promptly taken into custody. As the trial proceeded, a statement, written in its entirety by
Bhagat Singh, was read in defense of the two accused. Bhagat Singh said that "force used for a legitimate cause has its
moral justification." He and B.K. Dutt were found guilty and sentenced to transportation for life. After the sentence
had been pronounced in the Assembly Bomb case, Bhagat Singh was bound over for trial in the Saunders Murder case, approvers
having identified his role in the killing. While awaiting trial in the Lahore Jail, Bhagat Singh started a hunger strike in
behalf of political prisoners. The fast was continued even after the hearing of the case began on 10 July 1929, and was subsequently
joined by many others. It was not until after the death of one of these, J.N. Das, on 13 September 1929, that facilities were
promised to the prisoners and the hunger-strike abandoned.
DEATH SENTENCE:
At the time of trial, Bhagat Singh offered no defense, but utilized the occasion to propagate his ideal of freedom.
He and his fellow accused kept delaying the proceedings by refusing to appear before the court, by ignoring what was going
on, or by disrupting the work by shouting revolutionary slogans. He heard with defiant courage the death-sentence pronounced
on 7 October 1930. In the same spirit, he kissed the hangman's noose on 23 March 1931, shouting for the last time his favorite
cry, "Down with British imperialism." His body was secretly cremated at Husainivala by police and the remains thrown
into the River Sutlej. The next day, however, his comrades collected the bodily remains from the cremation site and a procession
was taken out in Lahore. Mourning for him was spontaneous and widespread and homage was paid to him for his sterling character
and sacrifice.
TRIBUTE:
In 1950, after Independence, the land where Bhagat Singh and his companions were cremated was procured from Pakistan
and a memorial built. In March 1961, a Shahidi Mela was held there. Every year, on 23 March, the martyr's memory is similarly
honoured. The old memorial, destroyed in the 1971 Indo-Pak war, has been rebuilt Bhagat Singh is remembered by the endearing
title of Shahid-E-Azam, the greatest of martyrs.
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