THE BRAVE SOUL : BHAGAT SINGH

Bhagat Singh was born on 27th September 1907 in Punjab province under British India. He was born in a sikh family. His father's name was Kishan Singh and mothers name was Vidyawati.

Revolution was in his genes, his parents as well as his paternal uncle Ajit Singh were all freedom fighters.

- EARLY TEEN YEARS OF BHAGAT SINGH

"What happens when a non-violent attempt fails to achieve the objective? It is here that soul force has to be combined with physical force so as not to remain at the mercy of tyrranical and ruthless enemy."

While Bhagat Singh was moving towards his teenage , Gandhi was becoming prominent among the masses. Bhagat too was motivated and inspired by movements of Mahatma Gandhi . He started talking about Bharat maa , bharat and azadi from young age of 11-12 years.

The incident which ignited the fire of revolution in Bhagat singh was The Jallianwala Bagh massacre which took place on Baisakhi day on 13 April 1919. When the Government passed Rowlatt act, Gandhiji and others protested against it but British brigadier general dyer couldn't handle this and ordered his troops to fire on a large crowd of approximately 10,000 people who had gathered for peaceful meeting and the celebration of baisakhi. Jallianwala bagh had only one exit, dyer ordered the troops to not let anyone out and within a few minutes the festival turned into a bloodbath. More than 400 people were killed and 1,200 were injured.

In response to this brutality, Gandhiji launched Non-cooperation movement. Bhagat Singh was extremely happy to hear this, Indians were supporting the movement but during the movement police fired and attacked the protesters which enraged them to a level that the protesters burnt the police station of Chauri Chaura and 22 policemen were killed due to it. Gandhiji had to take back the movement as he always followed the path of non-violence.

- BHAGAT SINGH JOINED HINDUSTAN REPUBLICAN ASSOCIATION

"Bombs and pistols don't make a revolution. The sword of revolution is sharpened on the whetting stone of ideas"

Bhagat was heartbroken and joined Hindustan Republican Association (a party of revolutionaries). He knew this wasn't like any other party and somehow he knew that this was the only way India could get independence and not by Gandhi's idea of non-violence.

- KAKORI TRAIN CONSPIRACY

"Old orders should change , always and ever, yielding place to news l, so that one good order may not corrupt the world".

HRA wanted to spread their agenda and policies among the youth of the country. They knew that campaigning needs money and for that they would loot the treasure of the government which eventually belonged to us 'Indians' but was being owned by Britishers as they were ruling India. The whole plan was headed by Ram Prasad Bismil and 10 other revolutionaries( Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Lahiri, Chandrashekhar Azad, Sachindra Bakshi, Keshab Chakravarty, Manmathnath Gupta, Murari Lal, Mukundi Lal and Banwari Lal) . The political robbery went as it was planned by HRA at the small town Karori which was only 16 km away from the Lucknow on 9 August, 1925.

After the incident, the British started intense manhunt and 40 members of the Hindustan Republic Association were booked for robbery and murdered.

- SIMON GO BACK

"Revolution did not necessarily involve sanguinary strife. It was not a cult of bomb and pistol."

Bhagat renamed HRA as Hindustan Socialist Revolution Association to make it more effective and not just restrict their party's motive for independence from Britishers but from rich and wealthy Indians too.

The party decided to stand with Lala Lajpat Rai in leading a demonstration on 30 October 1928 against the Simon Commission .

During the protest, police lathi charged and Lala ji got gruesome injuries which led to his death on 17th November 1928.

Bhagat Singh was furious after Lalaji's death and wanted revenge. He wanted the Britishers to realise that what they did wasn't justified.

HSRA decided to kill scott for ordering his men to lathi-charge protesters leading to the death of Lala Lajpat Rai. Although, due to misunderstanding they killed Saunders instead of killing Scott.

Britishers started searching for Bharat and his mates and reached reached Lahore station along with witnesses who could identify them and Bharat knew that people have seen him and they would identify him. He cut his beard and hair to change his appearance and Durgabai acted as his wife, they also decided to keep Durga's child with them so that nobody could recognise them.

- BHAGAT'S NEXT DESTINATION 'CALCUTTA'.

"In times of great necessity, violence is indispensable."

Bhagat, Durgabai and others escaped and reached Calcutta. It was there that they realised the need to spread their ideology as many parts of the country were unaware about them. They got to know that people considered them as terrorists because of the opinion Britishers created in their minds.

They now wanted to do something big which would make the deaf hear. Bharat heard that In the congress session too they've demanded dominion status and Bharat wanted 'purna swaraj'.

Bharat, Rajguru , Sukhdev and others learned how to make bombs.

Other parts of the country too were witnessing the authority of Britishers. Many were killed during the Bombay mill strike.

- EXPLOSION IN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DELHI

"If the deaf are to hear the sound has to be very loud".

Government launched Trade Dispute bill and Public Safety Bill which wasn't un favour of poor people of the country and Bharat recognised this. The laws meant that government can declare any strike as illegal and without any notice, suspect, proceeding they can arrest anybody.

The viceroy was going to force both the bills through assembly on 8th August. Bhagat decided to oppose this by explosion of bomb but ensuring no life will be hurt as it was just a warning. They threw pamphlets and bombs at vacant space so that nobody would get hurt. Bharat was sure that this was the way public and court will hear them , newspapers and magazines will publish them and their views.

Bhagat surrendered willingly along with Bhatukeshwar Dutt after the explosion on 8th April , National Assembly Delhi, with a voice of 'LONG LIVE REVOLUTION!'

- LIFE IMPRISONMENT

"I am such a lunatic that I am free even in jail".

Bhagat Singh was initially given life imprisonment for the explosion of bombs. During his trial, he protested inside Central Jail Mianwali (now in Pakistan), where he demanded respectful treatment of Indian prisoners. Bhagat and his members became popular among the masses through their hunger strike. They became role model for the youth.

- DEATH SENTENCE TO BHAGAT , SUKHDEV AND RAJGURU

"I will climb the gallows gladly and show to the world as to how bravely the revolutionaries can sacrifice themselves for the cause."

When government got to know that Bhagat Singh was involved in Lahore Conspiracy case they started inquiring. Bhagat Singh was transferred to Lahore’s Borstal Jail where the Saunders trial began in July 1929. They even forced the other members of HSRA to testify against Bhagat, Rajguru and Sukhdev in court. Hans Raj Vohra, due to the fear of Britishers betrayed HSRA and testified against them in court.

Their death sentence was pronounced on 7 October 1930 after a sham trial which did not give the trio the right to a fair defence. They were to be hanged on 24 March 1931, but it was brought forward by 11 hours to 23 March 1931 at 7:30 p.m.

Bhagat Singh used to read a lot before and after he went to jail. He used to write letters to his friends, parents and members of HSRA from jail.

Bhagat singh was just 23 years old when he sacrificed his life for the independence of India. He was brave and fearless. He left his family and refused to marry to follow the path of freedom and revolution.