‘He who has no pride on his language or his nation,
He is not a man but an animal, and honestly, a dead beast’
TFI remembers the legendary Bhagat Singh, who sacrificed his life for the country, at just 23 years of age. A name that instills pride and confidence in millions of Indians is now being unjustly usurped by some people in order to give their redundant ideology a saving grace. From mentioning his protests against capitalism, his penchant for atheism, some people with vested interests wish to portray the revolutionary Bhagat Singh as a staunch communist, an epitome of leftist ideology. The question still remains: Is it true?
Today is Bhagat Singh Sandhu’s 112th birth anniversary. Born on 28 September 1907 at Banga village in Lyallpur district [now Pakistan’s Faislabad district], Bhagat Singh was affectionately called ‘Bhaganlal’ by his grandfather Arjun Singh, because his father, Sardar Kishan Singh had been released from the prison, and his uncles Ajit Singh and Swaran Singh were to be released soon as well.
Bhagat Singh’s family was Jat Sikh, and by ideology they were devoted to the cause of Arya Samaj. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre on 13 April 1919 in Amritsar had a profound impact on Bhagat Singh’s mind. Therefore, Bhagat Singh participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement without hesitation. But when Gandhiji stopped the non-cooperation movement due to the violence in Chauri Chaura in 1922, young Bhagat Singh left the path of non-violence and adopted the path of revolution.
Leaving the studies of National College of Lahore, Bhagat Singh established the Naujawan Bharat Sabha for the independence of India at the bare age of 16. Along with that, Bhagat Singh also joined the membership of Hindustan Republican Association in 1923, whose founders included revolutionaries like Yogesh Chandra Chatterjee, Shachindra Nath Sanyal, Ram Prasad Bismil and others.
This is the same Hindustan Republican Association that reclaimed more than 8000 rupees [about 80 lakh rupees today] from the British government by stopping the number 8 down train at Kakori. After this, in the swift action taken by the British imperialists, 4 revolutionaries including Ram Prasad ‘Bismil’ were sentenced to death and 14 others were punished with rigorous imprisonment.
Only Bhagat Singh and Chandra Shekhar Azad were successful in escaping this action, and both of them, after painstaking efforts, reconstituted the Hindustan Republican Association and gave it a new name: Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. The name was given by Bhagat Singh himself, who was greatly inspired by the works and the approach of Vladimir Lenin, the father of the Russian Revolution. It is said that a few hours before his death, when one of his friends, Prannath Mehta, met him for the last time, he asked for a book called ‘The Revolutionary Lenin’. For this reason, most of the communists consider Bhagat Singh as a leftist, while the truth is: even though Bhagat Singh was inspired by socialism when the ideology was in its prime, but if he should be judged on the principles of the left, he was certainly not a communist as we know of them today.
Leaving the studies of National College of Lahore, Bhagat Singh established the Naujawan Bharat Sabha for the independence of India at the age of only 16. Along with this, in 1923 Bhagat Singh also joined the membership of Hindustan Republican Association, whose founders included revolutionaries like Yogesh Chandra Chatterjee, Shachindra Nath Sanyal and Ram Prasad Bismil. After this, in the swift action taken by the British, 4 revolutionaries including Ram Prasad ‘Bismil’ were sentenced to death and 14 others were punished with rigorous imprisonment.
The main objective of HSRA was to create youths who are devoted to the ideals of service, sacrifice and can endure all forms of suffering. With this very aim, the young revolutionary participated in a demonstration against Simon Commission in Lahore, where he saw Lala Lajpat Rai being badly beaten by English officers James Scott and JP Saunders. Lala Lajpat Rai, badly injured by the beating, passed away on 17 November 1928. Enraged by this repressive act of the British, at the hands of Bhagat Singh and Rajguru, on 17 December 1928, British officer JP Saunders, who was assistant superintendent of police, was killed in Lahore. He was assisted in this action by Chandra Shekhar Azad, who shot down a revolutionary pursuing him.
A few months later, Bhagat Singh, along with revolutionary partner Batukeshwar Dutt, threw bombs and pamphlets to awaken the British government from ‘their sleep’ on 8 April 1929 in the Parliament House of the then Central Assembly of British India in present-day New Delhi. After throwing the bomb, both of them willingly surrendered. Later, under the proceedings of Lahore Conspiracy Case, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivram Hari Rajguru were sentenced to death as per the provisions of Section 302 and Section 124 of the IPC on, charges of rebelling against British power. They were hanged hours earlier than the scheduled time, on 23rd March 1931, in Lahore Central Jail.
Now to those who feel that Bhagat Singh had been a follower of the Left, let it be known that a diehard leftist never supports the idea of tying the nation together. According to a letter written to his mother from the Central Jail in Lahore, Bhagat Singh once wrote, “I have no doubt that my country will one day become independent, I am afraid that when the white sahibs will vacate the chairs, they will be occupied by the brown sahibs.”
So who are the ‘Brown Sahibs’ Bhagat Singh is referring to in his letter? Are they wealthy people who are born in India but wear suit-boots like the British? Or are they the brown sahibs who think like the British?
To clarify the meaning of thinking with the British, it is that the fulfillment of personal selfishness is paramount for those who like the British, believe in keeping the ‘weak’ as their permanent slaves and exploit them till their death. The first and last love for Bhagat Singh was his country. For him, national interest was paramount, and if he were alive today, he would undoubtedly have been either ashamed on seeing the leftists singing ‘Bharat Tere Tukde Honge’, or would have himself gone out to teach them a lesson.
Not only this, if Bhagat Singh was judged according to the present form of the Left, then Bhagat Singh was not a leftist in any condition. Bhagat Singh had nothing to do with the way the present day Leftists follow the lowly and seditious policy. Conversely, if someone were to enter the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, he had to convince him that he had no objection to having halal and jerk meat cooked together and eaten together by Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims alike. We’re not making this up, but the veteran journalist Kuldeep Nayyar, who wrote a biography of Bhagat Singh, has himself confirmed this in his book ‘Without Fear’.
Bhagat Singh also once wrote in his notebook, ‘The person who stands for development must criticize everything that is obsolte, disbelieve in it and challenge it.’ But the way modern leftists are protecting the modern Naxalites, who have nothing to do with development, it seems that they have no idea of what Bhagat Singh actually believed in. Even if the government wants to help the tribals, these leftists challenge them by adopting a violent attitude towards their policies.
The Left claims to be in favor of democracy and human rights, but directly and indirectly opposes the biggest democratic right ‘voting’ and stands in favor of those who attack government officials. Bhagat Singh had sacrificed himself on the gallows for the country and the countrymen, but the leftists of today stand in the name of human rights with those people, whose very ideology is founded on the killing of thousands of innocent people, in complete contrast to what Bhagat Singh believed in.
Those who are of the opinion Bhagat Singh was a pure leftist, are they aware that he also considered the likes of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar as one of his idols? Those who have no shame in bashing Savarkar in the name of Bhagat Singh, will be very uncomfortable to accept that Bhagat Singh not only supported Veer Savarkar, but also printed and distributed copies of his famous book ‘India’s War of Independence’ [which was banned by the English government ]
Apart from this, Bhagat Singh was also very influenced by the ideology of Swami Vivekananda, and inspired by his ideals; he went on a hunger strike in Lahore Central Jail for the better rights of Indian prisoners. Today’s leftists cannot live without luxurious food even for two days, and Bhagat Singh went on a hunger strike for 116 days, in which he was quite successful to an extent in fulfilling his demands.
Bhagat Singh had said, “As things usually happen, people get used to it and start shivering at the thought of change. We have to replace the sense of inaction with the revolutionary spirit. ”If you look at this in the context of the ideology of the leftists today, then this statement fits perfectly. Today’s leftists unfortunately consider opposition to a particular ideology to be a revolution. It does not matter whether what they are saying is justified or not.
They do not care as to how the sovereignty of the entire country can be endangered by what they are doing. Today’s leftists forget in bashing Modi and BJP that the protest should be done not of the individual but the policies. The people of the country who have voted in favor of him have some respect due. If not the person, at least respect the public opinion.
Had Bhagat Singh been alive today, he would’ve been declared a ‘wily and vicious Sanghi’, by the very people, who claim to follow his ideals while practicing communism. For a man, who considered national interest to be supreme, he undoubtedly does wouldn’t have thought once before rebelling against the poisonous ideology of our ‘Tukde Tukde gang’. Even today we are indebted to Bhagat Singh, who inspired the younger generation to give it all for our nation.
you seem to be mistaken by Bhagat singh’s ideas , I think you should read his letters that he had sent while in jail.
They have been crafted as a book ” why i am an athiest” , but specifically search for “letter to political workers”, there he clearly mentions his ideology which translates to communism in every crude sense
1. end goal being classless, stateless society
2. the means may involve armed revolution if needed
both the conditions are must for communism.
At the same time you are spot on , on his arguments about criticizing the ideas, beliefs and practices, because without them humans cant progress.
But you should refrain from spreading fake news and false statements, you may have been mistaken in that case it is genuine, but if you want to write about a man as big as Bhagat Singh, you need to honor his death and state only truth about him.
Bhagat Singh by born is Arya Samaji and he kept Bhagwat Gita and biography of Swami Vivekananda every time in his pocket.
Quite a long walk around some entirely stupid and incoherent ramblings of a struggling conservative. Seems obvious that your fault is not in an inability to understand, rather a conscious agenda to spill bile to meet your own ends. Engaging you would be futile, and we weep for a nation stuck with citizens like yourself. If you MUST write about a great guy, maybe read his work and not try to misconstrue his meaning and motivation.
Animesh Pandey 👈He has insistently tried to make up his own theory to meet his own ends.
Though Bhagat Singh believed in Communist ideology and he died for India, that doesn’t prove anything about Communism. The Communist ideology is essentially a Dictatorial anti- Free Speech regime which had failed the test of time.