Information AboutBhagat Singh |
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Bhagat Singh (. EARLY LIFE Bhagat Singh was born into a Sikh family to Sardar Kishan Singh and Vidyavati in the Khatkar Kalan village near Banga in the Jalandhar district of Punjab . As a child, he was deeply affected by the Jalianwala Bagh Massacre that took place in Punjab in 1919 . When Mahatma Gandhi started the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1920 , he became an active participant at the age of 13. Bhagat Singh studied at the National College, but ran away from home to escape early marriage, and became a member of the organization ''Naujawan Bharat Sabha''. In the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, Bhagat and his fellow revolutionaries grew popular amongst the youth. He wrote for and edited Urdu and Punjabi Newspapers published from Amritsar . In September 1928 , a meeting of various revolutionaries from across India was called at Delhi under the banner of the ''Kirti Kissan Party''. Bhagat Singh was the Secretary of the meet. His later revolutionary activities were carried out as a leader of this association. LALA LAJPAT RAI'S DEATH The British Government created a Commission under Sir John Simon to report on the current political situation in India in 1928 . The Indian political parties boycotted the commission because it did not include a single Indian as its member. When the commission visited Lahore on October 30 , 1928 , Lala Lajpat Rai led the protest against the commission in a silent march, but the police chief Scott beat Lala Lajpat Rai severely and he succumbed to his injuries later. Bhagat Singh, who was an eyewitness to this event, vowed to take revenge on Scott. He joined with other revolutionaries, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev , in a plot to kill the police chief. However, in a case of mistaken identity, Bhagat Singh accidentally killed J.P. Saunders, a Deputy Superintendent of Police. He quickly left Lahore to escape the police. To avoid recognition, he shaved his beard and cut his hair, a violation of one of the sacred tenets of Sikhism (although he had renounced his faith and become an Atheist by this point). BOMB IN THE ASSEMBLY In the face of actions by the revolutionaries, the British government enacted the Defence of India Act to give more power to the police. The purpose of the Act was to combat revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh. The Act was defeated in the council by one vote. However, the Act was then passed under the ordinance that claimed that it was in the best interest of the public. In protest, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt, another revolutionary, planned to explode a bomb in the assembly where the ordinance was going to be passed. On April 8 , 1929 , Singh and Dutt threw bombs onto the corridors and shouted "''Inquilab Zindabad!''" ("Long Live the Revolution!"). This was followed by a shower of leaflets stating that it takes a loud voice to make the deaf hear. The bomb neither killed nor injured anyone; Singh and Dutt claimed that this was deliberate on their part, a claim substantiated both by British Forensics investigators who found that the bomb was not powerful enough to cause injury, and by the fact that the bomb was thrown ''away'' from people. Singh and Dutt gave themselves up for arrest after the bomb. He and Dutt were sentenced to 'Transportation for Life' for the bombing on June 12 , 1929 . TRIAL FOR THE SAUNDERS MURDER Shortly after his arrest and trial for the Assembly bombing, the British came to know of his involvement in the murder of Mr. Saunders. Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev were charged with the murder. Bhagat Singh decided to use the court as a tool to publicize his cause for the independence of India. He admitted to the murder and made many anti-British statements during the trial. On March 23 , 1931 Bhagat Singh was Hanged in Lahore with his fellow comrades Rajguru and Sukhdev. ADVOCATE OF MARXISM AND ATHEISM Bhagat Singh's political thought evolved gradually from Gandhian Nationalism to revolutionary Marxism . By the end of 1928, he and his comrades renamed their organization the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association . He had read the teachings of Karl Marx , Friedrich Engels and Vladimir Lenin and believed that, with such a large and diverse population, India could only survive properly under a Socialist regime. Otherwise, he believed that the rich would only get richer and the poor would only get poorer. This, and his aggressive stance of violence, put him at odds with Gandhi and members of the Congress. He became the first socialist leader in India to make any gain. Even today, socialist leaders sometimes refer back to him as the founder of Indian socialism. While in jail during 1930-31 awaiting the gallows, he wrote a pamphlet entitled ''Why I am an Atheist'' in which he discusses and advocates the philosophy of Atheism . This pamphlet was a result of some criticism by fellow revolutionaries on his failure to acknowledge religion and God while in a condemned cell. 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. ADVOCATE OF PRISONER RIGHTS While in jail, Bhagat Singh and other prisoners launched a hunger strike advocating for the rights of prisoners and undertrials. The reasons for the strike was that British murderers and thieves were treated better than Indians of equal infamy, or even better than Indian Political Prisoners, who, by law, were meant to be given better rights. {Link without Title} BHAGAT SINGH AND MAHATMA GANDHI Bhagat Singh and his Militant methods contrasted with Mahatma Gandhi's Pacifist methods in the Indian independence movement, much as the militant methods of Malcolm X contrasted with the pacifism of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the American Civil Rights Movement . To this day, there is an active public debate in India as to whether independence was ultimately the result of Singh's methods, Gandhi's methods, or a combination thereof. Some also wonder if independence could have come faster if the Indian National Congress had adopted Singh's methods in addition to Gandhi's. A small but vocal minority of Singh's supporters also accuse Gandhi of being responsible for his death. Some believe that Gandhi could have stopped Singh's execution had he so desired, but chose not to so that he could have total control over the independence movement. Others accuse Gandhi of actually working with the British to arrange Singh's execution. Both accusations, especially the latter, are hotly contested. Gandhi's supporters say that he did not have enough influence with the British to stop the execution, much less arrange it. Furthermore, Gandhi's supporters assert that Singh's role in the independence movement was 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 , but that he simply disapproved of his violent methods. He also said 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. CONSPIRACY THEORIES Many Conspiracy Theories exist regarding Singh, especially the events surrounding his death. One of the most popular ones is that Gandhi Had An Opportunity To Stop Singh's Execution But Did Not . On October 28, 2005, a book entitled ''Some Hidden Facts: Martyrdom of Shaheed Bhagat Singh -- Secrets unfurled by an Intelligence Bureau Agent of British-India'' Sic '' by K.S. Kooner and G.S. Sindhra was released. The book asserts that Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev were deliberately hanged in such a manner as to leave all three in a semi-conscious state, so that all three could later be taken outside the prison and shot dead by the Saunders family. The book says that this was a prison operation codenamed "Operation Trojan Horse." Scholars are skeptical of the book's claims. PORTRAYAL IN POPULAR MEDIA Several popular Bollywood films have been made capturing the life and times of Bhagat Singh. The most successful was ''Shaheed'' in 1965 , starring Manoj Kumar as Singh. Two major films about Singh were released in 2002 , '' and starred Bobby Deol as Singh, with Sunny Deol and Aishwarya Rai co-starring. ''The Legend of Bhagat Singh'' is Rajkumar Santoshi 's adaption, in which Ajay Devgan played Singh and Amrita Rao was featured in a brief role. But owing to proximity of release of both films, neither one could obtain popular success. The 2006 film '' Rang De Basanti '' (starring Aamir Khan )is a film drawing parallels between revolutionaries of Bhagat Singh's era and modern Indian youth. It covers a lot of Bhagat Singh's role in the Indian freedom struggle. The movie revolves around a group of college students and how they each play the roles of Bhagat's friends and family. QUOTATIONS "The aim of life is no more to control the mind, but to develop it harmoniously; not to achieve salvation here after, but to make the best use of it here below; and not to realise truth, beauty and good only in contemplation, but also in the actual experience of daily life; social progress depends not upon the ennoblement of the few but on the enrichment of democracy; universal brotherhod can be achieved only when there is an equality of opportunity - of opportunity in the social, political and individual life." REFERENCE
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