FLAME OF OUR FREEDOM STRUGGLE

FLAME OF OUR FREEDOM STRUGGLE

-Bhagat Singh



Bhagat singh was born in September 27, 1907 in khatkar kalan, Punjab, in India. His grandfather Arjan singh, father kishan singh, and uncle Ajit singh, were all active in the freedom struggle.

While studying at the D.A.V school in Lahore, in 1916, young Bhagat singh came into contact with some well – known political leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai and Ras Bihari Bose.

In response to Mahatma Gandhi‘s call for no – cooperation against rule in 1921, Bhagat singh left his school and joined the newly opened national college at Lahore. At this college, which was a center of revolutionary activities, he came in contact with revolutionaries such as Bhagwati charan, sukhdev and others. He became a member of the Hindustan republican Association formed by the revolutionaries of Uttar Pradesh and was initiates into their firebrand activities.

The revolutionaries were branded as terrorists by the British government. They believed that given the unjust and oppressive nature of British rule, it was legitimate on their part to use violence as a weapon to overthrow the foreigners.

Their ideas differed from the Gandhi an idea of a freedom movement based on no –violence or ahimsa. Gandhi’s ideas went on to become more prominent as the Indian freedom movement progressed.

But it is not merely as a bold militant – type figure that Bhagat singh is remembered today. He was also a thinker who was steeped in the best traditions of socialistic though, the theory that advocated collective or state ownership f the means of production- land, labor and capital. Pamphlets and articles that he wrote in the course of a short but turbulent life.

A brutal attack by the police on veteran freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai at an anti-British procession caused his death on November 17, 1928, in Lahore. Bhagat Singh determined to avenge Lajpat Rai’s death by shooting the British official responsible for the killing, deputy inspector general Scott. He shot down Assistant Superintendent Saunders instead, mistaking him for Scott.

Then he made a dramatic escape from Lahore to Calcutta and from there to Agra, where he established a bomb factory. The British government responded to the act by imposing severe measure like the disputes bill. It was to protest against the passing of the bill that he threw bombs in the central Assembly Hall while the assembly was in session. The bombs did not hurt anyone, but the noise they made was loud enough to wake up an enslaved nation from a long sleep.

The last paragraph of the leaflets that he distributes [and wrote] after dropping the bombs in the Assembly Hall said; “we are sorry that we who attack such great sanctity to human life,we who dream of a very glorious future when man will be enjoying perfect peace and full liberty have been forced to shed human blood. But sacrifice of individuals at the altar of the revolution will bring freedom to all,rendering exploitation of man by man impossible. Inquilaab Zindaabad [long live the revolution].

After throwing the bombs, Bhagat singh and his friends deliberately courted arrest by refusing to run away from the scene.

In jail, he went on hunger strike to protest the inhuman treatment of fellow-political prisoners by jail authorities. Along with fellow comrades, sukh dev and raj guru, he was awarded the death sentence for his activities by a special tribunal on October 7, 1930.

Despite great popular pressure and numerous appeals by political leaders of India, Bhagat singh and his associate’s leaders of hanged in the early house of March 23, 1931. Their bodies were cremated on the bank of the Sutlej in Ferozepur. Bhagat singh was just 23 at that time. Old timers say that in many places, not a single hearth fire burned that day.