There is no doubt that Bhagat Singh is one of the most celebrated martyrs of the Indian freedom struggle. He has left behind a legacy that everyone wants to appropriate, yet most do not wish to look beyond the romantic image of a gun-toting young nationalist. Perhaps the reason is that this is the image that was created in the official colonial records partially, an image we inherited and conveniently accepted as truth.
“Bhagat Singh is a sincere revolutionary, I have no doubt, that is to say, he is sincere in the illusion that the world can be improved by destroying the social structure as it now stands…” these were the words of the judgment of the assembly bomb case. This statement stands as an exception in describing Bhagat Singh’ factual image.
As 28th September marks the birth anniversary of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, the critical sociopolitical aspects of the revolutionary thinker who envisioned the nation’s liberation based on universal brotherhood and equality deserve a deep recall. The young revolutionary had an attractive blend of intellectuality and activism. His upbringing in a family of freedom fighters instilled a feeling of self-sacrifice during in childhood days itself. Attaining education from the National college of Lahore made his ground to enter the battlefield of ideas. Very early in life, he proved pen to be mightier than the sword as he constantly wrote for newspapers like Pratap, Kirti, etc against the British raj and on burning issues of society. Based on intricate observation, his hobbies and habits of everyday life is one of the most meaningful side of his character. He possessed every single trait what we as common man have in us like being a theatre activist, a brilliant swimmer, keeping craze for English movies such “Uncles Tom Cabin” which was based on slavery system; his affinity towards poetry is traceable through his jail note book; even his love for “Rasgollahs” which was send to him from Bengal was evident through court proceedings. His intellectual hunger was much more than any of his other physical needs. The revolutionary passion in him made him different and unique from common man and all revolutionaries. But this gives us no reason to refrain from becoming like him. His personality and perception genuinely has an aura to which gets connected to all of us. To understand Bhagat Singh his association with his comrades remains an important aspect to conquer. His politics became very clear through increasing understanding of the then world affairs and national events. Along with his comrades, he garnered deep inspiration from the Russian revolution of 1917 which was traceable through many of their court statements, letters but one among them was a prominent proof i.e. the “Telegram to Moscow” on death anniversary of V.I.Lenin, the architect and leader of the Russian revolution, dated 21st January 1930 which said,
“ON LENIN DAY WE SEND HEARTY GREETINGS TO ALL who are doing something for carrying forward the ideas of the great Lenin. We wish success to the great experiment Russia is carrying out. We join our voice to that of the international working class movement. The proletariat will win. Capitalism will be defeated. Death to Imperialism”. Bhagat Singh then read the text of this telegram in the court and asked the magistrate to send it to the Third International.
Beyond activism, characterization of Indian society and aspiration to cure its social illness became a priority for this young revolutionary thinker. In a span of seven years of his active sociopolitical life, he constantly wrote on most distressful issues of society. Broadly his concern could be categorized as- Casteism with Class oppression; Communalism and Economic Inequality.
Shielding the class interest of the working class people, he bombarded the central assembly hall with two harmless bombs along with Batukeshwar Dutt on 8th April 1929. This violent gesture was against the passage of Trade Disputes Bill and Public Safety Bill framed by the colonial rulers to crush rights of workers and liberty of citizens. This act symbolizes his matured understanding of workers of society against class oppression. Class consciousness was the aim he thrived for. In historic court statement of 6th June 1929, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt declared:
“By “Revolution” we mean that the present order of things, which is based on manifest injustice, must change. Producers or labourers, in spite of being the most necessary element of their labour and deprived of their elementary rights.”
A SACRIFICE FOR AN EGALITARIAN INDIA– Before Bhagat Singh, the aim of revolutionaries was only the freedom of the country. Till then the purpose of this freedom was not clear. The revolutionaries were not clear about who would form the government after independence and what would be the shape of the future society and other such questions. It was Bhagat Singh, who first of all raised these issues among the revolutionaries and put forward socialism as the goal for which the Indian society should strive. The purpose of freedom was never just to replace the “English Viceroy” by some “Indian Occupant” where exploitation of man by man in our society must stop. His daring gestures took attention of E.V.Ramasamy Periyar, a colossal social thinker and activist of Tamil Nadu, who later admired visionary efforts of Bhagat Singh and undertook to translate his auto-biographical note “Why I am an atheist?” and published it into Tamil in a newspaper named “Kiadarsu”. Bhagat Singh’s intellectual legacy needs to be remembered in these acrimonious times when the danger of inequality, communalism, with caste and gender based discrimination, are the globe. Recalling words of Indian scholar Prof. Chaman Lal, the researcher on life and times of revolutionary Bhagat Singh said, “Bhagat Singh’s intellectual bent of mind was one of the major reasons for his execution, as the British feared that he would become the “Lenin of Asia”. Bhagat Singh should be considered as a “Visionary Frontier of Freedom Movement” who possessed both intellect and activism with four remarkable strands of thought –
a). Uncompromising struggle against imperialism;
b). Unflinching resistance to communalism and caste oppression;
c). Unbending opposition to bourgeois-landlord rule and
d). Unshakable faith in Marxism and Socialism as the only alternative before society.
Unfortunately, contemporary India is facing threats of communal riots, caste-based violence and economic inequality of worst order. Rising hate among population with diverse identity is now a day to day affair on which politics of the ruling class is based. The visceral animosity of divide and rule politics is what haunts us. But at last, we need to decide, whether we want to overcome these threats to our syncretic culture or not? Just garlanding and remembering Bhagat Singh will not work until and unless we understand and practice his vision of inclusive and egalitarian India, safeguarding ourselves from tools of destruction. Doing this will be the real tribute to his sacrifice.