Knowledge Power

INQUILAB ZINDABAD…!!!

March 23, 2014 2 Patriotism

ZINDAGI TO APNE DUM PAR JEE JATI HAI, DUSRO KE KANDHO PAR TO SIRF JANAJE UTHAYE JATE HAI...!!!

Hello Young Guns of India…You might be busy in your work…Some of you might be studying, some might be playing, some of you might be sleeping…but, In your busy life anyone know which date is today???

Does any one remember this day??? I know you all are patriotic…but is your patriotism is up to cricket matches only??? Nothing else???

You enjoy holiday on 2^nd October…Right??? Why??? You might be smiling…so simple yaar its Government Holiday on 2^nd October…GANDHI JAYANTI…!!! Yes you are right…it means you will only remember hero behind freedom if you will get holiday…is it patriotism???

For this we are proud as INDIANS???

I hope you remember this Day of sacrifice…Day of real freedom fighters…Day of youngsters…Day of real patriotism...If you don’t remember no issue…this blog is for you and if anyone of you remember then this blog is definitely for you too…Yes you are right its MARTYRS DAY…Day of real heroes of mother land India…Day of three unforgottable martyrs…SHAHEED BHAGAT SINGH, SHAHEED SHIVRAM RAJGURU and SHAHEED SUKHDEV THAPAR…

Birth: 28th September, 1907

In a dark British India, a son of mother land was born on 28^th September, 1907 whom today we all Indians know by the name BHAGAT SINGH, son of Kishan Singh and Vidyavati Devi in Banga village, Jaranwala Tehsil in the Lyallpur district of Punjab. He took birth in a Sandhu Jat (Shikh) family. Coincidentally during his birth his father and two uncles Ajit Singh and Swaran Singh were released from jail. The ancestral home was at Khatkar Kalan (Renamed as Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar), which is today preserved as a museum.

Inspiration:

Young Bhagat Singh got influenced by his grandfather, Arjun Singh, who was a follower of Swami Dayananda Saraswati's Hindu reformist movement, Arya Samaj. His father and both uncles were members of the Ghadar Party, led by Kartar Singh Sarabha and Har Dayal. Uncle Ajit Singh was sent to Persia due to pending court cases against him, while Swaran Singh died at home in 1910 after releasing from Borstal Jail in Lahore.

His grandfather never allowed him to join school running under British authorities, so he was admitted to Dayanand Anglo Vedic High School, an Arya Samaj institution.

At the age of 12, Bhagat visited the site of Jallianwala Baghmassacre in 1919. on 20 February 1921, large number of unarmed people were killed at Gurudwara Nankana Sahib and at the age of 14, Bhagat was one amongst the people of his village who welcomed the protesters of this incident. Singh was disappointed with Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence when he called off the non-cooperation movement. Then Bhagat Singh joined the Young Revolutionary Movement and for the violent overthrow of the British in India.

College and Marriage:

In 1923, Bhagat Singh joined the National College in Lahore. Where he was also involved in extra-curricular activities such as the dramatics society. In 1923, Singh won an essay competition set by the Punjab Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, writing on the problems in the Punjab. He founded the Indian nationalist youth organization Youth Society of India in March 1926.

He then joined the HRA (Hindustan Republican Association), which had prominent leaders, such as Ram Prasad Bismil,Chandrashekhar Azad and Ashfaqulla Khan. On Bhagat Singh's insistence the name of the organisation was changed to HSRA(Hindustan Socialist Republican Association).

A year later, to avoid getting married, Bhagat Singh ran away from his house leaving a letter behind, in which he stated:

"My life has been dedicated to the noblest cause, that of the freedom of the country. Therefore, there is no rest or worldly desire that can lure me now..."

Youth was so influenced by him that in 1927, police arrested Bhagat Singh in a bombing case that had taken place at Lahore in 1926 and was released after six weeks on the surety of Rs. 60,000.

Death of Lala Lajpat Rai and Revenge:

In 1928, Simon Commission was set up by the British government for the political situation in India. All the Indian political parties boycotted the Commission, because it did not include a single Indian in its membership, and it resulted into the country-wide protests. When the Commission visited Lahore on 30th October 1928, Lala Lajpat Rai led a silent march in protest against the Commission.

The superintendent of police, James A. Scott ordered the police to lathicharge the protesters and personally assaulted Lalaji, who was injured. Lalaji died of a heart attack on 17 November 1928, probably as a consequence of shock. Doctors thought that his death might have been hastened by the injuries that he had received. When the matter was raised in the British Parliament, the British Government denied any role in Lalaji’s death. Although Singh did not witness the event, he vowed to take revenge, and joined other revolutionaries, Shivram Rajguru (Borned on 24th August, 1908 at Khed (now known as Rajguru Nagar) near Pune in Maharashtra), Sukhdev Thapar (Borned on 15th May, 1907 at Ludiana in Punjab) and Chandrashekhar Azad.

Finally they planned to take revenge by killing James A Scott. On 17^th December 1928, on receiving signal as per planning, Bhagat Singh and Rajguru killed John P. Saunders instead of James A. Scott mistakenly when he was leaving District Police Headquarters in Lahore. They successfully escaped from the location as per planning and again met each other in Lahore after some days as per plan.

When this murder of Saunders by these youngsters was taken as a retrograde action by Mahatma Gandhi, others were more understanding and then Jawaharlal Nehru wrote:

"Bhaghat Singh did not become popular because of his act of terrorism but because he seemed to vindicate, for the moment, the honour of Lala Lajpat Rai, and through him of the nation."

He became a symbol, the act was forgotten, the symbol remained, and within a few months each town and village of the Punjab, and to a lesser extent in the rest of northern India, resounded with his name. Innumerable songs grew about him and the popularity that the man achieved was something amazing.

Assembly Blast: 08^thApril, 1929

In 1929, Bhagat Singh influenced by Auguste Vaillant, a French anarchist who had bombed the Chamber of Deputies in Paris, planned to explode a bomb inside the Central Legislative Assembly. The intention behind this was to protest against the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Dispute Act, which had been rejected by the Assembly. The actual intention behind this planning was to get themselves arrested so that they could use British court as a stage to publicise their cause.

The HSRA opposed Bhagat Singh participating in the planning because of there involvement in the Saunders murder. But then they realized that he was the right person for this task. On 8 April 1929, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt, threw two bombs into the Assembly chamber from its public gallery while it was in session. As per planning, no-one was killed by the explosions, but some of them were injured and in that heavy smoke without escaping from their positions they stayed, shouting slogans Inquilab Zindabad! And threw leaflets in the assembly stated:

"It is easy to kill individuals but you cannot kill the ideas. Great empires crumbled, while the ideas survived."

Finally both were arrested and moved to the jail in Delhi. Once again Mahatma Gandhi, issued strong words of disapproval for their deed. At the same time Bhagat Singh was happy for his success of the planning.

Arrestment of other members of HSRA:

HSRA then started bomb factories in Lahore and Saharanpur in 1929. On 15 April 1929, the Lahore bomb factory was discovered by the police, leading to the arrest of other members of HSRA, including Sukhdev, Kishori Lal and Jai Gopal. Not long after this, the Saharanpur factory was also raided, and then the police were able to connect the case of the Saunders murder, Assembly bombing and Bomb manufacturing. Finally…Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev were charged with the murder of Saunders.

Hunger Strike:

In the jail on watching discrimination between European and Indian prisoners, Bhagat Singh led all the Indian prisoners in a hunger strike to protest this. They demanded equality in standards of food, clothing, toiletries and other hygienic necessities, as well as availability of books and a daily newspaper for the political prisoners.

Supporting Bhagat Singh and his team, Muhammad Ali Jinnah spoke in the Assembly supporting Singh for the sympathy with the prisoners on hunger strike. He declared on the floor of the Assembly:

"The man who goes on hunger strike has a soul. He is moved by that soul, and he believes in the justice of his cause ... however much you deplore them and however much you say they are misguided, it is the system, this damnable system of governance, which is resented by the people."

On this incident Jawaharlal Nehru met Bhagat Singh and the other strikers in the jail. After the meeting, he stated:

"I was very much pained to see the distress of the heroes. They have staked their lives in this struggle. They want that political prisoners should be treated as political prisoners. I am quite hopeful that their sacrifice would be crowned with success."

The British authority made every effort to break this hunger strike by forcefully putting food in their mouth, keeping milk instead of water to drink etc. On 13th September, 1929 after continuous 63 days of hunger strike Jatindra Nath Das died in the jail. Almost all the nationalist leaders in the country paid tribute to Das’s death. On 5th October 1929, on the request of his father Bhagat Singh finally ended his 116 days hunger strike. During this period, Singh's popularity among common Indians extended beyond Punjab.

After long investigations and court hearings, On 7^th October 1930, 300 pages of judgement was introduced in the court based on all the evidence and concluded that participation of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru was proved in Saunder’s murder, and sentenced them to death by hanging and the remaining 12 members were all sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment.

Date of History: 23rd March, 1931

After studying the Russian Revolution, he wanted to die so that his death would inspire the youth of India which in turn will unite them to fight the British Empire. While in prison, Bhagat Singh and two others had written a letter to Lord Irwin, wherein they asked to be treated as prisoners of war and consequently to be executed by firing squad and not by hanging. Prannath Mehta, Bhagat Singh's friend, visited him in the jail on 20^th March, four days before his execution, with a draft letter for clemency, but he declined to sign it.

Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were sentenced to death in the Lahore conspiracy case and ordered to be hanged on 24^th March 1931. That schedule was moved forward by 11 hours and he was hanged on 23^rd March 1931 at 7:30 pm in Lahore jail with his comrades Rajguru and Sukhdev. The jail authorities then broke the rear wall of the jail and secretly cremated the three martyrs under cover of darkness outside Ganda Singh Wala village, and then threw the ashes into the Sutlej river, about 10 kilometres from Ferozpur.

These execution of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were reported widely by the press, especially as they were on the eve of the annual convention of the Congress party at Karachi. Gandhi faced black flag demonstrations by angry youths who shouted "Down with Gandhi".

In the issue of Young India of 29^th March 1931, Gandhi wrote:

"Bhagat Singh and his two associates have been hanged. The Congress made many attempts to save their lives and the Government entertained many hopes of it, but all has been in a vain. Bhagat Singh did not wish to live. He refused to apologise, or even file an appeal. Bhagat Singh was not a devotee of non-violence, but he did not subscribe to the religion of violence. He took to violence due to helplessness and to defend his homeland. In his last letter, Bhagat Singh wrote, "I have been arrested while waging a war. For me there can be no gallows. Put me into the mouth of a cannon and blow me off." These heroes had conquered the fear of death. Let us bow to them a thousand times for their heroism.

But we should not imitate their act. In our land of millions of destitute and crippled people, if we take to the practice of seeking justice through murder, there will be a terrifying situation. Our poor people will become victims of our atrocities. By making a dharma of violence, we shall be reaping the fruit of our own actions.

Hence, though we praise the courage of these brave men, we should never countenance their activities. Our dharma is to swallow our anger, abide by the discipline of non-violence and carry out our duty."

Bhagat Singh's death had the effect that he desired and he inspired thousands of youths to assist the remainder of the Indian Independence Movement. After his hanging, youths in regions around northern India rioted in protest against the British Raj and Gandhi.

Remembering:

Today whenever we hear the songs like “Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna”and “Mera Rang De Basanti Chola” created by Ram Prasad Bismil we suddenly remember this three martyrs of India…