The incidents of Jallianwala Bagh massacre[1919] and the killing of a large number of people at the Gurudwara Nankana Sahib[1921] had planted the seeds of revolutionary behaviour in the early life of Bhagat Singh .He consecrated his life to the service of the nation by launching "Naujawan Bharat Sabha" in March 1926. This youth organisation was a more public face of the Hindustan Republican Association[ HRA] with which he was closely associated. At the time of Lala Lajpat Rai's death on November 17, 1928 [ due to serious injuries "Punjab Kesari" had sustained on October 30 while leading a massive protest against the Simon Commission with black flags in Lahore] Bhagat Singh had matured into a great thinker and bold revolutionary, endowed with a virtual second -sight. Our folk hero[ Bhagat Singh] felt greatly moved by Lalaji's last words,"I declare the blows struck at me today will be the last nails in the coffin of British rule in India". The common people felt deeply shocked and convulsed with anger. Bhagat Singh went over the events of "the dark day" in his mind and decided alongwith Sukhdev to avenge the death of Lalaji by killing the Superintendent of Police, James Scott. But they were able to gun down only John Saunders, the Assistant Superintendent of Police in a case of mistaken identity.Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru has aptly observed,"Bhagat 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". Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt exploded two low-intensity bombs in the Central Legislative Assembly on April 8,1929 from its public gallery opposing the Trade Disputes Act and the Public Safety Bill which had been actually rejected by the Assembly earlier but were to be enforced through an ordinance by the Viceroy, using his special powers. They showered leaflets printed in pink on legislators stating that it takes a loud voice to make the deaf hear. They could have easily escaped from there as the Assembly Hall was filled with smoke but they gave up themselves for arrest. Both of them raised the slogans like,"Inquilab Zindabad", "Down With Imperialism" and "Workers of the World Unite!".
On June 12, 1929, they were sentenced to life imprisonment. On further investigation, when Bhagat Singh's associates like Hans Raj Vohra and Jai Gopal turned approvers, the death penalty was pronounced for the Shaheed-e-Aaazam and his fellow revolutionaries- Rajguru and Sukhdev on October 7, 1930. The true patriots came to know about this news in their jail barracks and welcomed the judgement with a defiant courage. Bhagat Singh has very gracefully emphasized,"Bombs and pistols don't make a revolution. The sword of revolution is sharpened on the whetting stone of ideas". He took all the blows without flinching as a political prisoner and left behind a rich culture of protest against injustice and exploitation of man by man. We can learn from Bhagat Singh that patriotism is not an empty rhetoric. Our conscience should trouble us when we say unkind things to those who do not think,eat and dress like us. It is really shameful that a college going girl with a keen intellect and qualities of leadership is frowned upon and trolled on social media with threatening messages because of her specific views on student politics. Such a feudal behaviour is not admissible in a democratic society. A Dalit Ph.D. student of University of Hyderabad, Rohith Vemula, is reported to have been kept waiting for his research scholarship for months together and forced to commit suicide,lamenting ,"My birth is my fatal accident". If we really wish to preserve the glorious legacy of Bhagat Singh, we must be tolerant towards our fellow countrymen. If we want freedom to argue our side of the case well, we must hear the other side also".
Dr RAJ BAHADUR YADAV
Behind Kath Mandi, Kranti Nagar, Fatehabad[Haryana]
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