On 28 September India observes the birth anniversary of one of the greatest and most remembered revolutionary heroes of the freedom movement who sacrificed his life at the age of only 23. With constant study, reflection and discussion he had reached such a state of maturity and understanding even at such a young age, some years of which were spent in prison, that even now, 93 years after his martyrdom, his ideas and writings are still an important source of guidance and inspiration for millions of people.
His nephew Prof. Jagmohan Singh has devoted his life to taking forward his work and ideas. He says, “What India needs today is much higher levels of commitment to socialism, secularism, democracy and human rights. For all those who walk on this path, Shahid Bhagat Singh remains a constant source of inspiration as well as an invaluable source of guidance.” Bhagat Singh and his comrades with hardly any resources and working in very adverse situations were able to create a huge impact in terms of creating very high levels of commitment and courage in the freedom movement. This they achieved by their personal example of great courage and noble conduct, and also by careful planning of how to make the best possible use of their very adverse circumstances to somehow take their message in a very convincing way to people. In all of this Bhagat Singh as a leading strategist played a very significant role. The impact of the very long fast taken up by Bhagat Singh and his comrades in jail and other courageous actions of Bhagat Singh and his colleagues could be specifically seen in the Congress moving rapidly towards the goal of full freedom (complete independence) from colonial rule.
He and his colleagues also made it amply clear to people that they did not believe in indiscriminate violence and greatly valued human life. All misunderstandings on this score were cleared by them in their statements.
Bhagat Singh wrote very clearly, “non-violence as a policy indispensable for all mass movements” while force is justifiable only “when resorted to as a matter of terrible necessity.” During the trial, Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt said in a joint statement, “We hold human life sacred beyond words.” When asked to define ‘revolution’ they said equally clear that it did not mean the cult of ‘bomb and pistol’. A similar message was conveyed to Punjab Student Conference Lahore.
Bhagat Singh’s writings convey clearly that basic changes in the existing system rooted in injustice and inequality are needed. The system of capitalism and imperialism has to be confronted on a wider scale to remove the basic causes of exploitation and injustice. Only then conducive conditions will emerge for ending war and establishing real and stable peace based on justice. World level fraternity based on equality in the true sense was emphasized by Bhagat Singh.
On another aspect of peace, Bhagat Singh gave very high priority to ending all sectarian conflicts based on narrow and aggressive interpretations of religious beliefs. He was very active on this front in Punjab, Delhi and Kanpur, establishing close collaboration with others like Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi who were very devoted to this work. Naujawan Bharat Sabha formed by Bhagat Singh and his colleagues was very active on this front in adverse situations and helped to check the spread of sectarian violence.
Bhagat Singh also gave very high priority to the strong mobilization of dalits for ending discrimination and exploitation within Indian society. He assigned great importance to social revolution based on the mobilization of dalits and this also was a part of the freedom struggle. He called upon the dalits to get united and challenge the entire society against the injustices suffered by them for so long. At the same time he warned them against the manipulations of bureaucracy of the capitalist system to misguide and use them for its own ends.
Bhagat Singh called upon the youth to mobilize workers and peasants as they are the real strength of the movement. Bhagat Singh equally emphasized workers and peasants, city slums and village huts.
The establishment of a socialist system was emphasized by Bhagat Singh, as is evident from the fact that largely on his insistence the name of their organization was changed from Hindustan Republican Association to Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.
All this remains highly relevant for India today and a lot of this is also relevant in the international context. It is amazing that Bhagat Singh as the leading ideologue of his organization was able to formulate such mature agenda at an age of 20 to 23 years. All the time he was extremely tied up in various activities of his party or he was jailed, yet he was able to study and write extensively. Finally, all these ideas could be used in such a way as to inspire millions of people only because of the immense sufferings that Bhagat Singh and his comrades were able to face with great courage and nobility of conduct. It is the combination of all these achievements which makes Bhagat Singh one of the greatest freedom fighters of India and also one of the most inspiring figures of all liberation struggles who continues to inspire millions of people even today.
Bharat Dogra has received the PUCL Award for Human Rights Journalism and the Sachin Chaudhry Award for Financial Journalism. His recent books include When the Two Streams Met (Freedom Movement of India), A Day in 2071 and Planet in Peril.
