By Rashi Agarwal
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 28
While the city is busy in celebrating Dussehra today, it is very sad that many had forgotten the national hero who sacrificed his life for the freedom of the country, but foreigners even the people of our neighboring country, Pakistan, are chatting about his heroic deeds on the Internet, says Chaman Lal, professor at the Centre of Indian Languages in New Delhi.

Considered to be one of the most influential revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement, this hero is Bhagat Singh who was hanged for shooting a police officer, J.P.Saunders. Bhagat Singh shot him to avenge the death of freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai. His legacy prompted the youth in India to begin fighting for independence.

Today on his 102nd birthday, not many people paid tribute to the great martyr, but on the Internet there were many Pakistani youngsters who were quite eager to collect information on Bhagat Singh and were talking about him throughout the day.

“Bhagat Singh is our real hero. He should be celebrated as a Pakistani hero here in Lahore,” said a Pakistani national Ashraf Khan, in a chat room.

“Mera rang de basanti chola, mai rang de” and “Inquilaab Zindabad” are some phrases that touch the heart of every Indian and create a sense of patriotism. The ‘rang de’ song has always been associated with the time when Shaheed Bhagat Singh was about to be hanged.

He was born into a Sandhu Jat family to Sardar Kishan Singh Sandhu and Vidyavati in the Khatkar Kalan village near Banga in the Lyallpur district of Punjab.

Both communism and western anarchism had influence on him. He read the teachings of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky and Mikhail Bakunin.

“Singh has deeply contributed to the world and in particular to the future of socialism in India and Pakistan,” commented Jiah Shah.

A Pakistani Punjabi said, “Salute to Bhagat Singh who laid down his life for us. He is the hero of Pakistan. Sadly, no memorial has been raised here in Lahore, but I would definitely pay tribute to the great man.”

Radhika Heena, a well-known Pakistani writer too has written in one of her articles, “Bhagat Singh is the greatest martyr of Pakistan.”