Bhagat Singh Birth Centenary 1907–2007
By Harish K. Puri
[Presented at a 3-day Indian Council of Historical Research and Institute of Punjab Studies seminar in Chandigarh. 26-28 Sept 2007]
Among the large number freedom-fighters who laid down their lives in the struggle, the popularity of Shaheed Bhagat Singh appeared to be of an exceptional order; almost incomparable. His name and his picture with the hat became popular in practically all parts of India after his execution. Nehru referred to his popularity as “sudden and amazing”. Writing about Bhagat Singh four years after his death, the Director of Intelligence Bureau, Sir Horace Williamson noted that, “His photograph was on sale in every city and township and for a time rivaled in popularity even that of Mr. Gandhi himself”. (Quoted in Noorani 2005:256)
That kind of sentiment was also expressed by the official Congress historian Pattabi Sitaramayya. In fact towards the last days of his life, Bhagat Singh himself came to have a sense of the enormous esteem he had gained. In his last written reponse (22nd March 1931) to a note from convicts of the Second Lahore Conspiracy Case, he is reported to have told them: “my name has become a symbol of Indian revolution. The ideals and the sacrifices of the revolutionary party had raised me to a height beyond which I will never be able to rise if I live”. (Text in Gupta 2007: 98) Was there an intimation of immortality ?
Bhagat singh was highly respected and loved among his comrades for his knowledge and qualities of a good human being. His popular image in the minds of most Indians, then as at present, however, was of handsome young men who defied and challenged the mighty British Empire, avenged the national insult of the assault of Lala Lajpat Rai and smilingly sacrificed his life alongside two other comrades. The reverence for martyr and martyrdom – shaheed and Shaheedi – balidaan – in fighting the ‘satanic forces’ had enjoyed a mystical glory in different religio-cultural traditions (particulary in the Sikh tradition). It was indeed a part of their conviction that, as conveyed in the opening words of the Manifesto of HSRA, “The food on which the tender plant of liberty thrives is the blood of the martyr.” They seemed to have been convinced that more than any other action it is their death which would serve the cause of arousing the masses for revolution. Why is giving of blood – martyrdom – Sir froshi ki tamanna – so significant in the imagination and the folklore of nationalism is an issue for a separate enquiry. How could anyone argue with one daring the enemy by staking one’s life?
Bhagat Singh, however, was not the first martyr of the national struggle for freedom, nor was he the last one. Actually their number was quite large; the courage and sacrifice of Vasudev Balwant Phadke, Chapekar Brothers, Kartar Singh Sarabha, ‘Bagha’ Jatin or Surya Sen was no less honourable. In fact in the given context of the religious mentality of the people and the prevalent ethos of revolutionary organizations, that was suffused with religious symbolism and mysticism, Bhagat Singh’s atheism and rejection of religious obscurantism (so convincingly articulated in his “Why I am an Atheist”), could have been a good enough reason for common man to turn away from his politics. What was then secret of that exceptional glory or iconography? This paper is an attempt to explore the conditions or factors that may help to explain the making of that legend.
Our exploration leads us to focus on three factors. One related to the historical conditions of a massive political upsurge among the industrial workers, the peasants and the youth in general in north India towards the end of 1920s. The radicalism inspired by the Russian revolution affected not only those who were dissatisfied with the course of Gandhian struggle but also a new generation of Congress men like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose. Second factor, it appears to me, was Bhagat Singh’s emphasis on connecting with the people, specially the youth, for political awakening and a critical engagement with the mainstream national movement. That included his skilful use of the courtroom as a platform for political education and propaganda. The third factor related to the long hunger-strike in jail for the rights of political prisoners, which facilitated an emotional bonding of a variety of leaders as also common people with him and his comrades.
- In one of his letters to Sukhdev, Bhagat Singh made a reference to the challenge of the political conditions.