Monday, August 15, 2011

Bhagat Singh, the greatest Indian revolutionary-Let’s not forget him…



I am going to sacrifice my life for a cause. What more consolation can there be? A god-believing Hindu may expect to be reborn a king; a Muslim or a Christian might dream of the luxuries he hopes to enjoy in paradise as a reward for his sufferings and sacrifices. What hope should I entertain? I know that it will be the end when the rope is tightened around my neck and the rafters moved from under my feet. To use more precise religious terminology- it will be my moment of utter annihilation. My soul will come to nothing. If I have the courage to think of the matter in the light of a “reward”, I see a short life of struggle with no such magnificent end as itself my “reward”. That is all.
With no selfish motive or desire to be awarded here of hereafter, quite disinterestedly have I devoted my life to the cause of independence, because I could not do otherwise.
-Bhagat Singh


BHAGAT SINGH (1907-1931), a revolutionary, an extremist, a fearless socialist had a clear vision for his life and was quite certain of the reward that death will bring. He desired no coronation or messianic worship. He just wished to end the despotic rule and bring to its people a vista of freedom and right of sovereignty. He lived in an era when the Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence was not able to bring the intended results. The tolerance and endurance of the masses was reaching the limits. They needed some way to vent out their anger; the youthfulness of the nation was restless. It will be wrong to say that Bhagat Singh was young and the adrenaline rush was propelling him to take extreme measures. He was a revolutionary and not a terrorist. He was not fomented by exuberance, vindication and fanaticism of youthfulness, arms and ammunitions; his actions were held by sagacity of his voracious reading and firmness of beliefs. On Revolution Bhagat Singh has said:

“Revolution necessarily implies the programme of systematic reconstruction of society on a new and better adopted basis, often necessitating complete destruction of the existing state of affairs. It was one of the illusions of each generation that the social institutions in which it lived were natural and permanent. Yet for the countless years social institutions had been superseded by others adapted to temporary needs.”


The unfathomable, disagreeable and unbelievable 116 days hunger strike, which by no comprehensible thinking seems a human act, was possible only because of strong determination and conviction. It shows his devotion to the reason he lived for and the same reason he was ready to die for. It breached all the scientifically proved limits of human suffering, and demonstrated the power of conviction to every other. A significant lesson that it conveys is that a simple reason is good enough to face any challenge in life. “If a person has a reason to live for, he will never be afraid to die for that reason”. And a fearless man knows no boundaries and no limits. Have a reason in life and then nothing will be impossible…  


“Duniya se ghulami ka main nam mita dunga
Ik baar zamane ko main azad kara dunga
Jo log garibon par kartein hain sitam nahaq
Gar dam hai mera kayam gin gin ke saza dunga”
(I will remove the name of slavery from this world/ I will make this world free/ the people who torture the poor will face my wrath until the time I have any power left in me)

It was his resolve to work for the poor. The disparity and injustice in the society is increasing, and it is increasing due to increase in corruption. The rich is getting richer and poor is getting poorer. There can be no sin as disgraced as taking advantage of poor and helpless. It’s the responsibility of the youth to take care that no poor is getting marginalized, or is being filched. Let this Independence Day we also take a resolve to fight for the poor, and remove the name of slavery from this country or rather world…


There has always been a so called difference in the ideologies and idiosyncrasies of Mahatma Gandhi and Bhagat Singh. I will not debate here that Gandhi tried to sideline Bhagat Singh in order to gain the mass appeal and maintain his stranglehold. But somehow I feel that in the jail going for a hunger strike Bhagat Singh also approved of some non-violent methods that Mahatma Gandhi adopted. As I said before, he was not a terrorist, he was a revolutionary, and his methods were well researched, thoroughly studied and completely based on his beliefs. Bhagat Singh never intended to kill the British troops by mass strike, he just wanted to convey his message, convey the message to the British and to the people of India that they should not fear.  Mahatma Gandhi also preached fearlessness. Only the method to convey the message was different, Bhagat Singh was a bit loud.

                                                                             ~

Today India is also trying to bring out a revolution, a revolution in Kashmir, a revolution in North East, a revolution in tribal areas of central India, and many other. All must learn from the teachings of Bhagat Singh. A major step, "India against corruption" is a revolution of modern era; the corruption has been embedded so deep into the roots of political system that people have lost faith in democracy. The youth must join the revolution, and must bring support to the movement in every possible way. It is a fight for freedom, freedom from corruption. The current movement is a movement for truth, for justice and for democracy. The definition of revolution as given by Bhagat Singh fits very naturally to the current system. Conspicuously, the political will is absent, surrogated by vested interests of personal gains. The current stand of the government only obfuscates their ostensible measures to remove corruption. Let’s remember the greatest revolutionary of Indian history and end this farcical and institutional democracy. Let’s bring the change in terms of real democracy, free from corruption. The time has come…


Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab humare dil mein hai
Dekhna hai zor kitna bazu-e-quatil mein hai…
Waqt aane de bata dengetujhe eh aasman
Hum abhi se kya bataein, kya humare dil mein hai…


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Easily, the post is actually the greatest on this deserving topic. I agree with your conclusions and will thirstily look forward to your coming updates. . . . .St Louis Cardinals Hats,Tampa Bay Rays Hats,Canada Goose Coats

Chirayu said...

thanks, I will try that my future updates live upto your expectations :)

sanat mishra said...

Chirayu, please refrain from using terms like the greatest to any any one of the revolutionary. Have you read life of Bagha Jatin, Barin Ghosh, M.N Roy and many others.All were great in their own respective, calling greatest to any one of them would be undermining the contribution on others. Please do a little read up,especially in the early 20's of Bengal and u will be humbled the acts of suicidal courage exhibited them.Just do a little research on Bagha Jatin. if Bhagat singh was the greatest what do u rate Chandrashekar Azad, under whon Bhagat singh and others worked, and Bismil under whom even Azad worked, and rasbehari bose under whom sachin sanyal worked and Bagha Jatin under whom even Rasbehari Bose(Mentor Of Subash Chandra Bose Worked). Had Indi-German (The success rate was 90%) plot been successfully execueted India would be free in 1915, when mahatma gandhi was still unknown, and the Father of the Nation would be Bagha Jatin.Dude you need a serious study.

Chirayu said...

Hi Sanat,
Nice to hear from you and sorry to have hurt any of your sentiments. These kind of articles are undoubtedly and arguably difficult to be presented without any discourse and discomfort. I respect and appreciate your knowledge. But that, with reverence, gives no right to undermine my studies. And if at any time you wish to discuss any of these issues with calm and composure and more in a sense to discuss and less to blame, i would be more than glad to talk to you. It's always good to talk to people closely related to Indian History. :)

sanat mishra said...

Thanks for your composed and balanced reaction despite a subtle provocation from my side. At the outset let me congratulate you for writing such a wonderful blog. Though fraught with minor inaccuracies (Opinions are subjective and you don’t have to agree with me) I do appreciate your effort for which you are entitled for all compliments and expect from you to write similar blogs in future highlighting lives & contributions of others who passed away unnoticed into oblivion.
Why should adulation to Bhagat Singh hurt my sentiment? On the contrary the mention of his very name electrifies my sagging enthusiasm and buoys the sinking hope in me. Who but the finest among men could have undergone such a great physical mortification and ardently desire “self-annihilation” of the self? My only concern is that the glorification of one should not happen at the cost of others, by misattributing somebody else’s deeds to others. Few days back I was reading a blog where it read that Dutt & Bhagat Sing were responsible for Assembly bomb case and Saunders murder. The matter of fact is that Rajguru, Dutt and Bhagat Singh were just listed as mere accomplices and participants in those outrages and the real man who was deemed responsible by the British government and by his own admission –which is quite evident by the pamphlets thrown by Dutt & Bhagat Singh, intended to make “deaf government listen” in the assembly undersigned under the name of Balraj- was none other than the chief architect if HSRA and the Commander-in –chief Chandrashekar Azad. Had the author of that blog bothered to visit any decent library in his vicinity or any of the archives in quest of the documents of the court proceedings, he wouldn’t have committed that blunder. It’s glad to know that your references are not movies and TV documentaries but books and libraries. Few years back ,in early nineties I happened to meet Manmathnath Gupta (childhood friend of Azad, a co-accused in Kakori case, author of books galore, participant in Kakori Train robbery along with Ramprasd Bismil, Azad, Rajendranath Lahiri , AshfaqUlla Khan and others and was sentenced to life imprisonment) too voiced a similar concern and considered this an attempt to mish-mash with history.
Yet I do concur with you unequivocally on one point that all those who sacrificed their lives either in a pitched gun battle, mounting on the gallows or starving themselves to death did that with the sole objective of unshackling the fetters of their dear Mother land to effect an equitable social transformation…and they all deserved be addressed as ‘The Greatest”.
Wishing you a great future with great blogs
S.K

Chirayu said...

Hi Sanat,
Thanks for replying. I always write with a hope that my voice be heard and I am closer to perfection. But I am always ready to accept my inaccuracies and improve them with time. I appreciate that you took time to understand my feelings behind writing and replying accordingly. I am certainly not an historian, but I do admit to have a deep interest in Indian History. In this post in particular and others in general I never try to diminish anyone’s efforts, until and unless it is important to do so. As I said before we cannot undermine the effort of even the single martyr in the historic battle of independence, I cannot dare to say whose contribution was more and whose less, they all played their unique role. About using the word greatest, I am sure you have understood my feelings that if I will think or write about any of the freedom fighters I will call him/her greatest again. I can also assure that my sources are and will always remain written proofs and not TV or serials. Also, I am in no doubt that you would not be having words to explain your meeting with Manmathnath Gupta :).

I wish we can talk more, if you wish the same, there is a facebook link of my profile in my blog, send me a message, I will be more than willing to talk on Indian History. :)

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