A Martyr’s Diary

While a micro-chip copy of this diary is housed in the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and bits and pieces have made their way into books about the martyr,the entire contents will soon be made public in the form of a compilation from original writings. “The idea to put it in the public domain is intentional,” says Yadvinder Singh Sandhu,grandson of Late Kulbeer Singh,younger brother of Bhagat Singh,while pointing to a page from the diary,“signed and received on September 12,1929”,which shows the date on which Bhagat Singh received the diary from jail officials. “We want today’s youth to understand what was going on in Bhagat Singh’s mind during his stay in jail,” adds Sandhu,who will launch the book in June.

He has scanned each of the 404 pages of the diary for this purpose. “Only 288 pages were filled by Bhagat Singh,including some pages which were left blank,” informs Sandhu,who is also the Vice-Chairman of All India Shaheed Bhagat Singh Memorial Trust. Presented in the form of a coffee-table book,it holds scanned images on one side of the page with direct translations on the other. Interestingly,99 per cent of the writings are in English with few in Urdu,whose translations are unavailable. “There have been many biographies on him and many writers have presented their own views. In this format,there is no interpretation and that is also intentional,” says Sandhu.

From educational reforms to child labour,economic issues to international concerns,and writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels,there are notes in the diary mostly from books that inspired Bhagat Singh. “Reading Bhagat Singh in his own hand will surely be an experience for everyone. We didn’t want to put it in an archive where few youngsters would make the effort to retrieve,” says Sandhu.

The original diary notes were not in chronological order. The book will show transcripts of letters written by Bhagat Singh to his friends and lesser-known images from his childhood. For instance,a sepia-toned image shows a young Bhagat Singh sitting with his brother and members of his family. There is also a portrait of Bhagat Singh wearing a turban,and images of other revolutionaries,such as a full-length,black and white portrait of Chandrashekhar Azad twirling his moustache.