A statue of Bhagat Singh was unveiled in Indore the other day with due fanfare and enthusiasm. It stands at a busy crossing, a charming piece of sculpture with fountains playing around it. The aspect most talked about, however, is not its artistic merit, but the curious fact that it is thirty years since the city corporation passed a resolution to set it up. The reason for the delay: a persistent difference of opinion on whether the illustrious martyr's statue should bear a turban or a felt hat!The essence of the matter, as Mr Pickwick would have observed, was all the emphasis being placed on what the head wore instead of what it carried. That seems to be the distinguishing feature of our people. We would be willing to argue on the floor of the legislature for hours on end, whether a particular issue can be raised or not or who has a right to speak first. So much time and energy are expended on form that substance is a casualty.I tried to visualise how Bhagat Singh himself would have taken suchquibbling. My guess in view of his sense of humour and nonchalance regarding things most of us great attach importance to was that he would have had a hearty laugh. Could he have suggested a compromise? A turban on odd days and a hat on even days? It is entirely possible.Bhagwan Das Mahaur, one of Singh's jolly band of revolutionaries, paints this charming scenario: `Active members of the group of Azad, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Batukeshwar Datt, Shiv Varma, Vijay Kumar Sinha, Jaldev Kapur, Dr Gaya Prasad, and Vaishampayan Sadashiv etc. were sitting in a house at Agra. The topic at hand was how each one of them was going to be apprehended.```This hazrat (Raj Guru) will be nabbed in his sleep. Look at him, the signor can take a nap even while walking! When he opens his eyes in the lock-up, he will ask the guards if he has been arrested or is only dreaming! Mohan (B.K. Dutt, an assumed names) will be handcuffed watching the moon in a park. He will tell the policemen, `That's all right, but isn'tthe moon just lovely!' Bachhu (Vijay Kumar Sinha) and Ranjit (Bhagat Singh) will be grabbed in some cinema hall and will say: `What great feat is it? Now allow us to watch the rest of the movie, at least!' And Panditji (Chandrashekhar Azad) will be taken while hunting on some Bundelkhand hill, betrayed by an informer masquerading as a friend, in an unconscious state!' `Azad scoffed in feigned displeasure. Bhagat Singh had a dig at him, `They will require two ropes for you, one for your neck and the other for your potbelly!''That day, the paper had a story with a Jaipur dateline about the unsavoury experiences of a bridegroom. All dressed up it his finery, ready to mount the mare, there appeared some high-caste highbrows and declared that a dalit could not ride! The matter was sorted out only when the district authorities intervened. What better function can our law and order machinery have? How Bhagat Singh would have taken this report can be visualised from the following by his biographer, VirendraSindwe:`Before he was hanged, the jailor K.B. Mohd. Akbar Ali asked Bhagat Singh his last wish. ``I want to eat a loaf of bread made by Bebe (the Punjabi equivalent of Mom).'' But Bhagat Singh was referring to the sweeper who wiped his toilet pan every day. The poor fellow was awestruck. ``Sardarji,'' he at last managed to mutter, ``my hands are not worthy of this honour!'' Bhagat Singh said, ``The mother cooks for the child with the very hands with which she wipes its stool. Don't worry, Bebe, cook for me!'' The sweeper baked the bread and Bhagat Singh ate it, dancing and singing like a lad!'He could well have wondered if these were the people he had died for!
