Shaheed Bhagat Singh

Bhagat Singh, whose 75th shaheedi divas is being observed currently, has suffered both at the hands of his admirers as well as detractors.

Bhagat Singh, whose 75th shaheedi divas is being observed currently, has suffered both at the hands of his admirers as well as detractors. Some film-makers have almost trivialised him and he has been served poorly by his historians and biographers.

Asked by the military tribunal what he meant by 8220;inquilab8221; revolution, he replied that his revolution was neither the cult of the bomb nor the pistol, nor even the philosophy of vendetta. By revolution he meant the establishment of a new order based on social justice and economic equality; India, which was once a golden sparrow, has become a land of sorrow. The tribunal sentenced him to death by hanging.

As a creative political thinker, Bhagat Singh has been denied his rightful position in India8217;s history. A closer look at the constitution of the Hindustan Republican Association 8212; which he proclaimed from the ramparts of Ferozeshah Kotla, in the first-ever conference of revolutionaries attended by 60 prominent male and five women revolutionaries on August 8, 1928 8212; would convince any scholar that he was a serious political thinker.

According to Manmath Nath Gupta, Bhagat Singh8217;s colleague and comrade, he was a 8220;symbol of the fight for socialism more than any person or party has8221; Bhagat Singh and His Times, 1977. He adds that Bhagat Singh was neither a 8220;dead mental principle nor an empty political vow8221;.

A great tragedy, Thomas Hardy once observed, is never tragic. That is why Bhagat Singh8217;s name after 75 years comes to the mind like a gentle reminder of all the very best in an Indian. A man who stole the spark of the angels to kindle the forest fire. A Pied Piper, whose freedom tune made every listener want to follow his trail.

In the long struggle for freedom, Bhagat Singh is like Shelley8217;s 8216;Prometheus Unbound8217;, longing for the reign of love and a society where thrones, altars, judgment seats, prisons, are a thing of the past. And where man remains sceptre-less, free, uncircumcised, equal; exempt from awe, worship; just gentle, wise and human.

The heart-rending story of his life and the even more heart-rending story of his death is crying for a new biographer who can bring out the real Bhagat. My own book on him is 25 years old.