He joined with other revolutionaries, Shivaram Rajguru, Sukhdev Thapar, Jai Gopal and Chandrashekhar Azad, in a plot to kill the Superintendent of police, J. A. Scott. Jai Gopal was supposed to identify the chief and signal for Singh to shoot. However, in a case of mistaken identity, Gopal signalled Singh on the appearance of John P. Saunders, an Assistant Superintendent of Police.

J.P. Saunders…was mistaken as Scott and shot by Rajguru and Bhagat Singh. ..After killing Saunders, they escaped through the D.A.V. College entrance, on the other side of the road. Head Constable Chanan Singh who chased them was fatally injured by Chandrashekhar Azad’s covering fire. They then fled on bicycles to the prearranged places of safety.

The story of their dramatic escape from Lahore is an extraordinary account of courage and wit. This is what happened next:

Sukhdev visited her (Durga Devi, wife of Bhagwati Charan, an HSRA leader) soon thereafter to ascertain if she could travel with a member of HSRA, not known to her. When she agreed readily, Sukhdev elaborated his query in a hesitating tone ‘posing to be his wife’. He was under a reasonable doubt that a Hindu lady brought up under orthodox tradition of looking upon her husband as her god on earth might reject the suggestion, considering it sinful. When she stated that she was prepared to disregard all traditional beliefs for the sake of party and the motherland, Sukhdev felt relieved with that categorical assurance.

Thereafter, Sukhdev came with two other visitors, one a tall youngmen dressed in Western style and the other his servant in humble clothing. Both were strangers for Durga Devi. She kept talking with Sukhdev while preparing meals for the guests. After some time Sukhdev, unable to control himself any further burst out that the wheat complexioned sahib was the rustic jat, Bhagat Singh.  The identity of the other visitor (Sukhdev) was neither disclosed nor enquired.

Durga Bhabi regretted (later) that, she was not told that the person dressed as servant was Rajguru. He was casually served meals in brass utensils and treated unequally throughout.  It was settled that they would catch the train leaving Lahorefor Howrah en route Bathinda the next morning at 6:10. That train was chosen because they could leave in the early hours before thearrival of CID picket. Two minor problems cropped up: where to keep Durga Bhabi’sinfant son, Sachi, during those days and how to cover her absence from Lahore. Sachi had been greatly attached to Bhagat Singh andwould on his appearance toddle to clasp him with a joyous cry ‘Lamba Chacha’, (tall uncle). To their great relief Sachi could not recognize Bhagat Singh in his new guise. There was no longer anyfear that he would betray their identity at any stage through anychildlike expression. Durga Bhabi considered it desirable to carry Sachi with them because entrusting his care to someone else would reveal her absence from Lahore. Sukhdev undertook to have her application seeking sick leave delivered to the driver of school bus for onward transmission.

Keeping the light of bedroom on, Bhagat Singh in Western dress carrying the sleeping infant, Durga Bhabi in her most impressive attire and Rajguru shuffling under luggage, they left the house at about 5 a.m. long before the CID arrived. On reaching the station, Bhagat Singh keeping his facial profile reasonably covered on one side with a slightly raised collar of the overcoat and on the other by the sleeping infant, purchased two tickets, a joint second class Christmas return ticket and a third class one for the servant, for Cawnpur. They walked side by side into the railway station with Rajguru carrying the luggage behind in a servile manner. Both men carried concealed loaded revolvers with them for facing any untoward incident…

An impressively respectable young couple carrying a child, Western style dress and to crown all,  joint second class Christmas return ticket cast a spell over the police and they boarded the train without causing any suspicion.

Durga Bhabi (later) reminisced that it was the same train which she later boarded on September 14, 1929. Then she travelled as Mrs Durga Devi Vohra with Kiron Chander Das, who carried the dead body of his elder brother, Jatinder Nath Das, to Calcutta. Jatin passed away in Borstal Jail, Lahore on September 13, 1929 after a historic hunger strike of 63 days. A posse of fifty constables besides half a dozen police officers accompanied them in the adjoining bogie. On December 20, 1928 they travelled incognito, whereas on September 14, 1929 with solemn massive receptions at all the important stoppages. Each time she escorted a hero; on the first trip a living one and on the other a martyr greeted at Calcutta with the newspaper banner lines: ‘Home They Brought the Warrior Dead’

Bhagat Singh’s arrest came much later – when he gave himself up after throwing a harmless low explosive bomb in Parliament, along with Batukehswar Dutt. He also surrendered his pistol, knowing fully well that it would implicate him directly in the killing of Saunder. It was the same weapon he had used in the assassination.

After a sham hearing, Bhagat Singh was sentenced to transportation for life for his role in the bomb explosion. He was immediately re-arrested for the murder of Saunders and his sentence was kept in abeyance until the murder trial. While in jail, Bhagat Singh went on a hunger strike to protest against the unequal treatment accorded to British and Indian prisoners and demanded that as political prisoners, he and his fellow accused should be treated with dignity. The fast galvanised public opinion.

The Government tried several tricks to break the strike. They placed dishes of different types in the cells of test the resolve of the strikers. Water pitchers were filled with milk so that either the prisoners remained thirsty or broke their strike. But nobody faltered. The authorities attempted forced-feeding, but were resisted. One of the prisoners, Kasuri, swallowed red pepper and drank hot water to clog the feeding tube.

…When the Government realized that this fast had riveted the attention of the people throughout the country, it decided to hurry up the trial, which came to known as the Lahore Conspiracy Case. This trial started in Borstal Jail, Lahore, on 10 July 1929. Rai Sahib Pandit Sri Kishen, a first class magistrate, was the judge for this trial. Bhagat Singh and twenty-seven others were charged with murder, conspiracy and wagering war against the King…

A handcuffed Bhagat Singh, still on hunger strike, had to be brought to the court in a stretcher and his weight had fallen by 14 pounds, from 133 to 119. By then, the condition of Jatindra Nath Das, who was lodged in the same jail and was also on a hunger strike, had deteriorated considerably. Jatin died on September 13, 1929. His fast lasted 63 days.

Bhagat Singh finally gave up his fast after 116 days (almost 4 months) with the British acceding to his demands. The trial resumed and early in October, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were sentenced to death by hanging. Their sentence was to be carried out on March 24, 1931. It was advanced by a day to avoid mass public protests and their bodies were secretly disposed off. Bhagat Singh was just 23.

There stands a memorial to Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru at Hussainiwal, in Punjab near the border with Pakistan. Although the cremation spot had gone to Pakistan at the time of Partition, it became part of India once again, in 1961 (as part of a land swap agreement). Sadly,

…the memorial was damaged by the withdrawing Pakistani troops in 1972. They also removed the busts of the three national heroes during 1971 war when the area was captured by Pakistani troops.

These are yet to be returned by Pakistan. As you go about your day today, please take a moment to remember Bhagat Singh – and his comrades, Sukhdev and Rajguru – and thousands of others who gave up all that they had in an unequal battle that ultimately led to India’s independence from the British.  The freedom we won was soaked in the blood of these brave heroes. Let us make sure we keep their memory alive.

Related Posts: The series on National Heroes…

Image courtesy: The Hindu

*** Email from Dr N K Kalia, proud father of Capt Saurabh Kalia ***

Dear Shantanu Ji, Heartiest aashirvaad. Many grateful thanks for your phone-call & mail.

I often state that losing one Saurabh, though physically only, we got thousands Saurabhs all over the globe. They never let us feel alone even for a moment. The love, respect, honour showered on us by in-numerable persons in last over twelve years is overwhelming. You too are our Saurabh. Over 1.55 lac emails and more than 42,000 hand written letters apart from countless persons visiting or calling from India or abroad vouch for that. Certainly, we would have to take more births to repay all that.

Our sufferings and pains can never exceed to what brutal torture those six valiant sons of Mother India faced for over 3 weeks with Pak army. We get infinite inspiration and strength when we think so. In fact, Saurabh & his men made every Indian proud.

Sacrificing for the Nation is not a new phenomenon. Over thousands of years, to safeguard our motherland & culture, honour of our mothers, sisters & daughters, sacrifices have been made. If we all hesitate to send our sons in army, who would defend theirs honour. But what happened to these valiant soldiers is totally unacceptable. Personally, I feel it is not the question of Saurabh or his men but the dignity of our all men in armed forces, rather a National issue and this mine crusade would continue till I am alive. It is more shameful and frustrating when men in power promising me to take up this issue with Pak and also at international forums. Unfortunately, these were tall promises. Regretfully, I am fighting the callousness of our own system.

RTIs from Govt. did not fetch any concrete response. And Armed Forces Tribunal recommended GOI for taking up this issue.  I shall be mailing those in a separate mail. In London, a human rights activist is taking up this case with UN with her own resources. I shall be intimating you her details separately.

With the attitude of the Govts., past or present, with their appeasing policy towards Pakistan, I am afraid I would achieve anything but this humble endeavour would atleast stir the conscience of common Indian and sensitize them. Sadly our Netas are more Internationalists than Nationalists. We have lost the very sense of National Pride, so common in several other Nations.

You please do read the article http://specials.rediff.com/news/2004/jun/07kalia.htm

Kindly visit us whenever convenient to you.  Yours affectionately, N K Kalia

***

Please do share the sad story of Dr Kalia’s fight for justice with your friends…and please let me know if you can help in any way in this matter..I have already heard from a few of you and shall email you separately. Thanks

Related Post: Kargil’s first hero & a truly humbling experience.. Image courtesy: Rediff

On September 13, 1929, a youth from Bengal gave up his life in a prison of Lahore fasting for 63 days. He literally fasted unto death in Gandhian fashion though Mahatma Gandhi himself never touched that apogee despite undertaking 17 fasts unto death in his lifetime.

…does any Congressman remember Jatindra Nath Das (1904-1929), who adopted the Gandhian instrument of fast unto death and adhered to it steadfastly unto his last? Of millions in the country who swore by Gandhism, Jatin Das alone walked till the end of path.

…As proved by the popular agitations against Simon Commission, the political fahrenheit of the country had shot up during 1927-28. For the Congress, time was propitious to launch its first mass movement since ‘Non-Cooperation’. The Subhas Chandra Bose faction was in favour of capitalising on this occasion and make ‘complete independence’ the creed of the Congress. But Gandhiji, whose decisions were prompted by things like ‘conscience’ and ‘inner voice’, said he could not see any ‘light’ in it. In the 1928 Calcutta AICC, a faction piloted by Bose wanted to amend Congress’s political creed from achievement of ‘Dominion Status’ to ‘complete Independence’. But Gandhiites played a game of emotional blackmailing, saying that if AICC were to vote in favour of an amendment it would imply lack of faith in him and he would retire from the Congress. The amendment was defeated by 973 to 1350 votes.

The Congress actually changed its creed to ‘complete Independence’ or ‘Purna Swaraj’ at Lahore AICC in December 1929. It was only when Gandhi realised that turning the clock back would not be permanent, and sweeping forces inside Congress might get the better of the ‘faith in him’. India’s grand old party, which claims to be sole legatee of freedom movement, demanded complete Independence as late as in 1929. Revolutionaries like Aurobindo, Savarkar, Madan Lal Dingra, Rash Behari Bose were arguing and acting in favour of this goal since long. But, sadly, their names are hardly mentioned on the margins of freedom struggle.

After Independence, for which the Congress leadership obsequiously accepted the term ‘Transfer of Power’, names of such pioneers of our freedom struggle were relegated to sidelines. An impression was assiduously created that it was Gandhi and his political charioteer Nehru alone who brought us independence. Not unreasonably, India’s foremost historian Ramesh Chandra Mazumdar, invited by Ministry of I&B to write a official history of India’s Freedom Movement, soon resigned, for he could not conform to ‘official position’ like showering encomia upon Aurengzeb or making the history of freedom movement a chronicle of Gandhi-Nehru camp.

The year I929 was also when India’s freedom movement was getting the better of Gandhi. In 1928, Lala Lajpat Rai, who had an illustrious past in pre-Gandhian Congress, but like other Arya Samajists had become a Gandhian, succumbed to injuries from lathi charge at a Anti-Simon Commission rally in Lahore. The Bhagat Singh troika, in order to avenge Lalaji’s death, shot down the guilty police officer Saunders in broad daylight. Bhagat Singh escaped from Lahore and resurfaced on April 8, 1929, with Batukeshwar Dutt at Delhi’s Central Legislative Assembly, hurling two crude bombs and bundles of propaganda pamphlets.Within days of Bhagat Singh’s arrest, police unearthed a house in Lahore used as a bomb making workshop. It followed a string of arrests like Sukhdev, Hansraj and Jaigopal; and further Shiv Verma, Rajguru, Vijay Singh and finally Jatin Das from Calcutta. This sensational event became popular as the Lahore Conspiracy Case that ultimately led to the execution of Bhagat Singh-Rajguru-Sukhdev on March 23, 1931.Gandhi had been criticised for not securing, nay not even trying to secure, the release of Bhagat Singh trio as part of Gandhi-Irwin Pact of Delhi, of March 5, 1931, which led to the release of many political prisoners.

…But a year and half before Bhagat Singh trio, Lahore Conspiracy Case, claimed another victim viz Jatin Das. He laid down his life in a Lahore prison in Gandhian fashion. But Gandhi’s attitude towards him was more cold and intriguing. Subhas Bose, who admired Jatin Das wrote, “Jatin Das was twenty-five at the time of his death. While a student he had joined the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1921 and had spent several years in prison. At the time of the Calcutta Congress in 1928 and after, he had taken a leading part in organising and training volunteers…” (pp 179-80). Whether at Cellular Jail (where Savarkar stayed) or Mandalay (where Bose was incarcerated) British jailers treated extremist political prisoners as harshly as any murderer or robber. In June, arrestees of Lahore Conspiracy Case decided to go on hunger strike to protest against atrocities. Though Jatin Das did not initiate that hunger strike, nonetheless he stopped them from deserting. The hunger strike aroused intense agitation in the country, but little softened the heart of the British authorities.

Bose chronicled subsequently, “As the days rolled by, one by one the hunger-strikers dropped off, but young Jatin was invincible. He never hesitated, never faltered for one small second but marched straight on towards death and freedom. Every heart in the country melted but the heart of the bureaucracy did not. So Jatin died on September 13th. But he died a martyr’s death. After his supreme sacrifice, the whole country gave him an ovation which few men in our recent history have received. As his body was removed from Lahore to Calcutta for cremation, people assembled in their thousands and tens of thousands at every station to pay their homage” (p 179).

But what was the reaction of Gandhi, the champion of fasts unto death? It was a classic case of darkness below the lamp. Bose wrote, “In this connection, the attitude of the Mahatma was inexplicable. Evidently, the martyrdom of Jatin Das, which had stirred the heart of the country, did not make any impression on him. The pages of Young India ordinarily filled with observations on all political events and also on topics like health, diet, etc., had nothing to say about the incident. A follower of Mahatma, who was also a close friend of the deceased, wrote to him inquiring as to why he had said nothing about the event. The Mahatma replied to the effect that he had purposely refrained from commenting, because if he had done so, he would have been forced to write something unfavourable”

From Wikipedia (emphasis added):

The memorable hunger strike started on 13 July 1929 and lasted 63 days [2]. The jail authority took many measures to forcibly feed Jatin Das and the other freedom fighters, beat them and did not even provide them with drinking water.[3] However, Jatindra did not eat. He died, hunger strike unbroken, on 13 September.[4] As his body was carried from Lahore to Kolkata by train, thousands of people rushed to every station to pay their homage to the martyr. A two-mile long procession in Kolkata carried the coffin to the cremation ground.[5]

Related: Pl read the posts under “National Heroes” and please take a moment to share this with your friends and family.

As many of you would know,

On May 15, Lt Kalia along with five jawans – Sepoys Arjun Ram, Bhanwar Lal Bagaria, Bhika Ram, Moola Ram and Naresh Singh – had gone for a routine patrol of the Bajrang Post in the Kaksar sector when their patrol was captured by the enemy.

They were in their captivity for over twenty-two days and subjected to unprecedented brutal torture as evident from their bodies handed over by Pakistan Army on June 9, 1999. The postmortem revealed that the Pakistan army had indulged in the most heinous acts; of burning their bodies with cigarettes, piercing ear-drums with hot rods, puncturing eyes before removing them, breaking most of the teeth and bones, chopping off various limbs and private organs of these soldiers besides inflicting all sorts of physical and mental tortures before shooting them dead, as evidenced by the bullet wound to the temple [link]

Numerous letters by Capt Kalia’s father and others have failed to move the government to pursue the matter in international fora and declare his treatment as a war crime. In disgust, Dr N K Kalia has been forced to say:

I am ashamed of being an Indian. The country has spineless leaders

I am awaiting further details from Dr Kalia about what can be done by all of us who feel strongly about this…In the meantime, please take a moment to remember him and other who never came back..and please take a moment to sign this appeal.

Related: The Heroes of Kargil and “Saluting Our Heroes: The Param Virs of Bharat”

Khudiram Bose’s story is all the more remarkable because of his age. When put to the gallows, he was barely an adult and was probably one of the youngest martyrs of the movement. His execution fired the youth in Bengal had repercussions throughout British India. Khudiram’s “crime” was his attempt at assassinating Kingsford – a British District & Sessions Judge notorious for his disdain of Indians. Kingsford had become an object of hate for the revolutionaries in Bengal for the harsh sentence he had imposed on a 15-year old boy. Khudiram and his friend Profullakumar Chaki’s attempt at assassinating Kingsford was made on the evening of 30th April 1908. This is what happened next:

Khudiram started running immediately after throwing the bomb. He ran throughout the night, along the railway  line,without stopping. He stopped only in the morning. By then he had run about 25 miles. He reached a place now known as Lakha near the railway station at Veni. He had run with out rest and was quite exhausted. In addition, he was unbearably hungry. Buying some fried corn, he started eating. By that time, the news of the Muzaffarpur incident had spread in all directions. At the very shop where Khudiram was eating, people were talking about it. Khudiram listened with curiosity.

Hearing that two women died, he forgot himself for a moment and asked, “What! Didn’t Kings ford die?” Khudiram’s words drew the attention of the people in the shop. The boy looked a stranger to the place. Utter fatigue was clear in his face. The shopkeeper’s suspicion grew stronger. He entertained a hope that he would be rewarded if he could expose the criminal. Immediately after serving water to Khudiram, he gave a hint to the police going on their usual rounds nearby. As Khudiram raised the glass to his mouth, the police arrived and caught hold of him. Khudiram failed in his attempt to take out the revolver in his pocket. Both the revolvers in his pockets were seized by the police.

At the time he made this attempt, Khudiram had barely turned 18. The arrest led to a predictable case against him for murder. The sentence was a foregone conclusion. Khudiram’s case for being fought by some of the best lawyers in Muzzafarpur (who refused any fees for defending him). But that could not prevent a death sentence. Initially refusing to appeal against the sentence, he was persuaded by his counsellors that if the death sentence is commuted to life imprisonment, he may still live to serve the country. An appeal was lodged in the High Court. His lawyer made a robust defence which nevertheless failed to move the court.  Wikipedia mentions that:

As a final attempt, an appeal was made to the Governor General.. But the appeal was summarily turned down..On the contrary, the order came to carry out the death sentence latest by 11 August 1908.

Kolkata erupted in intense protest from the entire student community. The streets of Kolkata started to be choked up with processions all at the same time, for several days.On 11 August, the region around the prison became packed with a swelling crowd before it was 6 am—the scheduled time. People holding flower garlands filled up the front rows of the crowd. Upendranath Sen, the lawyer-journalist of the Bengali news daily “Bengali”, who was close to Khudiram, reports having reached the venue by 5 am, in a car with all the necessary funerary arrangements and clothes. After the hanging, the funeral procession went through Kolkata, with police guards holding back the crowd all along the central artery street. The people kept throwing their flowers on the body as the carriage passed by.

…Soon after, practically a “competition” among the youth of Bengal began, to kill Britishers and embrace martyrdom.

It is reported that when asked to make his final statement, Khudiram replied:

Like the heroic Rajput women, I wish to die for the freedom of my country. The thought of the gallows does not make me unhappy in the least. My only regret is that Kingsford could not be punished for his crimes.

He was reportedly hanged with a copy of Bhagavad Gita in his hands and “Vande Mataram” on his lips. As you go about your day today, please take a moment to remember the sacrifice of Khudiram Bose – and countless others – who got us our freedom and our dignity..and please share this story with your friends and the younger ones in your family.

Related Posts: This category of posts on  National Heroes

P.S. Note that the date of his execution is mistakenly mentioned as 19th August in several online essays. However this Government of India publication as well as the official website of the Government of West Bengal mentions the date as 11th August. (Image courtesy: Government of West Bengal).