Remembering Sardar Bhagat Singh Shaheed…

Today is the 104th birth anniversary of Sardar Bhagat Singh Shaheed – a man who truly became a legend in his own lifetime. His story must be familiar to almost all of you. Many of you will also remember his crime – shooting a police officer in response to the “lathi charge” on a gathering that resulted in the death of Punjab Kesri, Lala Lajpat Rai. But few may know that patriotism and participation in the freedom struggle ran in the family. His uncles as well as his father were members of the Ghadar Party. Bhagat Singh’s anger at the death of Lala Lajpat Rai was at least partly due to his being an eye-witness to the police brutality on that day in Lahore. Shortly thereafter,

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