Facts Unknown About Bhagat Singh

Jis dhaj se koi maqtal me gaya, wo shaan salamat rahti hai

Yeh jaan to aani jaani hai, is jaan ki koi baat nahi

(It is the dignity with which one goes to his death that is remembered by all,

What of life, it comes and goes....)

Today is 23rd of March. It was on this day 80 years back that 3 great sons of India laid their lives and went to the gallows smiling and singing! Lets celebrate this Shaheed Diwas by remembering their sacrifice and developing a sense of duty towards our motherland. 

I am presenting here some facts of Bhagat Singh's life that people generally don't know. Hope it would motivate others to work towards nation building.

Bhagat Singh's views on violence:- Bhagat Singh is generally portrayed as a violent man, someone who can kill easily The fact is Bhagat Singh was non-violent to his core. So non-violent that it pained him to hurt or kill anyone. This was the only point where he disagreed with his best friend, Sukhdev. They would debate for hours on violence vs non-violence. In The Philosophy of Bombs, he writes,
"Let us, first of all, take up the question of violence and non-violence. Violence is physical force applied for committing injustice, and that is certainly not what the revolutionaries stand for. On the other hand, what goes by the name of non-violence is in reality the theory of soul-force, as applied to the attainment of personal and national rights through courting, suffering and hoping thus to finally convert your opponent to your point of view."..... "The question really, therefore, is not whether you will have violence, but whether you will have soul-force plus physical force or soul-force alone."

After Saunders' death, HSRA issued a public notice, signed by Balraj, a pseudonym of Bhagat Singh. He wrote, "Sorry for the death of a man; but the sacrifice of individuals at the altar of the Revolution that will bring freedom to all and make the exploitation of man by man impossible, is inevitable."

Similarly, after Assembly bombings, he and BK Dutt threw some leaflets signed by Balraj. The text contained following lines:
"We are sorry to admit that we who attach such sanctity to human life, we who dream of a glorious future when man will be enjoying perfect peace and full liberty, have been forced to shed human blood."
All these show that Bhagat Singh had faith in non-violence, but was forced to act violently due to atrocities of British.

Bhagat Singh's view on Gandhiji: Bhagat Singh believed that Gandhiji and leaders like him are not true representatives of society. He called them only the representatives of upper class who do not care of the masses. He wrote, "No man can claim to know a people's mind by seeing them from public platform and giving them Darshan and Updesh. Has Gandhi, during recent years, mixed in the social life of masses? Has he sit with the peasant round the evening fire and tried to know what he thinks? Has he passed a single evening in the company of a factory labourer and shared with him his vowes? We have, and therefore we claim to know what the masses think." He also never believed in Gandhiji's ways to attain freedom, in spite of being non-violent himself and an active participant in non-cooperation movement.

Bhagat Singh view of independence: Bhagat Singh always dreamed of an India which is equal for all after independence. Being born in a zamindar's home, he knew the pain of labour class. As he was a follower of communism, he always believed in equality of people. In fact, it was Bhagat Singh who changed the name of the party from HRA to HSRA including the term Socialist in the name. Socialism advocates for public ownership and co-operative management of means of production and allocation of resources. He thought that if even people get an independence by Gandhian ways, the labour class, daily workers would continue to get exploited. He said that true independence can never be won if the poor masses are not empowered.
Sadly, looking at the rich-poor divide in today's India, we are too far away from achieving the state for which he sacrificed his life.

His religious views: Bhagat Singh was a believer in God in his initial life. He used to wear a turban and even recited Gayatri Mantra for hours. However, after reading about the great revolutions across the world and the biographies of Lenin and Marx he was convinced beyond doubt that God doesn't exists. He believed that religions divide the people and divert them from the cause of independence. He was greatly influenced by Ghadar party, a revolutionary group of Indian Sikhs in Canada. One of the booklets which party issued had a poem with following lines:
"No Pundits or Mullahs do we need
No Prayers or litanies we need recite 
This will only scuttle our boat 
Draw sword: this time to fight. 
Though Hindus, Mussalmans, Sikhs we be, 
Sons of Bharat are we still 
Put aside our arguments for another day, 
Need of the hour is to kill."
So Bhagat Singh believed that if not for religion, people would have been united and fought against Britishers as one.
Sadly, people of this great nation remained divided till we got independence and Pakistan was born. If Bhagat Singh had been there at the time of independence, then unlike Mahatma, he would never had allowed the partition of country on religious grounds. Looking at how people are still divided, i am pained to say that Bhagat Singh's sacrificed his life in vain.

I would finish this blog from this extract from Why I am an Atheist, showing the supreme sacrifice made by a great man, the greatest ever revolutionary ever. These lines also show the importance of selfless service to the nation, without expecting anything in return, not even Heaven!

"I am going to sacrifice my life for a cause. What more consolation can there be? A God-believing Hindu may expect to be reborn a king; a Muslim or Christian can dream of the luxuries he hopes to enjoy in paradise as a reward for his sufferings and sacrifices. What hope should I entertain? I know that it will be the end when the rope is tightened around my neck and the rafters moved from under my feet. To use more precise religious terminology- it will be my moment of utter annihilation. My soul will come to nothing. If I have the courage to take the matter in the light of 'Reward', I see that a short life of struggle with no such magnificent end shall itself be my 'Reward'. That is all. With no selfish motive or desire to be awarded here or hereafter, quite disinterestedly, have I devoted my life to the cause of independence, because I could not do otherwise."

- Bhagat Singh

Proud to be an Indian?

I went to buy the tickets of India vs England clash in the World Cup on Saturday. I was too excited for this match, just like any other Indian. I was hoping to see Sachin. Last time I went in Ind-Aus practice match and Sachin didn’t play in it. So this was probably my best chance to see him live. But Bangalore police had something else in stores for us.

For a stadium whose capacity is 45000, only 4000 tickets were issued for general public. More than 10000 strong crowds gathered in the stadium for tickets. As the tickets sold out in just a few minutes, the crowd got raged.  Result: lathicharge and a complete chaos. People broke barricades, hoardings etc. But more disgusting was the presence of agents with stocks of tickets in their hands. My brother went to the stadium on match day and same agents were selling Rs 1250 tickets for Rs 5000!

I had to return empty handed and disappointed. All my dreams were shattered. I was frustrated not only because I didn’t got tickets. Neither was I angry on the mismanagement of BCCI. What hurt me most was that democracy was being killed in front of my eyes and I could not do anything about it. This single incident shook my faith so much that I asked myself “Am I still proud to be an Indian?”

My heart said it was still proud. But my mind didn’t believe it. I could not think of even a single reason to be proud of India. Should one love and feel proud of his country just because its his motherland? Can you keep ignoring all the corruption, the dishonesty of your own people and the incompetency of your own elected representatives so that you can proudly boast about your country’s culture, moral and values? The answer is clearly NO.

It was then that I looked out of my window and saw merry kids going to school. I saw women selling flowers on the roadside, people hurrying towards office, roadside vendors selling tea and coconuts. Everyone was busy with himself/herself regardless of what happened a few kms away. One common thing I observed was a satisfaction on their face. And I knew my answer all of a sudden.

Yes, I am still proud of my country. Administration and politicians maybe one of the reasons to hate it, but I have a billion others to love it! I am proud of the country feeding 1.3 billion people every day.  I am proud of the opportunities that are provided to me and my fellow citizens to excel. I am proud of the freedom I enjoy. I am proud of the rights given to me. I am proud of the rich culture of the country. I am proud of being a part of the largest democracy and oldest civilization of the world. I am proud because I can follow any religion I like, can talk in any language, live in any part of the country and do any job. India doesn’t have a dual citizenship. So, I can migrate 2500 kms away from my home to pursue my dreams, and no one would make a fuss about it. And I am proud of that! I am proud of the diversity in culture, language, religion, geography, flora and fauna of my country. I am proud of the people of India who despite all the troubles and differences between themselves, live a happy, peaceful and satisfying life.

Its true that we cannot ignore the questions I put up earlier. But we must not forget that the politicians and administrators, corrupt agents, bureaucrats, Government employees, all comes from amongst us. They are the part of the society we live in. In fact, they are just the reflection of the society. If we stop buying tickets from corrupt agents and policemen, this practice would stop. Same is the case with other problems like bribery. When we pay a traffic policeman bribe in front of a kid, we show him a way to get things done in a faster and easier way. Thus, we all are the culprits. Its just that due to the public life of the politicians, and sometimes due to the magnitude of their scams, they get to lime light, while we escape. Unless we change ourselves, the system can never change. As Gandhiji said “Be the change you want the world to be”.

I would like to conclude this blog with these wonderful lines of a song by MJ.

“I am starting with the man in the mirror

I am asking him to change his ways

And no message could have been any clear

If you wanna make the world a better place

Take a look at yourself and make a change”