Historical Figure
Bhagat Singh
1907–1931
Indian revolutionary (1907–1931)
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Biography
Bhagat Singh was an Indian anti-colonial revolutionary who participated in the mistaken murder of a junior British police officer in December 1928 in what was intended to be retaliation for the death of an Indian nationalist. He later took part in a largely symbolic bombing of the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi and a hunger strike in jail, which—on the back of sympathetic coverage in Indian-owned newspapers—turned him into a household name in the Punjab region, and, after his execution at age 23, a martyr and folk hero in Northern India. Borrowing ideas from Bolshevism and anarchism, the charismatic Bhagat Singh electrified a growing militancy in India in the 1930s and prompted urgent introspection within the Indian National Congress's nonviolent, and eventually successful, campaign for India's independence.
In Their Own Words (5)
Non-violence is backed by the theory of soul-force in which suffering is courted in the hope of ultimately winning over the opponent. But what happens when such an attempt fail to achieve the object? It is here that soul-force has to be combined with physical force so as not to remain at the mercy of tyrannical and ruthless enemy.
As quoted in The Sikh Review, Vol. 55 (2007), p. 173 , 2007
I emphasize that I am full of ambition and hope and of full charm of life. But I can renounce all at the time of need, and that is the real sacrifice. These things can never be hinderance in the way of man, provided he be a man. You will have the practical proof in the near future.
Selected writings of Shaheed Bhagat Singh (1986), p. 65 , 1986
Revolution is a very difficult task. It is beyond the power of any man to make a revolution. Neither can it be brought about on any appointed date. It is brought about by special environments, social and economic. The function of an organized party is to utilise an such opportunity offered by these circumstances.
To Young Political Workers (1931) , 1931
If the deaf are to hear, the sound has to be very loud. When we dropped the bomb, it was not our intention to kill anybody. We have bombed the British Government. The British must quit India and make her free.
As quoted in Awakening Indians to India (2008), p. 82 , 2008
Compromise is an essential weapon which has to be wielded every now and then as the struggle develops. But the thing that we must keep always before us is the idea of the movement. We must always maintain a clear notion as to the aim for the achievement of which we are fighting.
To Young Political Workers (1931) , 1931
Timeline
The story of Bhagat Singh, told in moments.
Shot and killed a junior British police officer, John Saunders, in Lahore. He'd intended to kill a senior officer in retaliation for the death of nationalist leader Lala Lajpat Rai. He got the wrong man.
Threw two smoke bombs into the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi and shouted "Inquilab Zindabad!" ("Long live the revolution!"). He could have escaped. He didn't. He waited to be arrested.
Hanged in Lahore Central Jail at 23. The British moved the execution up by 11 hours to avoid protests. His body was cremated secretly on the banks of the Sutlej River. He became the most revered martyr of India's independence movement.
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