23rd March 1931, 19:29 hours, Lahore Central Jail…
Within a minute, something breathtaking was about to happen! The holy land of Bharat was about to get stunned & mesmerized by the temporary standstill of the revolutionary fire that was ignited by the young compassionate Bravehearts, which had instilled fearful tremors in the hearts of the tyrant British imperialists.
Heaven was about to welcome the 3 ethereal souls who had given their all for the freedom of their motherland. For ages, India has witnessed countless examples of brave, courageous and gallant people who would not think twice to lay down their lives for their Matrabhoomi and now, it was going to witness another such magnanimous moment that would be remembered till the end of the time!
“Down with imperialism… Long Live Revolution… Inquilaab Zindabaad!!!”
The walls of the Lahore Central Jail and even the authorities present there, were utterly flummoxed by these scintillating maxims delivered by a ‘blazing’ trio, which came from 3 different parts of India. A trio that had the sole purpose of extricating India from the shackles of the British through the means of progressive armed revolution.
A trio who were ready to face death with a smile on their faces to inspire the generations to come and stand up for the divine idea of freeing India by bringing an inevitable revolution in the entire nation. This article is wholeheartedly dedicated to the behemoth contribution of Bhagat Singh, Shivram Hari Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar in the Indian freedom struggle…
THE BACKDROP – HINDUSTAN SOCIALIST REPUBLICAN ARMY
The heroics of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were undoubtedly blistering and we know of them today as the three of the most popular revolutionaries that the land of Bharat had ever produced. But the organisation that they were part of – the HSRA, or, the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army gave them the platform to implement all of their rightful strategies which in turn played a colossal role in sending chills down the spine of the British authorities.
Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil gave the party its initial name, the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) when he founded it in 1923. Gandhi’s decision to end the non-cooperation movement in 1922 as a result of the Chauri Chaura event served as the primary impetus for the party’s establishment. Younger nationalists and workers lost faith in the concept of non-violence and regarded revolutionary activities as a means of achieving freedom, while some of the leaders of the Indian National Congress broke away from it and founded the Swaraj Party. Gandhi had been opposed by Bismil during the INC meeting in Gaya in 1922.
With Lala Har Dayal’s approval, Bismil prepared the HRA constitution in Allahabad in 1923. Sachindra Nath Sanyal and Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee, who was also a member of the Anushilan Samiti, were two more notable party members. Along with Allahabad, the HRA established centres in Agra, Kanpur, Varanasi, Lucknow, Shahjahanpur, and Saharanpur. Additionally, it had bomb-making facilities at Deogarh and Calcutta. Sanyal prepared a party manifesto with the working title “Revolutionary”.
It included explosive content urging the nation’s youth to join the party and participate in the independence struggle, but more crucially, it disapproved of Gandhi’s methods and condemned them. The manifesto called for the establishment of a socialist society in India and declared that, following the fall of British authority, it aimed to establish a “Federal Republic of the United States of India”.
Additionally, it called for universal suffrage and in numerous towns throughout northern India, the leaflets containing the group’s specifics were disseminated covertly. Many young individuals joined the party during the years 1924-25, with prominent and iconic members like Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Chandrasekhar Azad. This led to a gradual increase in the membership of this revolutionary organisation.
THE LION OF LYALLPUR – SARDAR BHAGAT SINGH
“They may kill me, but they cannot kill my ideas. They can crush my body but they won’t be able to crush my spirit” – Sardar Bhagat Singh
On September 28, 1907, Kishan Singh Sandhu and Vidyavati Kaur welcomed a son, Bhagat Singh, into their Jat Sikh, Punjabi household. His birthplace was Chak No. 105 in the village of Banga, Jaranwala Tehsil, Lyallpur district, Punjab province, British India. Family members of Bhagat Singh have taken part in the Indian independence movement, making them a patriotic family. The army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh was also home to some of their members. In the Punjabi Nawanshah area, Bhagat Singh’s family came from the Khatkar Kalam hamlet, which is close to Banga.
The Ghadar Party, which was headed by Kartar Singh Sarabha and Har Dayal, included his father as well as his uncles Ajit Singh and Swaran Singh. Bhagat Singh did not enrol at the Khalsa High School in Lahore because his grandfather disapproved of the administrators’ fidelity to the British government. His grandfather then enrolled him in the Arya Samaj-affiliated Dayanand Anglo Vedic High School. Several events that happened to Bhagat Singh as a child had a significant impact on him. These incidents sparked his sense of patriotism and inspired him to join the fight for India’s freedom.
Bhagat Singh, then 12 years old, visited the Jalianwala Bagh massacre site in 1919. At that time, troops had opened fire on a crowd of peaceful protesters who had gathered there for a public gathering. With General Dyer in command, these soldiers opened fire, killing hundreds and injuring thousands. While returning home, Bhagat Singh took the soil in his jar, which bore witness to the bloodshed of the compassionately patriotic Indian masses, and took it to his home where he used to worship that jar every day!
That same day, he might have taken an oath for vengeance and his eyes must’ve been full of rage and demanding nothing but resurrection! In 1920, Bhagat Singh joined Gandhi’s Non-Cooperation Movement and openly challenged the British by burning his government-issued schoolbooks and any imported British apparel he could locate. Bhagat Singh welcomed demonstrators against the Gurudwara Nankana Sahib fire of February 20, 1921, which resulted in the deaths of numerous unarmed protesters, when he was just 14 years old.
For the protest, he warmly welcomed them to his hamlet, and in 1922, he joined the Young Revolutionary Movement, which called for the violent overthrow of the British Empire in India. He was not a fan of Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolent ideology and lost hope after Gandhiji ended the non-cooperation movement after the famous Chauri-Chaura incident.
Bhagat Singh was adamant about the fact that freedom can and should be achieved using force and the tyrant must be punished, come what may! Bhagat Singh was drawn to the theories of socialism after reading and researching European revolutionary movements. Additionally, he joined some revolutionary groups and swiftly ascended to become one of the organization’s top leaders before changing the organization’s name to the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HRSA).
Bhagat Singh enrolled in Lahore’s National College in 1923. Throughout his time as a student, he excelled in both his studies and extracurricular activities. He was a member of the college’s dramatics organisation and was proficient in English, Urdu, Punjabi, and Sanskrit. Bhagat Singh won an essay contest sponsored by the Punjab Hindi Sahitya Sanmelan in 1923. In his article ‘Punjab’s Language and Script,’ he wrote in Punjabi and displayed a profound awareness of the issues facing Punjab.
Along with other revolutionaries, Bhagat Singh joined the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, an organisation that promotes Indian nationalism among young people. He fled from his home to Cawnpore a year later when his parents pressed on marriage to avoid it (It’s also largely believed that Bhagat Singh travelled to Kanpur to free the prisoners held for the Kakori railway heist but afterwards returned to Lahore for a variety of reasons).
He also contributed to low-cost publications published by the Naujawan Bharat Sabha that denounced the British and wrote for and edited Urdu and Punjabi newspapers published in Amritsar. Additionally, he contributed to the Kirti Kisan Party periodical and briefly to the Delhi-based Veer Arjun newspaper. He frequently went by the aliases Balwant, Ranjit, and Vidhrohi.
Bhagat Singh was detained in May 1927 under the guise that he had been involved in a bombing that had occurred in Lahore in October 1926 when the authorities got concerned about Singh’s influence on young people. Five weeks after his detention, he was freed with a surety of Rs. 60,000, which was a humongous amount in those times! And then began a spree of legendary and breathtaking execution of different revolutionary activities, spearheaded by none other than Sardar Bhagat Singh…
THE FEROCIOUS ONE – SUKHDEV RAMILLA THAPAR
Sukhdev Thapar was one of those seldom and fortunate revolutionaries who had experienced the divine aura of patriotism, right from their childhoods. The person that he had become at the time of his martyrdom was the culmination and the finetuning of all the prosperous thoughts of fighting for India’s freedom from the tyrant Britishers. All of this, and yet, very little is known of him in the public domain!
Sukhdev was born on May 15, 1907, in the Punjabi town of Naughara. When Sukhdev was three years old, his modest businessman father Sri Ramlila Thapar passed away. Young Sukhdev was raised in Lyallpur by his uncle Sri Achintram Thapar, a well-known figure in society, a freedom fighter, and a follower of the Arya Samaj. When Sukhdev’s uncle was detained by the British police for leading an agitation against the Rowlatt Act, he was just twelve years old. Sukhdev was affected by this episode, and his animosity towards the British government only deepened.
The last straw was his uncle’s second incarceration during the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1921. He was so furious about it that he was resolved to hold the government accountable for their arbitrary use of the law. Sukhdev’s engagement in the Indian liberation struggle can be traced back to Lahore, where he attended the National College, a hotbed of nationalist politics, while he was a student there. Sukhdev briefly joined the Satyagraha League, a group connected to the Indian National Congress, while still in college.
Later, Sukhdev met people connected to the revolutionary group that was once known as the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), including Bhagat Singh, Bhagwati Charan Vohra, Yashpal, and others. Jaichandra Vidyalankar, a professor at his college, served as the HRA’s coordinator in Punjab. They were the ones who first introduced Sukhdev to the revolutionary movement which embarked on his unique journey towards the national revolutionary movement.
An Effective Leader… Sukhdev Thapar is today known as a staunch revolutionary who stood along with his brothers in this auspicious campaign of uprooting the British empire from Indian soil, but many are unaware of his unique leadership qualities which helped his respective organisations to grow in numbers! The Naujawan Bharat Sabha was established in 1926 by Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Bhagwati Charan Vohra, and others. Sukhdev was chosen to serve on this organization’s committee.
In the ensuing years, when both Bhagat Singh and Bhagwati Charan Vohra were interested in renewing the revolutionary cause, the duty of managing the organisation fell upon his shoulders. Sukhdev was elected to the central committee of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), which later changed its name to the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), and was given control of the Punjab region. In Punjab, the HSRA flourished rapidly under his direction.
Sukhdev was circumspect and took numerous safety measures when enlisting new members for the revolutionary party, providing a prime illustration of the proverb “Build in silence and let the success make noise!”…
THE FEARLESS MARATHI MULGA – SHIVRAM HARI RAJGURU
We only remember the bold acts of a handful of brave people, but we don’t remember this young and robust lad who was not only deeply committed to the freedom movement but also did not shudder at the prospect of giving his life in defence of his motherland. He displayed unwavering courage and commitment. One fine day, when Chandra Shekhar Azad questioned him about the craziness of touching a hot iron rod, he calmly said, “I’m testing myself to see if I can handle police torture!” – such was the madness that drove him from inside and made him a fearsome revolutionary of India. His name was Shivram Hari Rajguru!
In a Marathi Deshastha Brahmin family, Rajguru was born on August 24, 1908, in Khed to Parvati Devi and Harinarayan Rajguru. Near Pune, Khed was situated along the Bheema River. When he was only a six-year-old child, his father passed away, leaving his older brother Dinkar to take care of the family. His elementary education was at Khed, and he then attended Pune’s New English High School. Early on, he joined Seva Dal. But, once, after failing an English exam, his brother made him read a lesson to his future wife as punishment. Rajguru, who was furious and ardently determined to do something for his nation, escaped the house with just 11 paise!
After leaving his home, he travelled to the sacred city of Varanasi (then known as Kashi), where he studied the Hindu scriptures and learned Sanskrit. He read at the Lokmanya Tilak Library in Kashi for the majority of his time there. He also went to the speeches and discussions that the Maharashtra Vidya Mandal sponsored. He memorised the “Laghu Siddhant Kaumudi” by heart and had an excellent memory. Due to his love of physical activity, he belonged to several clubs for exercise.
He was connected to the Bharat Seva Mandal’s gymnasium. He admired Chhatrapati Shivaji and his use of guerilla warfare. He also received a gymnastics diploma (Vyayam Visharad) from the Shri Hanuman Vyayam Shala in Amravati and studied with Dr Hardikar under Seva Dal. He interacted with revolutionaries while he was learning in Varanasi.
He joined the cause and joined the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (H.S.R.A.) in a meaningful way. He was known in the party as “Raghunath,” his pseudonym. Rajguru possessed an unflinching tenacity and courageous spirit. He was close friends with Jatin Das, Sardar Bhagat Singh, and Chandra Shekhar Azad within the party. He was in command of operations throughout Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, with Kanpur, Agra, and Lahore serving as his bases of operations. Rajguru was known as the party’s go-to shooter because of his skill with a gun…
THE BITTERSWEET VENGEANCE OF THE HSRA…
On October 30, 1928, Lala Lajpat Rai led a composed, nonviolent march in opposition to the Simon Commission, which had been established by the British government under Sir John Simon to assess the country’s political climate. Under the orders of their chief Scott, the police severely (and deliberately) assaulted Lala Lajpat Rai as a result of the police’s violent response. On November 17, 1928, he gave his last breath after succumbing to his wounds.
By assassinating Police Superintendent Scott and Deputy Superintendent of Police Saunders, who carried out the lathi charge that killed Lalaji, the revolutionaries intended to exact revenge for Lalaji’s death. Bhagat Singh, Jai Gopal, Shiv Ram Rajguru, and Chandra Shekhar Azad were all assigned to the project. They were preparing to murder the police chief to exact revenge on the British.
On December 17, 1928, Saunders, the deputy police superintendent, left his office and got on his motorbike. Rajguru and Bhagat Singh fatally shot him in front of the Lahore police headquarters due to a case of mistaken identity. Channan Singh, a head constable who wanted to pursue the three revolutionaries, was killed by gunfire from Azad. All of them made their getaway through the D.A.V. College grounds; the same evening, HSRA posted signs proclaiming “Saunders is dead”. Posters reading “Lalaji is avenged” could also be seen all around Lahore.
Rajguru departed Lahore on December 20 while posing as Bhagat Singh’s servant and travelling in a first-class cabin with the revolutionary’s wife and infant son, Bhagawati Charan Vohra. At Lucknow, Rajguru and Bhagat Singh split off, and Rajguru successfully went underground in Nagpur. He met Dr K. B. Hedgewar there while he was hiding in the home of an RSS brainchild. However, he travelled to Pune after a few days.
In the meantime, the HSRA sent Batukeshwar Dutt and Bejoy Kumar Sinha to the Central Legislative Assembly to launch low-grade smoke bombs in opposition to the proposed Trade Disputes Bill and the Public Safety Bill. Sukhdev was present at the meeting, although he rarely said anything. He allegedly got into a heated argument with Bhagat Singh after the meeting and forced him to take charge of the project.
The world needed to be convinced of the revolutionaries’ intentions once they were apprehended, according to Sukhdev’s thesis, and only Bhagat Singh, in his opinion, had the authority to do so. Bhagat Singh granted his request, and at his request, the HSRA central committee met once more, enabling him to take the initiative in the attack that became known as the Assembly Bomb Case.
THE ADVENT OF THE “LAHORE CONSPIRACY CASE”…
In the Assembly Bomb Case, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt were apprehended and put on trial. Also, with the assistance of approvers (Jai Gopal, Phanindra Nath, and Hansraj Vohra), further revolutionaries were captured. Rajguru was detained on September 30, 1929, when he was in Pune. While he was sleeping, police found a pistol with fourteen pieces of ammunition in a box nearby.
The Lahore Conspiracy Case, brought by the government, names sixteen people (including Rajguru). On October 7, 1930, the jury returned its verdict. Sardar Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru received death sentences, while the other defendants received varying prison sentences. To get all revolutionaries treated as political prisoners (and not as criminals), along with some humane treatment, the revolutionaries began a fast within the prison.
Newspapers remarked on the revolutionaries’ brave and uncompromising demeanour. ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ and ‘Long Live the Proletariat’ were reportedly shouted as they entered the courthouse, and they sang songs like ‘Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mei hai’ (our heart is filled with the desire for martyrdom).
Meetings, processions, and requests for the death penalty to be commuted were made. The Indian National Congress leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi, tried to save their lives, but they were unsuccessful. A Privy Council appeal was likewise turned down. The trio were ordered to be hanged on 24 March but were executed by hanging in the Lahore jail on March 23, 1931, at 7:30 p.m., 11 hours ahead of schedule. No magistrate was reportedly willing to preside over their hanging as required by law at the time.
Instead, an honorary judge presided over the execution and signed the death orders for the three inmates whose original warrants had already run out of time. In another vile attempt by the British to demean the Indians, the three men’s bodies were then covertly incinerated outside of ‘Ganda Singh Wala’ village by jail officials who had cut a hole in the jail’s back wall. The ashes were then dumped into the Sutlej River, around 10 kilometres from Firozpur.
Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru were only 23 and 22 years old when they died as martyrs! Every countryman will always be grateful to these heroes of the nation for their eternal sacrifice, and their spirit of giving their lives in service to the homeland will serve as an inspiration to future generations, because, “Even if the bodies die, the ideas don’t!”