Bhagat Singh

Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 2 "Nationalism in India"

Meaning

Bhagat Singh (1907–1931) was a revolutionary and a leading member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA). In April 1929, he and Batukeswar Dutta threw bombs in the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi. He was hanged at Lahore on 23 March 1931, aged 23. [2][3]

He matters because he stood for a different path from Gandhi's non-violence. He also gave the national movement the slogan "Inquilab Zindabad!" (Long live the revolution).

Explanation

Background: the young who rejected the Gandhian method

• Not every young Indian accepted non-violence. Many joined revolutionary groups instead.
• Why they turned away
• Gandhi called off the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1922 after the Chauri Chaura violence. This disappointed many young nationalists.

• They began to look for a more radical way. Many were drawn to socialism, the idea that workers and peasants should share power and wealth.

• The HSRA, 1928

• The Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) was founded in 1928 at Ferozeshah Kotla in Delhi.
• Its members included Bhagat Singh, Jatin Das and Ajoy Ghosh.
• It grew out of the older Hindustan Republican Association (HRA). Adding the word "Socialist" showed that its aim was a socialist republic, not only the removal of the British.

The Assembly bomb, April 1929

• The target: two repressive bills, the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill. [3]

• Revolutionaries saw these laws as tools to crush political activists and trade unions.

• The act: in April 1929, Bhagat Singh and Batukeswar Dutta threw bombs inside the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi. [2][3]

• The bombs were meant to make a protest, not to kill anyone.

• They also threw a pamphlet saying the blast was "to make the deaf hear". This meant the British government was "deaf" to Indian demands. [3]

• No escape: they surrendered on the spot so they could use the trial as a platform, a public stage to spread their ideas. [2][3]

Trial, execution and legacy

• The trial is recorded officially as Assembly Bomb Case No. 9 of 1929, Crown vs. Bhagat Singh and Bhatukeshwar Dutta. [3]
• Bhagat Singh was also tried in the Lahore Conspiracy Case for the killing of the British police officer J.P. Saunders in Lahore in 1928. The revolutionaries carried out that killing to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, who was injured in a police lathi charge during the protest against the Simon Commission.
• Bhagat Singh was hanged at Lahore on 23 March 1931, at the age of 23. That day is now marked as Martyrs' Day. [2]

• Textbooks note that Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged with him.

• His ideas:

• He disclaimed "the cult of the bomb and pistol". He did not believe that terror alone could free a country.
• He wanted a mass revolution of workers and peasants, so revolution meant changing society and not only throwing bombs.
• His slogan "Inquilab Zindabad!" became one of the best-known cries of the freedom struggle.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: the Gandhian era, between the Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–22) and the Civil Disobedience Movement (from 1930).
• Key places:
• Ferozeshah Kotla, Delhi: where the HSRA was founded (1928).
• Central Legislative Assembly, Delhi: the site of the bomb protest (April 1929). [3]

• Lahore: where he was hanged (23 March 1931). [2]

• Key people: Bhagat Singh, Batukeswar Dutta (also spelt Batukeshwar Dutt), and fellow HSRA members Jatin Das and Ajoy Ghosh.

• How we know:
• Official records: Assembly Bomb Case No. 9 of 1929, Crown vs. Bhagat Singh and Bhatukeshwar Dutta. [3]
• The pamphlet thrown in the Assembly hall, titled "To Make the Deaf Hear". [3]

• His own writings and statements from prison and the courtroom, including his rejection of "the cult of the bomb and pistol".

• NCERT: Class 10, Ch 2 "Nationalism in India" presents him as a revolutionary counterpoint to Gandhian non-violence.

Don't confuse with

• Batukeswar Dutta: he threw the Assembly bombs with Bhagat Singh but was not hanged. He was sentenced to transportation for life. Bhagat Singh's death sentence came from the Lahore Conspiracy (Saunders) Case, not from the Assembly bomb case alone.
• HRA vs HSRA: the Hindustan Republican Association came first. The HSRA (1928, Ferozeshah Kotla) added "Socialist" to its name. Bhagat Singh is linked with the HSRA.
• Martyrs' Day, 23 March vs 30 January: 23 March remembers the hanging of Bhagat Singh (1931). 30 January remembers the assassination of Gandhi (1948). Both are called Martyrs' Day.
• Jatin Das vs Jatindranath Mukherjee ("Bagha Jatin"): Jatin Das was Bhagat Singh's HSRA comrade who died on a hunger strike in Lahore jail (1929). Bagha Jatin was an earlier Bengal revolutionary (Jugantar group).

Prelims Hooks

• HSRA: founded 1928 at Ferozeshah Kotla, Delhi. Members included Bhagat Singh, Jatin Das, Ajoy Ghosh.
• Assembly bomb, April 1929: by Bhagat Singh and Batukeswar Dutta, protesting the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill. [3]
• Pamphlet line: "to make the deaf hear". [3]
• Official record: Assembly Bomb Case No. 9 of 1929, Crown vs. Bhagat Singh and Bhatukeshwar Dutta. [3]
• Execution: hanged at Lahore on 23 March 1931, aged 23. The day is now Martyrs' Day. [2]
• Trap: he disclaimed "the cult of the bomb and pistol". A statement calling him a believer in terror alone is wrong. His slogan was "Inquilab Zindabad".

Mains Points

• A different answer to the same question. Gandhi and Bhagat Singh both wanted freedom, but they disagreed on the method and on what freedom meant.
• Gandhi relied on non-violent mass struggle.
• Bhagat Singh's HSRA wanted a socialist republic, so for him swaraj meant changing the whole social order, not only political independence.

• This links to a wider theme: younger nationalists' interest in socialism worried business groups that funded the Congress.

• From bomb to idea. Bhagat Singh did not run after the Assembly bomb. He surrendered and used the courtroom as a stage. [2][3]

• His rejection of "the cult of the bomb and pistol" shows he saw revolution as mass politics, not individual terror.

• This sets him apart from earlier revolutionaries whose main method was assassination.

• Legacy and memory. His execution at 23 made him a national hero, especially among the young. [2]

• "Inquilab Zindabad" passed into the language of Indian protest.
• The observance of 23 March as Martyrs' Day shows that the freedom struggle is remembered as having many strands, revolutionary as well as Gandhian.

Related concepts

• All India Kisan Sabha
• Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
• FICCI
• G.D. Birla
• Jamnalal Bajaj
• All India Trade Union Congress
• Communist Party of India
• Meerut conspiracy case
• Women in the civil disobedience movement
• Women's Indian Association

Read more

• Participants and limits: classes, women, dalits, Muslims