Sardar Bhagat Singh’s birth
anniversary (he was born in 1907) made one’s thoughts turn to the life of the
man who has come to be known as “Shaheed-e-Azam” for laying down his
life for his country. One remembers anecdotes about the way Bhagat Singh
outwitted the colonial police and spies, who were trying their best to capture
him alive. The revolutionary had sneaked into Agra and taken a room from an old
disinherited Rani near Ghatia Bazar on rent. The whole day he stayed indoors
but at night he and his companions (all sworn to rid the country of the
British) came out and walked the streets covered up in blankets. They would
generally go to milk shop of Salga Ghosi and order khulars of milk with a layer
of Rabri on it, which they drank slowly as an after-dinner treat.

Dinner for them, however, was
sparse, mostly vegetarian (dal-sabzi). Sometimes mutton from Barati butcher’s
shop was bought early in the morning by one of the non-veg comrades whose photo
did not occupy the “Rogues Gallery” in the thana. These men also
bought vegetables from Taron-ka-Bazar (so named as there were a lot of electric
wires overhead) and dal-chawal from the shops of Moti and his uncle Antee while
the ghee was bought from Panna Lal, who sold the best desi variety. The stuff
was cooked by them too but sometimes the landlady and her daughter-in-law
helped to make it real delicious.

 After living Agra for several days the
Revolutionary party moved to Delhi according to old Agrawallas, who are all
dead now. In Delhi too the Revolutionaries adopted the same life-style. The
stayed atop a halwai’s shop in Katra Neel, some with beards, though Bhagat
Singh had shaved off his darhi (beard) and also cut his hair against the tenets
of his religion. He, however, justified it by saying the motherland demanded
sacrifices and parting with kesh (hair) was among them.

It was by chance that Sarin
Bhai, a revolutionary from Chillint Ghatia, who was staying ingognito in
Chandni Chowk, met Bhagat Singh in Paratha Gali, where he had come to drink
milk. It was a winter night and, wrapped in a blanket, Sarin Bhai peered at the
face of the man who was standing near him at the shop (now taken over by a zari
sari trader) and suddenly it dawned on him that he was Bhagat Singh, the most
wanted Revolutionary. Sarin picked up a conversation with him and they walked
out of Paratha Gali towards the Town Hall and then Queen’s Park opposite Old
Delhi Station. Here they discussed plans to make the British pay for their
atrocities on Indians. Sarin Bhai was later arrested and jailed for some years
but he was released fairly early as there were no heinous charges against him.

Sarin Bhai used to talk about
those days after Independence. He related the story of how he, Bhagat Singh and
two others went to meet Lala Hanwant Sahay, who used to stay opposite Fort View
Hotel in Chandni Chowk. Lalaji was one of the accused in the Hardinge Bomb
case, in which a bomb was thrown at the Viceroy while he was going in a royal
procession to the Red Fort in 1912. Hardinge was wounded and his elephant
mahout killed. Lalaji, his teacher Master Amir Chand, Master Awadh Behari, Bhai
Balmukund and Basant Sanyal were arrested as conspirators. Lalaji was sentenced
to life imprisonment (which was later reduced to seven years rigorous
imprisonment) and the others to death. Bhagat Singh was just five-years-old
then and on meeting Lalaji he was greatly enthused. “We will eventually
drive the British out,” he told him and left after having some
gajar-ka-halwa.

While Lala Hanwat Sahay was a
religious-minded man, Bhagat Singh had declared himself an atheist. In a
pamphlet, “Why I am a Atheist”, at a time when the noose was being
prepared for his hanging, undaunted by the lurking death, when many fall on
their knees to seek pardon from God, he states, “God has become a useful
myth and was useful to the society of the primitive age.

Moreover, “the idea of
God is helpful to man in distress”. God and religion enabled the helpless
individual to face life with courage. “God was brought into imaginary
existence to encourage man to face boldly all the trying circumstances, to meet
all dangers manfully and to check and restrain his outbursts in prosperity and
affluence”. “Belief softens the hardships, even can make them
pleasant. In God man can find very strong consolation and support.” Thus,
to the distressed, the betrayed and the helpless, God serves as “a father,
mother, sister and brother, friend and helper”.

But, says Bhagat Singh, when
science has grown and when the oppressed begin to struggle for their
self-emancipation, when “man tries to stand on his own legs and become a
realist (Bhagat Singh uses this word in place of rationalist and
materialist)”, the need for God, this artificial crutch, this imaginary
saviour, comes to an end. In his struggle for self-emancipation, it becomes
necessary to fight against “the narrow conception of the religion” as
also against the belief in God. “Any man who stands for progress,”
says Bhagat Singh, “has to criticise, disbelieve and challenge every item
of the old faith. Item by item he has to reason out every nook and corner of
the prevailing faith…A man who claims to be a realist has to challenge the
whole of the ancient faith…the first for him is to shatter the whole down and
clear a space for the erection of the new philosophy.”

Bhagat Singh was born on 27
September 1907 (just four after years after the writer George Orwell of
Motihari fame) at Banga in Lyallpur district (now in Pakistan) to Kishan Singh
and Vidya Vati. From early childhood Bhagat Singh was imbued with the family’s
spirit of patriotism (according to information stored on Internet). At the time
of his birth, his father Kishan Singh was in jail. His uncle, Sardar Ajit
Singh, was a great freedom fighter and estiblished the Indian Patriots’
Association. He was well-supported by his friend Syed Haider Raza, in
organising the peasants against the Chenab Canal Colony Bill. Ajit Singh had 22
cases against him and was forced to flee to Iran. Bhagat Singh was considered
to be one of the most influential revolutionaries of Indian Nationalist
Movement. He became involved with numerous revolutionary organisations.

Kishan Singh enrolled Bhagat
Singh in Dayanand Anglo Vedic High School. At a very young age, Bhagat Singh
started following Non-Cooperation Movement called by Mahatma Gandhi. He had
openly defied the British and had followed Gandhi’s wishes by burning the
government-sponsored books. Following the violent incidents of “Chauri
Chaura”, Gandhi called for the withdrawal of the Non-Cooperation Movement.
Unhappy with the decision, Bhagat Singh isolated himself from Gandhi’s
non-violent action and joined the Young Revolutionary Movement.

He was pursuing BA
examination when his parents planned to get him married. He vehemently rejected
the suggestion and said, “If my marriage is to take place in Slave-India,
my bride shall be only death.” He later joined the Hindustan Republican
Association, a radical group, later known as the Hindustan Socialist Republican
Association. He returned to his home in Lahore after assurances from his
parents that he would not be compelled to get married. He established contact
with the members of the Kirti Kishan Party and started contributing regularly
to its magazine, Kirti. In March 1926, the Naujawan Bharat Sabha was formed
with Bhagat Singh as its secretary.

 On 30 October 1928, an all-party procession,
led by Lala Lajpat Rai, marched towards the Lahore railway station to protest
against the arrival of the Simon Commission. Stopping the procession, police
made a lathi-charge at the activists. The confrontation left Lala Lajpat Rai
with severe injuries and also led to his death. To avenge the death of Lala
Lajpat Rai, Bhagat Singh and his associates plotted the assassination of Scott,
the Superintendent of Police, believed to have ordered the lathi-charge. The
revolutions, mistaking J P Sauders, an Assistant Superintendent of Police as
Scott, killed him instead. Bhagat Singh quickly left Lahore to escape arrest.
To avoid recognition, he shaved off his beard and cut his hair, a violation of
his religious tenets of Sikhism alright.

 In response to the Defence of India Act, the
Hindustan Socialist Republican Association planned to explode a bomb inside the
Assembly premises, where the ordinance was going to be passed. On 8 April 1929
Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw a bomb into the corridors of the
Asembly and shouted “Inquilab Zindabad!” Following the blasts both
Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt were arrested.

 The British authorities, while interrogating
them, came to know about their involvement in the murder of J P Saunders.
Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were charged with the murder. Bhagat Singh
admitted to the muder and made statements against the British rule during the
trial. While in jail, Bhagat Singh found that the authorities wrere following a
dual policy in treating the prisoners, who like him were badly tortured. The
criminals of foreign origin were treated better than Indian political
prisoners. As a protest, he along with some fellow prisoners decided to
“go on hunger strike”. The strike continued for over a month and
finally the British had to accept their conditions. Bhagat Singh, along with
the other revolutionaries, was found responsible for the Assembly bombing and
murder of Saunders. On March 23, 1931, he was hanged in Lahore with this
fellow-comrades Rajguru and Sukhdev and was cremated at Hussainiwala, on the
banks of Sutlej river.