One evening a boy of three went out for
a walk with his father. An elderly man had joined them on their way. Walking past
green fields and enjoying cool evening breeze, the two adults were lost in
conversation. Not hearing the
footsteps of the boy, the father looked back. The boy was far behind and
on a fertile soil seemed to be planting something.
On questioning he replied with spark
in his eyes,” Look, father, I shall grow guns all over the field". Both the elders were struck with
wonder at the little boy's words.
This
innocent boy who at such young age had faith that guns would grow in
the field grew up to become Bhagat
Singh.
*********************************
Today in the morning while having my
breakfast I tuned on my TV to one news channel (I am supposed to work on my
poor GK!!!). There was news of IPL 6 , they were flashing again and again that
how there would be such an interesting
match between Mumbai Indians and Pune Warriors today. Being least bothered
about the IPL (you hear each mouth speaking about it) I started to read the
news bulletins at the bottom of screen (you see I was determined!!). There was
this news which held my attention. It was about 13th April 1919. I went in flashback mode and realised
with heavy heart - On
that day the gruesome act of inhumanity, the Jallianwala Massacre had taken place,
taking more than 400 lives, injuring thousands in Amritsar, Punjab. It’s been 94 years, but still it gives goose
bumps on imagining on how 90 British army soldiers led by Brigadier Reginald Dyer, opened
fire on an unarmed gathering of men, women and children. The firing had lasted for 10 to 15
minutes, until they ran out of ammunition (May the history is never repeated).
One of the blacker than the blackest day
of Indian history, it reminds us of the time when Bharat was not a free country,
there was injustice, social backwardness, poor state of peasants and whole
country was bleeding with the rule of foreigners (we must thank God we are born
in much better times) . Many revolutionists fought for freeing mother India
from the evil hands and one of the prominent freedom fighters was Sardar Bhagat
Singh. He belonged to a family of freedom fighters, patriotism flowed in his veins.
Jallianwala bagh (park) tragedy took seething toll on young Bhagat Singh, it is said that he
collected soil from the park, sanctified by the blood of the innocent and kept
it as a memento for life (I was told by my grandmother). After this incident
this revolutionary was born who at the age of 23 became a symbol of bravery and
ideology.
I decided to write about Veer Bhagat as
a tribute to those died.
Sardar Bhagat
Singh has rightfully been given the title of Shaheed-E-Azam (The king of martyrs). He was
a great thinker, revolutionist, scholar, ideologist, writer, visionary, journalist,
reader and a true countryman. We all know the story of how he fought for
freedom of our country. Thanks to our great Indian cinema, over the years we have seen several
filmmakers who have portrayed
the life of Bhagat Singh in
films. To be exact 7 movies have been made, famous actors of each generation have lived
his life on screen (what a proud feeling!!). We can see his influence was not just
limited only to the Indian independence movement, but Bollywood as well!
At his time he was first among those
revolutionaries who idealised Indian society post-independence. Until then revolutionaries had no conception of
post-independence society. Their immediate goal was destruction of the British
Empire and they had no inclination to work out a political alternative. Bhagat
Singh, because of his interest in studying and his keen sense of history gave
revolutionary movement a goal beyond the elimination of the British.
A clarity of vision and determination of purpose distinguished
Bhagat Singh from other leaders of the National Movement. He emerged as the
only alternative to Gandhi and the Indian National Congress, especially for the
youth).Who
at the time of imprisonment fought for the basic right of political prisoners,
went for hunger strike for almost 45 days with his fellow mates. Person of great
determination and patriotism, he became youth icon, moved the foundations of British
Empire. After his victory he got the right of reading & writing,
he maintained a note book of 404 pages and kept notes & quotes from the
books he read.
To
describe Bhagat Singh’s sacrifices in one line I can write- he gave up studies (At the age of thirteen, Bhagat Singh left school and joined the
freedom movement), marriage (his only bride was
death), family (left them for serving the wounded Bharat Mata and for the future
generations), religion (he called himself an Atheist) and life for the brighter
future of our country (I believe in descriptive line!!).
Bhagat Singh was known for his appreciation of martyrdom. His
mentor as a young boy was Kartar Singh Sarabha (another patriotic Punjabi).
Singh is himself considered a martyr for acting to avenge the death of Lala
Lajpat Rai, also considered a martyr. In the leaflet he threw in the Central
Assembly on 9 April 1929, he stated that it is easy to kill individuals but you
cannot kill the ideas. Great empires crumbled while the ideas survived. After
engaging in studies on the Russian Revolution, he wanted to die so that his
death would inspire the youth of India which in turn will unite them to fight
the British Empire. Such was his passion.
As a youth there is so much we can learn
from this eminent, rock strong personality, one of them is the “Passion for country”.
While in prison, Bhagat Singh and two others had written a
letter to the Viceroy asking him to treat them as prisoners of war and hence to
execute them by firing squad and not by hanging. Prannath Mehta, Bhagat Singh's
friend, visited him in the jail on March 20, four days before his execution,
with a draft letter for clemency, but he declined to sign it. On March 23rd,
1931 he left us with further responsibilities in our hands.
I
salute to Shaheed Bhagat Singh and feel proud that am also born out of the same
soil. I even marvel at great mother Vidyavati,
who gave our country real son who still enlightens and teaches us to love and
die for the country and so much more…..
May "Long Live the
Revolution!" ("Inquilab Zindabad!") started by him.
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