Punjab Research Group

Read full article: The meditative revolutionary – The Hindu.

In the 100-year-old fight for Indian independence, quite a few martyrs are constantly alive though there are sharp differences in assessment about their contribution. Bhagat Singh (1907-1931) and his fellow revolutionaries, Rajguru and Sukhdev, are among the most discussed and written about.

Following the death of the Lion of Punjab, Lala Lajpat Rai (1865-1928), by brutal police badgering, countless Indians were enraged and they silently prayed for revenge. The revenge came in the killing of J. P. Saunders, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Lahore, in December 1928 [a month after the death of Lala Lajpat Rai], and the bombing of the Central Assembly, New Delhi, in April 1929.

Bhagat Singh was just over 20 when he was arrested and charged along with his colleagues for the revolt against British imperialism. One does not have to say that the worst of torture was inflicted upon them though they openly admitted the charge. In March 1931, Bhagat Singh and his colleagues were hanged at the Lahore Jail and their bodies were disposed of in a great hurry and in an unprecedented manner.

It is well known that Bhagat Singh was not an impetuous rebel but a meditative revolutionary who could articulate his thoughts and action with lucidity. Though in his early twenties, he did a great quantity of writing on his vision of the revolution and of free India.