ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>BHAGAT SI&#7748GH (1907-1931)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="BHAGAT,SIDGH,Person,Person"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279BHAGAT SI&#7748GH (1907-1931), revolutionary and martyr, was born on 27 September 1907 at the village of Ba&#7749g&#257, Lyallpur district (now in Pakistan) the second son of Kishan Si&#7749gh and Vidy&#257 Vat&#299. Bhagat Si&#7749gh was imbued from childhood with the family's spirit of patriotism. At the time of his birth, his father was in jail for his connection with the Canal Colonization Bill agitation, in which his brother, Aj&#299t Si&#7749gh (Bhagat Si&#7749gh's uncle), took a leading part. Through his father, who was a sympathizer and supporter of the <u>Gh</u>adr campaign of 1914-15, Bhagat Si&#7749gh became an admirer of the leaders of the movement. The execution of Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh Sar&#257bh&#257 made a deep impression on the mind of the young man who vowed to dedicate his life to the country.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Having passed the fifth class from his village school, Bhagat Si&#7749gh joined Day&#257nand Anglo-Vedic School in Lahore. In response to the call of Mah&#257tm&#257 G&#257ndh&#299 and other nationalist leaders, to boycott government aided institutions, he left his school and enrolled in the National College at Lahore. He was successful in passing a special examination preparatory to entering college. He was reading for his B. A. examination when his parents planned to have him married. He vehemently rejected the suggestion and said that, if his marriage was to take place in "slave-India, my bride shall be only death. " Rather than allow his father to proceed any further with the proposal, Bhagat Si&#7749gh left home and went to K&#257npur where he took up a job in the Prat&#257p Press. In his spare time, he studied revolutionary literature. He joined the Hindust&#257n Republican Association, a radical group, later known as the Hindust&#257n Socialist Republican Association. When Bhagat Si&#7749gh was assured that he would not be compelled to marry and violate his vows sworn to his motherland, he returned to his home in Lahore. This was in 1925 when a <i> morch&#257 </i> had been going on at Jaito to protest against the deposition by the British of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ripudaman Si&#7749gh of N&#257bh&#257 because of his sympathy with the Ak&#257l&#299 agitation. A warrant for the arrest of Bhagat Si&#7749gh was issued because he had accorded a welcome to one of the <i>jath&#257s</i>, but he managed to elude the police and spent five months under the assumed name of Balvant Si&#7749gh in Delhi, where he worked in a daily paper <i>V&#299r Arjun</i>.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As Ak&#257l&#299 activity subsided, Bhagat Si&#7749gh returned to Lahore. He established contact with the Kirt&#299 Kis&#257n Party and started contributing regularly to its magazine, the <i>Kirt&#299</i>. He also remained in touch with the Hindust&#257n Socialist Republican Association. In March 1926 was formed the Naujaw&#257n Bh&#257rat Sabh&#257. Bhagat Si&#7749gh one of the principal organizers became its secretary.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As the Simon Commission arrived at Lahore on 30 October 1928, an all-parties procession, headed by L&#257l&#257 L&#257jpat R&#257i, marched towards the railway station to make a protest. Intercepting the procession, police made a <i>l&#257&#7789h&#299</i> charge and L&#257l&#257 L&#257jpat R&#257i received injuries. He died a fortnight later. Although the British saw no connection between the <i>l&#257&#7789h&#299</i> charge and L&#257l&#257 L&#257jpat R&#257i's death, Bhagat Si&#7749gh and his associates did. They plotted the assassination of Mr Scott, the Superintendent of Police, believed to have been responsible for the <i>l&#257&#7789h&#299</i> blows given L&#257l&#257 L&#257jpat R&#257i, but instead J. P. Saunders, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, became the actual victim owing to mistake in identification. Bhagat Si&#7749gh and R&#257jgur&#363 had done the actual shooting. They and those who had served as lookouts escaped through the D. A. V. College grounds. The next day a leaflet was circulated by the Hindust&#257n Socialist Republican Association announcing that the death of L&#257l&#257 L&#257jpat R&#257i had been avenged.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bhagat Si&#7749gh escaped to Calcutta disguised as a wealthy personage. He remained quiet for several months, but became active again when Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill were being debated in Delhi. As his group resolved to explode a bomb to express disapproval of the bill, Bhagat Si&#7749gh and B. K. Dutt volunteered to carry out the plan. They were seated in the gallery of the Central Assembly Hall awaiting the reading of the proclamation that would enact the bills. When the announcement was made, Bhagat Si&#7749gh jumped up and threw a relatively harmless bomb behind one of the members' benches. There was an explosion, followed by still another from a second bomb. No one was seriously injured. Bhagat Si&#7749gh and Dutt began shouting revolutionary slogans and threw leaflets explaining their intent of making "the deaf hear" with the loud noise of explosion. Both were promptly taken into custody. As the trial proceeded, a statement, written in its entirety by Bhagat Si&#7749gh, was read in defence of the two accused. Bhagat Si&#7749gh said that "force used for a legitimate cause has its moral justification. " He and B. K. Dutt were found guilty and sentenced to transportation for life. After the sentence had been pronounced in the Assembly Bomb case, Bhagat Si&#7749gh was bound over for trial in the Saunders Murder case, approvers having identified his role in the killing. While awaiting trial in the Lahore Jail, Bhagat Si&#7749gh started a hunger-strike in behalf of political prisoners. The fast was continued even after the hearing of the case began on 10 July 1929, and was subsequently joined by many others. It was not until after the death of one of these, J. N. D&#257s, on 13 September 1929, that facilities were promised to the prisoners and the hunger-strike abandoned.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;At the time of trial, Bhagat Si&#7749gh offered no defence, but utilized the occasion to propagate his ideal of freedom. He and his fellow accused kept delaying the proceedings by refusing to appear before the court, by ignoring what was going on, or by disrupting the work by shouting revolutionary slogans. He heard with defiant courage the death-sentence pronounced on 7 October 1930. In the same spirit, he kissed the hangman's noose on 23 March 1931, shouting for the last time his favourite cry, "Down with British imperialism. " His body was secretly cremated at Husain&#299v&#257l&#257 by police and the remains thrown into the River Sutlej. The next day, however, his comrades collected the bodily remains from the cremation site and a procession was taken out in Lahore. Mourning for him was spontaneous and widespread and homage was paid to him for his sterling character and sacrifice.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In 1950, after Independence, the land where Bhagat Si&#7749gh and his companions were cremated was procured from Pakistan and a memorial built. In March 1961, a Shah&#299d&#299 Mel&#257 was held there. Every year, on 23 March, the martyr's memory is similarly honoured. The old memorial, destroyed in the 1971 Indo-Pak war, has been rebuilt. Bhagat Si&#7749gh is remembered by the endearing title of Shah&#299d-i-&#256zam, the greatest of martyrs.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Paying his tribute to him at a meeting of the Central Sikh League at Amritsar on 8 April 1931, Subh&#257s Chandra Bose said, "Bhagat Singh who set an example of character and patriotism by sacrificing himself for the sake of the country's freedom, was from the Sikh community. Today, he is known to be a brave Sikh hero throughout the world. The Sikh community has to produce thousands of Bhagat Singhs for the cause of the country. "</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Deol, G. S. , <i> Shaheed Bhagat Singh : A Biography </i>, Patiala, n. d.<BR> <li class="C1"> Fauja Singh, ed. , <i> Who's Who: Punjab Freedom Fighters </i>, vol. I. Patiala, 1972<BR> <li class="C1"> Josh, Sohan Si&#7749gh, <i>Bhagat Si&#7749gh N&#257l Mer&#299&#257&#7749 M&#363l&#257k&#257t&#257&#7749 te Ch&#257r Hor Mu&#7693hle Inql&#257b&#299</i>. Delhi, 1977<BR> <li class="C1"> M&#257n Si&#7749gh, <i> Az&#257d&#299 d&#299 Sham&#257h d&#299 Sikh Parv&#257ne </i>. Delhi, 1973<BR> <li class="C1"> N&#257har Si&#7749gh Gi&#257n&#299, <i> Az&#257d&#299 d&#299&#257&#7749 Lahir&#257&#7749 </i>. Ludhiana, 1960<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Emily C. Brown<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>