Focus: GS I: History
Why in News?
The Prime Minister has bowed to Shaheed Bhagat Singh on his birth anniversary.
Who is Bhagat Singh?
Background:
- In 1907, Bhagat Singh was born into a Sikh family in Lyallpur District, Pakistan.
- Singh was lured to the Indian independence movement from a young age since his family members were participating in the struggle for independence.
- He disobeyed the British government as a child by destroying textbooks that it advised.
- He first backed Mahatma Gandhi’s Non-Cooperation Movement.
- Bhagat Singh converted to revolutionary nationalism after Gandhi withdrew the campaign in the aftermath of the Chauri Chaura tragedy.
- The Jallianwala Bagh massacre (1919) and the violence against unarmed Akali protestors at Nankana Sahib had a profound impact on him (1921).
- Inspired by leftist writings he read widely, Singh was an atheist and against capitalism.
Revolutionary activities:
- In Kanpur in 1924, he joined the Hindustan Republican Association, which had been founded a year before by Sachindranath Sanyal.
- Bhagat Singh returned to Lahore in 1925, and within a year, he and his colleagues founded the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, a militant youth organisation.
- Along with Sukhdev, Chandrashekhar Azad, and others, he was a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) in 1928.
- Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev also founded the Lahore Students Union to encourage students to engage in open, lawful work.
- He was involved in revolutionary actions such as the
- Lahore Conspiracy case and
- the 1929 Central Assembly Bombing case.
- Along with Rajguru, Sukhdev, and others, Bhagat Singh was arrested and charged in the Saunders murder case.
- The three was sentenced to be hanged on March 24, 1931, however the sentence was carried out at the Lahore Jail a day early.
- In honour of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev, the 23rd of March is honoured as ‘Martyrs’ Day,’ or ‘Shaheed Diwas,’ or ‘Sarvodaya Day.’
Political ideology:
His azaadi independence did not stop with the expulsion of the British; he also demanded azaadi freedom from poverty, untouchability, communal warfare, and all forms of discrimination and exploitation.
