Letters of a martyr

In his birth centenary year, there is a revival of interest in Bhagat Singh, leading to new revelations and perspectives on his activities. Chaman Lal presents another facet of the revolutionary as revealed by his letters to family members and friends

On march 23, 2007, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev completed 76 years of martyrdom. With effect from September 28, 2006, birth centenary programmes of Bhagat Singh started nationally. This happened more at the non-government level as compared to the government level. Memorial programmes on Bhagat Singh have gained momentum since, there have been a lot of publications brought out in this period in Hindi, Punjabi, English and many other Indian languages, which continues uninterrupted till day.

A rare historical photograph of students and staff of National College, Lahore, which was started by Lala Lajpat Rai for education of students participating in the non-cooperation movement. Shaheed Bhagat Singh can be seen standing fourth from the right.

A proposal to set up a Bhagat Singh Chair at JNU, New Delhi, has been accepted by the national programme implementation committee recently. Mooted by this author, this proposal was endorsed by Prof. Bipan Chandra, Prof. Prabhat Patnaik and Prof. G.S. Bhalla. It was supported by many eminent scholars and political leaders like Prakash Karat, A.B. Bardhan and Shashi Bhushan.

In these ongoing programmes on Bhagat Singh all over the country, I was invited to deliver lectures on his thought and role in freedom movement. I delivered these lectures at Arrah, Patna, (Bihar), Indore (MP), Rohtak (Haryana), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Mumbai, Banaras and Thanjavur (Tamil Nadu) during September 2006 to February 2007. Department of political science, Mumbai University, was perhaps the first department in the country to hold two days national seminar on Bhagat Singh last month. On March 23, this year, there were hundreds of programmes all over the country, including some official ones. Many leftist organisations took out huge demonstrations and rallies to oppose the neo-liberal anti-people policies of the government, to mark this day. Leftist organisations of all hues are trying to resurrect Bhagat Singh as the most strong anti-imperialist resistance symbol in the present context.

It is clear that in the 150^th year anniversary of the First War of Independence in 1857 and in the birth centenary year of Bhagat Singh, an emotion of patriotism is emerging afresh, in the wake of US neo-imperialism becoming more aggressive and dangerous than old British imperialism. Reliving the nationalistic tradition in the whole country, a renaissance is taking place in the country, in which the image of Bhagat Singh is emerging as supreme ideological symbol of resistance.

At the international level too, struggling people of the world against neo imperialism are looking to Bhagat Singh as symbol of resistance alongwith Che Guvera. This year, a UK-based publisher is bringing out collection of Bhagat Singh’s writings in English.

Malwinderjit Singh Waraich with Bhagat Singh’s mother at Khatkarkalan.

Bhagat Singh was always considered significant at national and international level, but this did not come into focus. The rare documents acquired by this author in this period, throw light on his significance. One of these documents is Periyar’s editorial in his Tamil weekly Kudi Arasu on March 22-29, 1931 issue, immediately after Bhagat Singh and others’ execution. This was translated in English and published in Modern Rationalist in November 2006 by followers of Periyar at my request, after more than 75 years of its first publication. It was E V Ramasami Naikar Periyar, who got Why I am an Atheist by Bhagat Singh, translated in Tamil, as early as in 1934 by Comrade P Jeevanandan and published it in the form of a booklet. This booklet continues to be popular in Tamil Nadu, even today, after so many editions have come out. This was perhaps first ever translation of this historic document in any Indian or other language, much earlier than even the Punjabi translation. There were many creative writings in Tamil, after the execution of Bhagat Singh, which were proscribed by British authorities in those days.

Internationally also, the reports of execution of Bhagat Singh and disturbances in the country after that, were published in pro-Communist Daily Worker from New York in USA. It is almost strange to know that the news of Bhagat Singh’s execution was published in The Tribune of Lahore and Daily Worker of New York on the same day, March 25, 1931, in the age of slow communication channels as compared to today. Even The Tribune from Lahore could not publish this report on March 24, as the news of execution on March 23, at 7 pm remained suppressed in media in Lahore itself, where the executions took place. Daily Worker again carried a report on Kanpur riots on March 27, 1931, which spread after these executions.

Five unpublished letters of Bhagat Singh have been found out in this period. Copies of four letters have been acquired from Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (Teen Murti), New Delhi. The fifth letter has been recovered from the exhibits of Lahore Conspiracy case. The copies of all these letters were gifted to this author by Malwinderjit Singh Waraich, a dedicated writer and activist about revolutionary movements in India for national freedom. Three of these letters are in English, one in Punjabi and another in Urdu.

From these documents, one can understand the ideological perspective of Bhagat Singh and the significance of his contribution to India’s freedom struggle.

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