Struggle was non-violent

Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Lala Lajpat Rai, Udham Singh and innumerable martyrs were imbued with patriotic fervour and had sworn to liberate India from the tyrannical British rule. Theirs was, by and large, a non-violent struggle. The throwing of a bomb in the Assembly hall was just a symbol of India’s resentment of British atrocities, and in no way intended to kill anyone. It was a bona fide effort to awaken the British that time had come for them to quit India. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, being the climax in its form of mayhem, deserved revenge against the perpetrators of the crime on innocent civilians.

It is the weak Indian leadership which has not been able to compel the British government to refrain from labeling our heroes as traitors or terrorists, whose sacrifices bore fruit after their deaths and the British had to bid adieu to India. Rather, it should appreciate that though India became a republic in 1950, taking a step further from the dominion status, unlike Canada, Australia and other countries, it continues to be a member of the Commonwealth.

Gurmit Singh Saini, Mohali

UK view immaterial

The British denigrate our national heroes by calling them terrorists. What else can one expect from people whose ancestors ruled India for 150 years? A revolutionary of one world is a terrorist for another. But it does not matter what the British call them. It’s for us to respect them and follow the path they showed us to make India a better country.

Himanshu Goyal, Sardulgarh

Declassify ’62 papers

This refers to the editorial “No longer a secret: The government must declassify Henderson Brooks Report” (March 20). The report describes the details of the humiliating defeat suffered by India at the hands of China in 1962. Some parts of it were posted on the web by Australian journalist Neville Maxwell, but they are not available in our public domain. The government plea that the report pertains to a very sensitive matter and releasing it may be detrimental to operational secrecy and against national interest is neither cogent nor convincing. Going forward on the China border in 1962 without proper planning, preparation and reliable intelligence inputs proved disastrous, though the troops fought valiantly against heavy odds. Our political leadership, diplomats and top generals did not expect the Chinese to react to this policy. This assessment proved to be grossly incorrect and unwise. The government must let the public know the truth. Lessons must be learnt to make course correction. The top secret documents should be declassified.