Martyrdom Day of Sardar Bhagat Singh in Haryana Date in the current year: March 23, 2024

There was no unity in the Indian independence movement: although the majority of its participants supported the non-violent resistance policy proposed by Mahatma Gandhi, a number of leaders believed that the fight against the British required more radical measures, even if it meant resorting to violence. Bhagat Singh belonged to the latter group of revolutionaries.

Bhagat Singh was born in 1907 to a Sikh family; many of his family members had served in Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s army or had been politically active. For example, his father and uncle were members of the Ghadar Movement founded and sponsored by expatriate Indians. When Singh was 12 years old, he visited Amritsar hours after hundreds of unarmed peaceful protesters had been killed and over a thousand were injured in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. After witnessing two more massacres, he became disillusioned with Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence.

In 1923, Singh joined the Youth Revolutionary Movement that advocated for the violent overthrow of the British authorities. Three years later, he founded Naujawan Bharat Sabha, a left-wing revolutionary association for worker and peasant youth, and joined the Hindustan Republican Association.

In May 1927, Singh was arrested by the police for allegedly being involved in a bombing in Lahore that had taken place in October 1926. The real reason for his arrest, however, was his growing influence on young people. Five weeks after the arrest, Singh was released on a surety. As soon as he was free, he started to write for local newspapers and continued his revolutionary activities.

In late 1928, police superintendent James A. Scott ordered a baton charge to disperse a protest march in Lahore. Freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai, who led the march, was severely injured and died a month and a half later. Singh and a few other revolutionaries vowed to avenge his death by assassinating Scott, but mistakenly shot John P. Saunders, a 21-year-old assistant superintendent, as he was leaving the police headquarters. The assassination was condemned by both the British authorities and the leaders of the non-violent resistance movement.

Singh and co-conspirators managed to escape, but he returned to Lahore a few days later. On April 8, 1929, Singh blew up two smoke bombs inside the Central Legislative Assembly building. Instead of leaving the building, he stayed throwing revolutionary leaflets and shouting “Long live the revolution”. As a result, Singh and his co-conspirator were arrested, tried and given a life sentence.

However, when the authorities learned that Singh had been involved in Saunders’s assassination and a number of terrorist attacks, a special tribunal sentenced him to execution by hanging. Singh’s execution took place on March 23, 1931; the revolutionary was only 23 years old at the time of his death.

Although Singh has been criticised for his violent methods and strong opposition to Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence adopted by the Indian National Congress, many Indians regard him as a national hero and a martyr, and his death anniversary is a remembrance day in the state of Haryana.