Bhagat Singh and the Anti imperialist Struggle
(On the occasion of 105th Birthday of Bhagat Singh)
Roma and Ashok choudhury
Translation by Avijeet chatterjee
South Asia, which is home to the
maximum number of impoverished people eking out a bare minimum existence, ascendant
capital and its current neo liberal policies of tightening the noose of the
grip of capital on the lives of people, has deepened the crisis of
unemployment, ecological balance and the overall lives of the people of the
subcontinent (as it has all over the globe).Some social movement based mass organizations
and trade unions of Pakistan and India have come together to commemorate the
martyrdom of Bhagat Singh – the still now not fully known or realized icon ,
who was the first person from this part of the sub continent to have endeavored
to understand Capitalism from the sub-continents perspective and challenged
imperialist forces – by naming Shadman Chowk as Bhagat Singh Chowk. This was
the place where he was hanged until dead. This is planned to be done on 28th
September – Bhagat Singh’s birthday. These organizations from India and Pakistan
clearly refuse to confine Bhagat Singh within the precincts of either Pakistan - India friendship, Indian nationalism,
or even Sikh nationalism. They see him and his organized political activities
as possibly the only organization from the undivided Indian sub-continent/
south Asia to have really shown the way for the liberation of the impoverished souls
from the choking oppression of deeply entrenched feudalism, Indian
elite/dominant classes and of course British colonial/imperial subjugation.
Bhagat Singh was undoubtedly a
revolutionary of Himalayan proportions. By commemorating his martyrdom by
renaming Shadman chowk as Bhagat Singh chowk, these organizations from Pakistan and India actually want to unfurl a new
phase in the world wide anti- Capitalist struggle, especially from the South
Asian perspective. It must be realized that Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom was just
not for India’s
freedom from the British colonialists; but for the freedom of the entire Indian
subcontinent.
Bhagat Singh’s political journey
started at what would be considered as tender young age and didn’t last too
long as he had to walk to the gallows aged 23yrears and some months. But in this
short lived life he struggled very creatively, with boldness, clarity and
ingenuity which opened a new vista in India’s struggle for freedom. This
allowed him to open a new space in the political firmament of India’s the then
anti imperialist struggle and secured him a position, which stands very relevant
in today’s India – at danger of being
sold off at the feet of floundering
world Capital.
Tracing Bhagat Singh’s life and times:
To
understand the phenomenal importance of Bhagat Singh, it is extremely important
to be aware of the nature of historical times when he appeared on India’s
political horizon. The 1920s was witness to events in the nationalist struggle
and especially some events in Punjab, which
need to be taken prior note of to situate Bhagat Singh better.
The end of the 1st
World war saw the imperialist powers aggressively put down any and every
struggle against them, anywhere in the world – whether peaceful, traditional or
breaking new grounds (revolutionary). The Russian revolution of 1917 had
instilled a new vigor amongst the peasants, workers and youth all across the
globe and helped create a new revolutionary consciousness and zeal. This also
impacted / influenced the ongoing independence struggle in India. Punjab saw the outbreak of strong peasant and youth
uprisings and movements. During one such movement, during the “baisakhi” day
gathering on April 13th, 1919, the peacefully assembled people were
brutally massacred by General Dyer. Bullets flew indiscriminately in a non-stop
ten minute blitz which saw Jallianwalla Bagh littered with dead bodies, while a
nearby well overflowed with dead bodies of women and children. This incident
was like a spark which lit the prairie fire – the flames had the potential to
burn the British Empire in India.
Bhagat Singh and the youth, the peasants, the workers smoldered in anger and
looked at avenues to express their latent wrath on the British colonialists. A
few years later, following this gruesome brutality at Jallianwallah Bagh, the
peaceful protest march against Simon Commission, led amongst others by Lala
Lajpat Rai, was cruelly lathi charged and the Lala succumbed to injuries received
during that lathi charge. The youth were boiling with anger and the idea of
taking revenge was nestling in the agitated youthful minds and Bhagat Singh was
no exception. The nation awaited a strong response from the then national
leadership on these incidents. But the Gandhi led Congress Party – amalgam of
various streams of nationalist struggle, sat paralyzed by some inexplicable
indecision. In 1921 Gandhi started the No Cooperation movement which, due to
reasons best left for analysts to analyze, withdrew the movement all of a
sudden and this created a vacuum in the political space in India’s ongoing
political tussle with the British colonialists. The level of peoples’
aspirations and the response levels of the Congress Party were quite at
different wavelengths. Naturally , as it has always happened when the
collective consciousness of people races ahead of the organizations/
leaderships consciousness , which often happens during the highs/ peaks of
social movements ( the long ones), the struggling masses of peasants , workers
and youth feel let down , as it happened
in Punjab then. The youth were extremely agitated by what they felt to be a
serious let down. They yearned for a fitting response to the ruling colonial
power’s nonchalant disdain and disregard for the Indian people. It was in this
context that Bhagat Singh emerged on India’s political horizon. He and
his mates decided to kill the butcher of Jallianwallah – General Dyer. Dyer
escaped but General Sanders was killed. This action garnered tremendous
acceptance for Bhagat Singh and his comrades amongst the people of Punjab as well as the people across the country. His, was
a direct challenge to British Colonial rule in India.
The situation suddenly ripened
the opportunity of opening up a truly revolutionary path to the mainstream
political thoroughfare riddled with potholes of indecision and inactivity
emanating from the class proximity of its constituent political alliances. A
new fuel seemed to have energized the engines of the energetic youth of India. Bhagat
Singh emerged as the beckon of this emerging revolutionary spirit and became
iconic. The killing of General Sanders was a strategic action, which set into
motion Bhagat Singh’s revolutionary political life, which in a few years time
picked up such momentum that it posed a serious challenge to the mainstream
freedom struggle’s compromising character and also simultaneously became the
seed of the anti-imperialist struggle; the agenda for it was created. The
sterile political space was invaded and assaulted by this fresh spirited, Bolshevism
inspired, socialist ideology inspired offensive of Bhagat Singh.
The “Complete Chronicles of Bhagat
Singh”, a pioneering compilation by Prof. Chamanlal, mentions this facet in his
editorial introduction to the life and times of India’s first revolutionary in all
respects of the term. Prof Chamanlal
opines that between 1857 – 1947 , in the 90 years of direct British
Empire rule after the suppression of the country’s first pan Indian anti
colonial mass upsurge in 1857, only 2 movements could claim its political
relevance as truly anti-colonial and ant-feudal in the broad spectrum of
revolutionary struggles and these 2 movements were : (a) the 1914 Gadar Party led movement and (b)
1928 – 1931 period of Hindustan Socialist Republican Association’s movement ,
ideologically lead by Bhagat Singh and organizationally architected by the
extremely skillful Chandrasekhar Azad.
The 1914 Gadar movement, for the
first time, brought in a clear ideological revolutionary outline in the ongoing
socio-political space. Essentially this movement was the first truly anti
colonial and anti feudal movement in India. Lala Hardayal’s intellectual
prowess coupled with the martyrdom of Bhagat Singh’s inspiration – Kartar Singh
Sarabha (barely 18, when he was martyred) – saw this movement arouse the masses
for decisive revolutionary battles. Sohan Singh Josh, Bhagat Singh’s close
comrade, helped us unravel the times that were 1928-1931;understanding the
times in which “talking about revolution” was the pastime of the youth; they
were already thickly into political action along revolutionary agendas and
readying to martyr themselves in the struggle for emancipation. Sohan Singh
stated clearly that an understanding of
the “political world view” of Bhagat Singh should actually begin beyond
the assassination of General Sanders ,
when his thoughts matured politically and flowered and flourished in a 3 year
eruption of a volcano full of the lava of
political thoughts, actions, practices which should assure him a place
in the history of India’s , South Asia’s and thus of course world revolutionary
socialist movement, a place which has not yet been duly accorded to him.
During the period 1928-31, Bhagat
Singh spent time on intensive study and self analysis. He believed this to be a
responsibility of all revolutionary worth his salt. He, of course had the
political acumen to give importance to organization building and launching
actions on the ground. Naujawan Sabha was his initiative and he wrote the
manifesto. This document stands out as a
key document in the understanding of India’s revolutionary movement. It
is in this document that Bhagat Singh delineates the critical approach of
looking at political freedom and economic emancipation of the vast sections of
the Indian populace holistically and laid down the political/strategic –
tactical outlines to achieve this twin aims. It needs to be recalled that
during the time of Bhagat Singh’s above mentioned revolutionary political
positioning, the Congress had never talked of political freedom; they were only
bargaining for limited economic freedom. The emerging Indian bourgeoisie
supported this demand of the Congress. At this time, the feudal elites, after
so long siding with the colonialists, under pressure from peasant movements /
rebellions, was migrating to the Congress shelter. The public imagination had
been aptly captured by Bhagat Singh and his comrades with their call for full political
and economic freedom. The agenda was set by them. The Congress Party was in
crisis. They had to follow suit. This was the reason why the Congress Party was
forced to pass the demand for political freedom at its Lahore Congress in 1929.
Jawaharlal Nehru, the leader of the progressive section within Congress took
the initiative and saw to it that the resolution was passed and adopted in the Congress.
The selection of the city of Lahore
to hold this important Congress conference was understandable. Lahore was Bhagat Singh’s
city and the center of the new wave of revolutionary nationalist struggle which
was rocking the Gandhi led Congress boat of compromising, limited bargaining
politics. Evidently the revolutionaries had created the political pressure.
Prof. Chaman Lal in his book has
highlighted this fact. He writes ,”If you look at Bhagat Singh’s revolutionary
life and practices, it is clear that in the last two and half years of his
short life span, all the political steps were very boldly but maturely and
meticulously thought out and thus achieved expected political dividends. All
his actions – assassinating Sanders, exploding a bomb in the Central Assembly
and courting arrest, leading hunger strikes in jails, using the court premises
and the legal-juridical facade of the British colonialists as his medium of
communicating his political ideas – exposed the naked butchery inherent in the
colonialist regime of the British. To engender the growth and development of an
alert, aware revolutionary socialist political movement, Bhagat Singh used his
own death as well thought (and internally i.e. organizationally sanctioned)
strategic action. These actions gave Bhagat Singh more mileage than expected
and the very institutions/ apparatuses set up by the British imperialist/colonial power to keep
India subjugated , was brilliantly used by him. This was probably the first
time ever that some revolutionary mind had succeeded in using the very
machinery of colonialist / imperial power to propagate socialist ideals.
Uniquely brilliant and pregnant with revolutionary potential for all struggling
masses.
Besides concentrating his
energies on core political issues, he also looked into the social issues of the
country and kept his strong views on the same. Aged 18, in 1925, writing under
the pseudo name “vidrohi” (closest English would be “Rebel”), he wrote a very
important piece – “On problems of Untouchability”. In this article he tore
apart the casteist foundation of Indian society and laid out the outlines of a
socialist society. Not only that, he followed it up with advice to his revolutionary
comrades to become active in building political organizations of untouchables
and insisted on pursuing this activity as an important political task for the organization.
With a clear understanding he wrote,” ....it is the responsibility of
revolutionaries to participate in organization building for the underprivileged
and untouchable section of Indian society”. This was a first ever political position
which tantamount to a clear battle cry against the very edifice of casteism and
the Indian feudal elites witnessed a first time political stance threatening
its very foundations. It is noteworthy that in the coming decades, the father of
Dalit/ backward/untouchable sections’ socio-political crusader, Baba Bhimrao
Ambedkar had given a famous slogan – “Get educated, be organized and Keep struggling”,
which is so close in spirit to what Bhagat Singh proposed. Thus, effectively,
Bhagat Singh also raised serious questions on the oppressive feudal and
inherently anti-woman culture of feudalism. The twin aspect of a holistic
achievement of a state of freedom for people – political and economic – was a
constant and strong focus in all his political writings. Achieving such heights
of revolutionary political thought and action in his short life span of 20 odd
years (he was martyred aged 23 years and some months) was indeed quite amazing.
Pregnant in his thoughts are all the possibilities of re-igniting the passion
of and dream of chasing the ever eluding mirage of turning the course of
civilization towards more humane tracks. And as it did then, during the 1920s,
potentially it can again become the rallying point of revolutionary movements.
Due to pressures exerted by the colonial state machinery to counteract the
growing presence, pace and passionate depth of mass articulation by the then
youth of Punjab in particular and generally
the youth all over the country, Bhagat Singh had to operate underground. But
instead of adversely affecting his ideological political activism, it actually
saw an exponential increase in his political activism. Study of revolutionary
discourses were intensely taken up and coupled with appropriate organization
building to give effect to their well thought out strategic political action
oriented practice – it proved to be a heady brew for igniting the hurt emotions
of the multitudes. In the process, Bhagat Singh read widely on international
revolutionary movements, especially the socialist ones, but always had his eyes
on the ground realities of the Indian sub-continent and kept expressing his
strong critical views on our society.
Prof. Chamanlal very succinctly
sums up the co-ordinates of Bhagat Singh’s political lineage: “.... he drew the
revolutionary spirit of Indian particularity from Lala Hardayal, Kartar Singh
Sarabha and the Gadar Party and internationally he quenched his thirst in
Marxist literature and the Bolshevik revolution.......”
It really is unfortunate that
lack of resources and co-ordinated efforts have severely impeded the sufficient
dissemination of Bhagat Singh’s political ideological ideas. Lot
of his original writings was discovered long after his martyrdom. Who knows if
his writings had become available then, it may have forced a change in the
compromising essence of the mainstream political parties and turned the course
of societal rebuilding process.
To build an effective and strong organization
of Indian revolutionaries , despite operating underground, Bhagat Singh travelled
to the different political nerve centers of the country – Kolkata,
Kanpur,Delhi, Lucknow and met and interacted with revolutionaries of these
areas on political matters - prominent among them being Batukeshwar Dutta,
Chandrasekhar Azad, Ajay Ghosh, Ganesh Vidyarthi etc. In this process a
revolutionary organization based on socialist theories emerged – ‘Hindustani
samajwadi prajatantrik sangathan, in english – Indian Socialist Republican Association.
In the history of Indian nationalist struggle, the aim of setting up a
democratic system based on scientific socialism was indeed a hitherto unique
effort from Bhagat Singh and his comrades. Bhagat Singh was undoubtedly the
ideological fountainhead while Chandrasekhar Azad was the organizational master
mind. All the existing mainstream political parties – Congress, Muslim League, and
Hindu Mahasabha felt equally threatened and were hand in glove with the British
colonialists to help stifle the rapid propagation of their ideas. The
mainstream parties completely avoided any reference or mention of such ideas.
However, the only notable exception was Mohammad Ali Jinnah – elite Congress
leader, who made a very important observation on Bhagat Singh wherein he said
that this young lad talks about a democratic republic and thus cannot be
castigated as merely a terrorist. But the Congress party avoided any mention of
his name forget about any discussion on their ideas. The congress did not even
criticize the death penalty awarded to Sukhdev, Rajguru and Bhagat Singh.
Notwithstanding this, the interest of the common people, especially youth, in
Bhagat Singh’s ideas and ideals kept growing and people highly appreciated his
unflinching revolutionary life and practices. History is witness to such
individual protests like the first judge appointed by the British to hear
Bhagat Singh’s case, Justice Aga Haider refusing to take up the case. But one
always had the likes of Sir Shadilal who being pleased with his British
master’s gratifications took up the case and pronounced the death sentence of
Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. This created a wrath amongst the people of India and people from various corners of Punjab
decided to converge on Lahore
to witness the martyrdom of the three gallant warriors of the country on 24th
March, 1931. The eminent political scientist Prof Randhir Singh reminisced that
aged eight, he was with his father, part of the teeming thousands who were
converging on Lahore
and that was the day he had seen the dream of revolution. Clearly, the martyrdom
of Bhagat Singh had created an unprecedented revolutionary fervor amongst the
people of India,
so much so that the till then arrogant and brutal all powerful British rulers
became scared. Infact the British got so scared of the peoples mood and fearful
that the latent wrath of the people may erupt into an uncontrollable upsurge
strong enough to dismantle the British throne from India, that they secretly preponed
the execution by a day and they were secretly executed on 23rd march,
1931. Such tremors had run down the British spines that they did not even hand
over the dead bodies to their families – fearing some mass upsurge around the
bodies itself. Bhagat Singh and his comrades did send shock waves to make the
once strong knees of colonial/imperialist British rulers totter in fear of
impending mass rebellion. It is a matter of shame that even at this juncture,
the entire leadership of Indian mainstream political movement kept mum. That
his martyrdom would create favorable conditions for a mass political ferment
was a clearly thought out political strategy which worked out as planned.
Bhagat Singh had used his martyrdom as a political weapon. In a way he put his
own life and the very existence of the organization at stake to create the
necessary political consciousness in the masses. This indeed is a uniquely
exemplary aspect of his political heritage. Very few such instances, if any,
dot the lanes of human endeavors for achieving liberation. All his comrades
knew that if captured, Bhagat would be hanged. Knowing this fully well, Bhagat
Singh had debated with his comrades that he would explode the bomb in the
Central Assembly and then use his arrest to take their revolutionary political
ideals to the world at large. None of his comrades agreed; they knew without
Bhagat Singh the party would face an existential crisis because Bhagat Singh was
their ideological fountainhead and their party’s strength was its ideology.
Bhagat Singh’s argument was that people new them but were not aware of their
thoughts and as all routes to propagate their views were closed, there was only
one space left – that of the enemy camp itself ; the court, where he would openly speak about their
thoughts, their ideology. And Bhagat Singh was best equipped to carry out this
task. After three days of intense internal debate, Bhagat Singh got the
sanction of his comrades and it was decided that he and Batukeshwar Dutt would explode
the bomb in the Central Assembly and distribute the pamphlets, which Bhagat
Singh had written, with the headlines reading as – “deaf ears need an explosion
to hear...” To accept ones ideology to be above oneself and exhibit such
steadfast commitment of thought and action was commendable; this ideological
commitment burnt away all personal aspirations and sense of security- even his
life was above the cause, the ideology. And this is exactly why Bhagat Singh
became one of the most original revolutionary of his times and still continues
to be so at present and for coming futures. Articulating ones revolutionary thoughts
from within the very heart of British colonial state apparatus as skillfully as
he did, was in itself unique.
Ramprasad Bismill, another martyr
in the tradition of Bhagat Singh, aptly expressed this thought when he wrote
this “sher”:
“e shahid-e-mulk-o millat mein tere jaan pey nissar,
teri kurbani ka charcha gairon ki mehfil mein.....”
It may be recalled that neither
did he defend himself nor did he accept his “crime”. He simply argued that the
British had absolutely no moral, legal authority to put up cases against the
people of this country; they were invaders on a mission of loot and they should
leave our shores at the earliest. Strategically he opened up a political space hitherto
not thought of , to articulate the struggle against the ruling colonialist/imperialists
using their very own legal/juridical apparatus
- their courtrooms became his platform to voice his deep political
comments and arguments ; this practice was later adopted by many revolutionaries.
Even the Telengana peasant revolt leaders used this tactic extensively. T. Nagi
Reddy, the renowned leftist peasant leader, while defending himself in the
ParvatiPuram Conspiracy case, used the courtroom to argue his case and his
recorded statements later came out in published form – India Mortgaged and
became the principal guiding document of the right to land (and livelihood)
movement. So such is Bhagat Singh’s relevance and importance which should now,
better late than never, be accorded the respectful place it deserves as a living
guide to evolving revolutionary social movements. Bhagat Singh’s struggles
within the jail – leading hunger strikes for better living conditions i.e.
human rights even for prisoners were appreciable. The number of days he was on
hunger strike during his 30 moths in jail was more than the total number of
days that India’s famed Hunger Strike man , Gandhi was on hunger strike through
out his life time! (These facts have been checked by eminent historian A.G.
Noorani and were recorded in his fact finding report published in the English
language magazine Frontline.)
Bhagat Singh stood up against
colonialism/imperialism. He is not to be limited within the confines of a region,
a religion, a nation. He is not a symbol for any one of them individually but
definitely he symbolizes the trait of a committed revolutionary socialist with focus
on fights for social equity and justice. In today’s era of neo liberal
onslaught of ascendant (but structurally deeply fissuring) Capital, where
national boundaries have in a sense lost all meanings, Bhagat Singh’s relevance
is all the more enhanced. To fight the power of
Capital, a working class alliance across boundaries in Southern Asia,
especially between Pakistan and India to begin with and Bhagat Singh is the
lighthouse to guide the storm tossed ship of working class/ struggling masses
alliance across borders in Pakistan and India as also other South Asian
countries.
Combining all current streams of
anti imperialist struggles being waged valiantly across different terrains of
southern Asia with the liberating potential of
Bhagat Singh’s ideas and practices, we could very well possess the potion to
eradicate the roots of the illness of Capitalism afflicting our lives. In the
present socio political scenario Bhagat Singh’s relevance becomes all the more
important than has so far been realized by us. It is precisely with this
possibility in mind that organizations leading the struggling masses of Pakistan, with fraternal support of organizations
in India, have decided to
celebrate the birthday of this great martyr in Lahore on 28th September. Lahore was his city of
political birth and eventually also the city of his martyrdom. National Forum
of Forest Workers and Forest People – NFFPFW, is associating itself very
strongly with this effort of co fighters in Pakistan and it is hoped that other
like minded organizations would extend their support and participation. A
Bhagat Singh Commemoration Committee has been formed for this purpose.
In India we pledge to reclaim the
legacy of Bhagat Singh’s thoughts and practices in the context of revolutionary
movements to fight the demon of Capital. Those who try to limit Bhagat Singh’s
political contribution to the killing of Sanders do a great injustice to the
one of the finest soldiers of revolutionary anti colonial/imperialist struggle.
Thus it is all the more necessary that progressive forces across Pakistan and India should join hands and
position Bhagat Singh as a world historical persona, an icon, a true vanguard
of the world proletariat in the struggle against the dehumanizing rule of
Capital.
In his last letter to his younger
brother Kultar Singh, written a few days prior to his walk to the gallows, he wrote:
“....koi dum ka mehmaan hoon e ahley-mehfil
charagey – sahar hoon bujha chata hoon
Hawa mein rahegi mere khayal ki bijli
ye mushtey khak hai Phani, rahey
rahey, na rahey.........”
The life time of Bhagat Singh was
a short one but his thoughts have lived long and will live longer. He started
off the ideological struggle through the wars he waged on British
colonial/imperialist powers and he has become more relevant today, especially
for Pakistan and India. Bhagat
Singh and his ideas are like the guiding pole star to us. The effort of
fraternal organizations in Pakistan
to reintroduce Bhagat Singh’s revolutionary potential into the fabric of our
current ongoing struggles is more than commendable.
A big delegation from India was all set to participate in the birthday
celebrations in Lahore.
However due to non clearance of Visa formalities by the Pakistan government, the Indian delegation could
not reach Lahore.
It seems the Pakistani government is skeptical about the participation of
Indian representatives for political reasons. Bhagat Singh is still a threat
for the mainstream political formations and tendencies in the sub-continent.
REVOLUTIONARY
REGARDS TO THE REVOLUTIONARY SPIRIT OF BHAGAT SINGH.
INQUILAB
ZINDABAD (Long live Revolution)
(
This coinage “inquilab zindabad was Bhagat Singh’s and he used it in his trial
, in the court rooms of the British colonialists and as he had envisaged ,the
entire spectrum of struggling/ fighting masses across India have had this
slogan on their lips ever since..)
