Bhagat Singh

Historical setting and early influences

Bhagat Singh emerged during the revival of revolutionary nationalism in northern India in the 1920s. The suspension of the Non-Cooperation Movement in February 1922 disappointed many young nationalists, although their subsequent choices differed. Some entered constitutional politics or mass organisations; others sought revolutionary alternatives. Bhagat Singh’s development combined militant anti-colonialism with a growing engagement with socialist literature, labour struggles and the problem of communal division.

He was born into a politically active Sikh family at Banga in Lyallpur district. His father, Kishan Singh, and uncle, Ajit Singh, were associated with anti-colonial activity. Punjab’s agrarian agitation, the Ghadar tradition and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 13 April 1919 shaped the political environment in which he grew up. He particularly admired Kartar Singh Sarabha, the young Ghadar revolutionary executed in 1915.

Bhagat Singh studied at the National College in Lahore, established under Lala Lajpat Rai’s initiative as an alternative to colonial education. There he encountered fellow activists and participated in intellectual and dramatic activities. His political education was not confined to conspiratorial action: reading, journalism and debate became central to his understanding of revolution.

• Distinguish National College, Lahore, from institutions with similar names elsewhere.
• Avoid reducing his career to revenge for Lajpat Rai’s death: his political commitments developed earlier and became increasingly socialist.

Organisations and the turn towards socialism

The Hindustan Republican Association, formed in 1924, sought to overthrow British rule through an organised revolutionary movement. Leaders associated with its early phase included Sachindranath Sanyal, Ram Prasad Bismil and Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee. The Kakori train action of 9 August 1925 and the subsequent repression seriously weakened its network. Bhagat Singh was not a participant in the Kakori action; this is an important chronological distinction.

In September 1928, revolutionaries met at Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi and reorganised the movement as the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, or HSRA. Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and other associates were central to this phase. The addition of Socialist indicated a clearer commitment to transforming social and economic relations, not merely transferring political authority from British rulers to an Indian elite. Contemporary organisational usage also included Hindustan Socialist Republican Army.

Bhagat Singh helped establish the Naujawan Bharat Sabha in Lahore in 1926. Unlike a clandestine revolutionary network, it provided a public platform for youth mobilisation, political education and opposition to communalism. It advocated independence and sought to connect nationalism with the interests of workers and peasants. The coexistence of open mobilisation and underground activity illustrates the range of revolutionary strategies.

• HRA belongs to the earlier republican phase; HSRA marks the explicit socialist reorientation of 1928.
• Naujawan Bharat Sabha was a youth organisation, not a political party formed after independence.
• Socialism increasingly meant ending exploitation alongside ending foreign rule.

Saunders assassination and the Assembly bombing

The Simon Commission arrived in India in 1928 without any Indian member, provoking widespread protests. On 30 October 1928, police lathi-charged demonstrators in Lahore led by Lala Lajpat Rai. Rai died on 17 November. Revolutionaries held police superintendent James A. Scott responsible for the assault and planned retaliation. On 17 December 1928, however, assistant superintendent J. P. Saunders was mistakenly targeted and killed.

Bhagat Singh and Rajguru carried out the shooting, while Chandrashekhar Azad provided support. Sukhdev was closely involved in the revolutionary network and planning. Durga Devi Vohra, popularly known as Durga Bhabhi, subsequently helped Bhagat Singh escape Lahore by travelling with him in disguise. The intended target, Scott, must therefore be distinguished from the official actually killed, Saunders.

On 8 April 1929, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw bombs in the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi. The action protested repressive measures associated with the Public Safety Bill and Trade Disputes Bill. The bombs caused injuries but no deaths; the stated purpose was demonstrative rather than indiscriminate killing. They scattered leaflets, shouted slogans and deliberately surrendered, intending to use the courtroom to publicise their politics.

The slogan Inquilab Zindabad became inseparable from Bhagat Singh’s public memory, but he did not coin it. Its coinage is generally credited to Urdu poet and nationalist Hasrat Mohani. Bhagat Singh and his associates helped popularise it as an expression of revolutionary transformation.

• Saunders case: Lahore, 17 December 1928; linked to retaliation after Lajpat Rai’s death.
• Assembly bombing: Delhi, 8 April 1929; Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt.
• Batukeshwar Dutt was not one of the three revolutionaries executed on 23 March 1931.

Hunger strike, trial and execution

In prison, Bhagat Singh and fellow undertrial revolutionaries undertook a hunger strike in 1929 against discriminatory treatment. Their demands included adequate food, reading and writing materials, access to newspapers, and freedom from degrading compulsory labour. The protest highlighted the unequal treatment of Indian and European prisoners and sought recognition of the political character of their offences.

Jatindra Nath Das, commonly called Jatin Das, died in Lahore jail on 13 September 1929 after a 63-day hunger strike. His death and the public response to the transport of his body to Calcutta greatly widened sympathy for the prisoners. The hunger strike demonstrated how revolutionaries could use bodily suffering and public mobilisation alongside armed action.

Bhagat Singh and Dutt received transportation for life in the Assembly bombing case. The subsequent Lahore Conspiracy Case concerned the Saunders killing and related revolutionary activities. In May 1930, the colonial government established a special tribunal through an ordinance, bypassing ordinary procedural safeguards. The tribunal sentenced Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev to death on 7 October 1930.

The three were hanged at Lahore Central Jail on 23 March 1931. Their execution occurred shortly after the Gandhi–Irwin Pact of 5 March and before the Karachi session of the Indian National Congress. Gandhi sought commutation, but the pact did not secure it. The Karachi Congress honoured their courage and sacrifice while dissociating itself from political violence. Their commemoration site is at Hussainiwala in present-day Punjab.

• 23 March is observed in India as Shaheed Diwas in their memory.
• Do not confuse it with 30 January, observed as Martyrs’ Day on the anniversary of Gandhi’s assassination.

Ideas, writings and historical significance

Bhagat Singh’s prison writings reveal a thinker concerned with the meaning and limits of revolutionary action. He argued that revolution could not be identified simply with bombs and pistols. Its larger purpose was to reconstruct an unjust social order and end exploitation. His later emphasis on organised workers and peasants indicates an expanding vision of mass political struggle rather than reliance solely on individual heroic acts.

Why I Am an Atheist, written in prison in 1930, defended his rejection of religious belief through reasoning rather than personal vanity. It stressed criticism, independent thought and the willingness to examine inherited assumptions. His atheism should be distinguished from hostility towards particular religious communities: his political outlook opposed communal divisions and sought solidarity across religious identities.

In To Young Political Workers, dated 2 February 1931, he stressed ideological clarity, disciplined organisation and work among the masses. His career therefore occupies an important place in the interaction between revolutionary nationalism and socialist thought. His execution made him a martyr, but an exam-oriented assessment must also recognise the political content of his writings, his opposition to communalism and his criticism of economic exploitation.

• The Philosophy of the Bomb is associated with Bhagwati Charan Vohra, not Bhagat Singh.
• Distinguish martyrdom as a source of popular mobilisation from the long-term organisational programme articulated in his writings.

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