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People
A Saga
Called Bhagat Singh
 Bhagat Singh was a true patriot; a
nationalist par excellence. He was not today's version of the extremist who
kills innocent people in the name of God or a political cause. The care he took
in making sure no lives were lost, when he exploded a bomb in the British
parliament, bears testimony to this.
The Congress has long ruled India, after her independence, and they have made
sure that nobody apart from Mr. Gandhi and Mr. Nehru have got the recognition
due to them. Apart from the usual number of unsung heroes, even the ones who
were adored by the masses have been slowly and deliberately deleted from the
public memory. The Congress politicians, who by the virtue of the official
powers they wielded through various organizations, made sure of that.
Bhagat Singh's disillusion with Mr. Gandhi's methods is well known. He had good
reasons to be disappointed with the Mahatma. I personally believe that Mr.
Gandhi, in his zeal to spiritualize the freedom movement, made many tactical
mistakes. His biggest blunder was when he called off the Non-Cooperation
Movement. We can never know for sure, but in all probability it would have
gotten us independence sooner and even prevented the partition.
Bhagat Singh rose in stature from one event to the other. He started out as a
hot-blooded youth, but evolved into a thinking 'kranthikari'. He was attracted
towards the socialist model like most of the people during his time. He dreamed
of an India that is not only independent but also fair, just and egalitarian. He
probably would have changed his mind had he seen the mess that socialism got
India into, but then again, we would never know. He died when he was just 23 and
long before India became a free nation.
If Mr. Gandhi was the all-too-well-accepted side of the freedom movement, Bhagat
Singh was the other side of it. He was no less patriotic than the Mahatma, but
languished from the lack of recognition for his cause. He hated being branded as
a hotheaded youth at best and a terrorist at worst. This image he got initially,
was thrust upon him more by the Congress, than the British themselves. With the
notable exception of Mr. Bose, a majority of Congress Wallahs, being the usual
cronies they were, and still are, took the cue from the Mahatma, and tried to
make him appear as irrelevant as possible. At first, they succeeded too.
Then came the imprisonment. Bhagat Singh showed the entire nation he was not
just all anger, exuberance and impetuousness. With his strong silent moral
courage, he convinced everybody, that when the occasion came, he would rise for
it; and rise he did.
His hunger strike in the prison to get better conditions for the prisoners is
one of the most memorable events in the history of Indian freedom struggle. I
believe, even the most ardent Congress Wallah bowed to him inside his heart of
hearts, when Bhagat Singh went through his Satyagraha. After all, he was
practicing what they were preaching all along. Then again, a Congress Wallah is
a loyal crony and this trait is epitomized in the croniest of them all, Mr.
Jawaharlal Nehru - the biggest blunder ever to happen to India. We are still
suffering from his 'nation building'. But that's the theme for a whole new essay
- may be even a tome.
While Congress grew stubborn and more stubborn as the day when Bhagat Singh
would be hanged approached, the rest of the nation began to love him more and
more. The Satyagraha made him a household name, a hero who cared for his
motherland unabashedly without seeking his own fame. Even the current generation
recognizes Bhagat Singh. They might not actually know what all he did, but they
do know he was somebody who mattered. This is despite all the efforts made by
the Congress, after India's independence, to ignore him.
That's why it was so benumbing to the nation, when Bhagat Singh died. Most
possibly, he could have been saved with an effort by the Congress in general,
and the Mahatma in particular. But that was not supposed to be.
Bhagat Singh is our nation's pride. It would do good to the current MTV
generation to know of a man, who lived by his ideals till he breathed his last.
There can be one and only one Bhagat Singh. Indeed.
– Rajesh Ramasubramanian
March 23, 2003
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