Thoughts of a legend

Bhagat Singh was not just a revolutionary, not just a youth seeking freedom by exercising power, but a resolved visionary. Somewhere within himself, he was developing a philosophy, in the special context of India. He also thought and wrote a lot about Indian society, humanism and labour related issues. Some of his works, which he wrote while in prison, have been lost. Nevertheless, on the basis of many letters, many jail documents etc., many people have gathered a lot of information about Bhagat Singh. About Bhagat Singh, a journalist, Kanak Tiwari, says that "he was intoxicated by Indigenous socialism". He was trying to bring a special intellectual principle to India through his thinking.

While using power, bombs and pistols, on the one hand, he also tried to put this thing in front of the world on the other hand, behind all this, there is a specifically defined goal which he wanted to achieve for his country. And in that, not only the independence of India was the goal, he also wanted to remove all the aggressors or the tyrannical qualities of the ruling class. Famous journalist Kuldeep Nayyar wrote a book 'The Life and Trial of Bhagat Singh'. In this book, he outlined the philosophy of Bhagat Singh, the socialism of Bhagat Singh and his special emphasis on the values of human life. He wrote in this book that Bhagat Singh used to say that revolutionaries of his era attached great importance to human life. He considered human life to be absolutely sacred. "Instead of injuring someone else, we would prefer to sacrifice ourselves in service of humanity." Kuldeep Nayyar further explains that there was no vengeance in Bhagat Singh's mind. It is pertinent to note that when Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw a bomb in the Central Assembly Hall of Delhi, they deliberately threw it in a place where no human life was in danger. In his words, these bombs were detonated because the ears of the British Raj were not listening. And the British Raj will be forced to listen to this bomb blast in order to make the Indian voices heard. They were opposed to the passing of the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill – both of which were anti-people bills. To quote Bhagat Singh: "If the deaf are to hear, the sound has to be very loud. When we dropped the bomb, it was not our intention to kill anybody. We have bombed the British Government. The British must quit India and make her free."

Gandhiji also once wrote: "Bhagat Singh was not a priest of non-violence, but did not consider violence as a religion. These heroes had conquered the fear of death too. Salute to their valour". Bhagat Singh expressed grief over the distances brought by script, caste and religion in Indian society. He also opposed the attacks by Indians on the weaker section of the society as strictly as the atrocities committed by the Englishmen.

Bhagat Singh raised the most critical political question – that of ownership of the means of production, almost a century back with such sharpness and so presciently. He stated: "The struggle of India would continue so long as a handful of exploiters go on exploiting the labour of the common people for their own ends. It matters little whether these exploiters are purely British capitalists or British and Indians in alliance, or even purely Indians."

We all know that Gandhi ji always supported the strategy of 'Pressure-Compromise-Pressure'. Certainly, it was uncharacteristic of Bhagat Singh's popular image – that of a non-compromising, radical revolutionary – when he declared that 'compromise' is a part and parcel of every political struggle, including the revolutionary ones. But, as a mature political ideologue, even though very young, he unabashedly and confidently advocated it by thoroughly substantiating his arguments with proper historical examples. In Bhagat Singh's view, a revolution does not mean a mere transfer of political power from one set of rulers to another set of rulers. Instead, a true revolution is about a radical, transformative and paradigmatic shift in the realm of political power, i.e., from the hands of exploitative rulers to the hands of a progressive democratic setup. A true revolution, therefore, is about the complete overthrow of the existing oppressive order, and the gradual and painstaking construction of a new egalitarian and socialist order.

As a spirited political ideologue, Bhagat Singh observes: "The real revolutionaries are in the villages and in factories, the peasantry and the labourers. But, our leaders do not and cannot dare to tackle them."

"'Revolution' is not the cult of the bomb and the pistol. By 'Revolution', we mean that the present order of things, which is based on manifest injustice, must change. Producers or labourers, despite being the most necessary element of society, are robbed by their exploiters of the fruits of their labour, and deprived of their elementary rights. The peasant, who grows corn for all, starves with his family; the weaver who supplies the world market with textile fabrics, has not enough to cover his own and his children's bodies; masons, smiths and carpenters, who raise magnificent palaces, live like pariahs in the slums. The capitalists and exploiters, the parasites of society, squander millions on their whims" (from the text of Bhagat Singh and B K Dutt's statement, read in the court by Asaf Ali on June 6, 1929).

"….Let us declare that the state of war does exist and shall exist so long as the Indian toiling masses and the natural resources are being exploited by a handful of parasites. They may be purely British Capitalist or mixed British and Indian or even purely Indian. … All these things make no difference. … The war shall continue … till the Socialist Republic is established and … every sort of exploitation is put an end to and humanity is ushered into the era of genuine and permanent peace."

A voracious reader, Bhagat Singh managed to procure during his imprisonment a large number of selected works of prominent authors of his choice. He spent a lot of his time reading and making copious notes on what he read while he awaited execution in jail. His interests included both political and non-political subjects, and his favourite authors were Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell, Charles Dickens, Rousseau, Marx, Rabindranath Tagore, Lala Lajpat Rai, William Wordsworth, Omar Khayyam, Mirza Ghalib, and Ramananda Chatterjee.

Bhagat Singh's 404-page jail diary (In a book — 'The Jail Notebook and Other Writings'— released in recent years) is filled with excerpts, notes and quotes on a wide variety of subjects that reflect not only his serious study and intellectual insight, but also his social and political concerns.

"I am a man and all that affects mankind concerns me"

"Every tiny molecule of ash is in motion with my heat. I am such a lunatic that I am free even in jail."

"Lovers, lunatics and poets are made of the same stuff."

"…by crushing individuals, they cannot kill ideas."

"The sanctity of law can be maintained only so long as it is the expression of the will of the people."

"Social progress depends not upon the ennoblement of the few but on the enrichment of democracy. Universal brotherhood can be achieved only when there is an equality of opportunity – of opportunity in social, political and individual life."

In another quote, Bhagat Singh bemoans the menace of child labour by quoting Charlotte Perkins Gilman's poem, Child Labour, on page 33 of his diary.

"No fledgling feeds the father-bird,

No chicken feeds the hen,

No kitten mouses for the cat,

This glory is for men

We are the wisest strongest race,

Long may our praise be sung,

The only animal alive

That feeds upon its young."

These are just a window into the thoughts of the young charismatic revolutionary who was far ahead of his time; these ideas also put forth Bhagat Singh's vision of an inclusive, just and better world. Indeed, his authentic legacy resides in the fact that he was among one of the first and finest Indian revolutionaries and modern political thinkers who adopted revolutionary progressiveness in thought and adhered to it uncompromisingly in his political actions.

Views expressed are personal