March the 23rd (2016) is the 85th anniversary of the martyrdom of three of India’s great revolutionaries, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, who were hanged at Lahore for working to overthrow the colonial, ‘firangee’ government. The British government thought that with the physical elimination of these freedom fighters their ideas and dreams of a secular and egalitarian independent India would also dissipate and disappear. The rulers were patently wrong as these revolutionaries and heir ideals continue to be an integral part of the people’s memory, their exploits sung far and wide in people’s lore.

On this 85th anniversary of their martyrdom we should remember, and not overlook the fact, that though it was the British colonial powers who hanged them, there were at the time organisations like Hindu Mahasabha, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Muslim League in pre-1947 India which not only remained alien to the ideals of these revolutionaries but also maintained a criminal silence on their hanging.

It is both comic, ironical and shocking therefore that, of these three communal outfits, it is the RSS — which consciously kept itself completely aloof from the anti-colonial struggle –that has, of late, laid claim to the tradition and contributions of these great revolutionaries. Literature is being produced and the discourse too seeks to appropriate them with false a-historic linkages to Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev.

During the NDA I regime when its two senior swayamsewaks, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishan Advani ruled the country, they had made the astonishing claim that Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, founder of the RSS met Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev in 1925 and continued attending meetings with these revolutionaries and even provided shelter to Rajguru in 1927 when he was underground after killing Sanders.[i]

In 2007, for the first time in its history, the Hindi organ of the RSS, Panchjanya came out with a special issue on Bhagat Singh. In the whole body of pre-Partition literature of RSS we do not find even a single reference to these martyrs. In fact, RSS literature of the contemporaneous period, is full of anecdotes showing its indifference to revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh.

Madhukar Dattatreya Deoras, known as Balasahab Deoras, the third chief of the RSS, narrated an incident when Hedgewar saved him and others from following the path of Bhagat Singh and his comrades. Interestingly, this appeared in a publication of RSS itself:
“While studying in college (we) youth were generally attracted towards the ideals of revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh. Emulating Bhagat Singh we should do some or other act of bravery, this came to our mind often. We were less attracted towards Sangh (RSS) since current politics, revolution etc. that attracted the hearts of youth were generally less discussed in the Sangh. When Bhagat Singh and his companions were awarded death sentence, at that time our hearts were so excited that some friends together [we] vowed to do something directly and planned something terrible and in order to make it succeed decided to run away from homes. But to run away without informing our Doctorji [Hedgewar] will not be proper, considering it we decided to inform Doctorji about our decision. To inform this fact to Doctorji was assigned to me by the group of friends.

“We together went to Doctorji and with great courage I explained my feelings before him. After listening to our plan Doctorji took a meeting of ours for discarding this foolish plan and making us to realize the superiority of the work of Sangh. This meeting continued for seven days and in the night from ten to three. The brilliant ideas of Doctorji and his valuable leadership brought fundamental change in our ideas and ideals of life. Since that day we took leave of mindlessly made plans and our lives got new direction and our mind got stabilized in the work of Sangh.”[ii]

Moreover there is ample proof available in the documents of the RSS that establish that the RSS denounced movements led by revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekar Azad and their associates. There are passages in theBunch of Thoughts [collection of speeches and writings of Golwalkar treated as a holy book by the RSS cadres] decrying the whole tradition of martyrs:
“There is no doubt that such men who embrace martyrdom are great heroes and their philosophy too is pre-eminently manly. They are far above the average men who meekly submit to fate and remain in fear and inaction. All the same, such persons are not held up as ideals in our society. We have not looked upon their martyrdom as the highest point of greatness to which men should aspire. For, after all, they failed in achieving their ideal, and failure implies some fatal flaw in them.”[iii]
Golwalkar goes on to tell the RSS cadres that only those people should be adored who have been successful in their lives:
“It is obvious that those who were failures in life must have had some serious drawback in them. How can one, who is defeated, give light and lead others to success?”[iv]

In the whole body of pre-Partition literature of RSS we do not find even a single reference to these martyrs. In fact, RSS literature of the contemporaneous period, is full of anecdotes showing its indifference to revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh.

In fact, Golwalkar’s book has a chapter titled ‘Worshippers of Victory’ in which he openly commits to the fact that he and RSS worship only those who are victorious.
“Let us now see what type of great lives have been worshipped in this land. Have we ever idealised those who were a failure in achieving life’s goal? No, never. Our tradition has taught us to adore and worship only those who have proved fully successful in their life-mission. A slave of circumstances has never been our ideal. The hero who becomes the master of the situation, changes it by sheer dint of his calibre[sic] and character and wholly succeeds in achieving his life’s aspirations, has been our ideal. It is such great souls, who by their self-effulgence, lit up the dismal darkness surrounding all round, inspired confidence in frustrated hearts, breathed life into the near-dead and held aloft the living vision of success and inspiration, that our culture commands us to worship.”[v]

Golwalkar did not name Bhagat Singh but according to his philosophy of life since Bhagat Singh and his companions did not succeed in achieving their goal they did not deserve any respect. According to his formula the British rulers would and should be the natural object of worship as they were able to kill revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh.

It is difficult to find a statement more insulting and denigrating to the martyrs of the Indian Freedom Movement than this.

It will be shocking for any Indian who loves and respects the martyrs of the Freedom Movement to know what Dr. Hedgewar and the RSS felt about the revolutionaries fighting against the British. According to his biography published by the RSS, “Patriotism is not only going to prison. It is not correct to be carried away by such superficial patriotism. He used to urge that while remaining prepared to die for the country when the time came, it is very necessary to have a desire to live while organizing for the freedom of the country.”[vi]

‘Shameful’ is too mild a word to describe the attitude of the RSS towards these young freedom fighters, who had sacrificed their all in the struggle against the British colonial powers. The last Mughal ruler of India, Bahadurshah Zafar, had emerged as the rallying point and symbol of the Great War of Independence of 1857. Golwalkar while making fun of him said:
“In 1857, the so-called last emperor of India had given the clarion call—Ghazio mein bu rahegi jub talak eeman ki/Takhte London tak chalegi tegh Hindustan ki (As long as there remains the least trace of love of faith in the hearts of our heroes, so long, the sword of Hindustan will reach the throne of London.) But ultimately what happened? Everybody knows that.”[vii]

What Golwalkar thought of the people sacrificing their lot for the country is obvious from the following statement as well. He had the temerity to ask the great revolutionaries who wished to lay down their lives for the freedom of the motherland the following question (as if he was representing the British masters):
“But one should think whether complete national interest is accomplished by that? Sacrifice does not lead to increase in the thinking of the society of giving all for the interest of the nation. It is borne by the experience up to now that this fire in the heart is unbearable to the common people.”[viii]

Perhaps this was the reason that RSS produced no freedom fighter, not to mention no martyr in the movement against the colonial rule. Unfortunately, there is not a single line challenging, exposing, criticising or confronting the inhuman rule of the British masters in the entire literature of the RSS from 1925 to 1947. Those who are familiar with the glorious Freedom Struggle of India and sacrifices of martyrs like Bhagat Singh must challenge this evil appropriation of our heroes by the Hindutva camp which betrayed the liberation struggle. We should not allow these communal stooges of the British rulers to kill Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev once again.

(The author taught political science at the University of Delhi. He is a well known writer and columnist)

The post Bhagat Singh, the Tradition of Martrydom and Hindutva appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In a shocking development, the student wing of the RSS put the busts of martyrs Bhagat Singh and Subhash Chandra Bose with the bust of Savarkar on one pedestal at the University of Delhi, late in the night on August 20, 2019. This clubbing of busts of Bhagat Singh and Netaji with VD Savarkar is tantamount to the second killing of the two great martyrs who laid down their lives for the freedom of the country. Bhagat Singh sacrificed his life for a socialist-democratic-secular Republic and Netaji raised Azad Hind Fauj (INA), consisting of people of all religions and regions, for the armed liberation of India. The contemporary documents are witness to the fact that, while Bhagat Singh and Netaji fought against the repressive British rule and the two-nation theory, Savarkar brazenly sided with the British rulers and the Muslim League in order to defeat the all-inclusive freedom struggle.

‘Veer’ Savarkar Submitted FIVE Mercy Petitions & Got Remission of over 35 years
The most shameful and shocking part of this combination of busts is that, whereas Bhagat Singh and Netaji never acceded to the diktats of the colonial masters, never repented and never sought mercy, this Hindutva ‘Veer’ submitted a total of five mercy petitions in all, in 1911, 1913, 1914, 1918 and 1920. This ‘Veer’ though sentenced for 50 years (in 1910-1911), was in the Cellular Jail for less than 10 years and was finally released in 1924 from Yerwada Jail in Maharashtra. Thus, he was able to secure remission of more than 35 years. There were hundreds of other revolutionaries who, in the Cellular Jail and other jails, remained incarcerated for the full term of their convictions. There were, of course, martyrs like Bhagat Singh, Chandershekhar Azad, Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan, Sukhdev, Rajguru and Roshan Singh, who neither begged for mercy nor were shown any leniency. There were also a large number of Ghadarite revolutionaries and Bengal revolutionaries, who refused “to plead with the British authorities for mercy. Nor did they agree to give up their struggle for India’s liberty in exchange of their own personal liberty.”[i]
How Savarkar Backstabbed Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose
When Netaji, during the World War II, was trying to secure foreign support for the liberation of the country and to organise a military attack on the northeast of the country, which finally culminated in the formation of ‘Azad Hind Fauj’ (Indian National Army), it was Savarkar who offered full military cooperation to the British masters. While addressing the 23rd session of the Hindu Mahasabha at Bhagalpur in 1941, he said:

“The war, which has now reached our shores, directly constitutes, at once, a danger and an opportunity, both of which render it imperative that the militarization movement must be intensified and every branch of the Hindu Mahasabha in every town and village must actively engage itself in rousing the Hindu people to join the army, the navy, the aerial forces and the different war-craft manufactories.”

It was Savarkar’s direct call for Hindus to join the British armed forces. To what extent Savarkar was willing to help the British would be clear by his words:

“So far as India’s defence is concerned, Hindudom must ally unhesitatingly, in a spirit of responsive co-operation, with the war effort of the Indian government in so far as it is consistent with the Hindu interests…Again, it must be noted that Japan’s entry into the war has exposed us directly and immediately to the attack by Britain’s enemies. Consequently, whether we like it or not, we shall have to defend our own hearth and home against the ravages of the war and this can only be done by intensifying the government’s war effort to defend India. Hindu Mahasabhaits must, therefore, rouse Hindus, especially in the provinces of Bengal and Assam, as effectively as possible to enter the military forces of all arms without losing a single minute.”[ii]

Savarkar’s total support to the British war efforts, when leaders like Subhash Chandra Bose were trying to chalk out a strategy to throw out the British rule from India through armed struggle, was the result of a well-thought-out Hindutva design. It was in Madura (22nd session of the Hindu Mahasabha, 1940) that he made his choice clear. His support to the British rested on the logic that “it is altogether improbable that, in this war, England will be defeated so disastrously as to get compelled to hand over her Indian Empire, lock, stock and barrel into German hands”, thus believing in the invincibility of the British Empire.

It was not as if Savarkar was unaware of the strong resentment, which was brewing in the ranks of common Indians, against such an approach. He brushed aside any criticism of Hindu Mahasabha’s decision of co-operating with the British in war efforts as,

“political folly into which the Indian public is accustomed to indulge in, thinking that because Indian interests are opposed to the British interests in general, any step in which we join hands with the British government must necessarily be an act of surrender, anti-national, of playing into the British hands and that co-operation with the British government in any case and under all circumstances is unpatriotic and condemnable.”[iii]

Savarkar spent the next few years in organizing recruitment camps for the British armed forces, which were to slaughter the cadres of INA in different parts of the North-East later. The Madura conference of the Hindu Mahasabha concluded with the adoption of an ‘immediate programme’, which resolved “to secure entry for as many Hindus recruits as possible into the army, the navy and the air forces”.[iv] He also informed them that, through the efforts of Hindu Mahasabha alone, one lakh Hindus were recruited in the British armed forces in one year. It is to be noted that, during this period, the RSS continued to invite Savarkar to address their youth gatherings for motivating the latter to join the British armed forces.

The Hindu Mahasabha, under Savarkar’s leadership, organised high-level Boards in different regions of the country, to help Hindus seeking recruitment in the British armed forces. We come to know through the following words of Savarkar, that these Boards were in direct contact with the British government. Savarkar informed the cadres,

“To deal with the difficulties and the grievances which the Hindu recruits to the Army find from time to time, a Central Northern Hindu Militarization Board has been formed by the Hindu Mahasabha at Delhi with Mr. Ganpat Rai, B.A., L.L.B Advocate, 51, Panchkuin Road, New Delhi, as convener. A Central Southern Hindu Militarization Board is also formed under the Chairmanship of Mr. L.B. Bhopatkar, M.A., LL.B., President Maharashtra Provincial Hindusabha, Sadashiv Peth, Poona. All complaints or applications for information etc. should be addressed by those Hindus who want to enter the forces or have already enlisted themselves in them, to the above addresses. Sir Jwala Prasad Shrivastav; Barrister Jamnadasji Mehta, Bombay; Mr. V.V. Kalikar, M.L.C., Nagpur and other members on the National Defence Council or the Advisory War Committee will certainly try their best to get these difficulties removed so far as possible, when they are forwarded by these Militarization Boards on to them.”[v]

This clearly shows that the British Government had accommodated leaders of the Hindu Mahasabha on its official war committees. Those, who declare Savarkar as a great patriot and freedom fighter, must bow their heads in shame when they read the following instruction from Savarkar to those Hindus who were to join the British forces:
“One point, however, must be noted in this connection as emphatically as possible, in our own interest, that those Hindus who join the Indian [read the British] Forces should be perfectly amenable and obedient to the military discipline and order which may prevail there, provided, always, that the latter do not deliberately aim to humiliate Hindu Honour.”[vi]

The British Government was in regular touch with Savarkar so far as the organisation of its highest war bodies was concerned. It included individuals whose names were proposed by Savarkar. This is made clear from the following thanksgiving telegram Savarkar sent to the British government. Bhide’s volume tells us that,

“The following Telegram was sent by Barrister V.D. Savarker [sic], the President of the Hindu Mahasabha to (1) General Wavell, the Commander in-Chief; and (2) the Viceroy of India on the 18th instant (July 18, 1941).

YOUR EXCELLENCY’S ANNOUNCEMENT DEFENCE COMMITTEE WITH ITS PERSONNEL IS WELCOME. HINDUMAHASABHA VIEWS WITH SPECIAL SATISFACTION APPOINTMENT OF MESSERS KALIKAR AND JAMNADAS MEHTA.”[vii] [As per the original text.]

It is important to note here that even the Muslim League, sub-serving the interests of the British rulers, refused to join Defence Committees established by the government, as done by Savarkar.

Savarkar Believed In The Two-Nation Theory & Formed Coalition Governments with the Muslim League

Savarkar openly opposed the dream of Bhagat Singh and Netaji, of a free, democratic and secular India. On the contrary, he demanded an exclusive Hindu nation and chalked out his Two-nation theory long before the Muslim League. While addressing the 19th Session of Hindu Mahasabha at Ahmedabad in 1937, he said:

“As it is, there are two antagonistic nations living side by side in India. Several infantile politicians commit the serious mistake in supposing that India is already welded into a harmonious nation, or that it could be welded thus for the mere wish to do so. These, our well-meaning but unthinking friends, take their dreams for realities. That is why they are impatient of communal tangles and attribute them to communal organizations. But the solid fact is that the so-called communal questions are but a legacy handed down to us by centuries of cultural, religious and national antagonism between the Hindus and Moslems… Let us bravely face unpleasant facts as they are. India cannot be assumed today to be a unitarian and homogenous nation, but on the contrary there are two nations in the main: the Hindus and the Moslems, in India.”[viii]

The fact should not be missed that Muslim League passed its Pakistan resolution in 1940 only. Savarkar, the great philosopher and guide of RSS, not only propagated the Two-Nation Theory long before but entered into alliances with Muslim League in order to break the ‘Quit India’ Movement. While delivering the Presidential address to the 24th session of the Hindu Mahasabha at Cawnpore (Kanpur) in 1942, he defended hobnobbing with the Muslim League in the following words,

“In practical politics, also, the Mahasabha knows that we must advance through reasonable compromises. Witness the fact that only recently in Sind, the Sind Hindu Sabha, on invitation, had taken the responsibility of joining hands with the League itself in running a coalition Government. The case of Bengal is well known. Wild Leaguers, whom even the Congress, with all its submissiveness, could not placate, grew quite reasonably compromising and sociable as soon as they came in contact with the Hindu Mahasabha and the Coalition Government, under the premiership of Mr. Fazlul Huq and the able lead of our esteemed Mahasabha leader Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerji, functioned successfully for a year or so to the benefit of both the communities. Moreover, further events also proved demonstratively that the Hindu Mahasabhaits endeavoured to capture the centres of political power only in the public interests and not for the loaves and fishes of the office.”[ix]

It is to be noted that, in this coalition government, Syama Prasad Mukherjee, second in command of the Hindu Mahasabha, was the Deputy Premier. Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League also formed a coalition government in NWFP.

With these irrefutable facts from history, even available in the Hindutva organizations’ archives, the appearance of Savarkar’s bust with the great martyrs only means a second killing of the latter.

The post Second killing of Bhagat Singh & Subhash Chandra Bose by the Hindutva Gang appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The group which planned this included a girl Neelam (with post graduate degree) and a boy (Sagar Shinde) who were spraying the gas outside the parliament around the same time. Neelam Azad, is from Haryana’s Jind and has many degrees to her credit, M.A, M.Ed, M.Phil and has also cleared the National Eligibility Test. She could not get any job. Slogans shouted by them were against dictatorship, and for protection of the Constitution (Tanashahi Khatam Karo, Sambvidhan ki Raksha Karo); they drew attention to unemployment and also shouted Bharat Mata Ki Jai and Vande Matram.

These youth, were part of a social media group, “Bhagat Singh Fans club.” They came in contact with each other through this online platform. Their inspiration came from the socialist revolutionary Bhagat Singhs’ similar action in the Central Assembly hall in 1929. One recalls that Bhagat Singh with his friend Batukeshwar Datt had thrown the bomb from the visitors’ gallery, with a caution that nobody is hurt by that. They also threw leaflets in the assembly against British colonial rule.

These actions of the youth, who have been booked under UAPA, however misguided, is the most powerful attempt to bring the issue of rising unemployment to national attention. To recall, Bhagat Singh and his comrades had resorted to this method as they knew that their voice would not be carried by the media. There is an uncanny similarity to the present situation where the ‘mainstream’ media, appropriately called ‘Godi media’, is totally apathetic to the concerns of average people. The problems of rising prices, decline on the level of hunger Index and rising unemployment has not been its concern at all.

When Modi was campaigning in 2014, BJP promised that they will be creating 20 million (2 Crore) jobs per year. The real picture has been a total betrayal of this promise. The first major blow to the employment situation came with demonetisation, where crores of workers lost their jobs in the small-scale rural sector. The ruling Government has been under total influence of big Corporate and creation of new jobs has been put on the backburner. On the contrary some of the bigwigs (Narayan Murthy) have even given calls for a 70-hour work week for youth! In most of the unorganised sectors, working hours have been pushed up from eight to 12 hours per day.

A report in The Economic Times points out that “The overall rate (of unemployment) rose to 10.05% last month from 7.09% in September, data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Ltd. showed, and the highest since May 2021. Rural unemployment jumped to 10.82% from 6.2%, while the urban rate eased slightly to 8.44%”. Also The same paper on 1^st November 2023 reported, “Last month, Indian tech-services outsourcing firms, including Infosys Ltd. and Wipro Ltd., announced plans to halt hiring of college graduates, potentially leaving thousands of fresh engineering students without jobs.”

All this is taking place in the background where the democratic space for protests is shrinking; the Universities are preventing the student unions’ elections and blocking the seminars which may be critical of Government policies.

While it is an open and shut case of frustrated students-youth expressing their anguish, though through wrong means, the ruling Government has now charged them under the oppressive UAPA. While Rahul Gandhi attributed it to the rising unemployment and rising prices, the Home Minister has not made any statement in Parliament despite the opposition demanding it. Prime Minister Modi, rather than seeing the obvious, stated that this act is a serious breach and there is a need to find the “elements” behind it. It is true that the chink in the armor of security system in Parliament has been exposed; it’s vulnerable to even minor attempts like that of these youth. On the other hand what has come to surface is that there is a need to address the issue of unemployment rather than distracting the attention to try to see it as some sort of a conspiracy.

It is clear these youths are not part of any terror group. Mercifully none of the involved youth is a Muslim or from any other terror related organization. The latter would have given an unfortunate boost to the efforts of those out to intensify Islamophobia.

The youth have brought to fore once again that it is not enough just to pay lip service to Bhagat Singh. His concern for the deprived sections of society needs to be brought to the fore. Let us remember Bhagat Singh’s message of mass movements was central to his ideology. The path of violence was abandoned by him soon enough. He had come to the conclusion that we can achieve independence only through mass mobilization. His act in the Central Assembly of throwing the bomb was meant only to make the ‘deaf hear’ and not meant for killing anybody. It is heartening to note that our youth are turning to Bhagat Singh for guidance in the current troubled times and that many groups in the name of Bhagat Singh have sprung up.

The whole episode should be taken in the proper spirit unlike the attempt of Godi media in looking for villains of the piece. The aim of youth is crystal clear; their inspiration is not from any ideology of terror but from the greatest revolutionary of our freedom struggle.

The youth have adopted a wrong method without doubt. Their anguish should be recognised, however, and the message behind the whole episode of revising our ‘employment generation’ policy needs to be given a fresh and serious look rather than trying to unearth a ‘non-existent’ conspiracy.

Related:

CMIE Unemployment Data: HP & Punjab better than national average; Haryana has one of three persons jobless

Impressive gov’t employment scheme data does not reflect true depth of job crisis

1 crore unemployed labourers in India: Ministry of Labour and Employment

The post Pangs of Unemployment: Invoking Bhagat Singh appeared first on SabrangIndia.

One witnesses a forceful return of religions’ political hold, which corners our diasporas into a mix of ethnic-cultural-religious syncretic identity, and traps us, as if we were under ‘house arrest’, into our presumed religion or culture. In fact, this is an ahistorical fantasy, which denies us any access to freedom of thought and universal rights.

In these dire circumstances, we welcome the translation into French, the publication and the wide distribution of Bhagat Singh’s 1930 pamphlet “Why I am an atheist” as particularly timely.

As feminists, we already faced the identity sledgehammer argument in our countries of origin: “Feminism is Western; you are traitors to your own country, to your culture, to your origins; you have sold out to the West, to capitalism, to Western imperialism” etc…

However, a research undertaken by feminist activists in the ’90s in so-called Muslim countries shows that women, since the inception of Islam, already demanded the right to education, to freedom of movement, to political representation, to financial autonomy, to celibacy or to the right to chose one’s partner after thorough agreements had been designed in order to draft a contract which was satisfactory to both parties, etc…

From that time onwards, women took action to guarantee all these rights (1) We had to fight hard to get back the ownership of our long lived feminist history, by challenging the Sirens’ song of reactionary identity politics – and as well, one must emphasise here, the Sirens’ song of patriarchy happily covering up in the midst of our Left forces, in our countries.

As revolutionaries as well, we had to confront the identity argument: “Marxism is a Western way of thinking, alien to our culture; you are traitors to the nation; sold out to the West, etc…”

And now once more, we must reclaim and own back our revolutionary history, by bringing together the stories and analysis of the many agnostics, atheists and secularists in our countries. For, as Bhagat Singh says, “All religions, faiths, theological philosophies, and religious creeds and all other such institutions in the long run become supporters of the tyrannical and exploiting institutions, men and classes. Rebellion against any king has always been a sin in every religion. “

In order to reclaim our historical right to atheism, to ground ourselves into our long secular tradition, we must today confront on the ground the Hindutva as well as Daesh (ISIS) and many other – intolerant Buddhists, orthodox Jews, Opus Dei, etc… religious extreme-rights, which, when they are in power, claim their gods granted them the right and duty to physically eliminate all the Untermensch. “Divine Repression”, as Bhagat Singh would say… Be it in India, in Bangladesh, in Pakistan, in Algeria, in Nigeria, or … in Paris and Brussels, many lost their lives, including recently, for having claimed this universal right: to live as a freethinker and to mock the official representatives of established creeds.

Let us pay tribute here to the Bangladeshi and Saudi bloggers, to the Indian writers, to the Pakistani activists struggling against the Blasphemy Law, to the French cartoonists, etc … who fought for our freedom.

Clearly, it is an illusion to hope that the West will be spared by the rise of religious extreme-rights and that their sphere of influence will be limited to the African and Asian countries we came from. In Europe and North America, societies are increasingly dividing themselves along the lines of ethnic or religious antagonistic ‘communities’ which want to be ruled by their own religious laws (“Do not say that it is His law!”, exclaims Bhagat Singh) and their own customs. In the process, they get rid of democracy and universal rights, in the name of an ‘identity’ which only keeps from the past the most conservatives elements – especially regarding women’s rights.

Even in France, the very principle of secularism is now under threat – whether because it is gradually abandoned by political forces, formerly on the Left, who made secularism happen, or whether it is sidetracked by political forces, on the extreme-right.

In these troubled times, translating and publishing in the French language this book by Bhagat Singh reminds all those who, right here, deny us our libertarian history – in the name of an identity they believe is necessarily grounded in religion – and who grant a growing political power to religions’ official representatives, that “The morbid alliance between religious preachers and possessors of power” constitutes a mortal danger.

The writer is Algerian sociologist, founder and former international coordinator of the Women Living Under Muslim Laws international solidarity network (wluml.org), founder and present international coordinator of the international network, Secularism Is A Women’s Issue (siawi.org).

This article was published in French by Editions de l’Asymétrie, as a forward to Bhagat Singh’s “Why I am an atheist”. The author has translated it into English.

The post Remembering Bhagat Singh, Reclaiming the Right to be A Free Thinker appeared first on SabrangIndia.

First published on:  28 Sep 2016

“The communists’ ideologues conveniently ignore the truth that the roots of Bhagat Singh’s ideology lie in the very concept of Hindu Rashtra,” claimed an article by Dipin Damodharan, published on the birth anniversary of Bhagat Singh, September 28, 2010.

Damodharan, as introduced at the end of the article, is a student pursuing Masters in Communication and Journalism (MCJ) at the Calicut University of Kerala. He argues: “To my knowledge, he sacrificed his precious life for a noble cause, for the liberation of Bharat from the invaders, for nationalism. Undoubtedly Bhagat’s legacy belongs to every Bharati. But for the communists (experts in transforming sheep to dog), he died for communism and not for nationalism. They are incessantly advocating Bhagat as their poster boy, for several years they have been using Goebbelsian tricks to claim Bhagat’s legacy.”

The author further argues, “They are injecting fake stories about Bhagat into the blood of youth who are ignorant about Bharat’s history. Discarding the historical facts, the communists become angry with the Sangh inspired organizations for propagating Bhagat’s ideals”.

To justify his claims, the author cites examples like Bhagat Singh was born in a family who were staunch followers of the Arya Samaj, was educated at Dayanad Anglo Vedic (DAV) School and National College of Lahore, was inspired by the sagas of two great patriots Chatrapati Shivaji and Maharana Pratap and finally, they link at his association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Of course, without any reference! To any of us who has read Bhagat’s writings, it is nothing but absurd or, if we go by Damodharan’s own definition — it is an attempt to transform sheep in to a dog.

Bhagat Singh himself, in his most famous writing, ‘Why I Am An Atheist’ clarifies the above absurdities.

Bhagat Singh wrote, “I deny the very existence of that Almighty Supreme being… My grandfather under whose influence I was brought up as an orthodox Arya Samajist. An Arya Samajist is anything but an atheist. After finishing my primary education I joined the DAV. School of Lahore and stayed in its Boarding House for one full year… Later on, I joined the revolutionary party… My previous faith and convictions underwent a remarkable modification… I had become a pronounced atheist.”

Dismissing Dipin Damodharan’s remarks as absurd and ignoring them is not what we should do, as these attempts are not abrupt. They are pre-planned and occupy various forms of mass communication. Communal forces are not letting go of any chance to misuse these heroes for furthering their communal agendas.

Last year (2010), a month before the Ayodhya verdict, the ‘Bhagwa Brigade’ (saffron brigade) gave a public call to recruit 10,000 Hindu youth from Madhya Pradesh (MP) for the mission to establish a Hindu Rasthra.

To do so, they issued a poster and pasted copies of it all over the state of Madhya Pradesh. Notably in the poster, with Sawarkar, Shivaji and others, one finds pictures of Bhagat Singh, Baba Saheb Ambedkar and Subhas Chandra Bose, being portrayed as Hindu revolutionaries! One might not have any objection in portraying Shivaji, Maharana Pratap, Jhansi ki Rani and Chandra Sekhar Azad as Hindu icons, but portrayal of Bhagat Singh, Baba Saheb Ambedkar and Subhas Chandra Bose in the same vein is really objectionable and very disturbing, because of their known commitment to secularism and for being non communal.

Like Bhagat Singh, it was very clear to Subhas Chandra Bose of who he was and what he wanted. In 1929, while delivering a speech at Lahore Students’ Conference, Lahore, he famously said, If we are to bring about a revolution of ideas, we have first to hold up before us, an ideal which will galvanise our whole life. That ideal is Freedom. But freedom is a word which has a varied connotation and even in our country, the conception of freedom has undergone a process of evolution. By freedom I mean all-round freedom i.e., freedom for the individual as well as for society, freedom for man as well as for woman, freedom for the rich as well as for the poor, freedom for all individuals and for all classes. This freedom implies not only emancipation from political bondage but also equal distribution of wealth, abolition of caste barriers and social iniquities and destruction of communalism and religious intolerance. This is an ideal which may appear Utopian to hard-headed men and women — but this ideal alone can appease the hunger of the soul.”

An archive photograph of Bhagat Singh in jail in Lahore. Image: The Hindu

Ambedkar converted to Buddhism  in protest of the jati-varna system of Hinduism, and was very clear about what he stood for. He repeatedly opposed the system of Hinduism let alone the ideology of Hindutva. He had asked his followers to stop the Hindu Rashtra from becoming a reality at all costs.

But again, Hindu communal political parties like the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), spread deliberate confusion about him by misquoting him and depicting him as ‘their’ leader. Last year (2010), on the eve of 6th December (anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition), on the walls on Jamia Nagar, a new kind of poster was seen.

The poster was put up by Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of BJP, and read thus, ‘Yugh Purush Baba Saheb Ambedker ke nirvana divas par Dr. Bheem Rao Ambeker Cricket Tournament-10’, with a relatively larger picture of Baba Saheb (as compared to) other leaders of BJYM, who were shown promoting the event.

The event which was scheduled to take place in Malviya Nagar had absolutely no connection with Jamia Nagar, except that both finish on the same last name! While seeing the poster, one wonders what it has to do with Jamia Nagar. At the same time, the same or any other poster about the event was not seen in neighbouring Jullena or Sukhdev Vihar, which have a dominant non-Muslim population, let alone other areas of Delhi. But of course, it was put up for diverting the attention of the Muslims from the anniversary of demolition of Babri Masjid. Moreover, to my understanding, it was meant to convey a message to the ordinary resident of Jamia nagar (read Muslim) that either, Ambedkar was a leader of the BJP, or at least somebody who sympathised with its ideology and those of its allies, which is absolutely wrong and ridiculous, to say the least.     

Hindutva-waadis are hell bent on distorting facts and influencing the common sense through the medium of mass communication.

On the eve of Valentine’s Day, these forces spread a rumor that on  February 14, 1931, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru & Sukhdev were hanged till death by British government and we celebrate this day as Valentine day! Isn’t it surprising & painful? I am told by a journalist friend of mine from south India that, this is the standard question you have to counter if you say what is wrong with celebrating Valentine’s Day! This, when it is a well-established historical fact that Bhagat Singh, along with Sukhdev and Rajguru were martyred on March 23, 1931 and not on February 14.

The zealots don’t stop there. They have even tried spreading misinformation through Wikipedia, the preferable web dictionary for the net savvy, to know who is who and what is what.

According to a news report that had appeared in The Hindu, ‘the Wikipedia page on Bhagat Singh underwent many editing changes on February 13 and 14, Valentine’s day ’. The date of Bhagat Singh’s hanging had been changed from  March 23 to February 14, 1931. And it was due to such propaganda that an international news website, reported, “While the whole world observes 14th February as Valentine’s Day, not many Indians remember that the day was also when the Indian freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were hanged to death by the Britishers in Lahore, Pakistan”. Similarly, this  February 13, (2011) Twitter was on fire with talk of the February 14 as Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom day next day, and even the editor of a Hindi news channel mourned that everyone was looking forward only to Valentine’s Day. He was shamed into apologising the next day.

We will have many days every year to remember Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Ashfaqullah Khan, Baba Saheb Ambedkar, Subhas Chandra Bose and others, on their martyrdom, death, and birth anniversaries. This puts greater responsibility on us—the responsibility of not believing in distorted facts, but to keep alive the belief of what these revolutionaries had lived and died for.

In order to pay our real tribute to the makers of modern India, we should counter the propaganda of communal forces at various levels. The choice is ours, whether we want to contest such vandalism or let it go uncontested until such time as the common masses have no option but to believe, A for Ambedkar – A for Advani, B for Bhagat Singh, B for Bhagwa, S for Subhas Chandra Bose, S for Savarkar…

Are we ready for that?

(Mahtab Alam is an activist and writer. He tweets @MahtabNama . This article was first published in Kafila.org on  March 23, 2011)

The post Freedom from Communalism & Religious Intolerance was Bhagat Singh’s Ideal, Never Hindu Rashtra appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On the 28th of September 2022, Naujawan Bharat Sabha – Maharashtra and Stree Mukti League Maharashtra celebrated the 115th birth anniversary of the great revolutionary martyr Bhagat Singh in Mankhurd, Mumbai with great vigour and pomp… Around 50 persons participated in a demonstration and rally with a cultural programme .With intense attention people observed the proceedings in the basti area.

The program was the culmination of a 5-day campaign in different slum settlements of Govandi-Mankhurd under the name of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Smruti Sankalp Abhiyan. Over the course of 5 days, activists of NBS and SML organized a sustained and concentrated campaigns in the areas of Rafiq Nagar, Khadi, Gautam Nagar, Zakir Hussain Nagar, Sathe Nagar and Lallubhai Compound. Through slogans, revolutionary songs, music and a satirical play (Safdar Hashmi’s Desh Ko Aagey Badhao), the life and thought of Bhagat Singh was projected to the working people of Mankhurd.

Speaking about the relevance of Bhagat Singh today, NBS and SML activists said that it was Bhagat Singh who first propounded what freedom should really mean for the country: Bhagat Singh said that we must demand freedom for the bottom 90% of the people, not just the top 10%; and that we must extinguish exploitation of people by both domestic and foreign exploiters. While by foreign exploiters, Bhagat Singh referred to the British, he also emphasized the need to overthrow of the domestic exploiters, the Tatas, Birlas and the Wadias and the like who built their empires by collaborating with the British, ruthlessly exploiting workers and brutally suppressing any resistance. Bhagat Singh dreamed of an India where workers and peasants would unite in anger to break their chains, would kick out the capitalists, capture state power in their own hands and create the foundation for an egalitarian society, where exploitation of any human being by any other would become impossible. Bhagat Singh and his comrades saw it as the imperative task of the youth, the most energetic and capable section of the masses, to invest every ounce of their energy to knit this radical change. They had formed Naujawan Bharat Sabha in 1925 with the purpose of recruiting sensitive and strong-willed young men and women into a well knit army for this heroic struggle. NBS today is embarking on continuing this historic mission. Speaking at various places in Govandi-Mankhurd, activists of NBS stated that the dismal state of government schools, colleges and hospitals in the country, the intensifying scale of unemployment, hyper inflation, ascendancy of communalism as well as rising instances of violence against women and caste atrocities the general sense of helplessness prevailing among the public remind us that we are not liberated , that our freedom is being continuously hampered by the Ambanis, Adanis, Tatas and Birlas in whose interest the whole country is being turned into an imperialist egg., with their virtual monopoly. They pump massive amounts of money into the electoral process to ensure that only those individuals and parties who champion their interests get elected. They exercise a complete monopoly over the media organizations, which only publishes news which promotes their prospects,. The police and the army act as their instruments to mercilessly supress working people who pose a threat to their profits. The politicians act as agents of the capitalist class, sit in the parliament and draft laws to snatch working people’s rights, ensure unemployment stays high so that wages remain low. There is no path for progress, freedom and human emancipation in such a world. Only the rebellion of the youth can transform a society trapped in such a morass of stagnation and decay and perform the task of transforming this oppressive system into an egalitarian social order. The wise and courageous sons and daughters of the working people will have to come forward and take the message of revolution to every house and to every person from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Assam to the Gulf of Kutch. They will not only have unite and fight for their rights, but they will have to participate in the struggle for justice of every section of the society. They will not only have to serve the toiling masses but become one with them by becoming a part of their lives and their struggle.

Speaking about the program of the NBS, the activists said that the main slogan of NBS is Equal Education for All and Employment for All. NBS is raising people’s consciousness of their democratic rights like right to healthcare, water, electricity etc. and lead struggles to obtain them. NBS has formulated a programme of continuous campaigns for a new revolutionary enlightenment among the youth through the channels of libraries, study circles, publicity campaigns, pamphlets, magazines, books etc. financed through public contributions .It is arming them with the weapons of a scientific temperament and the correct historical perspective. NBS is running wide publicity campaigns against alcoholism, dowry system, caste system, untouchability and all social evils. But all this is not sufficient. The activists said that the task of NBS is to knit all these struggles and campaigns together to construct a broad platform to overthrow the brutal anti-people capitalist system and establish an egalitarian social order. This was the dream of our martyrs. Speaking to the public, the activists of NBS and SML appealed to the youth to join Naujawan Bharat Sabha pledge their to the struggle to build a free India, the India of Bhagat Singh’s dreams. NBS collected hundreds of voluntary financial contributions during the 5 day program in which many individuals praised the activists for carrying out such a program. Many dozen people also provided their contact details expressing a wish to join the organization.

I was impressed with this programme from a qualitative viewpoint admiring the tenacity of the organisers and activists to confront he Neo-fascism.prevailing today. Majority of the participants were under 25 .It is admirable that the organisation in a very systematic manner organised a preparatory campaign and conducted a programme in accordance or in tune with the ground reality. Also impressive participation of female students. It reflects the resurrection of youth in the revolutionary democratic fold. It is admirable that these groups are at grassroots level creating class consciousness with dedicated mass work., in Mumbai, which is the very egg of imperialism .Such youth constitute the best sons of our country to emancipate our country from the yoke of imperialism and Hindutva fascsim.It is of importance for Bhagat Singh’s ideas to be brought to the forefront by connecting his ideology with the day to day struggle of the masses.

Harsh Thakor is a freelance journalist who has covered mass movements around India

Courtesy: https://countercurrents.org

The post Naujwan Bharat Sabha and Stree Mukti League commemorate 115th birthday of Shaheed Bhagat Singh in Mumbai appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Today September 28 is the birth anniversary of Bhagat Singh, the revolutionary freedom fighter from India who dared to, at a young age, fight imperialism all over the world! Although he was hanged by colonial rulers at the age of only 23 in 1931, he is remembered with affection and awe. Millions in India and elsewhere take inspiration from his words and struggle, an influence that is deepening with the passage of time.

He is a revered freedom fighter in India, appropriated by even those who oppose his ideas (of an exploitation free society) who never forget to pay lip sympathy to him. Those who openly flout his idea of harmony and the unity of people also try to sing his praise without dwelling on his core passions! On the one hand those who are deeply committed to his ideas of equality, justice and communal harmony and a wider struggle against imperialism still find great strength and inspiration from him in increasingly difficult and hostile conditions.

When Bhagat Singh started his journey as a revolutionary with a small number of dedicated activists, his group was woefully short of resources and even sympathisers could think of according only a marginal role to such young men and women. What Bhagat Singh lacked by way of experience, he sought to made up by study, devouring book after book on struggles of people and revolutions, so much so that when jail guards came to take him for executing the death sentence, he was still reading such a book and Bhagat Singh told the guards to let him finish the page he was reading as a ‘revolutionary is meeting a revolutionary.’

His deep study took him more and more towards socialist ideas and it was largely at his insistence that the word ‘Socialist’ was added to the name of their organisation. This also led him to a much higher commitment towards solidarity with similar struggles against imperialism. He said that struggles of India and world would continue till an exploitation-free society can be established.

What is both inspiring and amazing is that this small group of highly courageous freedom fighters, overcoming all adversity, managed to reach out to millions of people and even when Bhagat Singh and his close colleagues had been imprisoned, their conduct in courts as well as their continuing resistance and protest fasts within jail, they continued to remain an inspiration for an ever-increasing number of people, leaving a deep imprint on the freedom movement.

With his colleagues Bhagat Singh also continued to analyze the wider situation in India and world. Among the emerging leaders of India he had words of praise for Jawaharlal Nehru because he had the ability to remember the ideals of communal harmony/unity and socialist ideals while leading the freedom movement, while several other leaders did not give equal attention to this. Those leaders who spread or encouraged sectarianism were criticized strongly by the young revolutionaries.

Thus, through their writings and messages these young revolutionaries spelled out a path which remains highly relevant even 90 years after Bhagat Singh sacrificed his life—a path based on combining the ideals of equality, dignity, justice and fraternity. The colonial rulers tried time and again to create divisions among Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs in such a way that they could prolong colonial rule with the support of sectarian leaders from various communities, while the divisions created by the them weakened the unity of the people and hence their ability to oppose colonial rule. Bhagat Singh and his revolutionary colleagues understood well the games of colonial power to ‘divide and rule’ and repeatedly warned against this. Later, world history repeatedly provided examples of how exploiters found it most useful to distract people by turning them against one community or the other.

The 5-year journey of Bhagat Singh and his colleagues, from the margins to centrestage –manifest in the countrywide grief expressed when Bhagat Singh and his two close colleagues Sukhdev and Rajguru were hanged on 23 March, 1931 after a very arbitrary and unjust trial– has few equals. It is a great inspiration for activist revolutionaries all over the world—and  of course this includes those fighting for crucial environmental and peace objectives today—that struggles at the margin can progress rapidly to impact, involve and inspire millions of people.

When Bhagat Singh looked around him at the great distress suffered by the people of India due to colonial rule and the doors of progress shut on them, he was deeply motivated to study and develop a wider critique of imperialism which made him speak at a world level against imperialism and for the creation of exploitation free societies. Even today, young activists as much as elderly scholars read the varied and scattered writings of Bhagat Singh very keenly and this itself is a great tribute to his enduring legacy.

(The writer has contributed several short biographies of freedom fighters. His recent books include When the Two Streams Met, A Day in 2071 and Man over Machine)

Related

What Bhagat Singh would have fought (for) in 2020 India

Remembering Bhagat Singh, Reclaiming the Right to be A Free Thinker

Second killing of Bhagat Singh & Subhash Chandra Bose by the Hindutva Gang

Bhagat Singh and the Assembly Bombing of 1929

112 Years Ago, Raksha Bandhan Stood for Hindu-Muslim Unity

The post Shaheed Bhagat Singh: a fighter for freedom who dreamed and died for a world full of equality & justice appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Bhagat Singh was a towering revolutionary who fought against the British occupation of India and stood for an egalitarian and just society. He strongly believed in secularism and vowed to continue his struggle until human exploitation ends. He had predicted that once the British left, the power would come into the hands of the native ruling classes and therefore emphasised on continuing the battle until a classless society was established to ensure emancipation of the oppressed.  

His prophecy was proven right after the transfer of power in 1947 and today; the repression has grown under an outright Hindutva fascist government.  

Not only the attacks on religious minorities and political dissidents have sharpened than before, but the rights of the farmers who are the backbone of Indian economy are being stripped in the name of development. The government has brought an ordinance that badly affects the future of the rural communities without any consultation with the farmers as a result of which the people have come out on the streets in India.  

The rally that was organised in solidarity with the agitating farmers began with a moment of silence for Swami Agnivesh, a prominent social justice activist who passed away recently. Agnivesh, who was a progressive Hindu reformer, always stood for the minorities and the oppressed communities. He was viciously assaulted by the supporters of Hindu Right in 2018. IAPI had organised a rally in his support back then. His picture was displayed next to that of Bhagat Singh on the occasion.  

The speakers unanimously denounced the policies of the Modi government. Among them were the IAPI members Rakesh Kumar, Tejinder Sharma, Harbir Rathi, Amrit Diwana, Sarabjit Baaj and Gurpreet Singh.  

Others who spoke at the event were Inderjit Singh Bains from Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Society, independent Sikh activists Kulwinder Singh and Surjit Singh Gosal and leftist activists Parminder Swaich, Rawait Singh, Joseph Theriault and Ryan Abbott.  

While Theriault is associated with the Communist Party (Marxist Leninist), Abbott is with the Communist Party of Canada and is running for the BC Legislature from Surrey-Whalley.  

The participants raised slogans against the Indian state and resolved to continue their fight against injustice.  

Related:

Canadian legislator honoured for standing up for Kashmir and minorities in India
Rally in Canada in support of a Sikh advocate who organized langar for Delhi CAA protesters
Free Safoora: Indians hold car rally in Canada in solidarity with student activist

The post Rally in Canada against fascism and attacks on the rights of famers in India appeared first on SabrangIndia.

September 28, 2019 is the 112^th birth anniversary of freedom fighter and iconic youth leader, Bhagat Singh. For the launch of the book, The Bhagat Singh Reader, edited by professor Chaman Lal, that was released at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on September 25, professor Romila Thapar, professor emeritus of the university, sent this message:
 
Bhagat Singh has a very special place in our lives, reflecting as he does, a significant aspect of our anti-colonial movement for independence, a movement that ensured our ceasing to be a colony and becoming an independent nation. It was a movement that saw an intense concern with debating and discussing the meaning of nationalism, as well as the methods of attaining freedom from an oppressive government.  To this debate Bhagat Singh made his own contribution. He was part of a large number of others, equally effective nationalists, committed to creating a recognizably secular democratic state under the leadership of Gandhi and Nehru.
 
We applaud Bhagat Singh today, not only for being a nationalist but also, and sometimes more so, for being a person who read widely, reflected on what he had read, and then worked out his ideas on how we might create the nation that we aspired to be. This was not exceptional. This was normal in those days not only to those who spoke about nationalism and the state, but who were directly involved in the making of such a state. Having decided on a democratic state they also discussed what was inherent to democracy. In this secularism had a major role.
 
The definition of secularism did not stop with just proclaiming the co-existence of all religions. It went much further. It was seen as an essential component of democratic functioning. Today this debate is marginal in the public space and seems not to reach those crafting the state.
 
Nationalism was not intended to cease once the nation-state had come into being. What is equally crucial is that the emerging state be one that ensures and protects the basic rights of every citizen. This meant establishing the equal status of every citizen, not just in law but in practice as well. In the last seventy years, we have succeeded in establishing an acknowledged independent state, after having been a colony.
 
We have still to become the secular democratic state that is universally recognized as such, and one that ensures the guarantee of human rights for all its citizens. Had Bhagat Singh lived he would have had a stellar role in making this a reality.

 

Also, the editor of the publication, Chaman Lal, made a reading of two letters of Bhagat Singh. The book launch was held by JNUTA in partnership with Harper-Collins, the publisher of the book and Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, delhi Archives, which also displayed a few items related to the freedom struggle.
 
 
Message to the Punjab Students Conference   19 October 1929 (Originally in English)
 
Bhagat Singh sent a message for the Punjab Students Conference, which was held on 19 October 1929 at Lahore with NetajiSubhas Bose as the chair. This letter was read out in the conference and was later published in The Tribune on 22 October 1929.
 
Comrades,

Today, we cannot ask the youth to take to pistols and bombs. Today, students are confronted with a far more important assignment. In the coming Lahore Session the Congress is to give call for a fierce fight for the independence of the country. The youth will have to bear a great burden in this difficult time in the history of the nation. It is true that students have faced death at the forward positions of the struggle for independence. Will they hesitate this time in proving their same staunchness and self-confidence? The youth will have to spread this revolutionary message to the far corner of the country. They have to awaken crores of slum-dwellers of the industrial areas and villagers living in worn-out cottages, so that we will be independent and the exploitation of man by man will become impossibility. Punjab is considered politically backward even otherwise. This is also the responsibility of the youth. Taking inspiration from the martyr YatindraNath Das and with boundless reverence for the country, they must prove that they can fight with steadfast resolve in this struggle for independence.

(Taken from Selected Writings of Bhagat Singh, edited by Shiv Verma)

Letter to the Editor, Modern Review   22 December 1929 (Originally in English)
 
Ramanand Chatterjee, editor of the Modern Review, ridiculed the slogan of ‘Long Live Revolution’ in one of his editorials. Bhagat Singh wrote a reply to the note and handed it over to the trying magistrate to be sent to the Modern Review. The reply was subsequently published in The Tribuneon 24 December 1929.

RamanandChatterjee wrote the following in his editorial: According to a free press message, at a meeting of the NaujawanSabha (Youth League) of Gujranwala in the Punjab a resolution was passed protesting against the arrest of students on the ground of their shouting “Long Live Revolution” and “Down with Imperialism”, before the Court of the Special Magistrate of Lahore. The resolution states they everyone has the right to utter these cries. It is difficult for laymen to say what cries are or are not legal, when even High Court judges have differed in their interpretation of the law of sedition. But young enthusiasts will pardon an old cynical journalist for confessing that the cry of “Long Live Revolution” has sometimes appeared to him to be a bit funny. A revolution may now and then have been a necessity in the world history, and we should personally like an early non-violent social, economic and political revolution in India. But, what is the exact meaning of “Long Live Revolution? To be at work is a sign of life. When a desire is expressed for revolution to live long, is it desired that the revolutionary process should be at work every hour, day, week, month and year of our lives? In other words, are we to have a revolution as often as possible? Such ceaseless revolution may make for change, but scarcely for progress, improvement and enlightenment. What one revolution offered must have time to settle down and take root and bear fruit. A ceaseless revolutionary process would make India like what James Russel Lowell called “the Catherine-while republics of South America”, of his day. No doubt, no revolution can produce a final state of improvement; there must be changes even after a revolution. But these should be brought about by evolution. There may again be a revolution after several generations, if not centuries, have passed. But that is not what is implied in the shout “Long Live Revolution”.
 
 
THE EDITOR,
MODERN REVIEW

You have, in the December (1929) issue of your esteemed magazine, written a note under the caption “Long Live Revolution”, and have pointed out the meaninglessness of this phrase. It would be impertinent on our part to try to refute or contradict the statement of such an old, experienced and renowned journalist as your noble self, for whom every enlightened India has profound admiration. Still we feel it our duty to explain what we desire to convey by the said phrase, as in a way it fell to our lot to give these “cries” a publicity in this country at this stage.

We are not the originators of this cry. The same cry had been used in Russian revolutionary movements. Upton Sinclair, the well-known socialist writer, has, in his recent novels Boston and Oil, used this cry through some of the anarchist revolutionary characters. The phrase never means that the sanguinary strife should ever continue, or that nothing should ever be stationary even for a short while. By long usage this cry achieves a significance which may not be quite justifiable from the grammatical or the etymological point of view, but nevertheless we cannot abstract from that the association of ideas connected with that. All such shouts denote a general sense which is partly acquired and partly inherent in them. For instance, when we shout “Long Live Jatin Das”, we cannot and do not mean by that shout is that the noble ideal of his life, the indomitable spirit which enabled that great martyr to bear such untold suffering and to make the extreme sacrifice for that ideal, should ever live. By raising this cry we wish that we may show the same unfailing courage in pursuance of our ideal. It is that spirit that we allude to.

Similarly, one should not interpret the word “revolution” in its literal sense. Various meanings and significances are attributed to this word attributed to this word, according to the interests of those who use or misuse it. For the established agencies of exploitation it conjures up a feeling of blood-stained horror. To the revolutionaries it is a sacred phrase. We tried to clear in our statement before the Sessions Judge, Delhi, in our trial in the Assembly Bomb Case, what we mean by the word “Revolution”.

We started therein that Revolution did not necessarily involve sanguinary strife. It was not a cult of bomb and pistol. They may sometimes be mere means for its achievement. No doubt they play a prominent part in some movements, but they do not – – for that very reason – – become one and the same thing. A rebellion is not a revolution. It may ultimately lead to that end.

The sense, in which the word ‘Revolution’ is used in that phrase, is the spirit, the longing for a change for the better. The people generally get accustomed to the established order of things and begin to tremble at the very idea of a change. It is this lethargical spirit that needs be replaced by the revolutionary spirit. Otherwise degeneration gains the upper hand and the whole humanity is led astray by the reactionary forces. Such a state of affairs leads to stagnation and paralysis in human progress. The spirit of Revolution should always permeate the soul of humanity, so that the reactionary forces may not accumulate (strength) to check its eternal onward march. Old order should change, always and ever, yielding place to new, so that one “good” order may not corrupt the world. It is in this sense that we raise the shout “Long Live Revolution.”

Yours sincerely
(Sd.) Bhagat Singh
B.K. Dutt

 
Related Articles:

1. Second killing of Bhagat Singh &Subhash Chandra Bose by the Hindutva Gang
2. Bhagat Singh and the Assembly Bombing of 1929
3. 112 Years Ago, RakshaBandhanStood for Hindu-Muslim Unity

The post What Bhagat Singh would have fought (for) in 2020 India appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The essay ‘DharmvarFasadTeunha de ilaj (The Religious Riots and Their Solution)’ was published in the June 1927 issue of Kirti. After the JallianwalaBagh tragedy in 1919, the British began a huge propaganda to incite communal riots. This resulted in riots between the Hindus and Muslims in 1924 in Kohat. After this, there was considerable debate on communal riots in the national political arena. Everyone felt the need to end these, but it was the Congress leaders who made an attempt to get Hindu and Muslim leaders to sign a pact to stop the riots.

The condition of Bharatvarsha/India is indeed pitiable today. The devotees of one religion are sworn enemies of the devotees of another religion. Merely to belong to one religion is now considered enough reason to be the enemy of another religion. If we find this difficult to believe, let us look at the fresh outbreaks of violence in Lahore. How the Muslims killed innocent Sikhs and Hindus, and how even the Sikhs did their worst when the opportunity came. This butchering was not done because a particular man committed a crime, but because a particular man is a Hindu or a Sikh or a Muslim. Just the fact of a person being a Sikh or a Hindu is enough for him to be killed by a Muslim, and in the same way, merely being a Muslim is sufficient reason to take his life. If this is the situation, then may God help Hindustan!

Under these conditions the future of Hindustan seems very bleak. These ‘religions’ have ruined the country. And one has no idea how long these religious riots will plague Hindustan. These riots have Hindustan in the eyes of the world. And we have seen how everyone is carried on the tide of blind faith. It is a rare Hindu, Muslim or Sikh who can keep a cool head; the rest of them take sticks and staffs, swords and knives and kill each other. Those who escape death either go to the gallows or are thrown into jail. After so much bloodshed, these ‘religious’ folk are subjected to the baton of the English government, and only then do they come to their senses.

As far as we’ve seen, communal leaders and newspapers are behind these riots. These days the Indian leaders exhibit such a shameful conduct that it is better not to say anything. The same leaders who have taken upon themselves the challenge of winning independence for their country and who don’t tire of shouting slogans of ‘Common Nationality’ and ‘Self Rule… Self-Rule…’ are hiding themselves and are flowing on this tide of religious blindness. The number of people hiding themselves is much less. But leaders who join communal agitations can be found in hundreds when one scratches the surface. There are very few leaders who wish for the welfare of people from the bottom of their hearts. Communalism has come like such a great deluge that they are not able to stem it. It appears as if the leadership of Bharat has gone bankrupt.

The other people who have played a special role in igniting communal riots are the newspaper people.

The profession of journalism that at one point of time, was accorded a very high status has become very filthy now. These people print prominent, provocative headlines and rouse the passions of people against one another, which leads to rioting. Not just in one or two places, but in many places riots have taken place because the local papers have written very outrageous essays. Few writers have been able to maintain their sanity and keep calm on such days.

The real duty of the newspapers was to impart education, eradicate narrow-mindedness in people, put an end to communal feelings, encourage mutual understanding, and create a common Indian nationalism. But they have turned their main business to spread ignorance, preach narrowness, create prejudice, lead to rioting and destroy Indian common nationalism. This is the reason that tears of blood flow from our eyes at Bharat’s present state and the question that rises in our heart is, ‘What will become of Hindustan?’

Class-consciousness is crucial to stop people from fighting each other. The poor workers and peasants should be made to clearly understand that their real enemies are the capitalists, so they must be careful not to fall into their trap. All the poor people of the world – whatever their caste, race, religion or nation – have the same rights. It is in your interest that all discrimination on account of religion, colour, race, and nationality is eliminated and the power of the government be taken in your hands. These efforts will not harm you in any way, but will one day cut off your shackles and you will get economic freedom.

The people who are familiar with the history of Russia know that similar conditions prevailed there during the rule of the Tsar. There were several groups who kept dragging each other down. But from the day the Workers’ Revolution took place, the very map of the place changed. Now there are never any riots there. Now everyone is considered to be a ‘human being’ there, not ‘a member of a religious group’. The economic condition of the people was very pathetic during the times of the Tsar and this led to rioting. But now when the economic condition of the Russians has improved and they have developed class-consciousness, there is no news from there about any riots.

Though one hears very heart rending accounts of such riots, yet one heard something positive about the Calcutta riots. The workers of the trade unions did not participate in the riots nor did they come to blows with each other; on the other hand, all the Hindus and Muslims behaved normally towards each other in the mills and even tried to stop the riots. This is because there was class-consciousness in them and they fully recognized what would benefit their class. This is the beautiful path of class-consciousness that can stop communal rioting.

Courtesy: https://bhagatsinghthesocialistrevolutionary.wordpress.com /; Professor ChamanLal
 
 

The post Religious Riots and their Solution: 1927 appeared first on SabrangIndia.