Bhagat Singh
In 1923, Singh joined National College in Lahore, where he excelled not only in academics but also in extra-curricular activities. He was a participant in the dramatics society of the college. By this time, he was fluent in Hindi, English, Urdu, Punjabi, and Sanskrit. In 1923, Singh won an essay competition set by the Punjab Hindi Sahitya Sammelan. In his essay on Punjab’s Language and Script, he quoted Punjabi literature and showed a deep understanding of the problems afflicting Punjab. He joined the Indian nationalist youth organization, Naujawan Bharat Sabha (Hindi: “Youth Society of India”), along with his fellow revolutionaries and became popular in the organization. He also joined the Hindustan Republican Association, which had prominent leaders such as Ram Prasad Bismil, Chandrashekhar Azad, and Ashfaqulla Khan. The name of the organization was changed to Hindustan Socialist Republican Association at Singh’s insistence. A year later, to avoid getting married by his family, Singh ran away from his house to Cawnpore. In a letter he left behind, he stated:
“After killing Saunders, the group escaped through the D.A.V. College entrance, across the road. Chanan Singh, a Head Constable who was chasing them, was fatally injured by Chandrashekhar Azad’s covering fire. They then fled on bicycles to pre-arranged places of safety. The police launched a massive search operation to catch the culprits and blocked all exits and entrances from the city; the CID kept a watch on all young men leaving Lahore. They hid for the next two days.”
On 19 December 1928, Sukhdev called on Durga Devi Vohra, their friend Bhagwati Charan Vohra’s wife, for help, which she agreed to do. They decided to catch the train departing from Lahore for Howrah (en route to Bathinda) early the next morning. To avoid recognition, Singh shaved off his beard and cut his hair short. They left the house early the next morning. Dressed in Western attire, Singh carried Vohra’s sleeping child on his shoulder. Singh and Vohra passed off as a young couple with a child, while Rajguru carried their luggage as their servant.
At the station, Singh managed to conceal his identity and bought three tickets to Cawnpore, two first-class tickets for Vohra and himself, and a third-class ticket for Rajguru. Both men had loaded revolvers with them to deal with any unanticipated incident. They avoided raising the suspicions of the police and boarded the train. Breaking their journey at Cawnpore, they boarded a train for Lucknow since the CID at Howrah railway station usually scrutinized passengers on the direct train from Lahore. At Lucknow, Rajguru left separately for Benares while Singh, Vohra, and the infant went to Howrah, with all except Singh returning to Lahore a few days later.
In 1929, to subdue the rise of revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh in the country, the British government decided to implement the Defence of India Act 1915, which gave the police a free hand. Influenced by a French anarchist who bombed the French Chamber of Deputies, Singh proposed to the HSRA his plan to explode a bomb inside the Central Legislative Assembly, which was agreed to.
Initially, it was decided that Batukeshwar Dutt and Sukhdev would plant the bomb while Bhagat Singh would travel to the USSR [44]; however, later the plan was changed, and he entrusted Dutt to plant the bomb [44]. On 8 April 1929, Singh and Dutt threw two bombs inside the assembly while rushing from the Visitor’s Gallery. The smoke from the bomb filled the hall, and they shouted slogans of “Inquilab Zindabad!” (Hindi-Urdu: “Long Live the Revolution!”) and showered leaflets [45][46][47]. The leaflet claimed that the act was done to oppose the Trade Disputes and the Public Safety Bill being presented in the Central Assembly and the death of Lala Lajapath Rai [48]. A few people sustained injuries in the explosion, but there were no deaths. Singh and Dutt claimed that the act was intentional [49].
Singh and Dutt were arrested as planned [49][50][51]. The Tribune reported the incident as the “Assembly bomb case trial”. Singh and Dutt were charged with attempt to murder, and the trial was magistrated by British Judge P. B. Pool and prosecuted by Rai Bahadur Suryanarayan. It began on 7 May 1929 [50]. Doubts have been raised about the accuracy of testimony offered at the trial. One key discrepancy related to the automatic pistol that Singh had been carrying prior to his arrest. One witness sitting amongst the distinguished visitors’ gallery, named Sobha Singh (builder), told the court that Singh had been firing the pistol two or three times before it jammed, and some policemen stated that Singh was pointing the gun when they arrived. Later, Sobha Singh was honoured with the supreme title of ‘Sir’ as a reward for his testimony [53].
On 15 April 1929, the police discovered the ‘Lahore bomb factory’, leading to the arrest of other members of HSRA, out of which 7 turned informants, helping the police to connect Singh with the murder of Saunders [44]. Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev were charged with the murder of Saunders. Singh decided to use the court as a tool to publicise his cause—the independence of India [58]. In the hunger strike and Lahore conspiracy case, Singh was re-arrested for murdering Saunders and Chanan Singh based on substantial evidence against him, including the statements of his associates, Hans Raj Vohra and Jai Gopal [50]. His life sentence in the Assembly Bomb case was deferred until the Saunders’ case was decided [59]. Singh was sent to the Mianwali jail from the Delhi jail [51], where he witnessed discrimination between European and Indian prisoners [60] and led other prisoners in a hunger strike to protest this illegal discrimination [61].
Singh also maintained a diary that eventually grew to include 404 pages. In this diary, he made numerous notes regarding the quotations and popular sayings of various people whose views he agreed with. Prominent in his diary were the views of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. [89] The comments in his diary led to an understanding of Singh’s philosophical thinking. [90] In his prison cell, he also wrote a pamphlet entitled “Why I am an Atheist,” in response to being accused of vanity for not accepting God in the face of death. [91] It is also said that he signed a mercy petition through a comrade, Bijoy Kumar Sinha, on March 8, 1931. [92] Shivaram Hari Rajguru (August 24, 1908 – March 23, 1931) was an Indian revolutionary from Maharashtra.
Rajguru was born in Khed near Pune, India. [note 1] He was a colleague of Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev, and took part in the murder of a British police officer, J. P. Saunders, in Lahore in 1928. The reasoning behind the murder was to avenge the death of veteran leader Lala Lajpat Rai, who died due to injuries sustained during excessive police beating. All three were convicted of the crime and hanged on March 23, 1931. They were cremated at Hussainiwala on the banks of the Sutlej river in the Ferozepur district of Punjab.
Statues of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev were erected in their honor. Rajguru was a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army, which wanted India to be freed from British rule by any means necessary. He believed that ferocity against oppression was far more effective against British rule than the gentle ways of Mahatma Gandhi. Rajguru Market, a shopping complex in Hisar, Haryana, was named in his honor in 1953.
Jai Rajguru, a man of fearless spirit and indomitable courage in the colonial era of India, is known as an accomplice of Bhagat Singh. Shiv Ram Hari Rajguru was born in 1906 into an average middle-class Hindu Brahmin family in Khed, Poona district, India. He belonged to the Deshastha Brahmin community. At a very early age, Jai Rajguru went to Varanasi where he learned Sanskrit and read the Hindu religious scriptures. He had a good memory and learned by heart the “Laghu Siddhant Kaumudi.” He was associated with a number of physical exercise associations, as he was fond of physical exercises.
He was a great admirer of Shivaji and his guerrilla tactics. During his learning process at Varanasi, he came in contact with revolutionaries. He joined the movement and became an active member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA). In the party, he was known under the nom de plume of Raghunath. Jai Rajguru had a fearless spirit and indomitable courage. All of them escaped through the D. A. V. College compound. The same night posters of the HSRA declaring, “Saunders is dead. Lalaji is avenged,” were put up throughout the city of Lahore.
On 20 December, Jai Rajguru left Lahore disguised as Bhagat Singh’s servant, who traveled in a first-class compartment with the wife and young son of the revolutionary Bhagawati Charan. He left Bhagat Singh at Lucknow and went underground in Nagpur. He met Dr. K. B. Hedgewar and was hiding in one of the RSS worker’s houses. But after some days, he went to Pune. Later, Bhagat Singh was arrested in the Assembly Bomb Case, and several other revolutionaries were arrested with the help of approvers (Jai Gopal, Phanindra Nath, and Hansraj Vohra). Rajguru was arrested while he was in Pune on 30 September 1929.
Police recovered a revolver with fourteen cartridges from a box where he was sleeping. The government started a case against sixteen persons (including Rajguru), known as the Lahore Conspiracy Case. Judgment was delivered on 7 October 1930; Sardar Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Jai Rajguru were sentenced to death, and the other accused were awarded various terms of imprisonment.
Sukhdev Singh Sukha was born on 14 Sawan, Wednesday, 1962, at Chak N: 11 F, Tehsil Karanpur, District Ganganagar, Rajasthan. His parents, Mengha Singh and Surjeet Kaur, were Sikh farmers. This Sikh family originally belonged to the village of Bhungarni in Hoshiarpur district. Thereafter, they relocated to Chakk 179 in the Saini Bar region of district Lyallpur in undivided Punjab. Between the years 1930 and 1933, this family once again relocated to Chak N: 11 F in the district of Sri Ganga Nagar, Rajasthan. He did his early schooling from his native village and village FF 13 Manakpur. In 1983, he received his BA from Gian Joti College in Karanpur and was studying in MA English when Operation Bluestar occurred. He also left his studies and joined the Khalistan separatist movement.
Harjinder Singh Jinda and Sukhdev Singh Sukha, along with Ranjit Singh Gill, gunned down Congress (I) Member of Parliament Lalit Maken on July 31, 1985, when he was moving towards his car parked across the road from his house in Kirti Nagar, New Delhi. The three assailants continued firing even as Maken ran towards his house for cover. Maken’s wife Geetanjali and a visitor, Balkishan, were also caught in the firing. The assailants escaped on their scooters. Lalit Maken was considered to be involved in the killings of Sikhs during the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots.
In a 31-page booklet titled “Who Are The Guilty,” the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) listed 227 people who led the mobs that killed up to 3,000 Sikhs over three days. Lalit Maken’s name was third on the list. [4] Ranjit Singh “Gill” was arrested by Interpol in New Jersey, USA, on May 14, 1987. He was deported back to India in May 1997 after lengthy legal cases and was sentenced to life imprisonment on February 24, 2003. General Arun Vaidya was the Chief of the Indian Army who ordered the attack on the holiest of the Sikh shrines at Amritsar and elsewhere in Punjab during Operation Bluestar. He had moved to Pune after his retirement from the army. On August 10, 1986, General Arun Vaidya, the architect of Operation Bluestar, was shot to death by Jinda and Sukha while he was driving his car home from the market. [5]
According to the police, the assailants pulled up next to his car on motor scooters and fired eight or nine shots into the car. [6] Vaidya reportedly died instantly of head and neck wounds. His wife, who was also in the car, was wounded by four bullets in her back and thighs. [7] According to Indian intelligence sources, Vaidya had been the number four assassination target on lists by Sikh militants, and he was one of several people killed in retaliation for Operation Bluestar. [8][9] Following the assassination, the Khalistan Commando Force issued a statement declaring that Vaidya had been killed in retaliation for the Golden Temple operation. [8] Congress (I) leader Arjan Dass was also assassinated by the duo because of his involvement in the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots. Arjan Dass’s name appeared in various affidavits submitted by innocent Sikh victims to the Nanavati Commission, which was headed by Justice G. T. Nanavati, retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India. [10]
On September 17, 1986, Sukha got into an accident with a truck in Pimpri, Pune, and was arrested. He was riding the same black motorcycle which was used at the time of the assassination of General Vaidya. Jinda got arrested at Gurdwara Majnoo Daa Tilla, Delhi, in March 1987. He was shot in the legs at the time of his arrest. During their court trial, despite admitting to the killing, they pleaded not guilty, justifying their actions by saying that Vaidya was “guilty of a serious crime, the punishment for which could only be death.” [9] They were awarded death sentences at 2:05 pm on October 21, 1989. On October 9, 1992, early in the morning, Sukhdev Singh “Sukha” and Harjinder Singh “Jinda” were hanged until death in Pune Jail. The Independent World mentioned, “While being led from their cell to the gallows set up in the Yerawada gaol yard, the two convicted killers shouted slogans for Sikh independence in the Punjab.” [11]
Both of them were hanged at 4 am in Yerwada Central Jail, Pune, while extraordinary security was deployed at the jail and in the periphery of Pune to oppose any possible Sikh militant attack. Security was also tightened all over Northern India. [12]. Their dead bodies were cremated on the same day at 6:20 am near Mula river. In October 1999, his death anniversary was celebrated in village Gadli, district Amritsar, where chief of Akal Takhat Amritsar, Giani Puran Singh declared Jinda and Sukha as national martyrs while justifying their action of killing general Vaidya. Some Akali leaders stayed away from this function. [15] On October 9, 2000, representatives of all major Sikh bodies, including ruling Shiromani Akali Dal, the SHSAD, the SGPC, the Damdami Taksal, AISSF and the Dal Khalsa attended the eighth death anniversary of Harjinder Singh Jinda and Sukhdev Singh Sukha.
To honor Jinda and Sukha, Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti, Head of Akal Takht (Supreme Sikh temporal seat), performed the ‘ardas’ (a Sikh religious rite). Both Sukha and Jinda were declared “great martyrs” of the Sikh nation during this event. [16] On October 9, 2002, according to The Tribune, on Jinda’s death anniversary, “tributes were paid to the assassins of General Vaidya – Jinda and Sukhdev Singh Sukha,” and Jinda’s mother was honored by Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti, chief of Akal Takht. [17] In October 2005, his death anniversary was celebrated in his native village of Gadli by various Sikh organizations including Dal Khalsa, Damdami Taksal, Akal Federation, and Sikh Students Federation, etc. [18] Dashmesh Durbar Sikh temple in Surrey, Canada, recently organized special prayers for both Jinda and Sukha in Canada. [19] On October 9, 2008, Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee honored the kin of Jinda and Sukha in the Golden Temple complex, to mark their death anniversary. SGPC declared Jinda and Sukha as “martyrs of Sikh Nation” and added that Jinda and Sukha took revenge on Operation Bluestar.
