On the 95th anniversary of Bhagat Singh's martyrdom, Utkarsh Mishra revisits the ideas and philosophy of the revolutionary giant.
Key Points
- Beyond his popular image as a gun-wielding revolutionary, Bhagat Singh was a deeply ideological thinker who gave a clear socialist direction to the freedom struggle.
- For him, revolution was not about violence alone, but about transforming society by ending both colonial and class oppression.
- He saw religion as a major obstacle to revolution, arguing that it fostered fatalism and division, weakening collective political action.
- Bhagat Singh viewed compromise as a strategic necessity, not betrayal -- provided revolutionaries used it to regroup, educate, and push the struggle forward.
As the sun was setting on Lahore on March 23, 1931, the commotion outside the Central Jail was intensifying with each passing minute. The jail was sealed; even the warders who were outside were not being let in, nor were those who were inside allowed to leave.
A large, impatient crowd outside was waiting for some news, fearing the worst.
Contrary to the custom of not executing convicts after sunset, the gallows were being readied to hang three of the greatest revolutionary fighters for independence -- Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Hari Rajguru.
All other prisoners except these three were locked inside the barracks.
At 7.35 pm, the three revolutionaries were brought out of their cells.
In the presence of the jail superintendent, the police superintendent and a magistrate, they were taken to the gallows. As their faces were hooded and the noose was placed around their necks, the trio shouted: 'Down-Down with the Union Jack!'
Families not allowed to meet revolutionaries, cremation done furtively
With this cue, the sound of slogans rent the air, inside and outside the prison. The jail was still sealed.
Although family members of the revolutionaries were called for the last meeting before execution, they were not allowed inside the jail and the meeting could not take place.
Scared of the massive crowd outside, policemen took out the three bodies from the back exit. The bodies were cut into pieces and filled into sacs. They took the sacs to the banks of the Sutlej river, poured kerosene, and consigned them to the flames. Thus, their family members were not only denied a last meeting, but also the last rites and even the ashes of the three martyrs.
The next day, copies of a letter signed by the district magistrate were pasted on the walls of Lahore, informing people that the three revolutionaries were executed, and cremated the evening before, and their 'ashes were immersed in the Sutlej'. The government claimed that it was done to 'prevent public outcry and disorder'.
However, Lala Lajpat Rai's daughter Parvati Devi and Bhagat Singh's sister found half-burnt remains of the martyrs' bodies on the riverside. The remains were taken to the city, where a procession was taken out. Over a hundred thousand people joined the procession; most of them were barefoot out of respect for the martyrs.
The procession ended at the place where Lala Lajpat Rai was cremated in 1928, and the remains were given a proper cremation after emotional speeches were made. Another gathering of 50,000 men and women at Minto Park arrived with black flags in protest. A general strike was observed. Congress flags were flying at half-mast.
Fearing a public outcry, the government softened its stand and issued another release saying the martyrs were cremated with full honours. Still under heavy security, the city dwellers refused to believe the government.
Epitome of sacrifice and martyrdom
Since that day, Bhagat Singh's name has been etched in history as the epitome of sacrifice and martyrdom.
Paradoxically, it is precisely because of this venerable image that occupies people's psyche that it prevents them from seeing beyond those portraits of the martyr hung on the walls in government offices, schools, colleges and hostel rooms.
People seem to believe they know everything about Bhagat Singh, yet few have read anything written on him and still fewer have read anything written by him. This is true notwithstanding the fact that his collected works -- letters, articles, jail notebook, and court statements -- are readily available.
Then there are those who go so far as to question the veracity of these works because a young Marxist revolutionary, who rejected religion and God, and who was reading about Lenin a few minutes before he was hanged, makes them uncomfortable.
Legend has it that the last page of the book that Bhagat Singh read before he got up to walk to the gallows was folded. Revolutionary poet Avatar Singh Sandhu, popularly known as 'Pash', urged the youth to 'go beyond that page'.
What follows is for those who want to heed Pash's advice and turn over that page.
How Bhagat Singh Understood Revolution
Most people see Bhagat Singh as the gun-wielding revolutionary who acted in opposition to Gandhi's doctrine of non-violence. This image has been historically constructed by both Gandhi's followers and adversaries alike.
For Gandhi and his followers, taking up arms was such a deal breaker that they refused to listen to any rationale behind it. And for their adversaries, especially the majoritarian and communal parties, the only fact that mattered was that Bhagat Singh didn't subscribe to non-violence (though it must be noted, as pointed out by Professor Chaman Lal, that no communal organisation had spoken a word in favour of or in defence of these revolutionaries. But they now want to give them a religious colour).
Both factions neither wanted nor cared to know why Bhagat Singh did what he did.
Whereas, even a cursory reading of Bhagat Singh's writings should be enough to make one stand in awe of the amazing clarity about revolutionary philosophy, the depth of understanding, the sense of history and the recognition of upholding high morals that a young boy had in his late teens and early 20s.
Moreover, all his comrades -- even those who were much senior to him in the revolutionary movement -- credit Bhagat Singh with giving an ideological foundation to the movement that was till then, as his comrade and fellow convict in the Lahore Conspiracy Case, Shiv Verma, writes, 'inspired by intense religious sentiments and was extremist in nature'.
As Professor Chaman Lal writes in Bhagat Singh: A Reader, 'Bhagat Singh was most organised in his thinking about the revolution and the means to achieve it. [He] went beyond the tradition of the early revolutionaries and gave an ideological direction to the whole movement, which had been missing earlier...
'Bhagat Singh realised that the goal of the Indian revolution should be a socialist revolution, which aims at ending not just colonial rule but class rule as well'.
Verma writes that Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev were initially inspired by Bakunin's anarchism, but later, under the influence of Sohan Singh 'Josh' and Lala Chabildas, they drifted towards Marxism and Communism.
Bhagat Singh did not oppose Satyagraha in toto
In a 1927 article published in Kirti, Bhagat Singh wrote: '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'.
In multiple articles, Bhagat Singh tried to educate the youth about the principles of Marxism, anarchism, revolutionary nihilism, private property, etc. These are reflections of his comprehensive reading and understanding of theoretical concepts.
Contrary to the popular image, for Bhagat Singh, revolution was not limited to picking up guns and bombs to fight the British. Nor did he oppose the principles of Satyagraha in toto. In fact, in his articles, he voiced support for satyagraha in Bardoli, Kanpur, and Meerut and praised previous campaigns in Champaran and other places.
The revolutionaries also used the weapon of hunger strike in jail multiple times, including the famous 111-day-long hunger strike in Lahore Central Jail that resulted in the martyrdom of Jatin Das.
Replying to Ramanand Chaterjee, the editor of Modern Review, who ridiculed the phrase 'Long Live Revolution', Bhagat Singh wrote: 'Revolution does 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... The old order should change, always and ever, yielding place to the new, so that one 'good' order may not corrupt the world'.
Thus, to Bhagat Singh, revolution meant not the usurpation of power through violence, but a transformation of the social structure and the establishment of a new order.
Religion, the Mountain in the Path of Revolution
Bhagat Singh was an atheist who not only rejected religion and God but also believed them to be obstacles in the path of achieving freedom.
In his famous essay Why I Am an Atheist and multiple other articles and arguments with fellow revolutionaries who were religious, Bhagat Singh has stated that the belief in an omnipotent almighty leads to the path of fatalism, which prevents people from acting against the current state of affairs and forces them to accept their misery as misfortune or the result of their deeds in a past life.
In a 1928 article in Kirti, he called for 'ridding ourselves of this whole problem' and wrote that 'religion stands before us like a mountain'. Later in the article, he says 'not tomorrow, rather it should be blown up today itself'.
He also argues against the mixing of religion with politics and highlights how religious dogmas actively prevent the unity required for a successful revolution.
He warns that as long as religious identities override the common cause of humanity, the masses will remain divided and vulnerable to exploitation.
Some of the paragraphs that he wrote against communalism in another article in Kirti in 1927 seem strikingly relevant in today's times, when most of our media indulges in Hindu-Muslim rhetoric and seeks to create dissension for catching eyeballs.
He wrote: 'The profession of journalism that, at one point of time, was accorded a very high status has become filthy now. These people print prominent, provocative headlines and rouse the passions of people against one another, which leads to rioting.
'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... and destroy common Indian nationalism'.
This one paragraph should be enough to make many of our TV news anchors hang their heads in shame and not utter the name of Bhagat Singh till they mend their ways.
It should also be a lesson for the Left parties today that are increasingly making peace with religious bigotry to get votes.
Do Revolutionaries Never Compromise?
The Gandhi-Irwin Pact of 1931 was signed only a few days before Bhagat Singh's death.
In fact, there were strong demands from various sections, even within the Congress, that Gandhi should include commutation of Bhagat Singh's capital punishment as a condition in the draft of the pact.
A sense of betrayal prevailed among the revolutionaries, who were not sure what this agreement would entail for them.
Against this backdrop, in February 1931, Bhagat Singh penned a landmark letter addressed to young political workers, where he made a very pragmatic point: Revolutionaries should not see compromise as betrayal, but as a normal, if essential, stage of a protracted struggle.
Using the example of Lenin and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Bhagat Singh argued how even the most uncompromising movements are forced to amend their tactics in order to survive.
For Bhagat Singh, compromise is not a softening of goals, but a 'weapon' in the political game. It is an admission that they are not fully prepared.
Quoting Lokmanya Tilak, he shows how such 'breathing space' should be used to 'secure ourselves the one anna out of sixteen', but not see our goal of transformation reduce into a 'one anna' rather.
At the same time, he issues a powerful warning about what must follow any compromise.
Revolutionaries must resist the tendency to dissolve, become complacent, or allow conservative forces to hijack the movement. Instead, they must use the breathing space to reorganise, educate the masses, and sharpen their ideological clarity.
In Bhagat Singh's vision, compromise is merely a halt in the journey, not its destination -- a moment to gather strength before advancing with greater purpose.
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The account of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru's supreme sacrifice, and the subsequent public reaction, is based on archived news reports published in Hindi newspapers Abhyudaya and Bhavishya, collected in a book by Professor Chaman Lal.
References to Bhagat Singh's articles and letters are taken from Bhagat Singh: A Reader by Professor Chaman Lal.
