70 Years of Independence: A look at Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s life, his martyrdom

Born on September 27, 1907 Bhagat Singh was one of the most influential revolutionaries during the freedom struggle of India. Singh, who played an important part in the Indian National movement, was a part of several revolutionary organisations. At a very young age he started following Non-Cooperation Movement, which was initiated by Mahatma Gandhi. The incidents which shaped his patriotic outlook were the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (1919) and killing of unarmed Akali protesters at the Nankana Sahib (1921). Despite his family’s inclination towards Gandhian’s ideology of non-violence, he was more towards fighting for the rights and later joined the Young Revolutionary Movement. He inspired hundreds of Indians especially teens to join the freedom struggle.

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Although Singh was a well-known figure among Indians and the British people, his presence was observed in 1926 when he got arrested in a bombing case in Lahore. He was later released on a bond of Rs 60,000 after 5 months. In December 1928, he along with Shivaram Rajguru fatally shot James Scott, whom they felt was responsible for death of nationalist leader Lala Lajpat Rai. Few months after that incident, Singh again came into limelight in April 1929, when he along with Batukeshwar Dutt exploded two improvised bombs inside the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi. Several such acts were carried by him, which made a role model of thousands of Indians. He died a martyr at a very young age of 23 years on March 23, 1931. Following his execution, he got the title of ‘Shaheed’ from his followers and supporters.

Bhagat Singh’s charismatic personality also inspired the Bollywood industry and several movies were made on his life. The first one came in the year 1965. Manoj Kumar-starer ‘Shaheed’ beautiful presented Singh’s life and his struggle to get independence for the country. Apart from ‘Shaheed’, several other movies were made on his life including ‘The Legend of Bhagat Singh’ (2002), 23rd March 1931: Shaheed (2002), Shaheed-E-Azam (2002) and Rang De Basanti (2006).

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