New Delhi:
Born on September 28, 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.
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).
On this day, we look back on some powerful quotes by Shaheed Bhagat Singh
They may kill me, but they cannot kill my ideas. They can crush my body, but they will not be able to crush my spirit.
Any man who stands for progress has to criticize, disbelieve and challenge every item of the old faith. Item by item he has to reason out every nook and corner of the prevailing faith. If after considerable reasoning one is led to believe in any theory or philosophy, his faith is welcomed. His reasoning can be mistaken, wrong, misled and sometimes fallacious. But he is liable to correction because reason is the guiding star of his life. But mere faith and blind faith is dangerous: it dulls the brain and makes a man reactionary.
The aim of life is no more to control the mind, but to develop it harmoniously; not to achieve salvation here after, but to make the best use of it here below; and not to realise truth, beauty and good only in contemplation, but also in the actual experience of daily life; social progress depends not upon the ennoblement of the few but on the enrichment of democracy; universal brotherhood can be achieved only when there is an equality of opportunity - of opportunity in the social, political and individual life.
'Revolution' does not necessarily involve sanguinary strife nor is there any place in it for individual vendetta. It is not the cult of the bomb and the pistol. By 'Revolution' we mean that the present order of things, which is based on manifest injustice, must change.
Revolution is an inalienable right of mankind. Freedom is an imperishable birth right of all. Labour is the real sustainer of society, the sovereignty of the ultimate destiny of the workers.
