When IK Gujral had seen the funeral of Bhagat Singh
The scene was heart rendering as the pyres were in the final stages and people were weeping uncontrollably
A portrait of Bhagat Singh adorned the walls of India's former Prime Minister, IK Gujral's 6, Janpath residence in Lutyens Delhi. After demitting his office of Prime Minister in March 1998, he was allotted a house at Janpath. And he used to become very emotional when conversations turn around Bhagat Singh whom he greatly adored. And as a young kid of 12 years, Gujral sahab had seen the pyre of Bhagat Singh and his two comrades- Sukhdev and Rajguru on March 24, 1931.
In an interview with this writer way back in 2006, Gujral sahab had recalled as to how he went to river Sutlej near Lahore with his father, Avtar Krishan Gujral, and others to attend the funeral of great revolutionaries.
Recalling those days and moments, he had said, "Bhagat Singh and his two comrades were hanged on March 23, 1931 in Lahore Jail. They were hanged very hurriedly and silently so that the outside world didn't know about it." Even though there were no 24x7 news channels and Twitter then, yet when news of their hanging and later cremation became public, people of nearby areas had started rushing to the spot to be part of funeral. Gujral's father, Avtar Krishan Gujral, who was a Congress leader and was also member of the Pakistan Constituent Assembly, though he migrated to India post 1947, took him (IK Gujral) to place of cremation along with some others, including, Satyavati by bus.
Before we move further, let us know that Satyavati Devi (28 February 1905 – 26 October 2010) was an Indian freedom fighter and Gandhian.She did her schooling from Kanya Maha Vidyalay, Jalandhar. She married Lala Achint Ram in 1925. Her marriage was a dowry-less one and she wore no veil, which was the condition set by Achint Ram for marriage. She was popularly known as Bijji or Mataji. She was the mother of India's former Vice President, Krishan Kant. On 26 August 1942, she was arrested along with her children for participation in the Indian freedom movement. She also took part in Vinoba Bhave's bhoodan movement along with her husband Lala Achint Ram (who died in 1961) who was popularly called "Gandhi of Punjab".
Gujral sahab used to recall that the bus took around one hour to reach river Sutlej. When they reached the cremation spot, already very large numbers of people were there. "The scene was heart rendering as the pyres were in the final stages and people were weeping uncontrollably," he recalled. After spending around two hours there, they all came back to Lahore. Along the way, the angry people were on the streets. They were annoyed and shocked that despite appeal from everyone, Bhagat Singh and his two friends were hanged. When he was narrating the events of that day, his voice was choking and he was almost in tears. He also said that his younger sibling, Satish Gujral, who later became an acclaimed painter and architect, remained in home as he was too young.
Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were tried and then executed for fatally shooting a 21-year-old British police officer by the name of John Saunders, whom they had mistaken for British police superintendent James Scott, whom they had originally targeted. The trio believed Scott was responsible for the death of the popular nationalist leader Lala Lajpat Rai, who succumbed to injuries sustained during a lathi charge.
While Bhagat Singh, who had publicly announced avenging Rai's death, went into hiding for many months after this shootout, he resurfaced along with an associate Batukeshwar Dutt, in April 1929, set off two explosive devices inside the Central Legislative Assembly (now Parliament house) in Delhi, and then allowed themselves to be arrested, while shouting the famous slogan: "Inquilab Zindabad", or "Long live the revolution". Delhi police took them to the Parliament Street police station. At the entrance of Parliament Street police station, a huge board with a photo of Bhagat Singh on the right reads: "It is easy to kill individuals but you cannot kill the ideas. Great empires crumbled, while the ideas survived – Bhagat Singh." Bhagat Singh was lodged in a lock-up at this police station in connection with the Assembly Bombing case in April 1929.
In his book 'The Execution of Bhagat Singh, Satvinder Singh Juss writes, "Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru had requested that they be executed by firing squad due to their status as political prisoners, and not hanged by the neck as common criminals; this had gone unheeded. Bhagat Singh had walked in the middle, with Sukhdev on his left and Rajguru on his right. It was not too difficult to see why they felt so elated, because as they had walked the path to the gallows Bhagat Singh sang out a verse. The other two joined in: 'Dil se niklegi na marker bhi watan ki ulfat / Meri mittee se bhi Khushbue watan aegi' ('When we are dead there would be still patriotism left in us / Even my corpse will emit the fragrance of my motherland')."
Even after so many decades of Bhagat Singh's passing away, he continues to inspire millions of Indians with his revolutionary zeal and views. As recently as couple of days ago, the newly elected Chief Minister of Punjab, Bhagwant Mann took his oath at the native village of Bhagat Singh, Khatkar Kalan. He evoked the spirit of Bhagat Singh in order to make Punjab as the most progressive state of the country.
And finally, Bhagat Singh is perhaps the only leader across India and Pakistan who is adored and loved by people across the Redcliff line. In Pakistan, there are people who are demanding that Bhagat Singh should be declared as a "national hero" of Pakistan as he raised his voice against imperialism.
The Bhagat Singh Memorial Foundation (BSMF) and the Bhagat Singh Foundation Pakistan (BSFP) have been organising separate functions in Lahore since long on Bhagat Singh martyrdom. Indeed, he can bring the two permanent enemy countries together.
(The author is a Delhi-based journalist who closely follows South Asia, business, Delhi and Indian Diaspora)
