Sheikh Ayaz Sindhi poetry on Bhagat Singh-Translation by Ahmad Salim

ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ-ਰਾਜਗੁਰੂ-ਸੁਖਦੇਵ ਦੀ ਫਾਂਸੀ ਅਤੇ ਸਿਆਸੀ ਫਾਂਸੀਆਂ

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ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ-ਰਾਜਗੁਰੂ-ਸੁਖਦੇਵ ਦੀ ਫਾਂਸੀ ਅਤੇ ਸਿਆਸੀ ਫਾਂਸੀਆਂ ਪ੍ਰੋ. ਚਮਨ ਲਾਲ

 ਅੰਗਰੇਜ਼ੀ ਟ੍ਰਿਬਿੳੂਨ ਵਿੱਚ ਵਾਪਲਾ ਬਾਲਾਚੰਦਰਨ ਨੇ ਪਾਕਿਸਤਾਨ ਦੇ ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰਪਤੀ ਆਸਿਫ ਅਲੀ ਜ਼ਰਦਾਰੀ ਵੱਲੋਂ 1979 ਵਿੱਚ ਫ਼ੌਜੀ ਹੁਕਮਰਾਨ ਜ਼ਿਆ-ਉੱਲ-ਹੱਕ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਪਾਕਿਸਤਾਨ ਦੇ ਹੁਣ ਤੱਕ ਦੇ ਸਭ ਤੋਂ ਵੱਧ ਹਰਮਨਪਿਆਰੇ ਪਾਕਿਸਤਾਨੀ ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਜ਼ੁਲਫਿਕਾਰ ਅਲੀ ਭੁੱਟੋ ਦੀ ‘ਨਿਹੱਕੀ’ ਤੇ ਗ਼ੈਰ-ਕਾਨੂੰਨੀ’ ਫਾਂਸੀ ਵਿਰੁੱਧ ਪਾਕਿਸਤਾਨ ਦੀ ਸੁਪਰੀਮ ਕੋਰਟ ਨੂੰ 2013 ਵਿੱਚ ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰਪਤੀ ਹੁੰਦਿਆਂ ਕੀਤੇ ਰੈਫਰੈਂਸ ਦੇ ਹਵਾਲੇ ਵਿੱਚ 2024 ਵਿੱਚ ਜ਼ਰਦਾਰੀ ਦਾ ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰਪਤੀ ਵਜੋਂ ਦੂਜਾ ਕਾਰਜਕਾਲ ਸ਼ੁਰੂ ਹੋਣ ਸਮੇਂ 2013 ਦੇ ਰੈਫਰੈਂਸ ਦੇ ਆਧਾਰ ’ਤੇ ਪਾਕਿਸਤਾਨੀ ਸੁਪਰੀਮ ਕੋਰਟ ਨੇ 2024 ਵਿੱਚ ਨੋਟਿਸ ਲੈਂਦਿਆਂ ਭੁੱਟੋ ਕੇਸ ਦੀ ਦੁਬਾਰਾ ਪਡ਼ਤਾਲ ਦੇ ਹੁਕਮ ਦਿੱਤੇ ਹਨ। ਇੱਥੇ ਇਹ ਯਾਦ ਰੱਖਦਾ ਚਾਹੀਦਾ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਲਾਹੌਰ ਦੇ ਵਕੀਲ ਇਮਤਿਆਜ਼ ਰਾਸ਼ਿਦ ਅਤੇ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਦੇ ਮਰਹੂਮ ਅੱਬਾ ਜਿਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਦਾ ਖ਼ਾਨਦਾਨੀ ਪਿਛੋਕਡ਼ ਅਬੋਹਰ ਦਾ ਹੈ, ਨੇ ਵੀ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਹਾਈ ਕੋਰਟ ਲਾਹੌਰ ਵਿੱਚ ਕਈ ਸਾਲ ਪਹਿਲਾਂ ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਤੇ ਹੋਰਾਂ ਦੀ ਫਾਂਸੀ ਦੀ ਮੁਡ਼ ਪਡ਼ਤਾਲ ਅਤੇ ਫਾਂਸੀ ਨੂੰ ਕਾਨੂੰਨੀ ਤੌਰ ’ਤੇ ਰੱਦ ਕਰਨ ਦੀ ਅਪੀਲ ਕੀਤੀ ਸੀ, ਜੋ ਬਡ਼ੇ ਸਾਲਾਂ ਬਾਅਦ ਸ਼ਾਇਦ ਪਿੱਛੇ ਜਿਹੇ ਤਿੰਨ ਜੱਜਾਂ ਦੀ ਬੈਂਚ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਖਾਰਜ ਕਰ ਦਿੱਤੀ ਗਈ ਸੀ ਪਰ ਰਾਸ਼ਿਦ ਹੁਰਾਂ ਦੀ ਸ਼ਾਦਮਾਨ ਚੌਕ ਨੂੰ ‘ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਚੌਕ’ ਨਾਂ ਦੇਣ ਦੀ ਅਪੀਲ ’ਤੇ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਲਾਹੌਰ ਨੂੰ ਨੋਟਿਸ ਜਾਰੀ ਹੋਇਆ ਹੈ। ਭੁੱਟੋ ਕੇਸ ਦੀ ਮੁਡ਼ ਪਡ਼ਤਾਲ ਦੀ ਮੰਗ ਮੰਨੀ ਜਾਣ ਬਾਅਦ ਲਾਹੌਰ ਦੇ ਕੁਝ ਵਕੀਲ ਹੁਣ ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰਪਤੀ ਜ਼ਰਦਾਰੀ ਨੂੰ ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਕੇਸ ਦਾ ਰੈਫਰੈਂਸ ਸੁਪਰੀਮ ਕੋਰਟ/ਲਾਹੌਰ ਹਾਈ ਕੋਰਟ ਨੂੰ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ ਤਿਆਰੀ ਕਰ ਰਹੇ ਹਨ, ਜਿਸ ਦਾ ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰਪਤੀ ਨੂੰ ਕਾਨੂੰਨੀ ਹੱਕ ਹੈ। ਇਮਤਿਆਜ਼ ਰਾਸ਼ਿਦ ਦਾ ਕੁਝ ਹਲਕਿਆਂ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਮਜ਼ਾਕ ਉਡਾਇਆ ਗਿਆ ਕਿ ਬੰਦੇ ਨੂੰ ਫਾਂਸੀ ਦੇਣ ਬਾਅਦ 90-100 ਸਾਲਾਂ ਬਾਅਦ ਫਾਂਸੀ ਰੱਦ ਕਰਨ ਦੀ ਕੀ ਤੁਕ ਹੈ? ਇਵੇਂ ਹੀ ਭੁੱਟੋ ਦੀ ਫਾਂਸੀ ਦੇ 45 ਵਰ੍ਹੇ ਬਾਅਦ ਫਾਂਸੀ ਰੱਦ ਕਰਨ ਦੀ ਗੱਲ ਦੀ ਕੀ ਤੁਕ 2 ਹੈ? ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ-ਰਾਜਗੁਰੂ-ਸੁਖਦੇਵ ਅਤੇ ਨਾਂ ਹੀ ਜ਼ੁਲਫਿਕਾਰ ਭੁੱਟੋ ਨੂੰ ਫਾਂਸੀ ਰੱਦ ਹੋਣ ਬਾਅਦ ਜ਼ਿੰਦਗੀ ਜਿਊਣ ਦੇ ਪਲ ਹਾਸਲ ਹੋਣੇ ਹਨ, ਪਰ ਇਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਫਾਂਸੀਆਂ ਦੇ ਰੱਦ ਹੋਣ ਨਾਲ ਇੱਕ ਸਿਆਸੀ ਮੰਤਵ ਪੂਰਾ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਇਹ ਸਾਬਤ ਹੋ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਕਿਸੇ ਵੀ ਦੇਸ਼ ਵਿੱਚ ਅਤੇ ਕਿਸੇ ਵੀ ਸਮਾਜ ਵਿੱਚੋਂ ਨਿਆਂ ਪ੍ਰਣਾਲੀ ਜਿਸ ਨੂੰ ਵੇਲੇ ਦੀ ਹਕੂਮਤ ਤੋਂ ‘ਆਜ਼ਾਦ’ ਖ਼ਿਆਲ ਕੀਤਾ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ ਕੀ ਉਹ ਵਾਕਈ ‘ਸਿਆਸੀ ਦਖ਼ਲ’ ਜਾਂ ਵਕਤ ਦੇ ਸਿਆਸੀ ਮਾਹੌਲ ਦੀ ਹੈਜਮਨੀ (Hegemony) ਤੋਂ ਆਜ਼ਾਦ ਹੁੰਦੀ ਹੈ? ਜਿਸ ਤਰ੍ਹਾਂ ਇਰਾਕ ਦੇ ਚੁਣੇ ਹੋਏ ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰਪਤੀ ਸੱਦਾਮ ਹੁਸੈਨ ਨੂੰ ਅਮਰੀਕੀ ਫ਼ੌਜ ਨੇ ਸ਼ਰੇਆਮ ਫਾਂਸੀ ਦਿੱਤੀ ਜਾਂ ਲਿਬੀਆ ਦੇ ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰਪਤੀ ਗੱਦਾਫ਼ੀ ਨੂੰ ਵਿਦੇਸ਼ੀ ਫ਼ੌਜਾਂ ਨੇ ਘਸੀਟ ਘਸੀਟ ਕੇ ਕਤਲ ਕੀਤਾ, ਉੱਥੇ ਇਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਸਿਆਸੀ ਕਾਰਨਾਂ ਕਰਕੇ ਦਿੱਤੀਆਂ ਫਾਂਸੀਆਂ ਨੂੰ ਪਡ਼ਚੋਲਵੀਂ ਨਜ਼ਰ ਨਾਲ ਘੋਖਣਾ ਜ਼ਰੂਰੀ ਹੈ। ਇਸ ਗੱਲ ਬਾਰੇ ਸੋਚਣਾ ਵੀ ਜ਼ਰੂਰੀ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਕਿਉਂ ਤੇ ਕਿਵੇਂ ਦੁਨੀਆ ਦੇ ਸੌ ਤੋਂ ਵੱਧ ਮੁਲਕਾਂ ਨੇ ਆਪਣੀ ਨਿਆਂ ਪ੍ਰਣਾਲੀ ਵਿੱਚ ਮੌਤ ਦੀ ਸਜ਼ਾ ਨੂੰ ਖ਼ਤਮ ਕਰ ਦਿੱਤਾ ਹੈ। ਇੱਥੋਂ ਤੱਕ ਕਿ ਨਾਰਵੇ ਵਿੱਚ ਇੱੱਕ ਦਹਾਕੇ ਤੋਂ ਵੱਧ ਪਹਿਲਾਂ 72 ਮਾਸੂਮ ਬੱਚਿਆਂ ਦੇ ਕਾਤਲ ਬਰੇਵਿਕ ਨੂੰ ਵੀ ਮੌਤ ਦੀ ਸਜ਼ਾ ਨਹੀਂ ਦਿੱਤੀ ਗਈ ਅਤੇ ਉਹ ਜੇਲ੍ਹ ਵਿੱਚ ਪਡ਼੍ਹਾਈ ਵੀ ਕਰ ਰਿਹਾ ਹੈ। ਸਵੀਡਨ ਦੇ ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਓਲਫੇ ਪਾਪ ਨੂੰ ਕੁਝ ਦਹਾਕੇ ਪਹਿਲਾਂ ਇੱਕ ਸਿਨਮਾ ਹਾਲ ਵਿੱਚ ਬਿਨਾਂ ਕਿਸੇ ਸੁਰੱਖਿਆ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਹਰ ਆਉਂਦਿਆਂ ਗੋਲੀ ਮਾਰਨ ਵਾਲੇ ਨੂੰ ਵੀ ਫਾਂਸੀ ਦੀ ਸਜ਼ਾ ਨਹੀਂ ਦਿੱਤੀ ਗਈ। ਰਾਮਰਖ ਸਿੰਘ ਸਹਿਗਲ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਅਲਾਹਾਬਾਦ ਤੋਂ ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ਿਤ ‘ਚਾਂਦ’ ਰਸਾਲੇ ਦੇ ‘ਫਾਂਸੀ ਅੰਕ’ ਜੋ ਨਵੰਬਰ 1928 ਵਿੱਚ ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ਿਤ ਹੋਇਆ ਸੀ ਅਤੇ ਜਿਸ ਵਿੱਚ ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਅਤੇ ਸ਼ਿਵ ਵਰਮਾ ਨੇ ਮਿਲ ਕੇ 48 ਇਨਕਲਾਬੀਆਂ ਦੇ ਰੇਖਾ ਚਿੱਤਰ ਲਿਖੇ ਸਨ, ਇਹ ਅੰਕ ਵੀ ਮੌਤ ਦੀ ਸਜ਼ਾ ਦੇ ਸਿਧਾਂਤਕ ਵਿਰੋਧ ਕਾਰਨ ਛਾਪਿਆ ਗਿਆ ਸੀ। ਮਹਾਤਮਾ ਗਾਂਧੀ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ-ਰਾਜਗੁਰੂ-ਸੁਖਦੇਵ ਦੇ ਫਾਂਸੀ ਤੋਂ ਬਚਾਅ ਨਾ ਕਰਨ ’ਤੇ ਬਹੁਤ ਵਿਵਾਦ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਹੈ। ਮਹਾਤਮਾ ਗਾਂਧੀ ਨੇ ਇਸ ਫਾਂਸੀ ਦਾ ਅੱਧ-ਪਚੱਧਾ ਜਾਂ ਜ਼ੁਬਾਨੀ ਕਲਾਮੀ ਤਾਂ ਵਿਰੋਧ ਜ਼ਰੂਰ ਕੀਤਾ ਪਰ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਦੀ ਕਮਜ਼ੋਰੀ ਇਸ ਮਾਮਲੇ ਵਿੱਚ ‘ਮੌਤ ਦੀ ਸਜ਼ਾ’ ਦਾ ਸਿਧਾਂਤਕ ਅਤੇ ਨੈਤਿਕ ਵਿਰੋਧ ਨਾ ਕਰ ਸਕਣ ਵਿੱਚ ਵਧੇਰੇ ਜ਼ਾਹਰ ਹੋਈ। ਮਹਾਤਮਾ ਗਾਂਧੀ ਦੁਨੀਆ ਦੇ ਹੋਰ ਉਦਾਰਪੰਥੀ ਆਗੂਆਂ ਵਾਂਗ ‘ਮੌਤ ਦੀ 3 ਸਜ਼ਾ’ (Capital Punishment) ਦੇ ਸਿਧਾਂਤਕ ਤੌਰ ’ਤੇ ਵਿਰੋਧੀ ਸਨ ਪਰ ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਹੋਰਾਂ ਦੀ ਫਾਂਸੀ ਦੇ ਮਾਮਲੇ ਵਿੱਚ ਉਹ ਪੂਰੇ ਨੈਤਿਕ ਜ਼ੋਰ ਨਾਲ ਇਹ ਕਹਿਣ ਵਿੱਚ ਅਸਫਲ ਰਹੇ ਕਿ ‘ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ’ ਜਾਂ ਕਿਸੇ ਸਾਧਾਰਨ ਵਿਅਕਤੀ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਕਤਲ ਜਾਂ ਕੋਈ ਹੋਰ ਭਿਆਨਕ ਜੁਰਮ ਕਰਨ ਦੇ ਬਾਵਜੂਦ ਉਹ ਮੌਤ ਦੀ ਸਜ਼ਾ ਦਾ ਵਿਰੋਧ ਕਰਦੇ ਹਨ ਅਤੇ ਇਸੇ ਲਈ ਉਹ ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ, ਰਾਜਗੁਰੂ, ਸੁਖਦੇਵ ਦੀ ਫਾਂਸੀ ਦਾ ਵੀ ਵਿਰੋਧ ਕਰਦੇ ਹਨ। ਇਸ ਦੇ ਬਨਿਸਬਤ ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਦਾ ਨੈਤਿਕ ਅਤੇ ਸਿਆਸੀ ਕੱਦ ਮਹਾਤਮਾ ਗਾਂਧੀ ਨਾਲੋਂ ਇਸ ਪੱਖੋਂ ਬੁਲੰਦ ਰਿਹਾ ਕਿ ਉਸ ਨੇ ਬਰਤਾਨਵੀ ਸਾਮਰਾਜ ਨੂੰ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੇ ਲੈਫਟੀਨੈਂਟ ਜਨਰਲ ਰਾਹੀਂ ਭੇਜੇ 20 ਮਾਰਚ, 1931 ਦੇ ਖ਼ਤ ਰਾਹੀਂ ਸਿੱਧੀ ਚੁਣੌਤੀ ਦੇ ਕੇ ਕਿਹਾ ਕਿ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਨੂੰ ‘ਫਾਂਸੀ ਨਾ ਦੇ ਕੇ’ ‘ਗੋਲੀ ਨਾਲ ਉਡਾਇਆ ਜਾਵੇ’, ਕਿਉਂਕਿ ਉਹ ‘ਜੰਗੀ ਕੈਦੀ’ ਹਨ ਅਤੇ ‘ਜੰਗੀ ਕੈਦੀਆਂ’ ਨੂੰ ਗੋਲੀ ਨਾਲ ਉਡਾਉਣਾ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਦਾ ਸਨਮਾਨ ਕਰਨਾ ਹੈ। ਜਿਸ ਤਰ੍ਹਾਂ ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਰਹੇ ਜ਼ੁਲਫਿਕਾਰ ਅਲੀ ਭੁੱਟੋ, ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰਪਤੀ ਸੱਦਾਮ ਹੁਸੈਨ ਜਾਂ ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰਪਤੀ ਗੱਦਾਫ਼ੀ ਫਾਂਸੀ ਰਾਹੀਂ ਜਾਂ ਹੋਰ ਤਰੀਕੇ ਨਾਲ ਮੌਤ ਦੇ ਘਾਟ ਉਤਾਰੇ ਗਏ, ਇਹ ਸਿਆਸੀ ਬਦਲਾਖੋਰੀ ਦੀ ਸਿਖ਼ਰ ਦਾ ਗ਼ਰੂਰ ਹੈ। ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਦੀ ਫਾਂਸੀ ਵੀ ਬਰਤਾਨਵੀ ਬਸਤੀਵਾਦ ਦੇ ਸਿਆਸੀ ਗ਼ਰੂਰ ਦਾ ਸਿਖ਼ਰ ਸੀ। ਕਾਨੂੰਨੀ ਦਾਅਪੇਚ ਦੇ ਹਿਸਾਬ ਨਾਲ ਬਰਤਾਨਵੀ ਨਿਆਂ ਪ੍ਰਣਾਲੀ ਦੇ ਦਾਇਰੇ ਵਿੱਚ ਵੀ ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ- ਰਾਜਗੁਰੂ-ਸੁਖਦੇਵ ਨੂੰ ਫਾਂਸੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਦਿੱਤੀ ਜਾ ਸਕਦੀ ਸੀ, ਬੇਸ਼ੱਕ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਸਾਂਡਰਸ ਨੂੰ ਕਤਲ ਕਰਨ ਨੂੰ ਖ਼ੁਦ ਕਬੂਲ ਕਰ ਲਿਆ ਸੀ। ਕਾਰਨ ਇਹ ਕਿ ‘ਨਿਆਂ ਪ੍ਰਣਾਲੀ’ ‘ਸਬੂਤਾਂ’ ਦੇ ਅਾਧਾਰ ’ਤੇ ਸਜ਼ਾ ਤੈਅ ਕਰਦੀ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਜੇ ‘ਸਬੂਤ’ ਜ਼ਰਾ ਵੀ ਸ਼ੱਕ ਦੇ ਘੇਰੇ ਵਿੱਚ ਹੋਣ ਜਾਂ ਪ੍ਰਮਾਣਿਤ ਨਾ ਹੋ ਸਕਦੇ ਹੋਣ ਤਾਂ ਕਿਸੇ ਵੀ ਸੂਰਤ ਵਿੱਚ ਫਾਂਸੀ ਨਹੀਂ, ਸਿਰਫ਼ ਉਮਰ ਕੈਦ ਦੀ ਸਜ਼ਾ ਦਿੱਤੀ ਜਾ ਸਕਦੀ ਹੈ। ‘ਨਿਆਂ ਪ੍ਰਣਾਲੀ’ ਵਿੱਚੋਂ ‘ਮੌਤ ਦੀ ਸਜ਼ਾ’ ਖ਼ਤਮ ਕਰਨ ਦਾ ਸਭ ਤੋਂ ਮਜ਼ਬੂਤ ਤਰਕ ਇਹ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਇੱਕ ਵਾਰ ਇਨਸਾਨ ਦੀ ਜ਼ਿੰਦਗੀ ਖ਼ਤਮ ਕਰਨ (ਫਾਂਸੀ ਦੇਣ) ਬਾਅਦ, ਜੇ ਬਾਅਦ ਵਿੱਚ ਉਸ ਦੀ ‘ਬੇਗੁਨਾਹੀ’ ਦਾ ਸਬੂਤ ਮਿਲ ਜਾਵੇ ਤਾਂ ਉਸ ਇਨਸਾਨ ਦੀ ਜ਼ਿੰਦਗੀ ਵਾਪਸ ਨਹੀਂ ਮੁਡ਼ ਸਕਦੀ। ਇਸ ਲਈ ਰੌਸ਼ਨ ਖ਼ਿਆਲ ਨਿਆਂ ਪ੍ਰਣਾਲੀ ਵਿੱਚ ‘ਮੌਤ ਦੀ ਸਜ਼ਾ’ ਖ਼ਤਮ ਕਰਕੇ ਕੈਦ (ਉਮਰ ਕੈਦ) ਰਾਹੀਂ ਮੁਜਰਮ ਨੂੰ ਸਿੱਖਿਆ ਰਾਹੀਂ ‘ਸੁਧਾਰਨ’ ਦਾ ਯਤਨ 4 ਕੀਤਾ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ, ਇਸੇ ਲਈ ਹਿੰਦੁਸਤਾਨ ਵਿੱਚ ਵੀ ਜੇਲ੍ਹਾਂ ਦਾ ਨਾਂ ਬਦਲ ਕੇ ‘ਸੁਧਾਰ ਘਰ’ ਕੀਤਾ ਗਿਆ ਹੈ। ਹਾਲਾਂਕਿ ਅਸਲੀਅਤ ਇਹ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਨਾਂ ਬਦਲਣ ਨਾਲ ਜੇਲ੍ਹਾਂ ਅੰਦਰਲੀ ਹਾਲਤ ਵਿੱਚ ਕੋਈ ਸੁਧਾਰ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੋਇਆ ਅਤੇ ਬਰਤਾਨਵੀ ਬਸਤੀਵਾਦੀ ਹਕੂਮਤ ਦੇ ਦੌਰ ਤੋਂ ਵੱਧ ਭਿਆਨਕ ਜ਼ੁਲਮ ਭਾਰਤੀ ਪੁਲੀਸ ਅਤੇ ਜੇਲ੍ਹ ਅਫ਼ਸਰਾਂ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਕੀਤੇ ਜਾਣ ਦੀਆਂ ਖ਼ਬਰਾਂ ਅਕਸਰ ਛਪਦੀਆਂ ਰਹਿੰਦੀਆਂ ਹਨ। ਬਰਤਾਨਵੀ ਕਾਲ ਸਮੇਂ ‘ਪੁਲੀਸ ਮੁਕਾਬਲੇ’ ਨਾਂ ਦੀ ਕੋਈ ‘ਟਰਮ’ ਨਹੀਂ ਸੀ ਪਰ ਬਿਨਾਂ ਕਿਸੇ ਨਿਆਂ ਪ੍ਰਣਾਲੀ ਦਾ ਪਾਲਣ ਕੀਤੇ ਕਿਸੇ ‘ਅਸਲੀ’ ਜਾਂ ‘ਅਖੌਤੀ’ ਮੁਜਰਮ ਨੂੰ ਪੁਲੀਸ ਜਾਂ ਫ਼ੌਜ ਜਾਂ ‘ਭੀਡ਼’ ਵੱਲੋਂ ‘ਮੁਕਾਬਲਾ’ ਦਿਖਾ ਕੇ ਜਾਂ ‘ਲਿੰਚ’ ਕਰਕੇ ਮਾਰ ਦੇਣਾ, ‘ਫਾਸ਼ੀਵਾਦੀ’ ਤੁਰਤ-ਫੁਰਤ ‘ਨਿਆਂ’ ਹੈ, ਜੋ ਕਿਸੇ ਸੱਭਿਅਕ ਸਮਾਜ ਜਾਂ ਦੇਸ਼ ਵਿੱਚ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੋ ਸਕਦਾ। ਅੰਗਰੇਜ਼ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਦੀ ‘ਸਮਾਜਵਾਦੀ ਇਨਕਲਾਬ’ ਲਿਆਉਣ ਦੀ ਵਿਚਾਰਧਾਰਾ, ਜਿਸ ’ਤੇ ਉਹ ਤੇ ਉਸ ਦੇ ਸਾਥੀ ਲੋਕ ਸੰਘਰਸ਼ਾਂ ਦੇ ਰਾਹ ’ਤੇ ਚੱਲਣਾ ਚਾਹੁੰਦੇ ਸਨ ਅਤੇ ਜਿਸ ਹੱਦ ਤੱਕ ਉਹ ਲੋਕਾਂ ਦੇ ਮਨਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਘਰ ਕਰ ਗਿਆ ਸੀ ਕਿ ਖ਼ੁਦ ਮਹਾਤਮਾ ਗਾਂਧੀ ਦੇ ਪੈਰੋਕਾਰ ਤੇ ਕਾਂਗਰਸ ਪਾਰਟੀ ਦੇ ਇਤਿਹਾਸਕਾਰ ਨੇ ਇਹ ਦਰਜ ਕੀਤਾ ਕਿ ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਉਸ ਵੇਲੇ ਮਹਾਤਮਾ ਗਾਂਧੀ ਦੇ ਬਰਾਬਰ ਜਾਂ ਉਸ ਤੋਂ ਵੀ ਵੱਧ ਹਰਮਨਪਿਆਰਤਾ ਦੇ ਸਿਖ਼ਰ ’ਤੇ ਸੀ। ਆਜ਼ਾਦੀ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਅਦ ਹੁਣ ਤੱਕ ਜਿੰਨੇ ਮੀਡੀਆ ਕੇਂਦਰਾਂ ਨੇ ਲੋਕਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਆਗੂਆਂ ਦੀ ਹਰਮਨਪਿਆਰਤਾ ਬਾਰੇ ਸਰਵੇ ਕਰਵਾਏ ਹਨ, ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਲੋਕਾਂ ਦੇ ਮਨਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਅਤੇ ਡਾ. ਅੰਬੇਡਕਰ ਸਭ ਤੋਂ ਸਿਖਰਲੀ ਪੌਡ਼ੀ ’ਤੇ ਹਨ। ਪੰਜਾਬ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਜੋ ਸਰਕਾਰੀ ਤੌਰ ’ਤੇ ਡਾ. ਅੰਬੇਡਕਰ ਅਤੇ ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਨੂੰ ਦਫ਼ਤਰਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਤਸਵੀਰਾਂ ਲਾ ਕੇ ਮਾਨਤਾ ਦਿੰਦੀ ਹੈ, ਉਸ ਪਿੱਛੇ ਵੀ ਇਹੋ ਕਾਰਨ ਹੈ। ਭਾਵੇਂ ਕਿ ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਦੀ ਅਸਲ ਤਸਵੀਰ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੇ ਕਿਸੇ ਵੀ ਸਰਕਾਰੀ ਦਫ਼ਤਰ ਵਿੱਚ ਨਹੀਂ ਲੱਗੀ ਹੋਈ। ਅਮਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਆਰਟਿਸਟ ਦੀ ਬਣਾਈ ਪੇਂਟਿੰਗ, ਜੋ ਗਿਆਨੀ ਜ਼ੈਲ ਸਿੰਘ ਨੇ ਆਪਣੇ ਮੀਡੀਆ ਸਲਾਹਕਾਰ ਤਰਲੋਚਨ ਸਿੰਘ ਰਾਹੀਂ ਬਣਵਾਈ ਸੀ, ਉਹੋ ਪੇਂਟਿੰਗ ਵਿਚਾਰੇ ਕਲਾਕਾਰ ਦੀ ਕਲਾ ਨੂੰ ਬਿਨਾਂ ਕਰੈਡਿਟ ਦਿੱਤੇ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਦੇ ਦਫ਼ਤਰਾਂ ਦਾ ਸ਼ਿੰਗਾਰ ਬਣੀ ਹੋਈ ਹੈ। ਇਹੋ ਹਸ਼ਰ ਸ਼ਹੀਦ ਊਧਮ ਸਿੰਘ ਅਤੇ ਕਰਤਾਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਸਰਾਭਾ ਦੀਆਂ ਤਸਵੀਰਾਂ ਦਾ ਹੈ, ਜੋ ਸਿਰਫ਼ ਪੇਂਟਿੰਗਜ਼ ਹਨ, ਨਾ ਕਿ ਅਸਲ ਤਸਵੀਰਾਂ। ਜੇ ਡਾ. ਅੰਬੇਡਕਰ ਦੀ ਅਸਲ ਤਸਵੀਰ 5 ਨਾਲ ਕੋਈ ਵਿਗਾਡ਼ ਕਰਦਾ ਤਾਂ ਤੁਰੰਤ ਫ਼ਸਾਦ ਹੋਣ ਦਾ ਖ਼ਤਰਾ ਰਹਿੰਦਾ ਹੈ, ਕਈ ਵਾਰ ਹੋਏ ਵੀ ਹਨ। ਪਰ ਸਾਡੀ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਨੂੰ ਆਪਣੇ ਸਭ ਤੋਂ ਪਿਆਰੇ ਸ਼ਹੀਦਾਂ ਦੀਆਂ ਅਸਲ ਤਸਵੀਰਾਂ ਨਾਲ ਕੋਈ ਲਗਾਅ ਨਹੀਂ ਤੇ ਸਿਰਫ਼ ਸਿਆਸੀ ਲਾਹਾ ਲੈਣ ਲਈ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਦੀਆਂ ਮਨਚਾਹੀਆਂ ਘਡ਼ੀਆਂ/ਕਲਾਕਾਰਾਂ ਦੀਆਂ ਸਿਰਜੀਆਂ ਤਸਵੀਰਾਂ ਲਾ ਕੇ ਬੁੱਤਾ ਸਾਰ ਲੈਂਦੀਆਂ ਹਨ। ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ-ਰਾਜਗੁਰੂ-ਸੁਖਦੇਵ ਦੇ ਸ਼ਹਾਦਤ ਦਿਹਾਡ਼ੇ ਸਾਨੂੰ ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਦੀ ਜੇਲ੍ਹ ਨੋਟ-ਬੁੱਕ ਵਿੱਚ ਦਰਜ ਉਸ ਦੇ ਸੁਧਾਰਵਾਦੀ, ਮਨੁੱਖਤਾਵਾਦੀ, ਨਿਆਂ ਪ੍ਰਣਾਲੀ ਦੇ ਹੱਕ ਵਿੱਚ ਹੋਣ ਦੀ ਗਵਾਹੀ ਨਾਲ ‘ਮੌਤ ਦੀ ਸਜ਼ਾ’ ਖ਼ਤਮ ਕਰਨ ਅਤੇ ‘ਪੁਲੀਸ ਬਲ ਦੇ ਮੁਜਰਮਾਂ/ਕੈਦੀਆਂ ਨਾਲ ਅਣਮਨੁੱਖੀ ਤਸੀਹੇ ਦੇਣ ਦੇ ਵਰਤਾਰੇ ’ਤੇ ਸਖ਼ਤੀ ਨਾਲ ਪਾਬੰਦੀ ਲਾਉਣ ਦੇ ਹੁਕਮ ਦੇ ਕੇ ਹੀ ਸ਼ਹੀਦਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਸੱਚੀ ਸ਼ਰਧਾਂਜਲੀ ਦਿੱਤੀ ਜਾ ਸਕਦੀ ਹੈ। ਜੇ ਸੰਘਰਸ਼ਸ਼ੀਲ ਕਿਸਾਨ, ਜੋ ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਦੇ ਰਾਹ ’ਤੇ ਚੱਲ ਕੇ ਸੰਘਰਸ਼ ਕਰ ਰਹੇ ਹਨ, ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਦੀਆਂ ਐੱਮ.ਐੱਸ.ਪੀ. ਵਰਗੀਆਂ ਜਾਇਜ਼ ਤੇ ਹੱਕੀ ਮੰਗਾਂ ਮੰਨ ਲਈਆਂ ਜਾਣ ਤਾਂ ਇਹ ਸ਼ਰਧਾਂਜਲੀ ਹੋਰ ਵੀ ਸੱਚੀ ਬਣ ਸਕਦੀ ਹੈ। *ਆਨਰੇਰੀ ਸਲਾਹਕਾਰ, ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਆਰਕਾਈਵਜ਼, ਨਵੀਂ ਦਿੱਲੀ।

Revolutionary Legacy of Bhagat Singh for South Asia

If the Z.A. Bhutto trial could be declared unjust, why not Bhagat Singh?

https://scroll.in/article/1065886/why-a-pakistani-lawyer-wants-a-court-to-retry-the-case-that-led-to-bhagat-singhs-execution

Revolutionary Legacy of Bhagat Singh for South Asia Chaman Lal* In year 2007, the birth centenary year of Bhagat Singh, though it was celebrated in India at quite large scale at Government as well as political groups level, but the celebrations had percolated to South Asia as well Irtiqa, a progressive Urdu journal from Karachi brought out a special issue on Bhagat Singh, in which many poems and other material on Bhagat Singh was published. My article published in Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) from Mumbai was translated in Urdu and Zahida Hina, an Urdu writer from Pakistan described Bhagat Singh as ‘son of Pakistan’, as he was born and died in what is today’s Pakistan. Born in Lyallpur, now renamed as Faisalabad district and executed and martyred in Lahore jail, so she claims Pakistan having more claim over the legacy of Bhagat Singh. Many developments keep on taking place in Pakistan, as Shadman Chowk, where earlier existed the execution point of Central Jail, was named once Bhagat Singh Chowk, recommended by Salima Hashmi, daughter of Faiz Ahmad Faiz as part of expert committee appointed by then Lahore administration. But some religious fundamentalists got stay from the court, yet every year on 23rd March, civil groups, including many women activists gather there on 23rd march and pay tributes to the martyr by singing revolutionary songs. Sometimes they have been assaulted by religious fundamentalist groups, so like this year, activists have been seeking security to be provided from Punjab High Court. Imtiaz Rashid, whose late father Abdul Rashid migrated from Abohar area of present East Punjab, both father and son have long been fighting to get Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev acquitted from infamous Lahore conspiracy case, through which they were convicted to death sentence by three High court level judges tribunal, against which no appeal could be made. As per A G Noorani book-The Trial of Bhagat Singh, the whole judicial procedure was so defective that he termed it as ‘judicial murder’! Lahore based Punjab High court after many years perhaps dismissed the case, and it may land up in Supreme Court of Pakistan. Interestingly activists might be approaching Pakistan President Asif Zardari for reference of this case to Supreme Court for review, on the pattern of former popular Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto case and Supreme Court of Pakistan has recently accepted the reference made by Zardari in his earlier term as President of Pakistan in year 2013. Activists in Pakistan are thinking about making petition to President Zardari to make reference to Pakistan Supreme court regarding Lahore Conspiracy case as well, in which Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged on 23rd March 1931 at odd time of 7 pm past. Normally in any country execution takes place in morning time and these revolutionaries’ execution was also planned for morning of 24th March. But British colonial authorities, scared of massive people’s protest, advanced the execution to 12 hours and hanged them at 7 pm past on 23rd March itself. Yet people who had held a massive protest rally on 23rd March evening also and were dispersing when the news came about their being hanged and people gathered again at the gate of Lahore jail. It was revealed by a jail official to an Indian nationalist living close to the jail complex that all three revolutionaries had thrown their black masks, traditionally to cover the faces before being hanged, saying they were no criminals and holding their head high shouting slogans of Inqilab Zindabad, rode to the gallows. Decades later the whole world saw on television how Iraq President Saddam Hussain, throwing away black mask from his face before being hanged by American occupying forces. But Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev did this act many decades ago! The bodies were cut into pieces and stacked in raw jute bags and taken from the back gates of jail towards river Sutlej and bodies burnt with kerosene oil near village Ganda Singh wala, but the people including Bhagat Singh younger sister Bibi Amar Kaur, Lala Lajpat Rai daughter Parvati Bai had followed the tracks and found half burnt warm flesh and bones of the martyrs, which were picked from sand and brought back to Lahore and were given proper cremation at Ravi banks of Lahore in a procession of more than 50 thousand people. A huge meeting was also held at Minto Park Lahore. The news of this was carried in The Tribune of Lahore on 26th March on front page. Naujwan Bharat Sabha founded by Bhagat Singh and his comrades had planned to built a memorial for the martyrs for which an appeal to collect ten lakh rupees was issued by Sushila Ghosh, sister of Ajoy Ghosh, comrade of Bhagat Singh who was acquitted in Lahore Conspiracy case and remained General Secretary of Communist party of India(CPI) for 12 years till his death in 1962. Memorial would have included a training centre for workers for trade unionism and library plus meeting hall, this was somehow got sabotages and never came up. Ajoy Ghosh considered Bhagat Singh to be much brighter than himself and mentions that it was Bhagat Singh who took him and other comrades to the path of Socialist revolution. It was at Bhagat Singh proposal that the revolutionary organisation name Hindustan Republican Association/Army was renamed as Hindustan Socialist Republican Association/Army. Many Comrades from HSRA and Naujwan Bharat Sabha (NBS) later became part of Socialist faction of Congress party and supported Netaji Subhash Chander Bose as against Mahatma Gandhi candidate in Congress election. Some Muslim Comrades like Mubark Sagar and Ahmad Deen of NBS and HSRA migrated to Pakistan after 1947 and since relations between India and Pakistan remained cool till 1965, Chaman Lal Azad, who was NBS activist and later Urdu journalist, helped Mubark Sagar and Ahmad Deen during their medical needs by inviting them to Delhi and getting them treated. Chaman Lal Azad wrote a good book in Urdu-Bhagat Singh aur Dutt ki Amar Kahani, now out of print. He was close to Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and could get Mubark Sagar and Munshi Ahmad Deen to have medical help in Delhi. There has been renewed interest in Pakistan about Bhagat Singh as in many countries in west, from where many research publications have come up recently. Lyallpur Historian club organises lectures on Bhagat Singh and also celebrate his birth anniversary in his birth village Chak No 105, Bange, now in Faisalabad district. The allottee and owner of Bhagat Singh family house has created a two-room museum of freedom struggle in birth room of Bhagat Singh, which includes pictures of all freedom fighters of that period-Hindus/Sikhs/Muslims etc. Bhagat Singh birth house was visited even by one-time Indian Ambassador to Pakistan TCA Raghvan. Prior to 1965 Indo-Pak war, the visitors to Nankana Sahib invariably used to visit Chak no 105-Bhagat Singh birth place on buses, which falls in Jaranwala Tehsil, about 45 kilometres from Nankana Sahib. Ammara Ahmad, a journalist cum scholar is planning her research on Footsteps of Bhagat Singh in Lahore. Recently historian Waqar Piroz, who retired from Govt. College Lyallpur (Faisalabad), has published a good biography of Bhagat Singh in Urdu, published by Fiction house Lahore under the title Sarfarosh Sardar Bhagat Singh. NRI Indian scholar and lawyer from London Satvinder Juss could consult 134 files of Bhagat Singh case lying in Punjab Archives in Anarkali Lahore and wrote two books on the base of that-The Execution of Bhagat Singh and Bhagat Singh Life and Revolution, published by HarperCollins India and Penguins India. Earlier famous Sindhi poet Sheikh Ayaz had an epic on Bhagat Singh in Sindhi. Punjabi poet Ahmade Saleem has a poetry collection under the title-Kehdi Maan ne Bhagat Singh Jammiya(Which mother gave birth to Bhagat Singh). So Bhagat Singh is not just Indian phenomenon. First time in March 2018, Punjab Archives Lahore had pout an exhibition on Bhagat Singh case, exhibiting many documents from these 134 files. A Pakistani historian has told me in 2014, that Pakistan Government has planned to digitise these whole files and put in public domain, but it has not been done till day, ten years later! Pakistani and South Asian youth are equally enamoured of Bhagat Singh’s personality and revolutionary ideas. Our latest book-The Political Writings of Bhagat Singh edited by Monthly Review ex-editor and Director Michael D Yates and me, has been published by LeftWord India but its Monthly Review Press edition is coming up from New York this very year. Slowly Bhagat Singh is turning into a popular revolutionary international icon like Che Guevara. This connects the revolutionary tradition of South Asia and South America and that is a good sign for world progressive circles and oppressed people, who take inspiration to make revolution in their countries from these two supreme fearless icons of revolution! *Chaman Lal is a retired Professor from JNU, New Delhi and Honorary Advisor Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, Delhi Archives, New Delhi. His books on Bhagat Singh include The Bhagat Singh Reader, The Political Writings of Bhagat Singh-coedited, Understanding Bhagat Singh and Complete writings of Bhagat Singh in Hindi, Urdu, English and Marathi. He can be contacted at Chamanlal.jnu@gmail.com, blog and whatsapp channel-Bhagat Singh Study

Experiences Of Lectures on Bhagat Singh in Canada Chaman Lal*

) Frontier articles on Society & Politics (frontierweekly.com)

A series of Lectures on Bhagat Singh and his ideas of revolution were planned by Indo-Canadian Workers Association (ICWA) Brampton in March 2020. The series was to begin from Brampton and was to be taken to other cities of Canada by either branch of ICWA or like-minded groups or organisations. Due to the onset of COVID-19 in mid-March 2020, the whole of Canada was shut up like other parts of the world, including India, so the series was postponed but not cancelled. ICWA has different leadership in different cities, as radicals lead ICWA in Ontario province, whereas CPM-oriented people manage it in British Columbia State’s cities. There is the East India Defence Committee, which was set up by Hardial Bains, a leader of the Ghadar Communist Party, a radical Maoist party at one time and very strong in many cities which launched many anti-racist struggles. There were other Progressive Cultural and Writers’ Associations among the organisers of this lecture series. There were and are many left-oriented journals also published from Canada. One of Hari P Sharma’s organisations IPANA and later (SANSAD) were much known, it used to bring out bi-lingual journal in Punjabi and English. Nowadays it is extinct, but some weeklies or monthlies continued for some more years like The Asian Times edited by Prithviraj Kalia in four languages-Hindi, Punjabi, English and Urdu or Nawin Duniya in Punjabi had continued the trend. During the Covid crisis both Nawin Duniya and Asian Times ceased publication. But journals like Sarokaran di Awaz or Radical Desi still continue to hold the ground! Print or online print media has given it over now to electronic media like Radio, which is most popular, TV or podcasts! Many activists of old radical organisations have passed away like Chin Banerjee. Banerjee had written an obituary of Hari P Sharma at his passing away in 2010. Both Chin Bannerjee and Hari P Sharma served as Professors in Canadian Universities and had earned laurels as academicians. Hari P Sharma’s old associate in IPANA, Raj Chauhan is now the Speaker of British Columbia Legislature assembly. The pending series of lectures materialised in March 2023. In 2023, invitations from Surrey, Edmonton, Calgary and Montreal were received even before landing up in Canada. In year 2011, while on my way to San Francisco in the USA to deliver a lecture on the Ghadar party young hero Kartar Singh Sarabha on his birthday, I had stopped at Edmonton and Surrey to deliver lectures/meetings on Bhagat Singh Dalit literature. On my return to India in January 2012 from the assignment of Visiting Professor in Hindi at The University of West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine campus in Trinidad, I had my return journey through Toronto, so a lecture on Che Guevara and Bhagat Singh was organised at Brampton by Rationalist Society. At that very time, friends in Canada, especially Amrit Dhillon, husband of Bhagat Singh niece Inderjit at Brampton had expressed a desire to arrange a lecture series, though many books of mine on Bhagat Singh came out after 2011-12. Amrit Dhillon’s efforts through ICWA brought fruit in the form of a lecture series in March 2023! I touched Toronto airport at 6 am on 24th March. Bhagat Singh niece Inderjit and her husband Amrit Dhillon were there at the airport to receive me. Both were not in very good health and Amrit Dhillon nearing 80 years, I was feeling a bit guilty. Amrit Dhillon and ICWA had planned some Radio and TV interviews for propagating the event of 26th March, which included my lecture for 45 minutes on the revolutionary ideas of Bhagat Singh and a one-hour play based on Bhagat Singh’s last days in prison by Punjabi playwright Davinder Daman. Though for Canadian Indians/Punjabis Bhagat Singh is most popular iconic figure for their socio-politico-cultural events, their main focus is more on plays in Punjabi. As play can engage people from different ages and mental levels, from kids to older people. It is a kind of fulfilling their aesthetic needs also, as most of Canadian Punjabis/Indians have not been integrated with Canada’s own original citizens of white or of some mix races. Canada as a nation or country is also not of ancient times. It was founded much later than the USA, became a nation and has huge lands, mostly still uninhabited. Punjabi Indians had started reaching in Canada in early 1900s and the first Gurdwara which was built in 1908 at Surrey was demolished by none else than Punjabis themselves to build a housing complex. There was resistance by some Punjabis/Indians against demolition, but the greed was more powerful than religious feelings and now only a token plaque is put up indicating the place to be the first-ever Gurdwara of Canada built in 1908. However, the Gurdwara built in Abbotsford in 1911, stands as a historic Gurdwara with a museum and Kamagatamaru ship monuments as the ship had landed at Vancouver in July 1914. It was made to wait at the seashore only for two months with 376 passengers onboard; only very few could land with court intervention. The remaining passengers had to travel back for two months to Bajbaj Ghat near Calcutta, where British colonial police fired upon them killing 20 passengers, their memorial is built on the spot of the shooting, which was inaugurated by first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and was taken care of Chittagong revolutionary Ganesh Ghosh for long time till his death. Though I could impress the audience of nearly full Pearson Hall with around 300 people as most of the people in the audience had never heard of those things which I generally speak to Indian audiences or audiences outside India, I had to wind up before I could exhaust all the ideas, which I summed up in brief. There was no time for discussion as the audience was waiting for the play and some songs. A poem of Faiz Ahmad Faiz was sung with modern instruments by a Canadian Pakistani, which was appreciated. A day before the lecture I may have appeared in 2-3 radio or TV interviews and on 26th March itself, after the lecture, I went through a two-hour long interview on one local YouTube channel of Nahar Aujla. In Canada, especially among Punjabis/Indians, radio is the most popular mode of information. Very few people have subscribed to any newspaper in Canada, none in houses I enjoyed the hospitality. I was to leave for Abbotsford for few lectures in Surrey and the Vancouver area for ten days, so I left Toronto on a flight on the 28th of March, while on 27th giving some more interviews or outings, it was lightly rainy season with moderate cold weather in most of Canada during my visit from 24th March to 1st May for almost five weeks. At Abbotsford’s small airport, Taraksheel Society activist couple Paramjit and her husband picked me up and came over to their beautiful house on the riverside. Next day on 29th April, I had to go through interviews with Canadian electronic media on different channels, the most famous being Red FM and Connect, but smaller ones like Sher-e-Punjab channels also had their studios. I appeared in short and longer interviews at channels as well as home set-up studios for YouTube channels. One well-known Indian journalist from Times of India-Manimugdha Sharma is now part of Red FM as well as doing research from Fraser University of British Columbia. In Canada, one may do as many jobs in the day combining Govt and private jobs legally. Among Punjabis/Indians it is a craze to work more hours, sometimes sixteen hours or more in a single day. Even when they have a weekly break of two days, they take up private jobs of property dealing or work as realtors! Most Punjabis with Govt. or private full-time regular jobs, indulge in property dealing on weekends! As some Punjabi hosts said all are running after earning Canadian currency is also dollar, its value slightly less than the US dollar. The situation has changed a lot after my last visit in 2012, when this kind of dollar-earning rat race was not there, or less visible! Even when parents or kins of Punjabi/Indians settled as citizens of Canada are invited to stay permanently with children, they are also pushed into doing jobs like cherry/blueberry picking or such kind of jobs. People in their 80’s even 90’s do work from home doing translations etc, which are well paid. One may look at this tendency critically, but one has to admit that there is no distinction between white-collar or blue-collar jobs. People go in for the jobs which fetch them more money and blue-collar jobs are paid more! So, Indians shedding their inhibition for menial or labour jobs, take up hard-working jobs which pay more bucks. Academicians of repute in India, who remained Professors in colleges and Universities, when coming over to Canada, they forget the nose of their old academic career and accept jobs like bus driving without any inhibition! Long drives of goods trucks earn lot of bucks, more than other blue-collar jobs, so most of Punjabi settlers had heavy vehicle driving as a profession for a length of time to enable them to buy a house. Housing is well organised. So first they go for two-bedroom flats with underground basement, which is generally rented to Indian students in Canada. With that earnings, they work many extra hours and reach in a position to go for a three-bedroom flat. Bank loans are easily available. Flats get pledged to the bank for the amount they spend on buying. There is no Indian notion of ‘my home’ they change their homes like changing their clothes and buying new ones after a couple of years. So, 2 to 3, 3 to 4, 4 to five-room house, the race continues all the time leaving no time for leisure or entertainment. Many of them have houses in 2-3 cities, even in American cities as travelling and working in American cities is as easy as inside Canada! As I was to spend almost ten days in the Vancouver area, apart from visiting some historic sites and sightseeing I wished my friends to organise as many meetings as possible during my stay, whether small in house meetings, or public hall meetings. After staying one or two nights at Surrey I moved to Abbotsford with a young relative. I had a second visit to historic 1911-built Gurdwara, which was once the centre of Ghadarite activists, in whose langar hall I was honoured with Siropa and a medal in 2011 by then MLA and minister Raj Chauhan, who is now Speaker of British Columbia assembly but had his long association with Hari P Sharma’s radical left organisation. Raj Chauhan and other friends belong to the NDP party, strong in British Columbia, where Ujjal Dosanjh, grandson of a Ghadarite from the Hoshiarpur district of Punjab was the Premier one time or Chief Minister, in the Indian political sense. I had met Ujjal Dosanjh in 2011 as well and during this visit, we joined a dinner held by a common friend. He became controversial for changing parties while losing his seat in elections. Ujjal has now taken to writing and one part of his autobiography was released in Delhi recently by his publisher Speaking Tiger in Delhi. During my stay in the Vancouver area, I visited the British Columbia provincial assembly in Victoria, where one has to ferry by ship from Vancouver. In 2011 also I visited and wished that in some way the reference to Bhagat Singh should come on record of assembly proceedings. Last time Harry Bains, Raj Chahuan and Jagroop Brar were our hosts, and Rachna Singh was part of us as visitors. (This time Rachna Singh was the minister herself, though we could not meet!) Time was so short that we could not watch the proceedings of the assembly. This time however it was a pleasant surprise as we were invited by a Filipino background MLA Mable Egmore, who was once part of the Drivers Union, led by Kirpal Bains, who was President of the Drivers Union, and Mable was her deputy in the union as Vice President. She was the one who extended an invitation to be her guest and visit the Assembly premises and watch the proceedings of the assembly. She received five of us warmly at the Assembly gate and took us around the complex, where at one place pictures of all early Premiers were displayed including one of Ujjal Dosanjh. While in the huge assembly library, I could not gift any book, as I was left with none, but did present a brochure of Bhagat Singh archives and Resource centre to be displayed. As we also met Niki Sharma the law minister in the assembly complex, I wished to present Bhagat Singh’s writings in Hindi to her, but she expressed her inability to read Hindi, though her parental background is from Jalandhar area of Punjab. We were introduced to the Assembly speaker, who happened to be Raj Chauhan, a Hari P Sharma follower once, I presented a copy of Understanding Bhagat Singh to him and he invited us to watch the proceedings in the afternoon session, when he will be chairing. In the meantime, Mable has managed to treat us as special visitors to be introduced to the members of the assembly. I was first introduced by Jinny Sims, former MP and Minister to the house as a Researcher on Bhagat Singh, the greatest icon of the freedom struggle of India. Later Mable introduced the other four members of our group, especially mentioning Kirpal Bains to be her mentor in the trade union! We got a copy of the recording after some time. Not to be forgotten was the sumptuous lunch in the assembly canteen, where minister Jagroop Brar met and MLA Jinny Sims joined for a while, expressing her concern about Khalistani and Amrik Singh’s neo-Bhindrawalian activities. Jinny Sims’s father was a communist activist in Punjab. We returned after that session and Mable Igmore came out to see us off. Mable once again referred to Bhagat Singh in the assembly in the context of a race done in his name. In Canada, races are part and parcel of social life. Mable is part of a queer movement of Canada and it does not affect her electoral prospects as she had already won her seat four times in a row During my stay in the Vancouver area, where I lived in Surrey, Abbotsford and Maple Field, few notable things are-visit to Abbotsford old fort Langley site, where the mention to aboriginal children being killed, which has been the hot topic of Canadian newspapers and society since few months. I saw their genocide monuments being built in the hearts of cities like Surrey, Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto, maybe a few other cities too. In those designated spaces, the design or pictures of skulls of aboriginal children, their dresses, and shoes with banners like Every child matters etc have been displayed and they attracted huge attention of visitors. In most of places, the use of Punjabi along with English and French was quite common. Another smaller meeting in Surrey area was one at Jarnail Singh’s artist’s studio. A small indoor meeting, in which Punjabi senior writer of Pakistani origin Fauzia Rafique joined. CPM activists also held an indoor meeting at Kulwant Dhesi spacious house with a respectable presence and meaningful discussion, in which historian Sohan Singh Pooni and activist Surinder Sangha joined in intense discussion. A larger public hall discussion was held in East India Defence Committee Hall Surrey, where for more than two hours an exhaustive discussion was held on the role of Bhagat Singh’s ideas to change the society on socialist principles. Irony of the all these meetings was there were very few participants, who might have attended all meetings, not due to time constraints, but political constraints. Like their counterparts in India, they attend only their own faction or group meetings despite commonality in views and the need for broader unity. After spending ten days in British Columbia province, I moved to Alberta province with the Capital at Edmonton. Here there is a strong Punjabi background group with a Progressive Cultural platform with 85-year-old Prithvi Raj Kalia as its main spirit. Kalia, himself a Hindi and English writer and retired official of Haryana Sahitya Akademi, contributed a lot after migrating to Canada post-retirement, bringing out Asian Times, bringing books on Bhagat Singh, Ghadar Party, Marxism etc to mark the anniversaries. Jasvir Deol with Mangat Ram Pasla group political affiliation during his student days in Punjab is NDP popular MLA here. So, a well-attended public meeting was held here in a hall of Punjabi background Canadians. There was lively discussion. The Mayor of Edmonton is a Punjabi background theatre activist, who was earlier a federal minister in the Trudeau Govt. Amarjit Sohi came to see me after the meeting as he belonged to Trudeau’s liberal party while Deol belonged to NDP. Amarjit Sohi with a family background from Sangrur district of Punjab was a theatre activist, who in the seventies had gone to Bihar to watch the radical Naxal movement’s cultural activities, where he was arrested by a special cell of Bihar police. He was tortured like anything and could have even been eliminated given the circumstances, which have still not changed much, perhaps worsened. To his good fortune and to the bad fortune of Bihar police a young IAS Punjabi lady with academic and poetic background had just joined as Deputy Commissioner of Jahanabad district. She raided the circuit house where Sohi was being tortured and called for the police officers who tortured Sohi. Sohi was sent to the hospital immediately and the brutal police officers, one in a drunkard condition and threatening DC herself were bundled out of the district. Sohi suffered a few years of prison and later as a free person, again led a protest demonstration of some workers to the same Deputy Commissioner, this encounter did not turn bitter and things were settled smoothly! Later Amarjit Sohi migrated to Canada with her whole family and in turn of the events became federal minister in Trudeau Govt. He continues to be the Mayor of Edmonton. Mayor post in the Canadian system is very important. While meeting him, I asked him to display Bhagat Singh’s portrait in the Mayoral office and get Bhagat Singh’s books in the libraries of Edmonton. I am not sure whether they would do it as politicians in Canada, while more accessible and less arrogant than their Indian counterparts are not much different when coming to action. My next lecture was the very next day in Calgary, which is a larger city in Alberta province. Here Taraksheel Society organised a lecture in an NGO hall again with a large gathering and a very congenial atmosphere for discussion. After spending a week in Alberta province, I returned to Ontario again for the last leg of my lecture tour as the 30th April was the Taraksheel programme in the same Pearson Hall in Brampton, from where I began on the 26th of March. After returning to Ontario, I stayed with different friends and visited my old friend and very sensitive Punjabi poet Navtej Bharti in London Ontario, almost one and half hour’s drive from Brampton. I had once translated his poem in Hindi-Ram Ab Ayodhya Nahin Lautenge-Rama will not return to Ayodhya now! It was in the background of the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition, it was published in the popular Hindi daily Jansatta. Though this was an equally good poem, the poem which got popular about this theme was Kaifi Azmi’s. There were display of Che Guevara photos in his small but aesthetically beautiful villa. It was there that we talked about Bhootwara, of whom he and just one more Prem Pali are survivors as a day before Surjeet Lee, had expired in Patiala. In Brampton, one indoor meeting was held in the house of Arider Hundal, a member of the Canadian Communist Party, who fought for local election. His father a progressive poet Harbhajan Hundal was affiliated to Pasla group in Punjab, who passed away recently. One pleasant invitation came from Concordia University Montreal.Dolores Chew organised a meeting at a small hall in Concordia University on 26th April. It was the only academic meeting in the whole lecture tour, though it was of a radical political thinkers’ group. I was in the hall just in time as I had missed a train to Montreal from Toronto, I was allowed to travel in the next train without any additional charge with a gap of three hours, the train journey itself was pleasant, meeting an Afghan student during the journey and arousing her interest in atheism of Bhagat Singh! Apart from a very useful and rich discussion at Montreal, I met Maya Khankhoje, daughter of legendary Ghadarite revolutionary Pandurang Khankhoje whom I had met in Delhi earlier and our JNU alumnus Diane Sha, while Anand, son of legendry Hindi writer Yashpal, who was instrumental in organising this meeting. I travelled to Ottawa, the capital of Canada from Montreal before returning to Brampton for the last meeting on 30th April.  As the 30th April meeting organised by Taraksheel Society was more focussed on a play by a Punjabi playwright, I was asked to speak briefly on Bhagat Singh, which I did with great precision. The only major province and city I missed out was Winnipeg in Manitoba, for which I had an invitation in 2020, but which could not materialise in 2023. With this tenth and last meeting in Canada, my lecture tour was concluded and my return ticket was booked for 1st May. Out of these ten meetings, seven were public meetings and three were indoor meetings. There were book exhibitions at most of the public meetings, but every exhibition had my books on display. Though I had circulated the list of my books to all organisers, but few of them got them for display. Despite a successful tour one question continues to haunt this writer. Why are Indians/ Panjabis who have chosen to take citizenship of Canada and are ministers/MLAs, part of the ruling elite and yet they indulge more in Indian politics than in their adopted country? They don’t question the Canadian Government for playing second fiddle to the US in almost all international affairs. They find it easy to condemn or praise the Indian Government but don’t question the Canadian government. Perhaps if they start criticising the Canadian Government for its pro-US policies their liberty to indulge in Indian politics will also get checked. The hypocrisy of Sonia Gandhi being a foreigner, so can’t be an Indian PM, but how Indian background people in so many places become Presidents/Prime Ministers and are not called anti-national in the countries where they have become rulers, and Indian Government and people both celebrate it when Sunk becomes UK Premier, but in India any person of foreign origin is a suspect/anti-national etc. The return journey was as difficult as the first journey was but again this was compensated by watching the Satyajit Ray film Jalsaghar itself!

Bhagat Singh figures in British Columbia Assembly Proceedings!

Indian politicians in Canada and India: A study in contrast | Chandigarh News – The Indian Express

It was in March 2020 that the Indo-Canadian Workers Association in Brampton sent me an invitation to deliver a few lectures on Shaheed Bhagat Singh in some cities of Canada. However, as the pandemic Covid-19 spread world over in mid-March, the programs were cancelled at the last moment, as were in India too! The invitation materialised three years later in March 2023.! While as part of the series, the lectures were held in Vancouver also. During my stay in the Vancouver area, it was in April first week, that along with a few friends of Punjabi origin, I wished to and visit Victoria, the capital of British Columbia province of Canada, which is popularly called Beautiful British Columbia (BBC)! We were invited to visit the Assembly Hall of the province by an MLA of Filipino origin, Mable Elmore, who was Vice President of the Drivers Union at one time and a four-time MLA. During my last visit in year 2011, an MLA of Punjabi origin Harry Bains had invited a few friends and we were entertained there in the Assembly Hall by Raj Chauhan, Jagrup Brar and Harry Bains, who took us around the assembly hall. At that time also, I had wished that if there could be some reference made to Shaheed Bhagat Singh in Assembly proceedings as we went around. This time to my pleasant surprise, it did happen, that too, due to a Filipino-origin MLA! To fulfil my wish, Kirpal Bains, a Punjabi-origin friend, who remained President of a union, of which Mable Elmore was Vice President, arranged an invitation from his comrade and MLA Mable Elmore to visit the assembly with friends. So, five of us Kirpal Bains, Dr. Sadhu Singh, Iqbal Purewal, Santokh Singh and me, took a ferry from Vancouver and reached Victoria, where the British Columbia Assembly is located. Both Kirpal Bains and Dr Sadhu Singh had their illustrious academic career in Punjab earlier. We were received at the gate of the Assembly by MLA Mable Elmore herself, who came out from the assembly’s ongoing proceedings. While she took us around the assembly hall complex, we met some ministers of British Columbia holding their own files without any staff to carry around. One of the ministers we met, was Niki Sharma, the law minister. I was carrying a few books on Shaheed Bhagat Singh in Hindi and was told that Niki Sharma might know Hindi, as she is from the Jalandhar area background, but she did not know Hindi. We were pleasantly surprised to see Raj Chauhan as Speaker of the British Columbia assembly, in 2011, he was a minister. He received us warmly in the speaker’s chamber. As I presented one of my books on Bhagat Singh to him, he invited us to watch the proceedings of the Assembly in the afternoon session, which he was to chair. We were entertained on a nutritious lunch with all kinds of food, in the Assembly Canteen where we met Jagrup Brar, who was minister this time and also joined briefly by MLA Jinny Sims, who was, an MP of federal parliament in 2011. Jinny’s name is Joginder from the Doaba area and her father was a Communist activist in Punjab. While talking over lunch, she shared our concern about what was being done by Khalistani elements in Canada and Amritpal and others in the UK and other countries.

In the afternoon session of the Assembly, while we were seated in the visitor’s gallery, we were introduced to the Assembly members as special visitors. While I was introduced to the Assembly by ex-Minister Jinny Sims as a researcher on Bhagat Singh, by adding that Shaheed Bhagat Singh was India’s greatest hero of the freedom struggle. Mable Elmore introduced the other four friends Kirpal Bains, Sadhu Singh, Iqbal Purewal and Santokh Singh, mentioning Kirpal Bains as her mentor in the trade union! The proceedings were recorded and I was happy that at least it was possible this time to get Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s name mentioned in Assembly records as an icon of the Indian freedom struggle. While going through the assembly complex, I clicked the photograph of Ujjal Dosanjh, who had remained Premier of British Columbia province once, later a federal minister too. (Ujjal Dosanjh too joined in a dinner held during my stay in Surrey with lively chat on drinks and food! He was in Chandigarh recently to release one of his autobiographical books, as he left politics for writing. He is the grandson of a Ghadrite revolutionary from the Hoshiarpur district). I presented a Brochure of Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre New Delhi to be displayed in the Assembly Library. While Mable Elmore came out with us to the Assembly gate to say goodbye! I was told that on the next day of the Assembly session, Mable again made mention of Shaheed Bhagat Singh in the context of a race being organised in the martyr’s name in Vancouver!

I was wondering how a system in different countries makes people of different backgrounds conduct themselves in accordance with the country they adopt to live in. All MLAs and ministers of Punjabi /Indian origin keep coming over to India and see how their counterparts in the Indian parliamentary system behave like feudal lords. While MLAs/ministers of Indian origin do all their work themselves, buying tea or coffee by standing in queue, the Indian feudal-minded parliamentarians cannot be even approached by common or even somewhat privileged Indians! Aam Aadmis (Common People in literal translation), become so Khas (Special), that even their close friends earlier are not responded to in any manner. I know one or two Cabinet ministers and senior functionaries of Punjab, who once took me to various monumental places relating to the Ghadar party like Stockton, Sacramento and San Francisco in the USA, will not even respond to my phone/Whatsapp calls/msgs or emails, so is in Delhi Aam turns Khas after getting power!

     Ironically Governments in the centre and states in the Indian Parliamentary system, find it difficult to appreciate the truly Multi-Cultural Canadian Parliamentary system, though still a dominion of the erstwhile British empire, where ministers including Prime Minister and Chief Ministers, MPs and MLAs live like other citizens of the country, one could find them in markets, carrying their own grocery, driving their own vehicles, standing in ques with all other citizens, allowing peoples peaceful protests, accepting their genuine demands without taking the sacrifices of people, like 700 farmers lives during recent farmers struggle! Indian Govt. bullies the Canadian government like international feudal lords. Canada itself has lost more than 300 of its citizen’s lives, due to Khalistani elements causing an air crash a few years ago, and a grand monument stands in the Vancouver area, with all the names of aeroplane crash victims caused by Khalistanis, so is a monument built at Vancouver waterfront in memory of 376 Kamagatamaru ship passengers including Hindu-Sikh-Muslims all, who were not allowed to land and reverted back to India after two months in 1914! Canadian Govt. has recorded an apology for that in its Parliament!

  I also wonder that after becoming citizens of Canada/other countries, why people from Indian background keep harping more on Indian situation than on the situation of their citizenship adopted countries! One can understand showing concern about the Indian situation from a humanitarian angle, but that should be for any country’s situation! Irony is the Indian Govt, while being critical of Canadian/other Governments. for not checking protests against the Indian govt. by Indian background people for its oppression inside India, they use similar Indian background people for promoting a present brand of Indian Govt. Thus, Indian Prime Minister Modi has been built as a ‘hero’ by the same type of Indian background people in the USA, UK and Australia, but this govt. gets stung when the same type of Indian background people criticise or protest against Modi Govt.! While no action was taken at the replay and eulogising Nathu Ram Godse for shooting Mahatma Gandhi, by a Hindu fundamentalist woman in Aligarh, action is demanded against some Sikhs in Canada replaying and eulogising Sikh bodyguards of Indira Gandhi shooting her! Both these actions in public are reprehensible, yet demanding action against Canadian Sikhs and not taking any action against Nathu Ram Godse’s followers at home!  This is the hypocrisy of first order!

*Chaman Lal is a retired Professor from JNU and Honorary Advisor Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, Delhi , has been in Canada recently for a lecture series on Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Whatsapp 9868774820, email Chamanlal.jnu@gmail.com

New Edition of C S Venu’s Banned Biography of Bhagat Singh

• India

Venu’s biography of Bhagat Singh, despite some errors in dates and narration, is one of the authentic records of those times, and its new edition is welcome.

Venu, C S, Sirdar Bhagat Singh (Banned biography), ed. Rajwanti Maan, 2022, Delhi, New World Publication, 114, Price Rs 150.

 This was one of earliest biographies of Bhagat Singh, published in the year 1931, immediately after his execution. Its price was just six annas at that time and its copies were available from the author’s address in Madras. All books, especially biographies and poetry on Bhagat Singh, were promptly proscribed.  The new edition of the book has been published after 91 years. Rajwanti Maan, the Haryana archivist got its copy from the British Library, London, and under her ‘editorship’, it was published in 2022 by a relatively new publisher — New World Publication.

The author, a Tamil, was in Lahore jail at the time of the execution of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. In the fresh edition, Rajwanti Maan, in her brief introduction, has quoted from the biography but has not used the latest information to update.

In Venu’s biography, the hunger strike period of Bhagat Singh in jail is referred to as 116 days. The editor has neither mentioned that the hunger strike period was actually110 days, which was mentioned in newspapers, such as The Tribune, at that time. She also does not mention that Bhagat Singh went on two more hunger strikes adding more days.

As per the editor, CS Venu’s biography was acquired by the British Library London on November 12, 1931. It was an 80-page book, priced six annas, and had the address of the author for copies. Its original title was Sirdar Bhagat Singh. No justification has been given as to why the word Sirdar has been changed to Sardar in the latest edition. The editor ends her introduction with the para from Dreamland, a poetry book by Lala Ram Saran Das, whose introduction was written by Bhagat Singh at the poet’s insistence. The editor has titled eight chapters. The original edition, perhaps, had breaks but was not divided into titles. Every new title or break began with some couplet from a classic revolutionary poem quoted by Venu.

The first chapter, ‘Childhood and Early Influences’ starts with a quote from Walter Scott’s poetry:

   “Oh hush thee my baby, the time soon will come/When the sleep shall be broken by trumpet and drum/Then hush thee my darling, take rest while you may/For strife comes with manhood and waking with day.”

Venu refers to the 1906 Congress session at Calcutta, where Ajit Singh with Lala Lajpat Rai and Kishan Singh thundered the demand for freedom for India. He refers to Bhagat Singh’s birth date as September 19, 1907. Jitendranath Sanyal, the first biographer of Bhagat Singh, who was acquitted in the Lahore conspiracy case but convicted to two-year imprisonment for writing the biography, has also falsely mentioned Bhagat Singh birth date as October 5. It was only after Virender Sandhu wrote the biography of three generations of his family that Bhagat Singh’s birth date was confirmed as September 28,1907. 

The first chapter goes up to the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The author makes another fallacy in the chapter by mentioning Batukeshwar Dutt as Bhagat Singh’s school mate and inseparable companion. Bhagat Singh met BK Dutt for the first time in 1923 at Kanpur. The editor has not made any editorial change or footnote to correct this.

The second chapter, ‘The Blast of the Trumpet, begins with a quote from De Quincey’s poetry:

    “The Blood-stained murder bare thy hideous arm/And thou Rebellion welter in thy storm/Awake ye Spirits of avenging crime/Burst from your bonds and battle with time.”

This chapter focuses upon the Delhi Assembly bomb incident of April 8, 1929. The author is more accurate in its description and describes the passing of the Public Safety Bill by 56 against 38 votes as the time when the bombs exploded near George Schuster’s bench. As author John Simon, present in House, ‘took to his heels’, Sir Hari Singh Gour, on whose name Sagar University in Madhya Pradesh was named,  ‘locked himself in the Bathroom’! ‘Red’ pamphlets were thrown by Bhagat Singh and Dutt in the Assembly. The author correctly mentions that this act was inspired by French revolutionary Auguste Vaillant, whose words at a similar explosion in French Parliament: “It takes a loud voice to make the deaf hear” were repeated in the Delhi Assembly pamphlet!

The author, a follower of Gandhi and Congress, declares ‘a thousand times emphatic ‘No’ to the charge of’terrorism’ in this act!

The third chapter, ‘The Trial and the Sentence’, begins with a quote from Indian poet Harin Chattopadhyay:

   “Life or death? What does it matter? / Heroes ever scorned the grave/Tyrant, we are out to shatter/The Last fetter of the slave/Let us shout from tower and Steeple/Now our banner is unfurled/That by fighting for our people/We are fighting for the world.”

In this chapter, the reference to the 116-day record hunger strike comes after mentioning the earlier record of 97 days’ hunger strike by an Irish revolutionary. The reference to one judge, (Justice Agha Hyder) expressing disgust on the beating of revolutionaries, does not mention his name.

‘Ordinance Challenged’ is the title of the fourth chapter and the quote is from a poem by Vanzetti, who himself was hanged in US:

 “O capitalist system I know you well/I have heard the prayers of your starving children/I have heard the groans of young dyeing soldiers/I have seen the agony of strong men hunting for jobs/I know your crimes capitalism; I know your crazy houses/Your jails, factories, hospitals filled with victims/You are a monster, I hate you/I am glad to die!/Friends Ghouls!Assassins of the poor/We will have revenge!/Revolution! Give me a million men/And I will walk from this jail/And set America free.”

 This chapter contains almost a verbatim record of the Privy Council proceedings in London. Gandhi has been described as a ‘benevolent Saint’ and it mentions that not less than 20 million signatures had gone to the Viceroy asking for mercy.

Chapter five again begins with Vanzetti’s long poem In this chapter, ‘The Sacrifice’, the Lahore hartal after the executions and the Mori Gate meeting of 20,000 people has been mentioned. One lakh people, bare headed, marched in procession, taking the three martyrs’ biers with charred body parts, and cremated them at Ravi river site.

The sixth chapter, ‘A Nation in Mourning’, also begins with Vanzetti’s poem. A mention has been made of Dewan Bahadur Rangacharya, leader of opposition in the Central Assembly, making a statement. Chapter seven, ‘Fundamental’, begins with a  shloka from Bhagwad Gita.

The eighth chapter, ‘Conclusion’, discusses the death of Greek philosopher Socrates but his philosophy living, and the letter written by Bhagat Singh to young political workers. The author, Venu, mentions here his being in the same jail and getting a chance to speak with him.

Venu was so inspired by Bhagat Singh in jail, that after his release and going back to Madras, he wrote his biography, probably publishing it with his own money, which was proscribed immediately.

Biographies written during the early period of Bhagat Singh’s execution are more factual and objective, though there are errors in certain dates. C S Venu’s biography of Bhagat Singh, despite some errors in dates and narration, is one of the authentic records of those times and its new edition is welcome.

Chaman Lal is retired Professor from JNU and is Honorary Advisor, Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, Delhi Archives, New Delhi.

Gandhi, Bhagat Singh and Subhash Bose

he two martyrs and their enduring legacy : The Tribune India

Mahatma Gandhi and Bhagat Singh (With Subhash Bose)Chaman Lal*
As we commemorate the 75th martyrdom anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, one question isperennially linked with Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Could Gandhi have saved Bhagat Singh?
Whatever the political views of Gandhi may have been, he was martyred while fighting a tideof communal hatred. Before he was assassinated by Nathuram Godse on January 30, 1948, he wasattacked many times. In the month of January that year itself, attempts were made on his life.Despite Jawaharlal Nehru pleading to have his security tightened, Mahatma Gandhi refused. HadBhagat Singh alive at the time of Mahatma Gandhi assassination, he would have been the first tocondemn it in strongest terms. In fact at one time, a Hindutavite religious organisation had offeredto supply arms to Chandershekhar Azad, provided they killed M A Jinnah and Azad had contemptfor them, expressing his anger-‘they think us, professional murderers not revolutionaries’! 
Unlike Bhagat Singh, ‘Shaheed’ never came to be associated with Gandhi perhaps because theepithets ‘Mahatma’, referred to first by Rabindranath Tagore in all likelihood, and ‘Father of Nation’,coined by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, had become more accepted and popular even when he wasalive. In public imagination, both Gandhi and Bhagat Singh held highest degree of popularity, asCongress party historian Pattabhi Sitaramaih himself recorded in his history of Congress party! Inpost independence era. ruling Congress party and some historians limited Bhagat Singh role duringfreedom struggle as of just a brave and fearless revolutionary. It goes to the credit of historianslike Sumit Sarkar, Bipan Chandra and K N Pannikar to underline the role of Bhagat Singh as anideologically committed socialist revolutionary through his writings, with an alternative path tofreedom of India! 
Netaji, who had defeated Gandhi-patronised leaders in the Congress presidential elections in 1938and 1938, had to quit and float a new political party, Forward Bloc, owing to differences withGandhi. Yet, the same Netaji, incidentally whose 126th birth anniversary was also observed recently,was the one who described Mahatma Gandhi as Father of Nation (Rashtarpita) and set up Gandhi,Nehru and Azad brigades in the Indian National Army (INA) or Azad Hind Fauj, whose command hetook over from Ras Behari Bose earlier.
Ironically, Netaji’s daughter Anita Pfaff Bose has exposed recent attempts to appropriate Netaji’slegacy, calling her father a ‘leftist’ as against a ‘rightist’ party trying to appropriate Netaji Boselegacy!
Interestingly, in March 1931, British Viceroy Lord Irwin had sent, through his secretary, a letteraddressed to Gandhi to stop Netaji from holding a public protest against the execution of BhagatSingh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. Gandhi plainly refused to intervene and told Irwin’s secretary that hecould not stop Netaji from holding a huge public protest in Delhi on March 20.

In the 1938 and 1939 Congress elections, Bhagat Singh’s comrades — Mubarak Sagar, Ahmaddin andGhadarites like Baba Bhagat Singh Bilga , who were part of All India Congress committee(AICC)then— had supported Netaji.
A mass-based Congress movement from 1885 onwards included multiple ideological streams —from feudal landlordism to revolutionary socialist views as expressed through the Congress SocialistParty (CSP). Stalwarts like Jai Prakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, Acharya Narender Dev, Nehruand Netaji, even Communists like EMS Namboodiripad, were all working as part of CSP.
Groups or parties like the Muslim League, led by MA Jinnah who was part of the Congress at onetime, Hindu Mahasabha, RSS and pro-Sikhistan Akalis were working towards creating religion-basednations.
There were the revolutionaries, from uprisings prior to 1857 and later. From Anushilan Samitisto ‘Jugantar’, Ghadar Party, to Naujawan Bharat Sabha and Hindustan Socialist RepublicanArmy/Association (HSRA), the Chittagong revolutionary movement, Azad Hind Fauj and finally, theIndian Navy Revolt of 1946. Bhagat Singh and fellow revolutionaries, even later ones after BhagatSingh, were dead against such concept of a religion based nation and they visualised an inclusive,non sectarian and exploitation free India!
All these socio-cultural streams had a complex relationship with each other. Religion-orientednationalist movements were in constant conflict with the mass-based Congress party as well as withdifferent revolutionary streams, though Abhinav Bharat like religious organisations had been intouch with some former revolutionaries who had turned into religious fundamentalists later
However, later-day revolutionaries took a clear ideological position of a secular India with religiousor any other faith as the private affair of revolutionaries. Members of HSRA and Chittagongmovement became more pronounced socialist revolutionaries. The groups were in constantinteraction with the Congress. Even Bhagat Singh and his associates were in touch with the Congressand in one elections to Central and provincial assembly, had supported Moti Lal Nehru led Swarajparty against Lala Lajpat Rai party, which was perceived to be more close to religious concept ofnation! Later both factions had merged in parent party Indian National Congress party.
National College, Lahore, was set up at Bradlaugh Hall, headquarter of Punjab Congress party. It wasthe nursery of Bhagat Singh-led revolutionary movement. Acharya Jugal Kishore and PrincipalChhabil Das, the two college principals from 1921 to 1926, were members of the Congress party aswell as sympathisers of revolutionaries.
3
Netaji Subhash Bose, Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Madan Mohan Malviya, Lala Lajpat Rai andPurshotam Das Tandon had a constant interaction with the revolutionaries. Netaji and JawaharlalNehru had been presiding over annual meetings of Naujwan Bharat Sabha, incidentally held aroundsame time and venue when the Indian National Congress sessions were being held.
Gandhi and Bhagat Singh probably never met each other. Bal Gangadhar Tilak may have blessedBhagat Singh in his childhood, when his father Kishan Singh and uncle Ajit Singh had taken him to aCongress session, where Tilak bestowed a ‘taj’ on Ajit Singh in appreciation of his role during thePagdi Sambhal Jatta farmers’ movement of 1907.
Bhagat Singh had accompanied his father Kishan Singh to the 1924 Belgavi Congress also, the onlyCongress session was presided over by Mahatma Gandhi.
There are chances that Bhagat Singh would have paid his respects to Gandhiji and may have shared afew words as well, but both Gandhi and Bhagat Singh never mentioned about it. However, in thewritings of both Gandhi and Bhagat Singh, there are ample references to each other. In his famous‘Letter to Young Political Workers’ (February 2, 1931), Bhagat Singh praises Gandhi as a leader whocan impress masses immensely and he wishes revolutionaries to learn this art from him, but he isequally critical of his views as an ‘idealist’ and impractical.
He even prophesies that Gandhi will not have any permanent followers of his ideas! After thepronouncement of death sentence to Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, Mahatma Gandhi did tryto get their sentence commuted in communication with Viceroy Irwin, but while appealing for thereprieve of revolutionaries, Mahatma Gandhi did not take his own professed principled standagainst capital punishment, whatever the crime, political or otherwise.
Gandhi could not have saved the lives of the three revolutionaries as Bhagat Singh himself wasdetermined to sacrifice his life in order to shake the conscience of Indian people to rise for achievingfreedom from British colonial rule!
Mahatma Gandhi praised Bhagat Singh’s bravery but was critical of his militant revolutionaryapproach towards achieving freedom. After his execution, Mahatma Gandhi in the Karachi Congressgot a resolution moved through Nehru which praised Bhagat Singh’s bravery and patriotism, butasked youth ‘not to follow his path’.
In political terms, Gandhi and Bhagat Singh were poles apart. One was a committed atheist andsocialist and the other deeply religious but non-communal, respecting all religious faiths equally.Historian V N Datta, who had authored a book-Gandhi and Bhagat Singh, was favourably inclinedtowards Mahatma Gandhi’s view of nationalism and national struggle and upheld Gandhi’scriticism of Bhagat Singh. 
4
Towards the end of his life, Bhagat Singh and his comrades had realised that a peaceful militantmass mobilisation of workers, peasants and youth was the way towards achieving their goal ofsocialism, but they never ruled out the use of violence if absolutely necessary, for achieving theirfinal goal of socialism! By then, their revolutionary organisation HSRA was almost in disarray asmost of its leading figures were either martyred or incarcerated for a long period. Many of BhagatSingh’s comrades joined CPI after release, few joined Congress party and one or two joined RSSoriented groups! (Third point already covered here)
By his consciously chosen martyrdom, Bhagat Singh wanted to create an icon for future generationsto follow. The farmers’ protest of 2020-21 saw a year-long peaceful but militant struggle, mixing theGandhian methods with Bhagat Singh’s revolutionary ideology, which led to their victory andthe government had to buckle down by withdrawing the controversial farm laws.

*Chaman Lal, an ex Dean of PU Chandigarh and retired Professor from JNU is the editor and author of The Bhagat Singh Reader and Life and Legend of Bhagat Singh.

Spreading Bhagat Singh’s ideas: Through Military Literary Festival

                           Bhagat Singh in Military Literary festival!

                                                     Chaman Lal*

    Spreading Bhagat Singh’s ideas : The Tribune India

              It was a bit perplexing for me when I got a call from Sports University Patiala Vice Chancellor Lieutenant General (Retired) J S Cheema inviting me to be part of a discussion panel in a session on Bhagat Singh in Military literary festival, as I could not see any connection, since the military literary festival concentrates more on defence related books and matters, national and international. Among other panellists, he named Major General (Retd.) and Mahavir Chakra awardee Sheonan Singh, who is nephew of Bhagat Singh, but who never let it known during his whole military service, of this close relationship, as he thought it will be construed as seeking favour or privilege! Only after retirement, he let it be known in an interview in a national daily. That made me immediately accept the invite. He is not joining the panel due to urgent family function, but among mong all close relations of Bhagat Singh, he is one of most well read about Bhagat Singh and his ideas, as Ranbir Singh, his father and younger brother of Bhagat Singh had penned a biography of the great martyr in Urdu!

      Few other pleasant coincidents happened around. While planning to write a short piece for The Tribune, I received author/editor’s complimentary copies of 11^th reprint of the book from National Book Trust (NBT), New Delhi, few days before I got a copy of another book Jail Notebook and other writings from another publisher leftword, mentioning it as 12^th reprint. Yet another instance was of pleasant surprise was an award given by a Pune organisation recently for my writings on Bhagat Singh, while I accepted the honour, but returned 10 thousand rupees award money to be used for purchasing books for libraries on Bhagat Singh and other revolutionaries. A youth group from Khed, birth place of Rajguru, the martyr with Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev, now named Rajguru Nagar, close to Pune, had come to the function, which is running a mobile library of lending books on revolutionaries to youth in many towns and villages around, which was more pleasant to know than even the award for me! Marathi translation of Bhagat Singh’s complete writings from my edited book in Hindi of same title by Datta Desai has again run into ten reprints. This book has introduction and released by late Supreme Court Justice P B Sawant during Bhagat Singh birth centenary. Another pleasant coincident is that as Publication Division, Govt. of India, which had published my edited volume in Hindi of complete writings of Bhagat Singh, released in 2007 in presence of two nephews of Bhagat Singh and late Kuldip Nayar, has updated it into four volume edition, which was brought out in the beginning of celebrations of 75^th anniversary of independence! And then they invited me to write a biography of Bhagat Singh-Life and Legend of Bhagat Singh: A Pictorial volume! I was more in collecting and researching on Bhagat Singh’s writings and was in a dilemma how to plan it since there were already a number of biographies in print! It suddenly struck my mind that since decades, I have been collecting documents, writings, images of monuments etc. in order to focus on the authenticity of Bhagat Singh’s life and writings, so I accepted the invite and pleasant coincident is that book has just come out in print on this occasion! HarperCollins published The Bhagat Singh Reader edited by me is in the process of bringing out its updated edition shortly, as I found more documents since its first publication in 2019. In 2019, I had included 130 writings of Bhagat Singh along with Jail Notebook, three more writings are now added to upcoming edition!

    My best experiences in my mission to spread Bhagat Singh’s ideas are with Gopal Roy, minister of Delhi Govt., who inaugurated Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, with my gifted collection on freedom struggle of India and which is located in Delhi Archives of Delhi Govt., who, while being in charge minister of freedom fighters cell in Delhi,  holds functions on  every 23^rd March and 28^th September-martyrdom and birth anniversaries of the three martyrs, by free distribution of books by or on Bhagat Singh to the audience from children to old people in thousands. In one year, he got distributed one thousand copies of Bhagat Singh nephew Jagmohan Singh and mine edited volume of Bhagat Singh and his comrades writings and in another function he got 1500 hundred copies of my four volume collection of Bhagat Singh’s writings published by Publication Division, which has now come out with latest biography of Bhagat Singh in English! This is the best way of spreading Bhagat Singh’s ideas of free India to enlighten the youth! I hope Punjab Government also follows this example of their colleague in Delhi!

Sushila Didi: The Revolutionary comrade of Bhagat Singh

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Relook at a Book: Sushila Didi – Life of a Quiet Revolutionary

Chaman Lal | 

30 Nov 2022

The book by Satyadev Vidyalankar includes not just memories of Sushila Didi by her fellow HSRA revolutionaries but also an autobiographical note written by her.

Vidyalankar, Satyadev, Didi Sushila Mohan (Hindi Biography), 1965, Delhi Marwari Prakashan, Pages 390, Price 2/rupees and half Introduction by Dr. Yudhveer Singh

Sushila Didi, in the revolutionary circles, was almost as important as Durga Bhabhi, but she did not get as much fame. Sushila Didi, who later came to be known as Sushila Mohan, after marrying her friend Shyam ji Mohan, who provided her protection when the police were after her.

It was in the late 1960s that some very important books were published on the life and activities of revolutionaries. Many of these books were not republished and slowly became oblivious, except some old libraries holding on to their copies, which are rarely looked upon by readers. Only researchers or some diehard activists read such books, but due to lack of upkeep with modern technology, these too are withering away. Some such books include Manmath Nath Gupt’s They Lived Dangerously in English and Didi Sushila Mohan in Hindi among others. Several special issues of journals on Bhagat Singh, Azad and other revolutionaries also came out in the 1970s, but only a few of these are found now.

The Hindi book Didi Sushila Mohan is authored by Satyadev Vidyalankar and was first published in 1965 by Marwari Prakashan, Delhi at the printed price of just Rs.2.5, having 386 pages and several photographs. This is not just a biography of Sushila Didi, as she was known among fellow revolutionaries, it is also an edited volume, as it includes memoirs of Didi by fellow revolutionaries and an autobiographical note by Sushila Didi herself.

When the book was under print, the editor got the copy of the autobiography by Sushila Mohan written in English, which was included in the volume’s Hindi translation. Thus, this big volume has four sections– the first is written by Satyadev Vidyalankar as Jivan Darshan (Philosophy of Life) of Sushila Didi in 16 chapters of nearly 170 pages. The first 20 pages are an Introduction by the author/editor and Blessings from well known Delhi freedom fighter, Dr. Yudhvir Singh.

The second section includes photographs of contemporary freedom fighters and Didi’s family in about 25 pages. The third section is devoted to memoirs of Didi’s fellow revolutionaries in nearly 135 pages and the fourth section, or as appendix, is Didi’s own biographical narration in 20 pages plus some other material.

The whole volume, though somewhat spread out and not tightly edited, is a rich source of authentic information of Bhagat Singh, Hindustan Socialist Republic Association/Army and his comrades, of which Sushila Didi herself was a major, but quiet participant.

One should begin looking at the book from the appendix- the autobiographical narration by Sushila Didi. In his editorial note, Vidyalankar underlined her meeting with Mahatma Gandhi in connection with Bhagat Singh’s impending execution, which, as per the editor, clears the doubts about Gandhi’s indifference toward Bhagat Singh execution.

Sushila Didi’s autobiographical narration is in simple style. She begins with referring to her birth on March 5, 1905 at Datto Chuhar village of Gujarat district of pre-partition Punjab. Her father Karam Chand was a medical officer in the Army, who retired in 1927. He was an Arya Samajist and a staunch nationalist. After retirement, due to his selfless social service, the British government offered to confer ‘Rai Sahib’’s title on him, which he declined. He was an admirer of Bal Gangadhar Tilak. He arranged education for all his children in DAV schools, as these were considered nationalist education centres.

Sushila Didi was only 14 years old at the time of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar. At that time Gujranwala railway station (now in Pakistan) was burnt and British forces in retaliation air-bombed the city and committed extreme tortures on the people. Mahatma Gandhi visited Gujranwala and while addressing a public meeting asked people to boycott foreign clothes and wear khadi. Sushila Didi was deeply impressed and gave her gold ring to Gandhi. She also started wearing khadi (hand-spun cotton), which she wore throughout her life except when she went underground. She was sent to a nationalist school, Kanya Mahavidyalaya, (set up by Lala Devraj) in Jalandhar in 1921, where she stayed till 1927. Another sympathiser of revolutionaries and Congress activist Kumari Lajjawati was the principal of the school, which later was upgraded to a college and continues till date.

Sushila Didi used to sing her own written poems and songs to spread nationalist feelings. During the visit of radical Congress leader Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das to her school, to greet him, she recited her poem, which was so emotional that he could not control his tears. On the arrest of Lala Lajpat Rai, a Punjabi song written by her was distributed throughout Punjab.

During her nationalist activities, in a letter to her, her father advised her not to do anything would affect his Army job. She wrote back that rather than quitting her mission, she would prefer not to visit home. So, for two years she did not go home. When she was to appear for her graduation papers, the trial of the Kakori case accused was going on. On the day of her paper, she heard about the death sentence to four Kakori case accused — Bismil, Ashfaq, Roshan Singh and Rajinder Lahiri. She fainted in the examination hall and could not complete her first paper.

Sushila Didi was already in touch with the revolutionaries. In 1926, on the occasion of the annual function of Hindi Sahitya Sammelan in Dehradun, the students of KMV Jalandhar and National College Lahore met each other. Pandit Chet Ram, who was lecturer in Hindi at National College Lahore (teacher of Bhagat Singh) was the link among the students. Everyone then decided to dedicate themselves to the service of Mother India.

HSRA was in the process of formation then, and she had met Bhagwati Charan Vohra and his wife Durga Bhabhi at the Dehradun conference. Vohar wanted her to distribute HSRA pamphlets that advocated freedom of India by all means, including using violence, if need be. Sushila, with her close friends, secretly and carefully distributed the pamphlets in Jalandhar and sent its copies to officials through post. This created a sensation in Jalandhar.

After completing graduation, Sushila offered her services to KMV for a year, but remained in close contact with the revolutionaries. Vohra introduced her to Jai Chander Vidyalankar (professor of history at National College Lahore and well known historian of ancient India later), who was in charge of the Punjab branch of HSRA. He said that to get the Kakori prisoners released, HSRA needed money. Sushila’s father had given more than 10gm of gold to her for her marriage, which she had kept in safe custody of Kumari Lajjawati. She passed it on to Vidyalankar.

Sushila also came into close contact with other revolutionaries like Yashpal (Hindi fiction writer), Sampuran Singh Tandon (Delhi college Professor), Dhanwantri etc. This made a radical change in her mental outlook.

Sushila Didi then narrates the well-known incident of Bhagat Singh’s escape from Lahore after Saunders’ murder and she and Vohra receiving them at Calcutta station and providing him shelter. Bhagat Singh was accompanied by Durga Bhabhi as his ‘wife’. Sushila Didi was then working as a tutor to Savitri, daughter of Chaudhary Chhaju Ram in Calcutta. He narrates:

“Annual Congress session was to be held in Calcutta. Shri Bhagwaticharan had reached Calcutta to my place prior to Saunders assassination. His aim was to contact Bengal revolutionaries. I got a telegram from Bhabhi Durga that she is reaching Calcutta with his brother. I could not make out anything of that telegram, but Bhai Bhagwaticharan immediately understood that Durga ji is coming with Sardar Bhagat Singh. I made arrangements for their stay here.

We reached station to welcome them. Bhai Bhagwati immediately recognised Sardar. Since having clean shaved and hair cut and being in European attire, I could not immediately recognise him. We hugged each other and I brought all to my residence in Sir Chhaju Ram ji’s place. Bhagat Singh stayed with me in Calcutta and Bhai Bhagwaticharn along with Bhabhi Durga returned to Lahore, as the staying together of all in Calcutta was not considered safe…….”

There is further narration of the story, including police raids at the house where Bhagat Singh was staying. Bhagat Singh went to some unknown place, but in February, he again visited Sushila Didi in Calcutta, as he had come to meet Jatin Das for making bombs. There is some contrary narration of events related to th action of bomb throwing in the Assembly. As per Sushila Didi, Bhagat Singh offered himself for this action, but Chandershekhar Azad was not in favour of it. Sukhdev was also of a similar view. This is contrary to other revolutionaries’ accounts, which all say that Bhagat Singh did offer to go, but others rejected it and selected two other revolutionaries for this action, as they did not wish to lose his leadership at a crucial time and knowing well that he is involved in Saunders assassination, which will risk his life.

Since Sukhdev was not present in that meeting, he met Bhagat Singh later and taunted him for ‘trying to save his life’, as he knew that he was the best person for this action. Bhagat Singh called meetings of the group again and despite resistance from other evolutionaries, forced them to send him along with Batukeshwar Dutt for this action. Either there has been a mistranslation of this sentence in Hindi or Sushila Didi was not aware of this fact. She mentions that Sukhdev brought negatives of Bhagat Singh Dutt’s jointly clicked photographs.

Sushila Didi lived with Vohra and Durga Bhabhi in Lahore. In one instance, there was police raid at the house in the absence of Vohra, but Sukhdev was there along with both Durga Bhabhi and Sushila Didi. How both managed to get Sukhdev to escape is an interesting episode.

Another episode completely forgotten now is how Sushila Didi was got involved in the Viceroy bomb attack on December 23, 1929, by Vohra, who had planned this action with Yashpal. He got Sushila Didi to wear a very expensive foreign saree and asked her to inspect the train in which the Viceroy was to travel. At the station, as the Viceroy’s train was standing, Sushila Didi sought permission to just see the beauty of the train from inside, which she was allowed as she looked like a rich lady. She later informed Vohra which compartment the Viceroy was to sit in.

Sushila Didi was also involved with the plan to rescue Bhagat Singh from jail, in which Vohra lost his life while bomb-testing in the house that was rented for this purpose. Durga Bhabhi could not get a last glimpse of her husband, as he was buried by the revolutionaries on the banks of river Ravi in Lahore, as it was risky to get his body home.

After Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were sentenced to death, there were huge protests in the country. The Gandhi-Irwin talks were on. Chandrashekhar Azad deputed Durga Bhabhi and Sushila Didi to go to Delhi and meet Mahatma Gandhi to save the lives of the three revolutionaries. As per Sushila Didi, she and Durga Bhabhi met Gandhi and conveyed Azad’s message that if he saved their lives, the revolutionary party would surrender to Gandhi. Sushila Didi mentions that they later came to know that Gandhi tried his best in this regard. But again, Durga Bhabhi’s account differs. She had clearly spoken about Gandhi telling Durga to surrender, as she was an absconder in the Lamington Road Bombay shooting incident. (The detailed account of this is included in the appendix of the book written by Baba Prithvi Singh Azad). Durga said they had not come to seek help for Durga, but for saving the lives of three sentenced revolutionaries. As per Durga Bhabhi’s account, Gandhi point blank refused to intervene in the matter. Though Sushila Didi is partly correct that Mahatma Gandhi made some efforts unsuccessfully at the personal level with the Viceroy to get the death sentence commuted.

Sushila Didi first met her husband Shyam ji Mohan in 1929 at Congress leader Shanno Devi’s house in 1929 at Jalandhar, when she was working for the revolutionary party. Mohan was a colleague of another revolutionary Sampuran Singh Tandon, who was teaching in Ramjas College, Delhi. In her absconding period, she took shelter at Mohan’s house, too, who suffered for giving her shelter. Later, they got married.

Sushila Didi joined the Congress party and went to jail during the Quit India movement with a fictitious name, Indumati. (Her inter-caste marriage with Mohan was on January 1, 1933, after she came out of jail). She adopted an orphan boy even before her marriage who remained part of their family.

After coming out of jail, Sushila Didi became active in the Congress party and remained an office bearer of Delhi district party. Her account of life is not complete, it is up to 1942 only, though she lived till January 13, 1963. For her last 20 years’ account, one has to refer back to the author Vidyalankar. In the appendix, there are two letters of January 1954, one by poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan and another by Rudardatt from Ajmer, addressed to her. Then there is Baba Prithvi Singh Azad’s account of the Lamington Road Bombay shooting case of 1930, in which Durga Bhabhi had taken part prominently.

To fill the gaps of Sushila Didi’s brief account of her life, Vidyalankar mentions that she was the eldest among six brothers and sisters. The problem with the biographer is that he had penned this in memoir form, which are otherwise authentic historic accounts, fascinating to read, but not in chronological order. So, one has to look through the chronology.

One important fact underlined by author in his introduction is that Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev used to send letters through Sushila Didi from jail to their comrades or other people. He emphatically says that perhaps two dozen such letters of Bhagat Singh had been lost. If so, there is still a possibility of Bhagat Singh’s writings getting discovered from unknown sources. But, now this possibility is becoming dimmer, except that the Lahore conspiracy case’s most important 134 files from Punjab archives, Lahore, are still not fully explored.

Vidyalankar mentions how Sushila Didi made efforts to make the socialist convention successful in 1946 and also helped in organising an old revolutionaries conference in Delhi in 1958, in which over 400 living revolutionaries participated and the then Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru had a long meeting with them.

Sushila was also associated with the Madan Mohan Skill institute for girls for a long time. In the last year of her life, she was the first Alderman (an old term, next only to Mayor, no more in use now) of the Delhi Municipal Corporation. She died on January 13, 1963, before she could complete her term. On her first death anniversary in January 1964, Delhi Congress President Mir Mushtaq Ahmad named a road as Sushila Mohan Marg and Delhi Mayor Nooruddin Ahmad named a high school in her name as Sushila Mohan Girls High School.

Some notable incidents of her life have been narrated in loose style, such as Sushila Didi had sent a rakhi to Bhagat Singh in 1929 with a letter so full of patriotic feelings that Calcutta Hindi daily Swatantar editor had to face sedition charges for publishing it.

There are historic pictures in the book, but since the pnes published here are photocopied from Shiv Verma’s collection, which is now part of Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, New Delhi, their quality may not be so good.

In the memoirs section one can see almost every well-known revolutionary of those times, who were alive at the time of compiling this book. Beginning from Batukeshwar Dutt, this section includes names like Bejoy Kumar Sinha, Bhagwandas Mahaur, Jogesh Chatterjee, Vishawnath Vaishampayan, Durga Devi Vohra (Bhabhi), Shanno Devi, Satyavati, Subhadra Devi (Joshi?), Kamalnath Tiwari, Pandit Parmanand Jhansi, Banarsidas Chaturvedi, Sita Devi (wife of Principal Chhabil Das), Chaudhary Brahma Prakash(First Chief Minister of Delhi), Sucheta Kriplani (UP Chief Minister) Aruna Asaf Ali and few more.

Banarsidas Chaturvedi, an ex-MP and editor of many books on revolutionaries, had certified author/editor’s claim that Sushila Didi had told him about having many letters of Bhagat Singh that were taken away by some volunteer who did not return them, and she felt very anguished about that. Another interesting incident mentioned is that during Bhagat Singh’s stay in Calcutta after Saunders’ assassination, a torn and worn-out shirt was hanging outside the bathroom. Sushila took away that shirt and brought a new one. As Bhagat Singh returned and enquired about his shirt, in a bit of irritation, she told him that it had been confiscated and gave him a new shirt. She kept that shirt in her own cloth box.

Sitaram Seksaria, an eminent Hindi protagonist of Calcutta, had mentioned that Sushila Didi helped collect funds for Chittagong revolutionaries also. Chhaju Ram Chaudhary’s daughter Savitri Devi, for whom Sushila Didi, was invited as guardian teacher, remembers her bringing an orphan child home and her mother Luxmi Devi (Mrs Chhaju Ram) bringing out that child during Sushila Didi’s underground period. Sushila had placed her younger sister Shanta as guardian teacher of Savitri Devi, after going underground. Luxmi Devi was so impressed by Sushila, that she had agreed to shelter Bhagat Singh without letting her husband know.

The volume is a good and authentic source of historical events of Bhagat Singh and his comrade’s life and actions, HSRA activities and of Sushila Didi’s role in all these activities. But it lacks good editing. A new edition of this

volume, more tightly edited, should be brought out, as an authentic source of revolutionaries’ lives is more required in present circumstances of fake and mythical stories being spread as ‘history’ by certain sections of society.

Promod Mande Award function in Pune

       It was a surprise invitation from unknown people. When I received this invitation, I was a bit perplexed, as I knew little about Promod Mande too, in whose name the awards were being given. There were two awards, one for an archivist and the other for a writer on revolutionaries. Later on, when I checked, I found Promod Mande was passionate about forts of India and so was for meeting revolutionary freedom fighter martyrs’ families. He was not a professional academic, but out of his passion, he travelled throughout India and collected invaluable and authentic historic material on forts and revolutionaries. He also travelled to record the authentic stops of Shiva ji from Raigadh in Maharashtra to Agra, the capital of Moghuls in his time. He published a few books on this material and used to deliver lectures on his research. That created a tremendous impact on the youth of Pune and surrounding areas. Unfortunately, he died of cancer a few years ago, as his wife predeceased him. He was seven years younger than me in age. He had such an impact on his followers, many of them with well-to-do financial sources that they formed a body to initiate two annual awards in his memory as mentioned above. While they held one offline function in 2019, then due to covid 19, they could not hold any physical function, so the function in 2022, was facilitated due to decreasing threat of Covid. For me too it was the first long air journey after covid years. I returned from Kolkata by air on 15th March 2019 after delivering lectures on Jallianwala Bagh and Bhagat Singh. In between, I had short travels to Delhi and Chandigarh, and also to Dehradun, but this was my first air journey after Kolkata.

     So I travelled straight to Delhi airport by taxi on 15^th October and took a two-hour flight to Pune, reaching before 8 pm. Young volunteers had come to receive me, so accompanied them to the hotel Eagle, where I was to stay put. On the way, we had a nice dinner. Many volunteers came to see me in the hotel. On the 16th morning around 10 am, I was taken to Bhim Sen Joshi Hall in Pune, where the programme was to be held. Reaching there, I was welcomed in style by school students and staff in army uniform giving me a guard of honour! I was feeling embarrassed at a such formal reception but kept answering to saluting young school students as formal response demanded. There were some speeches of formal nature. Late Promod Mande son was on Dias along with some other important functionaries. After I was given a memento and a shawl to felicitate me, I was invited to speak. As a token of respect to the late Promod Mande, I gisted my left word publication Jail Notebook and other writings to Mande’s son sitting on Dias.I spoke longest, but not more than 30 to forty minutes, narrating revolutionaries’ actions in Maharashtra, especially relating to Lahore conspiracy case-Rajguru, Bhagwan das Mahaur, Sadashiv Malkapurkar, Bhusaval bomb case and Durga Bhabhi shooting a British officer on Lamington road in Bombay.

      Without my expectation, they offered an envelope carrying ten thousand rupees cash in it as part of the award. I politely suggested they buy books on Bhagat Singh and other revolutionaries to enrich the libraries movement, which some of the young activists had started from Rajguru Nagar as I saw their book stalls outside the hall. There were hundreds of books on Bhagat Singh and other revolutionaries on display in Marathi, Hindi and English, which included my authored or edited books also, which pleased me immensely. They accepted the suggestion.

What pleasantly surprised me was the popularity of Bhagat Singh in Pune and Maharashtra. Library movement by young activist and role of Academy of Political and Social Studies(APSS) in Pune. Prior to Maharashtra, the popularity was notable in Tamilnadu, earlier called Madras. As Periyar got Comrade P Jivanandam to translate Bhagat Singh’s classic essay in Tamil as early as 1934, much earlier than its translation in Hindi, Punjabi, or Urdu. The essay was first published in the weekly The People in its 27th September 1931 issue in English originally, but Marxist.org kept on presenting it as a translation in English from Punjabi. Only recently it has accepted reality and posted an original essay.

Interestingly Bhagat Singh has become part of socio-religious part of Maharashtra life as I clicked a photograph of Krantikari Bhagat Singh Mitar Mandal. Mitr Mandal is a special Maharashtra socio-cultural phenomenon. During the Ganpati celebration, these Mitar Mandals in the name of heroes is found all over Maharashtra. I remembered that for a confirmed atheist, religious institutions are also named a Gurdwara in name of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Gurdwara exists close to the Hussainiwala memorial of Bhagat Singh at the Indo-Pak border. But among youth, the impact of Bhagat Singh’s revolutionary ideology is also visible, in the form of books being exchanged and read widely, in inappreciation of which I suggested the organizers to buy authentic books on Bhagat Singh’s ideas and contribute these to a wide network of libraries set up for spreading revolutionaries socialist revolutionary ideology

   Later in the afternoon, tried to reach the Mahatma Phule memorial and the first girl’s school set up by the Phule couple, which was in the most crowded market of Pune and it was impossible to reach there due to Diwali crowds. Had to drop the idea after walking quite a bit. I was taken to Nutan Vidya Mandir, where Bhagat Singh’s portrait in black and white with artwork, which was gifted to Marathi novelist Mrinalini Joshi, who wrote a large-sized novel Inqilab in Marathi in the 1970s and was later translated into Hindi. Mrinalini was gifted this portrait by Bhagat Singh’s mother Vidyawati in 1965 and her blessings to the author are printed on the novel Inqilab also. School Principal came to welcome us, clicked photographs and moved at the Academy of Political and Social Sciences set up By Dr Datta Desai in the early 1980s, where Shiv Verma had come to inaugurate. In my earlier visits, I was not able to visit the academy. Dr Desai has translated Bhagat Singh’s complete writings in Marathi from my edited collection, whose first edition was released in Pune by Justice P B Sawant, who wrote its introduction too, in a function held under the aegis of Ambedkar Chair led by Rao Saheb kale in 2008, as part of the birth centenary year of Bhagat Singh. I had seen its updated edition of 2016 but was pleasantly surprised to see its 7 or 8th reprint of 2022 at the book exhibition. Present academy trustee secretary Ajit Abhyankar, along with a few activists were there to interact with me. There was a wall painting of Bhagat Singh in spray technique.

     It was planned to meet Mande group activists after my visit, but we got delayed so much that a few activists just joined for dinner at some restaurant before reaching the hotel. Raviraj Phuge was one activist, who was most active in the whole operation. Praveen and Saurabh Modak accompanied me to various places and Ketan Puri arranged many other things. On the 17th morning on the way to the airport, I was taken to Chapekar brother’s memorial and ancestral house, being renovated. There I met one Padamshree RSS historian and a BJP corporator of the area. Returned to Delhi by flight via Hyderabad in four-plus hours double the time of normal travel.

      On the whole, it was a refreshing trip after two and half years of a home-bound situation. Some photographs of the trip are posted.

Tania-Undercover for Che Guevara in Bolivia

Tania-Undercover for Che Guevara in Bolivia, Ulises Estrada, 1^st ed. 2005, Ocean Press, Melbourne

Ulises Estrada, editor of Tricontinental, joined Cuban revolution from the very beginning as part of 26^th July movement in 1953. He was part of Cuban liberation war 1957-59 and later worked with Che Guevara in many assignments including in Congo. He was close friend of Tania, fiancée in today’s terminology and they were supposed to marry after the success of Tania’s mission in Bolivia, which unfortunately resulted in her, Che Guevara and many more guerrillas’ assassination at the hands of Bolivian army. After their assassination, USA and western media vilified Che and Tania to demoralise revolutionary forces and to hid their own crimes behind smokescreen of this vilification. However Tania’s mother fought for the reputation of her daughter and got the vilifires convicted.

Tania’s real name was Haydee Tamara Bunke, she was born in Argentina from German communist couple, who have to go to Argentina to save themselves from Hitler’s fascism. Tamara was born on 19^th November, 1937 and was martyred on 31^st August 1967 in the jungles of Bolivia by Bolivian army, before completing even 30 years of her life.

In 1970, Estrada with another writer has published-Tania-The Unforgettable Guerrilla. That time many things could not be made public, now in this expanded and exhaustive biography with lot of secret documents made public for the first time in Appendices, Tania’s heroism, bravery and sacrificing spirit comes to fore. Her letters, her personal account of life, all make this book more enriching.

The book is rightly dedicated to Nadia Bunke, mother of Tamara-Tania, who knew Tamara had wanted to marry Estrada, ‘who treated me as her own son for more than 35 years’, in author’s words, who has written a detailed and touching dedication with the regret that Nadia Bunke would not be able to see the book, as he passed away before the publication of the book. Exhauvtine contents of the book include-Acknowldgements Preface by author, Prologue by editor-Luis Suarez and Tania’s biography in 14 chapters and 137 pages. There are 17 documents as Appendixes in Appendices, Notes, List of Acroynms and List of Aliases in further abut 2oo pages. One feature of Ocean publications missing in this book is Choronology, which is generally part of all books on Che and Castro, in case of Tania, that was even more necessary. But in totality, with nearly 30 rare photographs, makes the book a significant contribution to biographical literature.

In Preface, Ulises Estrada narrates his intense personal relationship with Tamara, bunking the western sensalization of Tania-Che romantic liaison. Ulises aexplains that except for few companerosand Tania family, no body knew about this relationship till 1969, two years after the assassination of Tania. Only when the author collaborated in first book on Tania, author published Tania’s letter about their relationship to her mother. After that Tania’s mother identified the “negrito” (Afro-Cuban), whom Tania dreamt of marrying and producing many “mulatito” (kids).

As per the author Che and Tania were discredited for political objectives or profit motives by many writers like French Pierre Kalfon, Mexican intellectual Jorge Castaneda. Later in last chapter of the book, author detailed how West German publisher in 1997 published the libel by Uruguyan writer Jose A. Friedl Zapata under title- ‘Tania the woman-Che Guevara Loved’. Nadia at 81 years of age dragged the publisher to the court and won the case by getting 14 defamations removed from the book in 1998 and also getting him fined. There were many more in the west, who through their cheap sensational writings had vilified the revolutionary spirit of the two great revolutionaries of the world. But it is not new phenomenon. Karl Marx was described as ‘Red bandit’ and all communist leaders have been vilified, US has vilified and continue till now to vilify Fidel Castro.

In Prologue Luis Suatez has mentioned Tania was denigrated by some intellectuals in pay roll of ruling classes in US, Europe and Latin America by describing her as ‘femme fatale’, who had ‘useless sacrifice’ for “her secret and sordid extramarital affair with Che.” She was also described as ‘Triple Agent for Cuba, East Germany and KGB of ex Soviet Union. These villifiers described Che Guevara also as ‘seeking death’, because of his differences with Cuban leadership. All these lies have been bunked with documents bow being published from Cuba, putting an egg on the faces of these so called ‘intellectuals’ and ‘writers’ holding rabid anti communist views. On the contrary great writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez have upheld Cuban revolution and its heroic leaders, including Fidel and Che Guevara.

Chapter 1-Historical context

In this introductory chapter Ulises has explaned Che’s plans to expand liberation guerrilla struggles to other parts of the world as true internationalist. First they tried in Congo, where popular freedom fighter and Prime Minister Patric Lumumba was brutally assassinated by CIA in 1964. There were dictators in Haiti, Nicaragua like places. Ulises has travelled with Che secretly to Congo through Tanzania; stayed clandsinely in Prague.Che spoke of his best relations with Fidel and Raul during those days. These days in these preparations writer got linked to Tamara, who had come to Havana.

Chapter 2- Operation Fantasma

Tamara was mentioned by Pineoro for the operation recommended by Che.

Chapter 3.The Tania Case-

Tamara born in Argentina, came to East Germany with her parents when 14 years old and joined youth organisation, visited Soviet Union as youth delegation, heard about Cuban struggle, well informed about war in Sierra Maestra and demonstrated solidarity. In 1959, she acted as interpretor for Che Guevara, when he visted East Germany. She became enthused to come to Cuba and finally arrived in 1961, at 24 years. Worked as interpretor/translator, associated with ‘Assocation of Young Rebels’ turned into ‘Union of Young Communists’ (UJC), on 4^th April 1962… Tamara highly educated, knew many languages-German, French, Spanish, and English, well versed in music and literature, and studied philosophy at Humboldt University. She was working with Sandanista, planned to fight in Nicaragua. Che interviewed for mission in Bolivia and she end up by saying-I will not betray this trust while I am alive and breathing’-Page 29

Chapter 4-Operational Training in Cuba-

Tamara worked with Ulises during training period and they came close, though violating revolutionary code of not being personally close. Tania sung Argentine folk songs, played Guitar

Chapter 5-Preparing for Latin America-

Che told her about her mission in Bolivia and to take up legal residency there.

Chapter 6-Tania and Ulises-

Author honestly tells that ‘we both knew that our relationship was forbidden in clandestine work, but we also knew that we could no longer retrain ourselves. We were convinced of the purity of our feeling and that these would not affect our professional relationship’-Page 56. Ulyses shared with his senior comrade Diosdado, Tamara shared with her parents by writing to her mother on 11^th April 1964 from Prague. Writer knew about this letter only when he joined Marta Rojas and Mirta Rodriguez Caldron in writing the book-Tania: the Unforgettable Guerrilla, published in 1970, where this letter was published. Ulises divorced his wife and remarried years after Tania were killed. Ulises Writes longingly: ‘i have to confess that she still remains alive within me. Not just as Tania, but also as Haydee Tamara Bunke Bider, the exceptional woman, compenera, and friend I once loved with all my heart.’-Page 59

Chapter 7-Failed Cover

Tania was sent ot Prague for further training, but this time Diosdado was assigned the task to train her, writer was heart broken, he also felt it as punishment for breaking the rules. Diosdado sent positive reports about Tania’s progress.

Chapter 8- The Birth of Laura Gutierrez Bauer

Tania was first planned as Italian cover Vittoria Pancini, which was dropped due to language deficiency and other practical problems.This time it was planned as Argentine woman, she was well versed with country and language. There have been funny instances of Tania-Diosdado stay in Prague. Tania always made Diosdado read her letters to her parents, even to Ulises, despite his reluctance to do so.

Chapter 9 Tania’s first year in Bolivia

Riding aa mule, Tania entered Bolivian border from Peru on 17^th November 1964. Got into touch with all high and mighty in that society, through showing her interest in Folk lore and met painters, writers, journalists, once even had dinner with dictator Barrientos, with a ‘friend’. Her network included intellectuals, professionals, politicians of right wing; she always projected her as anti communist. For legal residency, she even married an enginnering student Mario Martinez Alvarez, who helped her in exit procedures, she had new passport now, travelled to Brazil as translator. Comrade Mercy sent a positive report about her.

Chapter 10-An encounter with Ariel-Tania came to Mexico from Brazil in 1966 to meet Cuban officer. Che was clandestinely working from Cuban embassy in Tanzania. Tania did not know that Che was behind her selection for the mission and he had been involved in Operation Fantasma, which determnined the following years of Tania’s life, her sacrifice, and her transformation into Tania the Guerrilla.

Chapter 11- Reunion with Che-

Che checked about Tania’s well being and about her marriage, whether it was with her free will. In 1966, as planned earlier, Tania got divorce from her husband, but helped him in his training in Bulgaria by arranging scholasrship for him. Che arrived in La paz on a passport of business person with Uruguyan passport as Adolfo Mena Gonzalez. Che probable met Tania on 4^th November. Tania arranged for Che travel documents to travel the whole of Bolivia. The letter present to Sr. Adolfo mena mentions ‘special envoy of OAS to research on economic and social situation in Bolivarian countryside’, recommending all possible cooperation for research from all national and private institutions. Page 107

On November 20-19^th December she brought ranch to jungles, not supposed to do then she accompanied Mario Munje, Bolivian cp leader on 31^st December 1966 crucial meeting, disagreed, tense. Bolivian Communist party inside Moscow line and Peking line, Monje Moscow line. Che predicted ‘difficult time’ ahead and announced to work for ‘the unity of all those who want a revolution’. Tania later visited Argentina to arrange Che’s liasions with revolutionary support. AS PER WRITER TANIA FOLLOWED DIRECT INSTRUCTIONS OF Che from 2^nd January 1967 to 19^th March 1967. Tania brought Regis Debray and Ciro Roberto Bustos, both now ‘regret’ to committement to revolution. Che criticised Tania for being there, as two Bolivians deserted and difficult situation developed.

Chapter 12-Tania the Guerrilla-

23^rd March 1967, first encounter with army-25^th March Bolivian ELN, liberation front announced in meeting of 43 Bolivian, Cuban and Peruvian combatants. On 27^th March, situation worsened. On 31^st March Tania given M-1 rifle and became combatant. She had fever of 102 and Che attached her to Cuban Joaquin’s command on 17^th April, where she remained till 31^st ambush by army, in which ten of the combatants were killed by army. Tania fought, falling with bullets in river, body found after aweek on 7^th September. Bolivian peasant Honorato Rojas betrayed and led army to ambush gurrellis. 35 members of army killed 7 of 10 member Joaquin’s column combatants. Che‘s impression of Rojas on 10^th February was ‘a potentially dangerous man’.

On 8^th October Che ambushed, killed brutally on 9^th October. With that out of 49 Cuban, Peruvian, Bolivian, majority of guerrillas killed.

Chapter 13-Return to Cuba

Officially death of Tania declared on 7^th September, people wanted her body to be treated with respect, but army officer cruel. For pubilicity stunt Bolivian dictator Barrientos photographed with Tania corpse on 10^th September, saying he ordered burial of Laura G baeur, Argentine woman with Tania alias ‘with military honour’. But Christian burial was given to Tania due to pressure of women of area Vallegrande. But no one knew the remains later till 1997, when President Lozada has to order investigation.On 28^th June 1997, Che’s remains discovered and buried with honour in Santa Clara on October 8, 1997 on 30^th death anniversary of Che. Tania’s remains found on 19^th September 1998, brought to Cuba in December 1998.

Chapter 14-‘My Little Ita’

On 29^th December 1998, Tania’s remains interned in Santa Clara alongwith Che and other guerrillas in presence of her mother Nadia Bunke. Nadia died in 2003, her deepest feeling expressed in her ‘little ita’, an autobiographical note- They came to Argentina in 1935.Erich got job as teacher, had two children-Tamara and boy Olaf, pet name Tamarita, she too little say ita, she signed as Ita, happy optimist, energetic, tireless, vibrant, romantic, liked Argentine folk songs and folk music, attached to Latin America. Ulises assures Nadia and Erich that ‘Tania is and will always be alive among us’-Page 144.

Appendices

1. Personal Records prepared for the Tania case –Secret

Tamara Bunke wrote this autobiographical note in preparation for her new identity as Tania.-

Born in Buenos Aires, parents Communist, anti fascists, helped Jew refuegees, returned to Germany in1952, settled in Stalinstad, arrived in Cuba on 12^th May 1961

Appendix 2-Tania’a Operational Plan for the Cienufegos Practical exercise

Secret-Havana-12^th February 1964

Appendix 3-Tania’s report on the Cienfuegos Exercises-

Only Copy-Secret

To Ulises-Tania’s report on work from 21^st Feb. To 1^st March 1964

Appendix 4- Tania’s Message from Prague after her first trip to Western Europe

To: MOE from Bolivar

Secret message 3

Appendix 5-Tania’s message from Prague before her second trip to West Germany

Secret To: MOE meant for Ulises Estrada

Appendix 6-The Laura Guetierrez bauer Cover Story

July 25, 1964

Top Secret

To M1 Copy 1- From MOE page 1

Appendix 7- Message to Mercy from HQ regarding Future contact with Tania in Bolivia

Mercy Message 5, November 1965, start

Appendix 8- Mercy’s report on contact with Tania in Bolivia and Brazil-To MOE From Mercy Report on the various contacts made between 7 January and the last days of March 1966

Appendix 9-Tania’s oral report on her first year of work in Bolivia given to Ariel on 16^th April 1966 in Mexico

Appendix 10 Document Denying Tania’s link to Stasi-GDR agency-1997

Appendix 11- Document denyingTania’s link to KGB

Russian Fedration –Dec. 5, 1997

Appendix 12-Document denying Tania’s link to Soviet intelligence -1997

Appendix 13- My Battle for Truth-An interview with Nadia Gunke

Interview by Chritoph Wiesner, published on 7-8 March 1998, in Junge Welt

There are many groups and institutions that are named after Tamara Bunke or Tania in Cuba, also in Bolivia, lot of children are named Tania or Ernesto

Appendix 14-Nadia Bunke’s letter to Fidel Castro on Tania’s remains be buried in Cuba-25^th December 1995

Appendix 15-Fidel Castro’s Reply to Nadia Bunke-1^st April 1996

Apendix 16-Fidel Castro’s speech at the burial of the remains of Che Guevara and his Companeros-Santa Clara-17^th October 1997

I see Che as a moral giant who grows with each passing day, whose image, strength, and influence have multiplied throughout the earth.

Che was a true Communist and is today an example and a paradigm of the revolutionary and the communist, -Page 285

Che is taking up and winning more battles than ever.

This land is your land, these people are your people, and this revolution is your revolution. We continue to fly socialist banner with honor and pride-page 287

Appendix 17- Ramiro Valdes’s speech at the Burial of the remains of Tania and others internationalist combatants-30^th December 1998

Tania, she filled a glorious page in the history of Che’s actions in Bolivia, giving her life in hostile environment, side by side with other Bolivian, Peruvian and Cuban Companeros

Welcomt Tania, immortal example of a woman and a communist-page 293-Socialism or death, homeland or death, we shall overcome

Notes

Patrice Lumumba founded Congo on 30th June 1960, assassinated on 17^th January 1961 Mobutu Seiku became dictator and was overthrown in 1997 by Laurent Kabila, with whom Che had differences

Ciro Bustos drew sketches for army and US services, confirming Che’s presence in Bolivia.

A well written book and an apt tribute to Tania!

Chaman Lal,Honorary Advisor, Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, Delhi Archives, New Delhi

Relook at a Book: The Bolivian Diaries by Ernesto Che Guevara; Che – A Memoir by Fidel Castro

Che Guevara-The Immortal Revolutionary

chaman lal | 09 Oct 2022

On October 9, 1967, CIA operatives brutally killed Che Guevara. The Diaries record his last months, fighting in the Bolivian jungles. The Memoir has speeches by Castro after Che’s death.

The Bolivian Diaries-authorised edition, Ernesto Che Guevara, Introduction by Fidel Castro, Preface by Camilo Guevara, 1st ed. 2006, Ocean Press, Melbourne-New York, Pages 303, Indian price, Rs. 450

As one of the most important books of world revolutionary movements, this book is made up Che Guevara’s diary notes during his Bolivia mission. Beginning November 7, 1966, the diary has regular entries for 11 months, till October 7, 1967.

The next day, on October 8, 1967, Guevara was captured by the Bolivian army. He was murdered in cold blood on October 9.

Except for Cuba and its leader, Fidel Castro, and the world’s revolutionary movements, no bourgeois politician of the world expressed any sorrow or condemnation for the cruel treatment of a wounded Che and his murder at the behest of US imperialists and their lackey, Bolivian dictator Barrientos.

Che Guevara was at his marvellous best even during his one-day custody, bearing all the pain heroically and challenging his killers to shoot him.

Though the diary is not important in terms of any theoretical foundations, but it reveals, in a matter of fact manner, how selflessly and heroically Che Guevara led this most difficult mission of making revolution in Bolivia. How, despite his serious asthma problem, he left Cuba at a time when he was providing leadership in building socialism as Castro’s most trusted comrade; and how he worked in Bolivia, where most of the circumstances were hostile and conditions not favourable to advance the revolution.

But Che was Che, he could not agree to Fidel’s assessment to wait for more favourable circumstances and ground preparation before he could join the forces there. And Castro was equally great, and kept his word to allow Che to leave the Cuban government and let him organise a Cuba-like revolution in the rest of Latin American countries, a dream nurtured by Simon Bolivar to create a revolutionary United States of South America.

Che wished to begin in his motherland, Argentina, but the conditions were not yet ripe there to lead such a movement. Bolivia was also not ripe yet, but the Cuban victory was a source of inspiration.

 In Cuba, the struggle had started with just 82 men on Granma, of which just 15-16 people survived. Yet, within two years, the 80,000-strong army of dictator Batista was defeated and the revolution was victorious on January 1, 1959.

Fidel Castro not only relieved Che to lead the revolution in Bolivia but he also provided men and arms, including many senior communist party cadres, who sacrificed their lives in the Bolivian mission, like Che.

The Bolivian Diaries has been edited meticulously. Apart from entries by Che, it includes rare photographs of that period, the editor’s brief note, maps of the area, including guerrilla zones, a glossary of people and terms/events, and five communiqués issued by the National Liberation Army (ELN) of Bolivia, fighting under the leadership of Che. The actual diary entries are covered in about 220 pages. A life sketch of Che is also there. 

Camilo Guevara, the eldest son of Che Guevara, has written a brief but moving preface. He observes that in the last entry on October 7, 1967, “there is not the slightest tone of discouragement, pessimism, or defeatism; on the contrary, these words seem to be a beginning, a prologue…”

Camilo is sure that the enemies could have never captured Che, despite his wounded leg, broken rifle and no other weapon, except that he could not leave his other sick and wounded companeros. Camilo describes the scene on October 9 as well, when Che was murdered as the ‘order to murder him came from Washington’.

He beautifully concludes that –“Without a trial, without a thought, the new man Che Guevara represented is killed. But what is born is a yearning for the new human being, who is neither an illusion nor a fantasy.  A dream, dormant for many centuries takes shape: an ethical, virtuous selfless human being. This time stripped of all myth and mysticism; this person must be fundamentally human”.

Fidel Castro wrote an Introduction to the diary in 1968, when it was published for the first time in Spanish in Havana, and two lakh copies were circulated free to Cubans. In this introduction, Fidel narrates the story of acquiring the diary from the interior minister of Bolivia, who lost his job for this, and establishing its authenticity.

The Introduction underlines the intense human character of Che and his immense bravery, it also exposes the brutalities of the Bolivian regime, which was a lackey of US imperialism and was playing a puppet’s role.

Castro also exposes the treachery of Mario Monje, secretary of the Bolivian Communist Party at that time, who ditched Che. Even the other group led by Oscar Zamora became a venomous critic of Che Guevara. Moises Guevara, the miners’ leader, joined the movement and sacrificed his life. Other comrades of Monje, like Inti and Coco Perado, also joined and proved their bravery, but Monje went to the extent of sabotaging the movement.

Che knew many peasants in Bolivia but was suspicious and cautious of their character. Despite so many difficulties, he and his comrades performed marvellous feats and the Bolivian army could succeed only on September 26, 1967 against Che’s detachment, after which this group could never overcome the damage.

Castro opines that never in history has so small a number of men set out for such a gigantic task. He has also highlighted the bravery of Che in fighting his last battle on October 8, trying to save two comrades and fighting on, even while he was wounded.

In La Paz, dictator Barrientos and defence chief Ovando decided to murder the captured Che. It was Che, who said firmly to his killer—‘Shoot! Don’t be afraid’. Still, the drunk killer could only shoot him in the side. Che’s agony in the last few hours of his life was very bitter, and Castro puts it aptly: “No person was better prepared than Che to be put to such a test”.

Castro reveals that Che’s diary was obtained without any payment and was published simultaneously in France, Italy, Germany, the US; and in Chile and Mexico in Spanish. He concludes with the famous slogan of Che- Hasta la victoria siempre! (Ever Onward to Victory).

The 25-page-long glossary gives details of almost all the people involved in this epic struggle on both sides. The first appendix refers to instructions to urban cadres, dated January 22, 1967, written by Che and Loyola Guzman, when she visited Che on January 26. According to this document’s reference, the National Liberation Army (ELN) was established in March 1967.

Che has given detailed instructions regarding all organisational aspects for the army, like supplies, finances, transport, and contact with sympathisers, etc. Other communiqués make it clear that ELN is the only responsible party for the armed struggle. In one entry, Che makes an impassioned plea to join ELN, as ‘we are restructuring the worker-peasant alliance that was broken by an anti-plebeian demagoguery.’ He  is confident at this moment that ‘we are converting defeat into triumph.’

The actual diary begins on November 7, 1966, with the inspiring first sentence: “Today begins a new phase…”. The diary has an interesting entry on November 12:  “My hair is growing, although very sparsely, and the grey hair are turning blond, and beginning to disappear; my beard is returning. In a few months I will be myself again.”

Che had entered Bolivia with a fake passport and he had shaved off his characteristic beard. He could not be recognised even by Castro and other comrades in Havana. Che also refers to the existence of 12 insurgents on November 27. He made it a point to write a review of each month’s events at the end of the month. November’s analysis records Che’s opinion: “Everything has gone well; my arrival was without incident and half of the troops have arrived, also without incident…”.

On December 12, Che made certain appointments in the group, giving charge to various people. On December 31, an important meeting with Monje took place. Some understanding was reached, which was not followed by Monje later.

On January 6, Che noted: “The importance of study is indispensable for the future”. In the analysis of the month, he notes with anguish: “As I expected, Monje’s position was at first evasive and then treacherous”. He notes with concern that the party (communist party) has taken up arms against us…” Che concluded ironically: “Of everything that was envisioned, the slowest has been the incorporation of Bolivian Combatants.”

February was not a very conducive month for the group. They had been walking ‘miles and miles’.

On March 14, Che noted: “We heard parts of Fidel’s speech in which he makes blunt criticism of Venezuelan communists and harshly attacks the position of Soviet Union on Latin American puppets.” On March 17, he notes another loss for revolutionaries, as many crucial weapons on backpacks were lost in crossing a river.

On March 23-24, they make gains, they capture weapons from the enemy and kill and arrest many. There is mention of French leftist Regis Debray visiting ELN. In the March 25 meeting of the group, the liberation army is given the name of National Liberation Army of the Bolivia, ELN in short.

Che notes in a detailed analysis of events in March: “The phase of consolidation and purging of the guerrilla force – fully completed”. He noted that the enemy was totally ineffective so far and he was trying to moblise peasants to isolate them.

In April, Che notes ‘total disaster’ on the 4th and ‘great tension’ on the 6th. April 11 records the radio news of a ‘new and bloody encounter’ with mention of nine dead from the army and four guerrillas. April 22 is noted for ‘making mistakes’, and 25th as a ‘bad day’ with the best guerrilla Rolando dying in ambush. The summary of April confirmed the death of Rubio and Rolando as a ‘severe blow’. The certainty of North America’s heavy intervention, which has already sent helicopters and Green Berets, is mentioned, but Che notes the morale of combatants as good.

May Day is celebrated by clearing vegetation in the guerrilla camp. The diary noted Debray’s status as a  journalist being rejected by dictator Barrientos, and his trial. The summary of May is worrisome — Che notes total loss of contact with Manila (Cuba), La Paz and Joaquin (the other guerrilla group) of ELN, reducing the strength of the group to 25; complete failure to recruit peasants, though they now admire ELN. He notes that it is a slow and patient task.

In June, the 14th is mentioned as the birthday of Che’s youngest daughter, Celia, which is his own birthday as well, which he notes simply as: “I turned 39 (today) and am inevitably approaching the age when I need to consider my future as guerrilla, but for now I am still ‘in one piece’”.

Che notes on June 23 that ‘asthma is becoming a serious problem for me and there is very little medicine left’. In the ensuing days, it worsens. On June 29, he noted they were now 24 men. On 30th, Che notes that ‘Debray apparently talked more than was necessary’. In an analysis of the month, Che notes the total lack of contact, continued lack of peasant recruitment, lack of  contact with the Bolivian communist party, Debray’s case and Che’s recognition as ‘the leader of the movement’. Che notes the urgent task of recruiting at least 50 to 100 men in the movement.

The very first day of July mentions Bolivian dictator Barrientos’s press conference terming the guerrillas as ‘rats and snakes’ and calling for wiping out Che Guevara and punishing Debray. Che’s deteriorating asthma is noted repeatedly.

On July 14, Che noted with concern that the Bolivian “government is disintegrating rapidly. Such a pity that we do not have 100 more men right now.” On July 31, he wrote: “We are 22 men with two wounded, and me with full blown asthma”. The month’s analysis notes the total loss of contact continuing, lack of peasant recruitment continuing, guerrilla force becoming legendary, and the morale and combat experience of guerrilla force increasing with each battle.

On August 2, Che noted: “My asthma is hitting me very hard and I have used up my last anti- asthmatic injection, all I have left are tablets for about ten days.’ On August 8, he makes a speech to his comrades and mentions the difficult situation, but noted: “This is one of those moments when great decisions have to be made, this type of struggle gives us the opportunity to become revolutionaries, the highest form of human species, and it also allows us to emerge fully as men…..”

August’s summary mentions the blow from loss of all the documents, medicines, loss of two men, one desertion (first one). The other features of the month remain the same, but the morale factor changes to ‘decline’, though Che hopes it to be ‘temporary’.

September has much worse news as, after much confusion, it is confirmed that Tania has been killed. Mentioning 10th as a bad day, Che made a funny entry: “I forgot to mark an event: Today I took a bath after more than six months. This constitutes a record that several others are already approaching.” His 26th entry begins with the word ‘Defeat’, on 28th, the entry begins with the words ‘Day of anguish’.

The month’s summary is sad. Che now accepted: “We must consider Jouquin’s group wiped out, still hoping the report to be ‘exaggerated’ and ‘small group wandering around”. He mentions the bitter fact that the army is now more effective and peasants are becoming ‘informers’. Che underlines the most important task as ‘to escape and seek more favourable areas; then focus on contacts, despite the fact that our urban network in La Paz is in shambles, where we also have been hit hard.”

The entry on October 3 is ironic: capture of two guerrillas, Antonio (Leo) and Orlando (Camba), both betray and give information. Debray is praised for his courageous stand in the trial. The last entry on October 7 begins as: “The 11 month anniversary of our establishment as guerrilla force passed in bucolic mood with no complications”. Che mentions that ‘the 17 of us set out under a slither of a moon, the march was exhausting, no nearby houses”.

Che’s last lines: “The army issued an odd report about the presence of 250 men in Serrano to block the escape of the 37 (guerrillas) that are said to be surrounded. Our refuge is supposedly between the Acero and Oro rivers. The report seems to be diversionary. Altitude=2000 meters”.

The Bolivian Diary of Che Guevara records the 11- month glorious struggle to liberate Bolivia from the crutches of dictator Barrientos and its brutal army working directly under US imperialists.

I took look at The Motorcycle Diaries and The Bolivian Diary of Che Guevara together, though the two diaries are entirely different in content and style, one can understand his marvellous and heroic character, which made him an icon of the international revolutionary movement in every part of the world. Wherever resistance movements have erupted after Che’s murder in 1967, his photographs/posters/souvenirs have been the most visible part of demonstrations/processions etc.

Che is an icon for the youth. One can see this from the conduct of Che’s life. The Bolivian Diary shows how selfless and caring he was toward his comrades. How, despite his horrible asthmatic conditions, he suffered all the hardships of guerrilla life, walking 15-20 km a day, performing all the duties of a guerrilla, always full of optimism, even when things were going completely beyond control.

Che realistically analysed the weaknesses of the movement through his diary. He was an idealist, despite being a Marxist. Conditions were not ripe for him to go to Bolivia, which was the opinion of Fidel Castro also, but he was restless to go.

Che Guevara and Bhagat Singh-like personalities create role models for youth or struggling people by their complete selfless conduct. Che was probably hoping to create another Cuba with his 25 men or so, as in Cuba just 15-16 of them mobilised the whole of Cuba and defeated Batista.

But Che underestimated the US’s role after the Cuban revolution. It would not allow another Cuba in Latin America at any cost and that is what it did in Bolivia by killing Che and many Cuban revolutionaries in 1967. Yet, the saga of Che Guevara’s bravery and struggle has become a legend and inspiration for the liberation of humankind from all kinds of oppression.

Che could have been impulsive in Bolivia, but his sacrifice created a much more powerful Che for US imperialism, which can never be killed with bullets as it has become idea-personified. The life of Bhagat Singh, an icon in South Asia, has similar characteristics.

Che Guevara in the eyes of Fidel Castro

Che: A Memoir – by Fidel Castro, edited by David Deutschmann, Preface by Jesus Montane, National Book Agency, Calcutta, first Indian ed. 1994 [Original Ocean Press, Melbourne]. Rs. 100; Pages 168.

I read for the second time, and it was worth reading again. It has life sketches of both Che Guevara and Fidel Castro in the beginning, followed by Che’s life’s chronology. After a preface by Jesus Montane Oropesa, there is an introduction by David. Then, in seven chapters, Castro’s writings or lectures relating to Che Guevara have been compiled, followed by a Post Script and a Glossary of persons and events.

It starts with Che Guevara’s farewell letter to Castro before proceeding to start revolutionary activities in Africa and Latin America. As Che was not seen in Havana, all kinds of rumours and scandals were spread by the bourgeois media and Castro made the letter public only when Che reached Bolivia in 1966 to participate in the armed struggle that finally led to his life being sacrificed in 1967.

Then there is a speech by Castro on Cuban television on October 15, 1967 to announce the death of Comrade Che. The third chapter includes his speech in front of a million people in Revolutionary Plaza, Havana, in a memorial meeting for Che. Chapter four includes Castro’s introduction to the Bolivian diaries of Che, which were published in 1968 after these were recovered from Bolivia.

Chapter five includes Castro’s speech in Chile, where he inaugurated the first statue of Che Guevara. Chapter six is Castro’s interview with Italian journalist Gianni Mina on the occasion of 20th anniversary of Che’s martyrdom in 1987 and the seventh and last chapter includes Castro’s speech on that occasion at electronic factory named after Ernesto Che Guevara in the city of Pinar del Rio.

It is difficult to take notes on this book – I may have to copy almost half of it. Suffice it to say that it is a very important book to understand both Che and Fidel. It confirms my earlier conviction that Che and Bhagat Singh have much in common. What has been aptly described by Castro in the context of Che is largely applicable to the personality of Bhagat Singh.

Chaman Lal is retired Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and Honorary Advisor to Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre New Delhi. He can be contacted at prof.chaman@gmail.com

Walking with Bhagat Singh—-Amarkant Jttu wrutes @90+

Book Review: Bhagat Singh – The ‘Lamp of Reason’ That ‘Ceased to Burn’

Chaman Lal | 28 Sep 2022

• Politics
• India

On the revolutionary’ s birthday on Sept 28, Amar Kany Jttu’s book ‘Walking With Bhagat Singh’ focuses on his ideas and role in the Indian freedom struggle and interprets his thoughts in Marxist tradition.

There has hardly been a time when books or other publications on Bhagat Singh were not being written. This began in 1929 when publications on Bhagat Singh became the target of British colonial proscriptions. By now more than 600 books have appeared on Bhagat Singh in nearly 20 Indian and foreign languages. While many books are based on romantic tales of his life, few books focus on his ideas and role in the Indian freedom struggle. Amar Kant Jttu’s book, Walking With Bhagat Singh Soon After Independence, is one such book that focuses on his revolutionary ideas and interprets his thoughts in the Marxist tradition.

The book was published just before the onset of COVID in 2019. The cover has a handsome hat-wearing photograph of Bhagat Singh, and what attracts the attention of the reader, is a couplet from a poem by Russian poet NA Nekrasov written in memory of Dobrolyubov, the pre-socialist revolution Russian materialist philosopher who died almost at the same age as Bhagat Singh, at 24 years.

The couplet is:

Oh, what a lamp of reason ceased to burn,

Oh, what a heart then ceased to throb!

This is not only a most appropriate poetic manner of describing Bhagat Singh’s personality, it also brings to mind Friedrich Engels’s tribute to Karl Marx at the time of his burial in London, that “the greatest living thinker ceased to think!”

That the writer Amar Kant Jttu, a retired public relations officer of the Punjab government, wrote this book at the age of 90+ years shows what a magical effect Bhagat Singh has on people; that age is no bar from getting inspired by his personality. Perhaps, it is the other way round, it inspires people to stay young at least mentally, if not physically, as he is ever a young icon of the revolution. The only other such icon is Che Guevara.

Apart from his mother, father, and grandfather, the author has dedicated the book to the revolutionaries fighting for the establishment of ‘scientific socialism in the world!’ The dedication itself shows the expectations of the author, which are idealist in present circumstances.

The book is divided into 40 small chapters but begins with a short piece from ‘The Roll of Honour’, published long ago by Kali Charan Ghosh, a directory of Indian revolutionaries. Its title is ‘Glorious Deeds or Revolutionaries: The Salt of History’. Further, there is Bhagat Singh’s March 20 1931 letter to the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab with the title ‘The War Shall Continue’. Then come acknowledgments in which the author expresses his gratitude to authors like Howard Zinn and Eduardo Galeano whose writings like The Peoples History of the United States and Open Veins of Latin America inspired him to write this book. He is also inspired by authors like Suniti Kumar Ghosh, Rajni Palme Dutt, and Ashok Mitra, and their books and Monthly Review journals.

Before his ‘Introduction’, the author has included four short prefaces by his kin and friends, which perhaps is a sort of thanksgiving for supporting or fulfilling his desire of writing this book at a late age.

In his introduction to the book, Jttu has claimed that this book is an effort to critically analyse the three most popular icons of the freedom struggle of India– Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Bhagat Singh — from the prism of revolutionaries. The author thinks all three to be geniuses but opines that Gandhi and Nehru are superabundantly glorified, whereas Bhagat Singh has not been given his due. The author has taken up the task to undo this imbalance and put Bhagat Singh as a more important figure than these two icons. He has also referred to some earlier books like those of Manmathnath Gupta and Hans Raj Rehbar. He clearly states in his introduction that Bhagat Singh’s ideology was Scientific Socialism. In the next  40 chapters, Jttu tries to prove his point.

In the very first chapter – ‘Tracking down Bhagat Singh and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’ — Jttu comes down rather heavily on the ‘duplicity’ of Nehru, when he refers to him as General Secretary of Congress in 1929 and publishes Bhagat Singh and BK Dutt’s June 6 Court statement in the sessions court of Delhi in ‘The Congress Bulletin’, which was widely appreciated. Incidentally, this statement in full was carried by every major daily of that time and one paper, Pioneer, even carried a version, some parts of which were objected to and not taken on record by the sessions judge concerned.

Mahatma Gandhi objected to its publication in the Congress bulletin and as per Jttu, Nehru apologised:  “I am sorry you disapproved of my giving Bhagat Singh and Dutt’s statement in the Congress Bulletin. I was a little doubtful as to whether I should give it, but when I found there was a very general appreciation of it among Congress circles, I decided to give extracts. It was difficult, however, to pick and choose and gradually most of it went in. But I agree with you that it was somewhat out of place. I think you are mistaken that the statement was the work of their counsel (Asaf Ali). My information is that the council had nothing or practically nothing to do with it. He might have touched the punctuation. I think the statement was undoubtedly a genuine thing.”

Apart from the description of it as the ‘duplicity’ of Nehru, it is interesting that well-known historian VN Datta in his book ‘Gandhi and Bhagat Singh’ has described this statement to be authored by Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru himself has gone with the version of Asaf Ali when the sessions judge had questioned accused Bhagat Singh and Dutt’s competence in English to pen down such statement, to which Asaf Ali had responded what Nehru had quoted that “I may have touched upon punctuation here and there, but I had submitted what my clients had handed me over to this court’. Asaf Ali wrote this in his memoir later about this case.

Jttu has described in this statement and later on in the same case to the High Court in appeal in July 1929, as “phenomenal brilliance of Bhagat Singh.”

Incidentally, Bhagat Singh, in both the Delhi Assembly bomb case and the Lahore Conspiracy case, had chosen to argue his case and accepted only legal counsel to help prepare his defence. Asaf Ali represented BK Dutt in legal terms in the High Court and was only a legal counsel to Bhagat Singh, who did not agree with Asaf Ali’s approach of denying the act of revolutionaries to defend themselves legally.

Bhagat Singh later objected to Asaf Ali’s arguments in defence of Hari Kishan, contesting Asaf Ali denying the revolutionary act of Hari Kishan to save him. Bhagat Singh, in his two letters from Lahore Jail, one of which was even ‘lost’ (as Bhagat Singh himself referred to his ‘lost’ letter in the second letter), emphasised owning up to the revolutionary act and asserting the reasons for the act. (This author edited The Bhagat Singh Reader, pages 78-85, Harper Collins India). It is also a fact that most, rather all of the statements on behalf of Dutt or other revolutionaries from Lahore jail were drafted by Bhagat Singh, some of these statements are available in Bhagat Singh’s own recognised handwriting.

Jttu refers to Nehru’s An Autobiography ,first published in 1936, where on pages-174-76, Nehru discusses their amazing popularity as “he became a symbol to vindicate the honour of Lala Lajpat Rai and through him of the nation”. Jttu later refers to Nehru’s ‘Glimpses of World History’, in which he refers to Karl Marx and Lenin, but not Bhagat Singh and Indian revolutionaries in world history.

 As per Jttu, Gandhi began his political life in India in 1915 as a British loyalist. He quotes Gandhi himself to buttress his argument. He quotes for the April 25, 1915 dinner speech at Madras, in which Gandhi pledged loyalty to the British empire. The source of this speech is the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi volume 13, pages 59-60. For  enlisting into the army to fight in World War 1, Gandhi was awarded the title of ‘Kaiser-e-Hind’.

As per Jttu, the poor Indian recruits were used as ‘cannon fodder’ in the service of the British empire. He claims that before the Kaiser-e-Hind medal, Gandhi was also awarded Boer and Zulu medals during his South African stay. The author claims that Gandhi did not return these medals as Rabindranath Tagore had renounced his knighthood in protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919.

Perhaps Jttu’s claim is unverified. Gandhi did return his Kaiser-e- Hind medal in 1920 during the non-cooperation movement and in support of the Khilafat movement, but Sarojini Naidu, also the recipient of the Kaiser –e-Hind medal returned her medal in protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, like Tagore did.

The author is very critical of Gandhi, especially his support to the British colonial regime in suppressing Garhwali Rifles led by Chandra Singh Garhwali, who had refused to fire at peaceful protesters of the 1930 non-cooperation movement at Peshawar and the 1946 Royal Indian Navy revolt.

Jttu also described the March 5, 1931 Gandhi-Irwin Pact, which did not take into account the release or commutation of the death sentence of revolutionaries and only sought the release of Congress party protestors as ‘Surrender Pact’. Nehru himself had described the irony of the situation that ‘when talks will be held with British rulers–the dead bodies of Bhagat Singh revolutionaries will be staring us’ (Not exact words, but the spirit of phrase).

Jttu acknowledges in a whole chapter devoted to the issue –‘Was Mahatma Gandhi duty bound to save Bhagat Singh? And that Mahatma Gandhi did take up the issue of execution of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev many times with Lord Irwin, but Jttu’s grouse is that he was never very serious about it.

Both Bhagat Singh and Gandhi had different political perspectives and it is unfair to say, as people generally say, that Gandhi was powerful enough to save Bhagat Singh’s life. The British colonial regime was determined to hang Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev through a sham trial, as it feared the Bolshevik socialist perspective gaining ground in case Bhagat Singh was allowed to live. Probably, Gandhi faltered in not asserting his principled moral position of being anti-capital punishment, for Bhagat Singh or anyone else.

In several chapters author, Jttu narrates the factual story of Naujawan Bharat Sabha and Hindustan Socialist Republican Association/Army (HSRA), the organisations created by Bhagat Singh along with his other comrades, which are the strength of the book. The story of the Simon Commission, the killing of Lala Lajpat Rai, the assassination of Saunders, bombs in Central Assembly, Delhi, subsequent trials and court statements of Bhagat Singh, epoch-making hunger strikes in jail, and fearlessly kissing the gallows–  have all been described factually but with passion. 

The conclusion of the author is in the chapter titled ‘Bhagat Singh was True Marxist’. In support of his conclusion, Jttu has included some of the major ideological writings of Bhagat Singh such as ‘Letter to Young Political Workers’, ‘Court Statements’, ‘Why I am an Atheist’, and March 20, 1931 letter to Lieutenant Governor Punjab- ‘The War Shall Continue’ — and an ample number of quotations from ‘Jail Notebook’ as well as from other writings.

While everyone may not agree with the arguments of Jttu, especially about Gandhi and Nehru, it goes to the author’s credit that he directly quotes Gandhi and Nehru to build his arguments. His interpretation can be contested based on some other writings of Gandhi and Nehru, but the author cannot be blamed for misquoting them. He had, after all, in the beginning, accepted Gandhi, Nehru, and Bhagat Singh – -all three as geniuses. For Jttu, Bhagat Singh was a bigger genius than the other too. One can disagree with him, but he has the right to have his opinion.

Jttu, Amar Kant, Walking with Bhagat Singh: Soon after Independence, Delhi, Aakar Books, 2019, Pages 320, Rs 595.

The author is Former Dean, Faculty of Languages, Panjab University Chandigarh and Honorary Advisor, Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre.

New Material on Bhagat Singh

Letter to Punjab and Delhi CM’s regarding Bhagat Singh

In media

https://www.timesnownews.com/education/provide-books-on-bhagat-singh-to-schools-colleges-in-delhi-and-punjab-professor-chaman-lal-article-93847619?fbclid=IwAR3-UWUcfI_hI12M8hqt0Ed-s4EsS0yUpokDpiUvSUsYHrvTJN9nb-mWtcY

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/provide-books-on-bhagat-singh-to-schools-colleges-in-delhi-punjab-chaman-lal-to-cms-101661719704102.html?fbclid=IwAR3lwIp_ZN0G5kk6LfzxqjsEtWgZlxnYSG4KUYhGfe3ypzAmDrzRvKcj3qo

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/ht-this-day-july-10-1929-bhagat-singh-s-hunger-strike-101657025520394.html

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/historian-urges-delhi-punjab-to-secure-bhagat-singhs-files-from-pakistan/article65818137.ece?fbclid=IwAR0SMW9A24ti51zO0kCrxWhcYCvwZBnu44flCITtGEHaZw88GrUY9FHrGIE

https://www.babushahi.com/punjabi/full-news.php?id=171919

https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/fact-check-khatkar-kalan-is-bhagat-singhs-ancestral-village-but-he-never-lived-there/2469100/?utm_source=newsstand&utm_medium=Referral

The text of the Letter

Sh. Bhagwant Mann                                                  Sh. Arvind Kejriwal

Hon’ble Chief Minister Punjab                           Hon’ble Chief Minister Delhi

                                                                                    Sh. Manish Sisodia

                                                                               Hon’ble Deputy CM, Delhi   

Subject: Some recommendations regarding Shaheed Bhagat Singh

Honorable Chief Ministers and Deputy CM,

       As Honorable advisor to Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, Delhi Archives, New Delhi, I have some common suggestions for Punjab and Delhi Governments, which have adopted Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Dr. Ambedkar as official icons of the two governments.

1.    Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre was inaugurated on 23^rd March 2018 in Delhi Archives complex by Delhi Govt. Minister Sh. Gopal Rai. Same day the renovated Bhagat Singh Museum in Khatkar Kalan was also inaugurated by then Punjab Government.

2.    While Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre (BSARC) Delhi has an advisory committee led by Sh. Manish Sisodia, Deputy CM Delhi. Shaheed Bhagat Singh Museum in Khatkar Kalan has no such committee as the family members of Bhagat Singh, who had gifted their ancestral haveli and property to Punjab Government probably did not ask for it. But it would be good to have an advisory committee including some family members of Bhagat Singh and some scholars studying Bhagat Singh role in freedom struggle, should be included in that committee, which may be led by Hon’ble CM, Punjab.  

3.    BSARC in Delhi Archives and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Museum in Khatkar Kalan should have interactive relations with each other.

4.    Since the painting of Shaheed Bhagat Singh which is being used in Delhi and Punjab Government offices was got made during the time of Punjab Chief Minister Giani Zail Singh, grand uncle of present Speaker of Punjab Assembly Sh. Kulwant Singh Sandhwan, for which artist Amar Singh was honored by then Punjab Governor B D Pandey. (Photograph attached courtesy London based Punjabi poet Amarjit Chandan) . S. Tarlochan Singh former MP and OSD to Giani Zail Singh at that time, can confirm this fact. It is appropriate to acknowledge the artist Amar Singh in this regard and his initials at the painting should be highlighted from the original painting, which should be in Raj Bhavan or some other office of the Punjab Government. The original painting must be recovered from Punjab Government records and preserved as master copy for making the bulk photographs now in use in Punjab and Delhi offices.

5.    Universities in Delhi and Punjab should be named after Shaheed Bhagat Singh to inspire the young students towards ideas and patriotism of Bhagat Singh. Central University of Punjab should be named on Shaheed Bhagat Singh Central University of Punjab, Bathinda and in Delhi, out of three unnamed Universities, one should be named on the name of Shaheed Bhagat Singh.

6.  In Punjab, the last Government named sports University on the name of Bhupindra Singh, who was pro-British king of Patiala and who was responsible for the martyrdom of great patriot and nationalist Shaheed Sewa Singh Thikriwala. A Government University should be named only on the name of a patriotic martyr. Sewa Singh Thikriwala was martyred in Bhupindra Singh’s Jail in Patiala on midnight of 19-20 January 1935. Thikriwala was fighting for the cause of Punjab farmers and against colonial and feudal collaborators of British colonialism., I strongly urge Punjab Government to rename Bhupindra Singh Sports University Patiala in the name of Patiala’s greatest martyr Shaheed Sewa Singh Thikriwala, so that young students must get inspiration of patriotism and not follow the feudal and pro-colonial ideas and conduct of a feudal, pro-colonial and oppressive king Bhupindra Singh.
7. A trip to martyr’s memorials for school students should be organized once in three months covering Shaheed Bhagat Singh Khatkar Kalan Museum, Ludhiana Shaheed Sukhdev house and Kartar Singh Sarabha memorial in Sarabha village to Amritsar Jallianwala Bagh and Madan Lal Dhingra memorial, Sunam Shaheed Udham Singh memorial to Hussaini wala Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, BK Dutt and Mata Vidyawati memorial.
8. Few years ago, Sh. Bhagwant Mann along with Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi had met Cuban Ambassador in India at Delhi and offered to gift a statue/bust of Bhagat Singh to be placed among anti-colonial martyrs of Latin America, Africa, Asia and other countries at a particular road in Cuban capital Havana. Punjab and Delhi Governments shall pursue it again and offer Shaheed Bhagat Singh statue/bust to be placed in Havana and in return Cuban revolutionary martyr Che Guevara bust/statue may be placed in Delhi or Chandigarh.

Installation of Bhagat Singh’s statue in Havana honour for us: Left parties | India News – Times of India (indiatimes.com)

Campaign for Bhagat Singh bust in Cuba | India News – Times of India (indiatimes.com)

9. I am copying this letter to some MPs of Punjab, so that they can support Bhagat Singh Archives in Delhi with lump sum financial support from their MP funds, to buy new books every year and other help like acquiring a Photo Copier machine and support for staff in BSARC. Since the inauguration of BSARC in 2018, not a single book has been bought by Delhi Govt. despite my recommendations. Whatever new books I buy or get as gift, I deposit to BSARC! I would urge Punjab Rajya Sabha members to visit BSARC in Delhi Archives.
10. There are 134 case files relating to Bhagat Singh and other revolutionaries lying in Punjab Archives Lahore. A copy of these files of as historic records should be brought to Punjab Government Chandigarh. A digital copy of these files fmay also be kept at BSARCm Delhi Archives.
11. To propagate the ideas of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, the standard books relating to writings of Bhagat Singh and some standard biographies of Bhagat Singh should be purchased in bulk and supplied to all the libraries of schools/colleges and public libraries of Delhi and Punjab. The list of books-

               Important Books on Bhagat Singh for libraries

1.  First and banned biography of Bhagat Singh by Jitender Nath Sanyal-1931. Jitender Nath Sanyal was acquitted in main Lahore conspiracy case on 7^th October 1930. His biography of Bhagat Singh was published after few months of execution of Bhagat Singh. It was being serialized in Bhavishya-Hindi journal edited by Ramrakh Singh Sehgal. English edition of biography and Bhavishya both were proscribed. Jatinder Nath Sanyal was convicted and imprisoned for two years for writing this biography. Ramrakh Singh Sehgal was also imprisoned for few months and heavily penalized. It is one of the best and early authentic biography of Bhagat Singh. Now it is published by Vishav Bharti Prakashan Nagpur and by NBT, Bew Delhi in Hindi and Punjabi.

2.  1968 first edition of Virender Sindhu Book-Foreword was written by then Home Minister of India Y B Chavan. Written by Bhagat Singh’s niece Virender Sindhu, this is authentic biography of three generations of Bhagat Singh family-from Bhagat Singh grandfather Arjun Singh to Bhagat Singh Father Kishan Singh and Uncles Ajit Singh/Swarn Singh to Bhagat Singh himself. It was published by Bhartiya Gyanpeeth then from Banaras, now published by Rajpal& sons Delhi as Bhagat Singh aur unke Mrityuanjay Purkhe. This book was translated in Punjabi by Languages Dept. Punjab, Patiala, but now not even a single copy is available there. It should be reprinted, while a private publisher has been publishing it without author or Language dept. permission and selling it.

3.  Bhagat Singh’s writings first collection in book form came out in Punjabi in 1974. Though his writings were being published from his life time before 1931 in various journals, but in collected form it came out only in 1974. It was edited by Punjabi poet Amarjit Chandan, but he remained anonymous on book title. First time 28 writings of Bhagat Singh were put together. Now Bhagat Singh nephew Prof. Jagmohan Singh edited-Bhagat Singh ate Uhna de Sathian dian Likhtan is available from Chetna Prakashan, Ludhiana.

4.  Hindi journal from Allahabad-Chand-Fansi issue with 37 articles by Bhagat Singh was published in November 1928. The journal was edited by Ramrakh Singh Sehgal, but Fansi issue as special issue was edited by Hindi novelist Acharya Chatursen Shastri, as guest editor, who had later to appear for evidence in Lahore Conspiracy case. Now available with Radhakrishan Prakashan New Delhi.

5.  Bhagat Singh Complete writings in Hindi-edited by Chaman Lal, 2007/2020 by Publications Division Delhi. First single volume edition was published in Bhagat Singh birth centenary year in 2007. Updated and enlarged four volume edition published in 2020. It includes all 130 writings and Jail Notebook of Bhagat Singh.

6.   Complete writings of Bhagat Singh in Urdu published in 2014 by Publications Division Delhi. Updated translation of 2007 Hindi edition.

7.   Bhagat Singh Jail Notebook translation in Bengali, published in 2012

8.   Bhagat Singh Jail Notebook translation published in Kannada in 2015

9.  Complete writings-of Bhagat Singh published in Marathi in 2008 and 2016

10.             Telugu Translation of Bhagat Singh selected writings published in 1986 and 2004.

11.             Tamil edition of Why I am an Atheist by Bhagat Singh published first in 1934, the first ever translation got done by E V Ramaswamy Naicker Periyar from P. Jeevanandam. More than 30 editions published by now.

12.             French translation of Why I am an Atheist published from Paris in 2016

13.             Different editions of Bhagat Singh Jail Note Book in Punjabi by Punjab Govt first published in Bhagat Singh birth centenary year 2007 for free distribution.

14.             Hindi translation of Bhagat Singh Jail Note Book published by Haryana Govt. in 2008 for free distribution.

15.             Shiv Verma edited first collection of Bhagat Singh writings in English published in 1986. It includes 29 writings of Bhagat Singh, published by National Book Centre Calcutta.

16.             Complete writings of Bhagat Singh edited by Chaman Lal published in The Bhagat Singh Reader published by HarperCollins India as international edition in 2019. It includes all 130 writings and Jail Notebook of Bhagat Singh

17.      Comrade Ramchandra Book- authentic history of Naujwan Bharat Sabha and HSRA of organizations of Bhagat Singh movement. Comrade Ramchandra was among founders of Naujwan Bharat Sabha with Bhagat Singh and remained its President too, was part of HSRA as well. In later life he remained MLA of pre-partition and post-partition Punjab legislative assemblies at Lahore and Chandigarh and also MLA in Himachal Pradesh Assembly. He authored three books on freedom struggle and self-financed their publications.  Punjab Govt. should publish these books as a private publisher is selling one book without author family permission.

18.      A G Noorani book-The Trial of Bhagat Singh, now available with Oxford University Press, New Delhi.

19.      Kartar Singh Duggal’s Bhagat Singh biography in Punjabi language by Publication Division, Govt. of India priced just Three rupees. It should be bought in thousands.

20.      Bhagat Singh de Siasi Dastavez in Punjabi, edited by Chaman Lal, published by National Book Trust New Delhi.

21.             Bhagat Singh ke Sampuran Dastavez edited by Chaman Lal, published by Aadhar Prakashan Panchkula.

22.             The Legend and Life of Bhagat Singh: A Pictorial biography of Bhagat Singh by Chaman Lal, expected by September end 2022 from Publication Division, Govt. of India in English.

23.             Bhagat Singh: The Political Reader, edited by Michael D Yates and Chaman Lal in an international edition by Monthlyu Review Press New York and Leftword Press New Delhi, expected in September 2022

24.             Banned Publications on Bhagat Singh, edited by Gurdev Singh, published by Leftword Publications New Delhi in 2022.

25.             India’s Revolutionary Inheritance by Chris Moffat, published by Cambridge University Press London/Delhi

        I think is some of these suggestions are accepted and implemented, it will not cause much finances and it will prove to be more useful in spreading the ideas of Bhagat Singh, which I think is the purpose of Punjab and Delhi Governments by adopting Shaheed Bhagat Singh as official icon.

       I shall be available for discussion on these suggestions as and when both Chief Ministers can spare some time together or separately.

With best regards

   (Chaman Lal)

Copy to concerned officials of Delhi and Punjab Governments

Copy to concerned Rajya Sabha members from Punjab.

Copy to the advisory committee members of BSARC.

Annexures

1.       Painting of Bhagat Singh by artist Amar Singh

2.       Artist Amar Singh being honoured by Governor Punjab

3.       Clippings of Deputy CM Meeting with Cuban Ambassador

Three New Letters of Bhagat Singh

What three letters, part of the Lahore Conspiracy Case, will be part of an updated Bhagat Singh Reader?

As India completes 75 years, the discovery of three petition letters will enrich the history of its most charismatic revolutionary.

Written by Chaman Lal |
August 13, 2022 1:14:36 pm

An artist’s impression of Bhagat Singh. (Illustration: Suvajit Dey)

The completion of 75 years of Independence is a good time to recall Bhagat Singh, the iconic hero of India’s freedom struggle who has been frequently invoked by political parties of late, although often without sufficient knowledge of — and respect for — his true revolutionary ideals.

The last time the great personalities of the Independence Movement were celebrated at a scale somewhat approximating the current one was in 2007, the year in which five national anniversaries were observed — 150 years each of the First War of Independence and the birth of Lokmanya Tilak; 60 years of Independence; and 75 years of the death and 100 years of the birth of Bhagat Singh.

The Manmohan Singh government formed national committees with leaders of all opposition parties including the BJP, a large number of programmes were held at the national and state levels and a range of publications appeared between 2006 and 2008.

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Earlier, in 1997, when IK Gujral was the prime minister, the golden jubilee of Independence was celebrated with great solemnity but limited noise. The focus in 1997 was on Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Subhas Chandra Bose, while in 2007, greater attention devolved on Tilak and Bhagat Singh. In 2022, the spotlight remains on Bhagat Singh, and he shares it with Sardar Patel, Birsa Munda, and Dr BR Ambedkar.

In 2007, the government’s Publications Division commissioned me to prepare a volume of the writings of Bhagat Singh, which was published in Hindi with a translation in Urdu. The Hindi original was updated in 2020 and published in four volumes.

In 2019, I edited The Bhagat Singh Reader, a collection of all his writings that could be located until 2018. Singh wrote in English, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi, though he was also well versed in Sanskrit and Bengali, and was learning Persian in jail. Of the 133 writings in The Reader, 58 are in English and 46 in Hindi. Since then, I have come across three more important documents — a letter by Singh to the Special Magistrate, Lahore Conspiracy case, published in The Hindustan Times on February 13, 1930, in which he laid down the reasons for his refusal to come to court, and two hitherto unseen letters in his own hand, part of the Lahore Conspiracy case files. Both petitions protest the fact that he’d been refused legal counsel, and that hurdles had been put on his attempts to communicate with the court. These new writings will be part of forthcoming updated edition of The Bhagat Singh Reader likely to come out later this year.

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 Starving to death for country’s honor. (Credit: Photograph by Ramnath/ Courtesy Chaman Lal, Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, New Delhi)

A summary of the short, remarkable life of Bhagat Singh, and the context in which these three letters were written, would be in order. Singh was arrested twice and faced two trials in his 23-year life. He was first arrested on May 29, 1927, and kept in police custody until July 4, 1927, during which he was brutally tortured to extract a confession. He was given bail against Rs 60,000, a very large sum in those days, and the case was withdrawn after it was hotly debated in the Punjab Assembly.

He was arrested for the second time on April 8, 1929, at the Central Assembly in Delhi, the present Parliament House, which had been inaugurated two years earlier. Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt offered themselves for arrest after throwing bombs at the Assembly. Both were convicted on June 12 and were transferred to Mianwali and Lahore jails, respectively, on June 14. During the journey, they went on a hunger strike that ended after 110 days on October 4. Their comrade Jatin Das, who too was on a hunger strike, died on September 13, 1929.

Proceedings in the Lahore Conspiracy case, the second case Singh faced, began on July 10, 1929. On a hunger strike at the time, Singh was brought to court in Lahore from Mianwali jail on a stretcher. Singh, Dutt and some other revolutionaries went on a hunger strike again on February 4, 1930, as the colonial administration refused to honour their commitments.

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The letter published in The Hindustan Times was accompanied by the news of the hunger strikes by the revolutionaries. The two handwritten letters are from the last days of the trial by the Special Tribunal, comprising three High Court judges. Its proceedings began on May 5, 1930, and the verdict was announced on October 7. The date of execution was fixed for October 27, 1930, a few days before the term of the Tribunal was scheduled to end. Following an appeal and its rejection, Bhagat Singh was hanged on March 23, 1931, along with comrades Rajguru and Sukhdev.

Chaman Lal is honorary advisor, Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, Delhi Archives, New Delhi, and India’s foremost scholar on Bhagat Singh.

Letter 1 Bhagat Singh and BK Dutt’s letter to the special magistrate in the Lahore Conspiracy case, which was published in The Hindustan Times, dated February 13, 1930, giving reasons for their refusal to go to court — being “harassed ceaselessly”, “plea for interviews” with them were rejected, the “defence counsel not being allowed to attend court”, the “lack of supply of newspapers to literate undertrials” such as themselves. (CREDIT: Courtesy Chaman Lal, Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, New Delhi)

Reasons for refusing to come to court: ‘Harassed Ceaselessly’

Lahore accused’s letter to Special Magistrate

Lahore, February 10

Bhagat Singh and BK Dutt have sent the following [letter] to the Special Magistrate, Lahore Conspiracy case, Lahore through the Superintendent, Central Jail, Lahore:

In view of your statement and order dated February 4, 1930, published in the Civil and Military Gazette bearing the date of February 6, we feel it necessary to make a statement clearing the position of the accused as regarding their refusal to come to your court so that any sort of misunderstanding and misrepresentation may not be possible.

Harassed Ceaselessly

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In the first place we should point out that we have not so far boycotted all the British courts. We are attending the court of Mr. Lewis who is trying us under Section 52 of Prisons Act for the occurrence of January 29 in your court. But there are special circumstances which force us to take this step-in connection with the Lahore conspiracy case. We have been feeling from the very beginning that the nonfessant attitude of the court, and misfeasance and malfeasance of the jail or other authorities, we are being harassed ceaselessly, but deliberately with a view to hamper our defense. Many of our grievances had been placed before you in a bail application, a few days back, but while rejecting that petition on some legal grounds, you did not feel the necessity of even making a mention of the grievances of the accused, on the ground of which a prayer for the bail was made.

Magistrate’s Foremost Duty

We feel that the first and foremost duty of the Magistrate is to keep his attitude quite impartial up and above both the prosecution and defence parties. Even the Hon’ble Justice Ford gave the ruling that day, telling the Magistrate 1o be ever at arm’s length from the prosecution. The second most important thing that a Magistrate ought to keep before him is to see if the accused have genuine difficulty in connection with their defense and remove if any. Otherwise, the whole trial is reduced to a farce. But the contrary has been the conduct of the Magistrate in such an important case where 18 young men are being tried for serious offences such as murder, dacoity and conspiracy for which they may, very likely to be sentenced to death.

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The main grounds on which we were forced to attend your court were the following:

The majority of the accused belong to distant provinces and all are middle class people. In these circumstances it is very difficult, nay almost impossible for their relatives to come here every now and then to help them in their defence. They wanted to hold interviews with some of their friends whom they could entrust with the reasonability of their defence. Even common sense says that they are entitled to these interviews. In this court repeated requests were made to that effect, but one and all requests went unheard.

No Interviews Allowed

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Mr. BK Dutt belongs to Bengal and Mr. Kanwal Nath Tiwari to Behar. Both of them wanted to interview their friends- Shrimati Kumari Lajjawati and Shrimati Parvati Devi (daughter of Lala Lajpat Rai-editor), respectively. But the court forwarded all their applications to the jail authorities, who in turn rejected them on the plea that interviews could be allowed to relatives and counsel only. Again, and again the matter was brought to your notice, but no step was taken to enable the accused to make the necessary arrangements for their defense. Even after they had appointed their friends as their attorneys and the attorney power had been attested to by this very court, no interview was allowed to them. And the magistrate even refused to write to the jail authorities that the accused demanded the interviews for defence purposes in connection with the case which he himself was trying. And the accused, thus handicapped, could not even move the higher court. But the trial was being proceeded with. In these circumstances, the accused felt quite — helpless and for them the trial had no other value than a mere farcical show. It is noteworthy that those, and a majority of the accused were going unrepresented.

Accused’s Grievances

I am an unrepresented accused and could not afford to engage a whole-time counsel to represent me throughout the lengthy trial. I wanted his legal advice on certain points. And at a certain stage I wanted him to watch the proceedings personally to be in a better position to form his opinion. But he was refused even a seat in the body of the court. Was this not a deliberate move on the part of the authorities concerned to harass us to hamper our defence Counsel from attending the courts to watch the interests of their clients, who are not present nor even represented by them. What are the “Special circumstances of this case”, that forced the Magistrate to adopt such a rude attitude towards a barrister…, thus discouraging any counsel might be invited to come to assist the accused? What was the justification in allowing Mr. Amar Das to occupy the chair of defence when he is no longer representing any party and not even giving any legal advice to any person? I was to discuss with my legal adviser the question of interviews with attorneys and to instruct him to move the High Court on this point. But I could not get the opportunity to discuss it with him at all and nothing could be done. What does this all amount to? Is it not throwing dust into the eyes of the public by showing that the trial is being held quite judicially? The accused did not absolutely get any opportunity to make any arrangements for their defence. This is what we protest against. If there is to be no fair play, there need not be a show. We cannot see injustice being done in the name of justice. In these circumstances we all thought it fit that either we should have a fair chance of defending ourselves or be prepared to bear the sentence passed against us in a trial held in our absence.

The third main grievance is about the supply of newspapers. The undertrials as such should not be treated as convicts and only such restrictions can be justifiably imposed upon them as may be extremely necessary for their safe custody. Nothing beyond that can be justified. The accused who cannot be released on bail should never be subjected to such hardships which may amount to punishment. Hence every literate undertrial is entitled to get at least one standard daily newspaper. The “Executive” agreed on certain principles to give us one daily English newspaper in the court. But things done by half worse than not done at all: Our repeated requests asking for a vernacular paper for the non-English reading accused proved to be futile. We had been returning The Tribune daily in protest against the order refusing a vernacular paper.

Any how these were the three main ground, an which we announced on January 29 about our refusal to come to the court.

As soon as these grievances would be removed, we will ourselves quite willingly come to attend the court — Free Press (News agency).

Inside the three-column news, a special box titled “Lahore Hunger Strike: Prisoners Look Pulled Down”, dated February 10, mentions: The effects of the hunger strike are becoming clearly marked in the case of the accused in the Lahore Conspiracy Case. When they were produced before the Additional District Magistrate, who is trying them under Section 52 of the Prisons Act, for disobedience, they looked greatly pulled down. Four of them were unable to sit in chairs and had to be stretched on mattresses in the courtroom. API news agency

(The Hindustan Times, February 13, 1930; edited excerpts)

Letter 2 Bhagat Singh’s petition dated 6 May 1930, pleading that “he is not in a position to engage whole time counsel”, “that he does not want to accept any help from the government”, and that “an order be passed to accommodate his legal adviser in a body of the court.” (CREDIT: Courtesy Chaman Lal, Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, New Delhi)

Bhagat Singh petition for legal advisor, May 6, 1930

In the court of the special Tribunal,

Lahore Conspiracy Case

Lahore

Most respectfully Shweth,

1. That the petitioner is an unrepresented accused in this case

2. That he is not in a position to engage whole time council in this lengthy trial

3. That he does not want to accept any help from the government

4. That he wishes to fight his own case with such legal aid as he can afford

5. That it is prayed that an order be passed to accommodate to his legal adviser in a body of the court so that he may be able to give necessary help whenever desired

Bhagat Singh

Petitioner

May 6, 1930

Letter 3 Bhagat Singh’s petition dated 27 August 1930, protesting the refusal of the court registrar to accept from him an application to the court; the lack of information on whether his two earlier applications had been delivered to the court; and that even though he has been asked to produce his defence, he has not been allowed interviews to co-accused and relatives, which are very essential to the purposes of his defence. (CREDIT: Courtesy Chaman Lal, Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, New Delhi)

Bhagat Singh petition of August 27, 1930

In the court of the special Tribunal

Lahore Conspiracy Case, Lahore

Crown Vs. Sukhdev

Charged under sections 120, 121-A, 120-B etc., IPC

Most respectfully Shweth,

1. That the petitioner has just been furnished in copy of the over of the learned courts, bearing the date August 22, 1930, by the Registrar of the Count

2. That the petitioner wanted to write an application to the court and hand it over to the Registrar personally

3. That the Registrar refused to handle it saying he was particularly ordered by the court not to accept any written application the petitioner to the Court

4. That the petitioner, by no stretch of imagination, comprehends the logic of this order

5. That the petitioner had put two applications the registrar on August 22 and 26 about which he has no knowledge whether they were properly delivered the Court or not

6. That he has not been either furnished with copy of the orders that the Court was pleased to pass in the aforesaid application

7. That today he has been called upon to produce whatever defence he has to

8. That in spite of many petitions sent by the petitioner to the learned court, no orders have been issued by court to the jail authorities to allow the interviews to co accused and relatives, which are very essential to the defence purposes

9. That it is prayed that court be pleased to inform the petitioner what order has the court been able to pass on his applications mentioned in the last paragraph. kindly pass orders intimating the petitioner to hold interviews with his relatives, thus enabling to prepare and produce his defence, which he cannot otherwise, and thirdly to stay the further proceedings of the court until the said interviews are held and proper defence are provided to him, and lastly inform the petitioner so whatever order the Court pleased to pass on this petition

Bhagat Singh

August 27, 1930

Petitioner

Central Jail, Lahore

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First published on: 13-08-2022 at 01:14:36 pm

Tribute to Udham Singh on Martyrdom day

Relook at a Book: Udham Singh – Life of a Hero, Peppered With History, Fiction, Thrill

Chaman Lal | 

31 Jul 2022

• Books
• Politics
• India

The author, an award-winning journalist, uses an interesting narrative style to celebrate the life of Jalianwala Bagh massacre’s revenge taker, who was executed on July 31, 1940.

Anita Anand, The Patient Assassin, The True Tale of Massacre, revenge and the Raj, London, Simon and Schuster, 2019, pages 384, Kindle ed

The book, The Patient Assassin, by London-based Anita Anand is based on the life of Udham Singh, who assassinated Michael O’Dwyer, the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab during 1919, and was infamous for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar.

Anand’s ancestors on both sides, her own and her husband’s, were involved in some way or the other the sufferings of the biggest massacre during British Raj after the 1857 revolt. Her grandfather, Ishwar Das Anand, was in Jallianwala Bagh on that fateful day of April 13, 1919. He survived as he left a bit early before the firing was ordered by Reginald Dyer. Her husband’s ancestors settled in London in the 1930s and one of them lived with Udham Singh in London.

So, as a writer, Anand has the privilege of having heard the story from close family persons, as well as being a broadcast journalist with BBC, she has used her skills as a journalist and researcher to build the story of Udham Singh in a narrative style. She already has written another popular book on Sophia, the daughter of the last Maharaja of Punjab, Duleep Singh, and also co-authored another one on Kohinoor, with celebrated historian William Dalrymple. In this book, she has given a historical event the shape of a long narrative, to make it more interesting, and has taken the liberty to give almost a fictional form and a thriller as well.

Before Anand begins the narration, she quotes from one of the greatest novelists of the world, Charles Dickens:  “Vengeance and retribution require a long time; it is the rule” The quote is from one of his famous novels, A Tale of Two Cities, and shows that Anand, through the historic event, wishes to create a story of revenge as well.

Apart from 25 chapters of this spread-out narration, nine are in part one, and 16 are in part two. In the preface, the author has referred to her family connections to the event and the historical background and a few known facts, like the number of killings as per British and Indian perceptions. The author has also included a list of illustrations (which are very important and rare).

The preface has underlined that on April 13, 1919, Dyer, a British officer of Irish origin, had ordered his men to fire upon around 20,000 innocent and unarmed men, women and children. The victims included the youngest, a six-month old baby and the oldest, a man in his 80s.

Dyer was supported Michael O’Dwyer, then Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, who became the target of Udham Singh’s revenge, as Dyer had died early in 1927. Dyer had boasted that he could have killed many more had his men not exhausted firearms and if he could have driven his armoured car inside the Bagh through a narrow lane with machine guns, as he was seeking to teach a lesson to the restive province.

Anand refers to former British Prime Minister David Cameron expressing remorse but not apologising at the site itself 94 years later. Her grandfather, Ishwar Das Anand, suffered survivor’s guilt in his short life of 40 years. He lost his sight as well.

The Amazon advertisement of the book (edited) says:

 “The dramatic true story of a celebrated young survivor of a 1919 British massacre in India, Udham Singh and his ferocious twenty-year campaign of revenge that made him a hero to hundreds of millions—and spawned a classic legend. (Presence of Udham Singh in Jallianwala Bagh has not been conclusively proven, the evidence is there that he was away in Africa at the time of happening).”

When Michael O’Dwyer ordered Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer to Amritsar, he wanted him to bring the ‘troublesome’ city to heel. O’Dwyer had become increasingly alarmed at the effect Gandhi was having on this province, as well as the demonstrations, strikes, and shows of Hindu-Muslim unity. All these things, to him, were a precursor to a second Indian revolt.

What happened next shocked the world. An unauthorised gathering in Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar in April 1919 became the focal point for O’Dwyer’s law enforcers. Dyer marched his soldiers into the walled garden, blocking the only exit. Then, without issuing any order to disperse, he instructed his men to open fire, turning their guns on the dense part of the crowd, filled with over a thousand unarmed men, women, and children. For 10 minutes, the soldiers continued firing, stopping only when they ran out of ammunition.

According to legend (yes, not a proven fact), 18-year-old Sikh orphan Udham Singh was injured in the attack and remained surrounded by the dead and dying until he was able to move the next morning. Then, he supposedly picked up a handful of blood-soaked earth, smeared it across his forehead, and vowed to kill the men responsible.

The truth, as the author has discovered, is more complex—but no less dramatic. The award winning journalist traced Singh’s journey through Africa, the United States, and across Europe until, in March 1940, he finally arrived in front of O’Dwyer himself in a London Hall, ready to shoot him down. The Patient Assassin shines a devastating light on one of history’s most horrific events, but it reads like a taut thriller and reveals the incredible but true story behind a legend that still endures today.” (Amazon ad ends here)

Many books have been written in many languages on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and Udham Singh, some of which have been quoted by Anand. She visited Sunam and met people known to Udham Singh still alive. Some of her narration could be contested on the factual level, as one researcher Navtej Singh earlier has authoritatively, with documentation, claimed that Udham Singh was not present in the Bagh on that day and that he was abroad for labour. But it is true that Anita Anand’s narrative style is more enchanting than the historical accounts of earlier authors.

Navtej Book-Udham Singh documents

History was earlier written in an academic manner as well as fiction, now a new more reader-friendly genre has developed, which is a combination of journalism, fictional narration and historical facts. History was considered a boring subject among school students earlier, maybe school textbooks are still boring, but new forms of history writing are becoming more attractive, but with a rider that the  narration and style should not lose the core message of historic tragedies. 

The Patient Assassin brings makes Udham Singh seem like a fictional hero, as well as a romantic, having many liaisons with women and leaving them without remorse, yet completely focused on his aim to shoot the murderer of Jallianwala Bagh.  He achieves this aim in well-planned plot and is proud of it. This aspect of Udham Singh is well brought out by Anand, a non-professional historian.

Rakesh Kumar-Udham Singh book title and documents

However, more important and authentic books on Udham Singh or Mohmmad Singh Azad, as he himself signed and presented in London’s trial court, are written by Navtej Singh, published by Punjabi University Patiala, and Rakesh Kumar, a retired engineer from Udham Singh’s own place, Sunam. The titles of those books are given in Anand’s book. A life size statue erected by the Indian government in 2018 at the entrance of Jallianwala Bagh Amritsar is also there, which does not match with the real photographs of Udham Singh, whose birth name was Sher Singh. He was an orphan and was brought up in Pingalwara School in Amritsar and later moved to Africa for labour work after his education in Amritsar was over. He travelled to many countries before shooting Michael O’Dwyer and getting executed on July 31, 1940 in London. His remains were brought to India 34 years later, in 1974.

The writer is a retired professor of JNU and an honorary adviser to the Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, Delhi.

Bhagat Singh’s favourtie novel-Seven that were Hanged

Relook at a Book: Andreyev’s ‘Seven That Were Hanged’ Questions the Rationale of Death Penalty

Chaman Lal | 22 Jul 2022

• Book

The author underlines the futility of capital punishment in a world that is getting bloodier by the day.

Andreyev, Leonid, Seven that were Hanged, (Novella) first publication in Russian in 1891, many English translations, pages 80+

This is one of the favourite books of Bhagat Singh and his fellow revolutionaries. In many memoirs regarding the revolutionaries, there is reference to this book among the few favourites they read and discussed. The writer of this novella was Russian writer Leonid Andreyev, a friend of author Maxim Gorki, who encouraged him to concentrate on writing after he noticed his story published in 1898.

Andreyev was born in 1871 and worked as a police court reporter. Later, he turned out to be a celebrity playwright. Out of the 25 plays he wrote, his most famous one was He Who Gets Slapped. During the 1905 Russian Revolution, he defended democratic values. He also welcomed the February 1917 Russian democratic revolution, but was not comfortable with the Bolshevik October revolution later that year. He shifted to Finland, where he died in 1919.

Apart from plays, Andreyev also wrote fiction and his 1908 novella, Seven that were Hanged, is considered among his major works. This novella has many translations in English — the first was in 1909 by Herman Bernstein, another by Thomas Seltzer in 1925, the latest one was in 2016 by Anthony Briggs. It was adapted into a play as well as a film.

Andreyev wrote a brief introduction to the novella’s first English translation –“Literature, which I have the honor to serve, is dear to me just because the noblest task it sets before itself is that of wiping out boundaries and distances.” He mentions the Russian state’s attitude to literature in those days:

‘I have treated ruling and slaughtering Russia with restraint and mildness may best be gathered from the fact that the Russian censor has permitted my book to circulate. This is sufficient evidence when we recall how many books, brochures and newspapers have found eternal rest in the peaceful shade of the police stations, where they have risen to the patient sky in the smoke and flame of bonfires.’

But the purpose of this novella is to question death penalty or capital punishment, which is relevant even today. The novelist says: ‘My task was to point out the horror and the iniquity of capital punishment under any circumstances. The horror of capital punishment is great when it falls to the lot of courageous and honest people whose only guilt is their excess of love and the sense of righteousness-in such instances, conscience revolts. But the rope is still more horrible when it forms the noose around the necks of weak and ignorant people.’

The novella is the story of the execution of five revolutionaries and two ordinary criminals, but the author’s sympathy lies more with the ordinary murderers, because he feels that the revolutionaries, with their strong will and ideas, can face death boldly, but same can turn ordinary criminals to insanity!

The 73-page novella is divided into 11 small chapters and begins with first chapter under the title- ‘At One O’ clock, Your Excellency!’ The Czarist minister is reported by the chief of his guards that exactly at one o’ clock next afternoon, the revolutionaries will attack him. The minister is surprised at this information, as he himself had come to know of this just hours ago. The description of the whole night spent awake by the minister, the imagination of his fears and anxieties, have been depicted psychologically.

The story moves to the second chapter, ‘Condemned to be Hanged’ with the arrest of the four revolutionaries at the gate of minister’s house. While the three men and a woman are arrested with bombs and weapons at the gate, another woman is also arrested from the place where the conspiracy to kill the minister was hatched. They all were very young, the eldest was a 28-year-old man and the youngest was a 19-year-old woman. The trial was held swiftly in the fortress, they were imprisoned and condemned to death. They were calm, very serious and thoughtful. Their contempt for the judges was so intense during the trial that they did not even feign cheerfulness or smile. Bhagat Singh and the other revolutionaries’ conduct during their trials was perhaps impacted by their readings of such novels.

Sergey Golovin, son of an ex-officer was the main character among the revolutionaries. The young pale girl, known by the name Musya, was among two women. Tanya Kovalchuk was the other woman, a motherly figure, who was ready to sacrifice her life for others. Werner was the bitterest of all and Vasily Kashirin most terrified of death.

The two other prisoners condemned to death were Ivan Yansen, a farm hand, who had killed his master and tried to rape his daughter and Tsiganok Golubets, a Russian bandit, a Tatarian, proud of his act of murder of three persons and jovial about the sentence.

One chapter each is dedicated to describing the mental state all the seven persons are going through. Golovin and Tanya are not afraid of death and try to help others to come to terms with the sentence. Musya also tries to provide succor to other criminals who are sentenced to death. The most pitiable condition is of Yansen who, while being led to the gallows, is begging to be allowed to live. Golovin’s father prepares his wife not to show any sorrow or fear before his son and keeps his and his own and his son’s pride intact, while meeting him in prison. Women even kiss ordinary non-political criminals to give them a sense of human warmth. Sergey keeps exercising to keep fit all through. There is lot of philosophising and psychoanlaysis of the characters.

In the final 11th chapter, all the seven are -’On the way to Scaffold’. They are taken in vehicles to a far off location where the gallows are in a snow-filled region. They are asked to walk in twos, holding hands and everyone’s state of mind is depicted by the author in a somewhat dramatic manner.

The novella ends with this last paragraph:

“The sun was rising over the sea.

The bodies were placed in a box. Then they were taken away. With stretched necks, with bulging eyes, with blue, swollen tongues, looking like some unknown, terrible flowers between the lips, which were covered with bloody foam-the bodies were hurried back along the same road by which they had come-alive. And the spring snow was just as soft and fresh; the spring air was just as strong and fragrant. And on the snow lay Sergey’s black rubber-shoe, wet, trampled underfoot.

Thus, did men greet the rising sun.’

Bhagat Singh and his revolutionary comrades had read such literature to strengthen their resolve to face death bravely, but author had written to underline the futility of capital punishment, which colonial and oppressive rulers like the Russian Czar could never understand. Nor is it understood today after more than hundred years of publication of such humanist literature.

Mahatma Gandhi and all other pacifist activists and philosophers have been against capital punishment. Mutual killings by human beings are not a new phenomenon. From the onset of human civilisation, which has grown out of Darwinian theory of evolution, no living being other than humans kills other beings, even the most feared ones, such as snakes, lions etc. It is to satisfy their hunger that stronger animals kill weaker ones.

In the earlier phase of human civilisation, the human race was doing the same, though mostly killing animals to eat. This is also true during wars, when many a times human beings had to eat human flesh to survive. Some cruel colonial masters also forced prisoners to eat human flesh. It is with the development of civilisation and culture, that human societies have organised themselves on certain ‘social contract’ created out of concepts like democracy etc. Even today, in many Arabian countries ‘blood money’ is an accepted form of justice for murder!

There are more than a hundred countries in the world that have done away with capital punishment. India is not one among these, yet some form of demand and urgency exists in India, too. Ironically, the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi are publicised in India and abroad, but his principled opposition to capital punishment is not given much importance. Defending Bhagat Singh and other revolutionaries from execution, Mahatma Gandhi did whatever he could, but ironically, he did not emphasise upon his own basic principle of being against capital punishment. Had he done so, he would not have been subjected to such scrutiny as he is now in context of the revolutionaries’ execution.

There are two extremes in the world today. On the one side, there are blood seekers of the religious fundamentalist variety, who want to lynch anyone who speaks against their professed religion. India has lately among such nations. Another perspective was seen in the case of even the worst criminals, like Andres Breivik in Norway who killed more than 70 children playing in a park. The Norwegian people, despite this most brutal Nazi kind of crime, did not make cat calls for his lynching or fansi do, fansi do (hang him).

Stable societies treat such crimes as aberrations. Even as Sweden Prime Minister Olof Palme was killed inside a theatre while watching film with his wife like any other citizen without security, the Swedish society did not resort to the kind of madness that Indian society has resorted to, providing any petty politician police security in such a visible and annoying form.

In jurisprudence, there are theories of retribution and deterrence as opposed to reformative and rehabilitative theories. Bhagat Singh in his jail notebook had taken detailed notes of these theories. He was like other humanist philosophers of the world, who were in favour of reformative and rehabilitative justice system and considered the British colonial system to be retributive jurisprudence.

Seven that were Hanged once again reminds the human society of the relevance of building a society where there is no capital punishment, as in the roots of any crime, lie a social set-up that is exploitative and oppressive. To counter it, the task of society is to build a system based on equality, fraternity and justice — a far looking dream today despite many social revolutions!

The writer is a retired professor of JNU and an honorary adviser to the Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, Delhi.

Reading of Victor Hugo novel Ninety Three novel by Bhagat Singh

Hugo, Victor, Ninety-Three, a novel, first French original edition 1874

https://www.newsclick.in/relook-book-victor-hugo-last-novel-influenced-revolutionaries

•       Bhagat Singh was a voracious reader of books and the variety of books he read varied from Political economy to literature. Though Victor Hugo is a hugely known, rather a classic writer of 19^th century, but he is known more for his novel Les Misérables. Victor Hugo, who lived a rich and tumultuous life of 83 years, is considered one of the most respected writers of not only France, but of Europe as a whole. Nineteenth century was a century of enlightenment in Europe after French revolution of 1793, giving rise to the slogan of Equality, Fraternity and Liberty, which later became part of French constitution and even UNO motto.
•       Bhagat Singh had read Les Misérables also, but on this novel Ninety-Three, he and Sukhdev had discussions. Along with Leonid Andreyev novel Seven that were Hanged their personalities as revolutionaries were shaped to some extent on the lives of revolutionaries in these two novels in France and Russia, at least these novels had left deep impression on them.
•      For France, Victor Hugo as a writer, was one of the greatest. France gives more respect to its writers than its political leaders. As once one of most powerful President of France Charles de Gaulle had famously said about Jean Paul Sartre that Sartre is France and I can not arrest France. That time Sartre had come on roads to support France’s rebellious students in 1968. Victor Hugo wrote much in terms of quantity, but is known for quality of his works as well. Apart from ten books of fiction, he wrote more than fifty more books, which include poetry, plays, prose and political writings. His other famous novel is Hunchback of the Notre Dame. Very few personalities of the world have got so much space on Wikipedia, as Victor Hugo has got. Victor Hugo is considered as foremost writer of Romantic movement in literature.
•      Ninety-Three was his last writing published in 1874 at the age of 72 years. He died in 1885 at the age of 83 years. Victor Hugo was not only a writer; he was active in political life of France and took part in its revolutionary activities as well. Hugo had become member of prestigious French Academy of Letters of France in 1841 and entered Upper Chamber of Parliament in 1845, nominated by then King. Later he was elected to Second Republic’s National Assembly like lower chamber in 1848, as a conservative. He broke from Conservatives in 1849 and became votary of abolition of death sentence. He spoke in favour of ending misery of the poor people and for universal suffrage. He was also in favour of free education for all children. In 1851, when Napoleon III seized the power, Hugo went into exile in 1855 and returned to France in 1870 only, after Napoleon III was deposed. Although like Charles Dickens in England, Victor Hugo also initially supported French colonialism of Africa as ‘civilizing mission’. But later he became strong votary of abolishing slavery in the Caribbean and also of decolonising Africa. He famously said in 1862-‘Only one slave on Earth is enough to dishonor the freedom of all men. So, the abolition of slavery is, at this hour, the supreme goal of the thinkers’

— Victor Hugo, 17 January 1862

•    During Paris Commune in France from 18^th March 1871 to 27^th May, he was in Brussels, he was critical of atrocities on ‘both sides.’ He freed himself from the impact of religion and declared himself to be Free Thinker, in the tradition of Voltaire, a progressive trend in those times. His rationalism had offended some people and he had faced slogans like Burn Hugo. Despite his many contradictions, he had become a hero for France by 1870, he had remained member of National Assembly again and when he died, France mourned his death as a national hero. In many cities of France, lanes or areas are named after him.
•       Interesting part of his last novel Ninety-Three is that on one side ‘Reds’ like Joseph Stalin and Bhagat Singh had read and appreciated it. On the other side ‘Whites’ like iconic novelist of individualism Ayan Rand also admired this novel and even wrote an introduction to one of its English translations. 
•    The novel was written on 1793 French revolution but in the shadow of Paris Commune of 1871, as the novel was published in 1874. It is long novel of nearly 350 pages and not very simple narration or storytelling. Ninety-Three (Quatrevingt-treize) is the last novel by Victor Hugo. The novel concerns the Revolt in the Vendée and Chouannerie – the counter-revolutionary revolts in 1793 during the French Revolution. It is divided into three parts, but not connected chronologically; each part tells a different story, offering a different view of historical general events. The action mainly takes place in Brittany and in Paris. The civil war in France had started in November 1792 and the murders which started were so terrible that they raised one’s hair on head. A troop of “Blues” (soldiers of the French Republic) encounter in the bocage Michelle Fléchard, a peasant woman, and her three young children, who are fleeing from the conflict. She explains that her husband and parents have been killed in the peasant revolt that started the insurrection. The troop’s commander, Sergeant Radoub, convinces them to look after the family.
•       Meanwhile, at sea, a group of Royalist “Whites” are planning to land the Marquis de Lantenac, a Breton aristocrat whose leadership could transform the fortunes of the rebellion. While at sea, a sailor fails to properly secure his cannon, which rolls out of control and damages the ship. The sailor risks his life to secure the cannon and save their ship. Lantenac awards the man a medal for his bravery and then executes him (without trial) for failing in his duty. Their corvette is spotted by ships of the Republic. Lantenac slips away in a boat with one supporter, Halmalo, the brother of the executed sailor, and the corvette distracts the Republican ships by provoking a battle the damaged ship cannot win.
•           Lantenac is hunted by the Blues, but is protected by a local beggar, to whom he gave alms in the past. He meets up with his supporters, and they immediately launch an attack on the Blues. Part of the troop with the family is captured. Lantenac orders them all to be shot, including Michelle. He takes the children with him as hostages. The beggar finds the bodies, and discovers that Michelle is still alive. He nurses her back to health.
•        antenac’s ruthless methods have turned the revolt into a major threat to the Republic. In Paris, Danton, Robespierre and Marat argue about the threat, while also sniping at each other. They promulgate a decree that all rebels and anyone who helps them will be executed. Cimourdain, a committed revolutionary and former priest, is deputed to carry out their orders in Brittany. He is also told to keep an eye on Gauvain, the commander of the Republican troops there, who is related to Lantenac and thought to be too lenient to rebels. Unknown to the revolutionary leaders, Cimourdain was Gauvain’s childhood tutor, and thinks of him as a son.
•      Meanwhile, Michelle has recovered and goes in search of her children. She wanders aimlessly, but eventually hears that they are being held hostage in Lantenac’s castle. At the castle Sergeant Radoub, fighting with the besiegers, spots the children. He persuades Gauvain to let him lead an assault. He manages to break through the defences and kill several rebels, but with Halmalo’s aid, Lantenac and a few survivors escape through a secret passage after setting fire to the building. As the fire takes hold, Michelle arrives, and sees that her children are trapped. Her hysterical cries of despair are heard by Lantenac. Struck with guilt, he returns through the passage to the castle and rescues the children, helped by Radoub. He then gives himself up. Lantenac, who throughout had been most ruthless and without any sense of humanity in him, shows a kind of some human kindness for children, whom he had kept as hostages, makes revolutionary Gauvain a bit soft towards him. Lantenac fate was certain, he was going to be guillotined after a trial chaired by former priest Cimourdain. Gauvain out of his idealist humanism, releases Lantenac and takes his place in prison by changing clothes with him. Next morning at the time of trial, instead of Lantenac, it is their own revolutionary comrade Gauvain, who faces trial, which creates consternation among the jury. Radaub is part of jury headed by Cimourdain, who treats Gauvain as his son, as he had tutored him as a child. Out of three member judges panel Radaub acquits Gauvain seeing his past sincere and unfailing revolutionary record. Cimourdin sides with other judge to convict Gauvain and before Gauvain has to guillotined next morning, goes and meets him in prison during his last night. Next morning Gauvain is guillotined and at the same time a shot is heard, Cimourdined had shot himself with pistol. The novel ends there.
•     Joseph Stalin had read the novel during his seminary in Georgia and was deeply impacted by the character of Cimourdin. Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev had discussion on this novel. Sukhdev had no sympathy for Cimourdin committing suicide, he was against the very idea of suicide as a revolutionary. However, after being arrested and in jail, Sukhdev himself thought of suicide instead of spending whole life behind jail walls. Sukhdev could not sustain long hunger strike as Bhagat Singh and BK Dutt and many other comrades had observed. The two letters exchange between Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev, one outside jail and second inside jail throws light on the philosophical attitude towards the concepts of Love and Suicide. Bhagat Singh was quite harsh in criticism of Sukhdev about the idea of committing suicide and he tells him clearly that inside and outside jail, both had changed positions. Bhagat Singh argued that revolutionaries had to remain prepared for long sufferings inside and outside jail without ever thinking of suicide, though Bhagat Singh like Stalin understood Cimourdin’s dilemma, who could perform his duty as revolutionary to get his son convicted and guillotined, but then out of paternal emotions shot himself dead.
•         This novel had influenced a lot those Indian revolutionaries, who were fond of and read literature, like the other revolutionaries of the world. Though not much discussed as literary classic, yet ninety-three stands apart among its readership of revolutionaries across the world. That keeps the novel’s socio-political relevance live even after nearly 150 years after its publication!
•    The novel has been digitized under Gutenberg project and available free on Internet Archives. 

The Blood Never Dried during British colonialism

Books

https://www.newsclick.in/Relook%20at%20a%20Book%3A%20The%20Blood%20Never%20Dried%3A%20A%20People%E2%80%99s%20History%20of%20the%20British%20Empire

Relook at a Book: The Blood Never Dried: A People’s History of the British Empire

John Newsinger focuses on the major freedom struggles against colonialism and the cruelties committed by the British to crush them.

chaman lal

06 Jul 2022

John Newsinger, ‘The Blood Never Dried: A People’s History of the British Empire’, 2013/2006, Bookmarks Publications, London, Pages 304.

Earnest Jones, the British socialist poet, wrote in his long poem The Revolt of Hindostan, “On its colonies, the sun never sets, but the blood never dries.”

John Newsinger, a British historian with left orientation, titled his book published in 2006 The Blood Never Dried: A People’s History of British Empire’. Its second and updated edition, which came out in 2013, is dedicated to the writer’s old comrades from Leicester—Chris Lymn, Mal Deakin, Andy Wynne, Jim Tolton, John Peach and the late Ken Orrill.

The book covers the history of British colonial oppression and exploitation in different regions of the world as Britain had colonised nearly a hundred countries in Asia, Africa and some other regions. The author’s main focus is not on many countries but on the major freedom struggles and the cruelties British committed to crush those anti-colonial movements.

The Indian resistance figures twice in the book—first, as ‘The Great Indian Rebellion, 1857-58’ and then as ‘Quit India’ movement. In between, another chapter refers to massacres like the Jallianwala Bagh. The first chapter of the book begins with ‘The Jamaican Rebellion and the overthrow of slavery’. 

There are chapters on Ireland, Irish famine, Opium Wars, Egypt, Suez Canal, Palestine Question, Mau Mau Movement in Kenya, Malaya and the Far East. Finally, the British colonial empire gives up before the neo-colonial regime of the American empire begins.

In the 2013 edition, a chapter on the US invasion of Iraq takes readers to the reality of the merging of colonial and neo-colonial systems of oppression and exploitation of the world’s largest population and how the fruits of this exploitation are enjoyed by a minuscule number of colonial and neo-colonial rulers and their patronised corporate giants—which, perhaps, has grown much worse during the pandemic.

In the introduction to the first edition of the book, Newsinger underlines the fact that “a close look at British imperial rule reveals episodes as brutal and shameful as in the history of any empire, indeed the British colonial regime suppressed the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya in the 1950s.” We remember the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar on April 13, 1919. But if one compares it with the British suppression of the Mau Mau rebellion around three decades later in Kenya, the Jallianwala Bagh brutality looks much lesser. What makes it gorier was that the atrocities were committed after the formation of international organisations like the United Nations.

The author refers to the previously hidden 294 boxes of 1,500 files on the Mau Mau rebellion, whose judgement came after the 2013 edition of the book. Britain had to pay a huge compensation of £19.9 million to the descendants of the 5,000 Kenyan victims. Whereas in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the British had to pay a few lakh rupees to the families of the victims and only Rs 500 to some.

Referring to author N Ferguson, an apologist of British imperialism whose book Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World (2003) doesn’t even mention the Mau Mau revolt, Newsinger writes: “The Mau Mau revolt of the 1950’s was put down with terrible brutality, the routine use of torture, the summary executions, internment on a massive scale and the hanging of over 1000 prisoners.”

Newsinger not only narrates the history of oppression and brutalities of British colonialism but also goes to the roots of exploitation. “Imperialism has two dimensions; firstly, the competition between the great imperial powers, competition that in the 20th century produced two world wars and the Cold war. This competition is the driving force of modern imperialism, and it has wreaked terrible damage on the world, consuming millions of lives.”

Probably, one can understand the Ukraine War and the resulting Cold War-like situation from Newsinger’s interpretation of imperial competition. In his introduction, the author refers to a few films on the repression of South African people but also underlines the role of radicals and socialists in Britain who supported the resistance movements in colonies. He underlines the stand against British imperialism in Jones and another fierce critic of the empire, radical socialist William Morris.

In this context, the author does not spare the so-called progressive Labour Party, which was no different from the Conservatives in defending the colonial empire. Newsinger is unsparing of the new Labour Party with the rise of Tony Blair, who played a subordinate to US imperialism. The author has the humility to say that his study is not the history of the British colonial empire but only focuses on particular episodes—but these episodes expose the real and brutal face of old colonialism and neo-imperialism. 

In the 2013 edition, like the first edition, Newsinger challenges another apologist of colonial empires John Darwin, a professor of history at Oxford University. In critical scrutiny of his 400-plus pages-book Unfinished Empire: The Global Expansion of Britain (2012), he questions how Darwin casually referred to the catastrophic Bengal Famine of 1943. Darwin just gives a passing reference on page 346 that “the Bengal Famine of 1943 may have killed two million people”.

Newsinger favourably refers to Madhusree Mukherjee’s book Churchill’s Secret War’, which powerfully exposes the British colonial regime during the famine. As per Mukherjee, the famine killed 3.5 to 5 million people while Winston Churchill used to say, “Indians are used to hunger.” 

This edition also takes into account the British role in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. A new chapter on Iraq and Afghanistan has been added. The first chapter on Jamaica takes us back to the days of slavery and in Antigua, where less than 3,000 Whites were holding more than 24,000 Blacks as slaves.

The British empire in the Caribbean was built on the production of sugar from plantations where Africans worked as slaves and later Indians as semi-slaves after the abolition of slavery. In Jamaica, five lakh slaves were brought in from Africa between 1700 and 1774. During the 180 years of British rule in Jamaica, hardly any decade went without revolt against slavery. In neighbouring Trinidad, Barbados and Guyana, the situation was no different. Slaves were brought in chains and sold like cattle in markets. After the killing of thousands of people and several revolts, slavery finally ended in 1834.

The second chapter ‘The Irish Famine’ is a saga of the Irish revolutionary resistance to the British empire, which also inspired Bhagat Singh and other revolutionaries in India. The story begins with the 1798 full-scale rebellion against British rule in Ireland. The Irish Potato Famine, also known as the Great Hunger, destroyed up to 40% of the potato crop. The effects of famine continued till 1850.

The story of the Irish struggle for freedom and the conflict between Catholics and Protestants is also woven into the story of the famine. The struggle of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which had impacted Indian revolutionaries, is described till the 1916 Easter rising. Later, Ireland is split into two parts—one part is now the Republic of Ireland whereas Northern Ireland continues to be an uneasy part of the United Kingdom with the Sinn Fein becoming the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly for the first time this year.

The third chapter ‘Opium Wars’ deals with wars with China due to the opium trade. British traders were earning from opium smuggling, which China was trying to control. The First Opium War took place in the 1840s with the Manchu empire of China. Despite being a small country, Britain won the war but the conflict continued. The Taiping rebellion in 1853 and the fall of the Nanjing regime took place during the three opium wars fought between China and Britain. Britain succeeded in occupying Hong Kong during these wars and kept it colonised till the 1997 agreement.

India comes in the next chapter with the apt title ‘The Great Indian Rebellion 1857-58’, which begins with a quote from Michael Edwardes: “The English threw aside  the mask of civilisation and engaged in a war on such ferocity that a reasonable parallel can be seen in our times with the Nazi occupation of Europe.”

A very strong statement by a historian of repute—though Newsinger does not completely agree with it—yet the comparison is found to be true in some respects, at least, in the methods adopted by the Nazi occupants of Europe and British colonialists.

As he quotes a memoir of Thomas Lowe in his book Central India During The Rebellion of 1857 and 58, Newsinger narrates the bloody wars of aggression by the British since the 19th century referring to the 1824-26 invasion of Burma, the 1839-42 disastrous invasion of Afghanistan, the 1843 occupation of Sindh, the 1844 occupation of Gwalior, the 1844-45 First Anglo-Sikh war, followed by two more wars to conquer Punjab in 1849.

Under the Doctrine of Lapse, any princely state under the suzerainty of the then-East India Company (EIC) would have its princely status abolished if the ruler was incompetent or died without a male heir. Using the doctrine, governor general Lord Dalhousie annexed Satara, Nagpur, Jhansi, Tanjore and lastly Awadh in 1856.

Dalhousie proudly proclaimed that the British queen had added fifty lakh people and £12 lakh to the empire. By 1818, the EIC had collected £22 lakh from land taxes surpassing the earnings from trade.

The author quotes from Karl Marx’s 1853 article on India that Britain achieved its sole purpose of destroying India. The tortures committed by the British during 1857-58 figure in British Parliament but were hidden by historians of the Raj. While colonialists were defending the atrocities on Indians, Marx underlined: “Mussulmans and Hindus renouncing their mutual antipathies have combined against their common masters. Revolt was part of the general disaffection against English supremacy on the part of great Asiatic nations.” (quoted from ‘First war of Independence’ by Marx).

Newsinger also mentions how VD Savarkar’s book The Indian war of Independence 1857 was published in 1909 and banned quickly in India. But it appeared on bookstalls wrapped in a cover labelled as ‘Random Papers of Pickwick Club’ (The author has given the source of this information from a 1931 book by Mac Munn). This book was secretly printed and distributed by Indian revolutionaries too.

The author narrates the details of the great rebellion but it is remembered more as the Cawnpore massacres in England. At Sati Chaura Ghat, in Kanpur, large number of British, including women, were massacred by Indian sepoys, giving rise to many narrations. Bhairav Prasad Gupt, a Hindi novelist, wrote a huge novel titled Sati Maiya Ka Chaura. Rudrangshu  Mukherjee in Specter of Violence has tried to contextualise this massacre at Bibighar.

But compared to what the British did to Indians in 1857-58, it seems minor but a violent reaction to colonial atrocities. The exact number of killings in 1857-58 are not known but it runs into lakhs as no official records were ever maintained.

Newsinger has detailed British cruelties, including 282 sepoys choked to death at Ajnala, Punjab, by the orders of deputy commissioner Cooper. Their remains were found during the last decade. The British were generally against Indian resistance as a large number of pro-British accounts were written during and after the revolt. But there was support for Indian resistance too as Jones wrote in The Revolt of Hindostan, from which the title of this book is taken. 

Some unknown or lesser-known facts about the great rebellion mentioned by Newsinger include even Charles Dickens, the beloved writer of liberals, who defended British cruelties on Indians by saying, “To exterminate the race upon whom the stain of the late cruelties rested … to blot it out of mankind and raze it off the face of the earth (Page 89 of the 2013 edition).” On the other hand, Marx’s daughter Jenny supported Jones by siding with the revolt. The whole chapter of the book needs to be read carefully to see the real face of the colonial mindset. 

India is again mentioned in the chapter ‘Quit India’. Another chapter ‘The Post war Crisis-1916-26’ narrates the Irish Struggle and the Egyptian revolt and also refers to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and General Dyer’s crimes in the subchapter ‘Holding India by the sword’.

In the chapter Quit India, the author focuses on Mahatma Gandhi’s Non-Cooperation Movement besides referring to the Sholapur workers strike and other developments. The chapter makes reference to Simon Commission, Lala Lajpat Rai, Congress Socialist Party (CSP) and CPI before moving towards the launch of the Quit India Movement. It narrates in detail the various incidents during Quit India and the glorious resistance by Indians. The chapter also highlights the Bengal Famine and Churchill’s racist response to it. The chapter completes the story of Indian independence going through the Indian National Army, led by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, and the Royal Indian Navy revolt of 1946.

Very few books refer to the Palestinian sufferings but Newsinger brings to the fore the whole issue with a perspective on Zionism and imperialism in one full chapter. 

Later chapters include the Suez Canal crisis, the British defeat and the crushing of the Mau Mau rebellion in great detail. Southern Rhodesia, the Indonesian killings of communists, the Vietnam War and Britain joining the American imperialist camp also find mention. Before concluding the book, a chapter added as Afterwards describes the hypocrisy and lies of the non-existential weapons of mass destruction used as an excuse to attack Iraq and publicly execute Saddam Hussain.

Every nationalist or patriot of any country should read this book to understand colonial and imperialist oppression and exploitation. Unfortunately, the world seems to be moving towards more imperialistic wars.

The writer is a retired professor of JNU and an honorary adviser to the Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, Delhi.

Why Read Books?

https://www.newsclick.in/Books-Neglected-Aspects-Freedom-Struggle-Veritable-Treasure

A journey with books from a public library in Rampura Phul in Bathinda district of Punjab to JNU in Delhi to Trinidad and Tobago.

Chaman Lal

29 Jun 2022

When did I start reading books in life, apart from course books? In my childhood, I used to go to a public library and another open kind of newspaper reading place in my hometown, Rampura Phul, in Bathinda district of Punjab. I used to read Hindi and Punjabi children’s magazines like ‘Chandamama’, ‘Bal Sandesh’ or Hindi/Punjabi newspapers and the children’s sections. After matriculating, I was not able to join any college, and went to stay at my elder sister’s place in Abohar in Ferozepur district.

Abohar, incidentally, was a much better-known town before 1947. Eminent Hindi writers and national leaders during the freedom struggle used to visit Sahitya Sadan there. My brother-in-law arranged for me to work as a trainee worker in Bhiwani cotton mills. I tried for a month or so but could not adjust with factory work. But during my stay in Abohar in 1962 or so, I got into the habit of reading spy or jasoosi novels in Hindi. There was a shop in Abohar, which stored hundreds of such novels and charged one anna (6 paise today) per day for reading. Sometimes I used to read more than one novel a day. Many of these were monthly publications like ‘Jassosi duniya’ etc.

After I returned to Rampura Phul, I started helping my father in his shop. I started going to the library again and sometimes browsed English papers, mainly ‘The Tribune’, particularly film advertisements or sports pages, since I used to listen to cricket commentaries on the radio. Names of Salim Durrani, Chandu Borde, Vijay Manjrekar, Polly Umrigar, Bapu Nadkarni from India and Gary Sobers, Gibbs, Clive Lloyd, Rohan Kanhai etc from West Indies, had etched in my mind.

When Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru died in May 1964, the shop was closed for two days, one on his death day and another when his ashes were immersed. I think at that time I became a member of the public library and the first book I issued out of the two issued at that time was Premchand’s novel Godaan. Perhaps Premchand’s autobiographical story ‘Mera Jivan’ in school curricula made a deep impact on my adolescent mind. I read the novel in a single day or maybe two days, but that set my standards for literary reading. I tried to read Punjabi novels by Nanak Singh and Jaswant Kanwal, but could not continue, as novels in Hindi by Premchand and other writers gave me more aesthetic pleasure than Punjabi novels.

The public library in Rampura Phul was established during the freedom struggle and has a rich collection in Hindi, Urdu, English and Punjabi. I tried reading the Urdu copy of ‘Godan’ with my father, who was middle pass those days and was not allowed by my grandfather to accept a schoolteacher’s job in 1933 at Rs 18 a month. My father could not be attuned to literature, but continued reading his favourite Urdu daily, perhaps ‘Hind Samachar’. Since that day, my reading has never stopped and that helped me become what I am today.

I started buying books other than course books in the late 60s, when I became a schoolteacher in 1967. I became a member of Hind Pocket Books. Those days in Re 1 one got good paperbacks. I translated one of these books in Punjabi from Hindi in my early phase of writing—it was Manmathnath Gupt’s ‘Bharat Ke Krantikari’, sketches of 16 or 18 revolutionaries. It was serialised by Ghadarite Baba Gurmukh Singh who edited ‘Desh Bhagat Yaadan’ from Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall Jalandhar. Some pieces were published in ‘Preetlari’, Aarsee‘ journals also.

Unfortunately, in the police raids in the 1970s to suppress the Naxalite movement, even the Ghadar Party memorial could not preserve its records and those issues of Desh Bhagat Yadan, edited by such legendary Ghadarite Gurmukh Singh Lalton, were lost. Perhaps out of fear, I did not preserve those issues, and only five or of those sketches are with me that were published in some literary or government journals.

While doing M.A. in Hindi and Punjabi, I bought lots of books. During my incarceration in Bathinda jail for seven months during the Emergency of 1975-77, the best part was reading huge novels like those of Sarat Chandra. My weekly supply of books came from the public library in Rampura Phul. 

Bulk buying of books started when I became a research scholar in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in 1977 and started getting a fellowship. Every hostel room in JNU has a bookshelf and not having books on the shelf meant being a lesser being in that culture. I always spent more than what I received as contingency grant for purchasing books. It gave immense pleasure to own a book which was considered important, whether literature or any other discipline. Faculty members and JNU students would stand at Geeta Book Shop in the Kamal Complex market every evening to look for new titles and join the race to buy first.

I had so many books in my collection that when I left for Bombay in 1982 to join as Hindi officer, I left a big collection in my room with my friend Shashi Bhushan Upadhyaya (now Professor in History at IGNOU, New Delhi) and one of the painful chapters of my life is that many of these books were lost when JNU was closed sine die in 1983 and Shashi was one among arrested and later rusticated. Students were not able to preserve their precious books, because hostels were vacated in a very rough manner.

I continued buying books after I joined the job. It became a habit, a continuation of the Geeta Book Shop culture. But conditions changed after 1985, when I joined as lecturer in Hindi at Punjabi University, Patiala. The purchase of books increased, adding Punjabi books to my collection apart from Hindi and English. But, after a few years, there was a gap in my buying books and reading them. I never depended on the library for my personal or professional need of books, I preferred to buy. Yet, with family life and professional engagements and socialising with colleagues, participating in teachers’ movement, and with the entry of television in life, reading got affected. The  gap between purchase and reading of books kept widening, and with a lot of magazines coming up in Hindi, Punjabi and English, the demand/urge for writing further affected my reading. So much so that even after rejoining JNU, the situation did not improve. Rather, it worsened with the entry of computers with internet facility. Now, the situation is that while my purchase of books never stopped or slowed, even after retirement without pension, my reading has further diminished.

I have more than 5,000 books in my personal collection of Hindi, Punjabi, English and, lately, of Urdu, yet, I may not have read more than 2,000 of these, perhaps less. That does not mean that average reading has completely stopped, which perhaps is not less than 60 books a year. But since internet/magazines consume too much time, the average reading has reduced substantially. Had these factors not entered life, my average reading would not have been less than 200 books a year.

While joining The University of West Indies (UWI), Trinidad & Tobago in 2010-11, my one temptation was to read many books that I felt I must read and also see films. So, I brought more than 500 books and about 100 or so film DVDs there, knowing it would not be easy to fulfill the desire, as I had a task at hand — complete at least one major manuscript and travel to a lot of countries nearby.

So, my reading of books restarted after reaching Port of Spain. It started with a pile of Hindi, Punjabi and English magazines, which I mostly scanned, including two important issues of Journal of Literature &Aesthetics focused on Indian dalit literature in Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Gujrati, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam. Edited by Dr. D.Sreenivasan from Kollam in Kerala, this was a good literary journal. In scanned issues of Summer Hill Review, Law Animated World, Mainstream, Frontline, and Frontier in English; Filhal, Virsa, Sirjana and Chirag in Punjabi and Tadbhav,Shesh, Parikatha,Naya Gyanoudey, Vasudha, Samkallen Janmat,Aalochna and Apeksha in Hindi.

Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel ‘Anna Karenina’ is my favourite, too, after reading its summary in Hindi in ‘Naya Gyanoudey’. Since my books were to arrive by courier a few days later, I got some books from the Indian High commission library there. Before that, famous Hindi writer and Professor in Hindi, Susham Bedi (she died in the beginning of COVID-19), gifted her books-Chidiya Aur Cheel’ (stories) and ‘Shabdon ki Khidkiyan'(poems) to me in New York. I also got her novel ‘Havan‘ from the High Commission library to complete reading her writings in poetry, and fiction.

Among the few more books borrowed from the library were Asha Rani Vohra’s-Swatantarta Senani Lekhikayen’(Freedom fighter women writers), this included Bhagat Singh groups’ activist Susheela Mohan’s sketch as well. Also Dr. Bharat Mishra’s ‘1857 ki Kranti aur uske pramukh krantikari’, Dr. Kailash Kumari Sahay’s ‘Pravasi Bhartiyon ki Hindi seva’ and Vimlesh Kanti and Dheera Verma’s ‘Fiji mein Hindi. The last two books that I read were to refresh my exposure to Hindi language in Mauritius, Fiji, Trinidad &Tobago, Suriname and Guyana–five countries of Indian descent people domination where political power also remains with or shared by Indian descent people. I also read Bahadurshah Zafar’s Urdu poetry transliterated in Hindi.

                                                                                      (To be continued)

  Books on Neglected Aspects of Freedom Struggle Are a Veritable Treasure

In the concluding part of his reading journey, the writer highlights the contribution of Rahul Sankrityayan and a host of Punjabi and Bengali writers.

Chaman Lal

30 Jun 2022

Among the more important books that I read in Hindi during my stay in Trinidad are Rahul Sankrityayan’s-‘Ghummakad Swami’ (The Traveler Hermitage) and ‘Aaj Ki Samasyayen’. Both these are not available these days and a photocopy was gifted to me by Dr. P.N.Vidyarthi, when I visited his house in Ranchi in 2007 or 08.

Ghummakad Swami is a semi-autobiographical account or Sankritayayan’s travelogues, which included a Punjab travelogue in 1919, when the Jallianwalabagh massacre took place. Very few people know that Sankrityayan had deep knowledge about pre-Partition Punjab too.

‘Aaj ki Samasyayen’ is a 1945 book, and includes four important articles — Pakistan ya jatiyon ki samasaya (Pakistan or Problem of Nationalities), Matar Bhashayon ki samasya (Problem of Mother Tongues, Pragatisheelta ka Prashan (Question of Progressivism) and Aaj ka sahityakar (Writer of Today). The book is really enlightening, it explains in a very rational and objective way how the creation of Pakistan became inevitable.

Sankrityayan rightly blames the Hindu majoritarian fundamentalist attitude of treating the Muslim community like untouchables and also Hindu capitalists not allowing Muslim capitalists to have share in national wealth. Partition was made inevitable by both the communities’ ruling feudal and bourgeoise classes, because the Hindu ruling classes were not ready to share the appropriation of wealth from the Muslim ruling classes in a fair manner. And they did not allow Muslim community members into Hindu kitchens or used to serve them food/water in separate utensils even among friends.

Sankrityayan rightly asks: Which self-respecting person will tolerate this treatment? And, he predicted the fallout of Bangladesh at that very time. In his opinion, language is at the core of the nationality issue, though religion also is a strong factor and geography, too. This became true in the case of creation of Bangladesh in 1971. Sankrityayan counted 73 nationalities in India in 1945 and 11 in the proposed Pakistan at that time.

The article, Matar Bhashayon ki samasayen, also deals with the sensitive issue of mother tongue. Sankrityayan is against Hindi’s domination over mother tongues like Bhojpuri, Maithili, Santhali etc. People, and my friends like Prof. Amarnath Sharma, should read this article to understand the language sensitivity of people that can explode if any oppression of their language is done.

This also made me realise that Mahatma Gandhi and Premchand conceived that Hindustani is no more possible or feasible except in verbal communication. The existence of Hindi and Urdu as two closely linked but separate languages should be accepted, yet young children can easily learn both the languages easily if this is made part of school curricula.

Rahul Sankrityayan was a versatile writer-activist. Born in 1893, he lived up to 1963, completing 70 years of life. From a traditional Hindu family, to becoming a monk, then Arya Samajist, then Buddhist and finally a Marxist, he authored/edited/translated nearly 150 books in Hindi, Pali, English and Tibetan.

Sankrityayan travelled a lot and his book ‘Ghummakad Shashtra’ is traveller’s guide book. He travelled on foot/ponies/buses/trains/ships/by air and visited many countries. He was a professor in Sri Lanka and perhaps in the erstwhile Soviet Union as well, where he married and his progeny lives there (his Russian wife-born son also died). His Indian wife Kamala Sankrityayan died a few years ago. His son and daughter Jaya and Jeta live in India.

Sankrityayan faced lathi blows along with writer Nagarajun during the peasant movement in Bihar and served many months in various jails. When I get bogged down with my multifarious activities, then his life shows me the way. He could start writing four books at a time.

A very significant book that I read and  which literally shook me is an old classic — Dinabandhu Mitra’s Bengali play ‘Neel Darpan’ , written in 1860, just three years after the First Indian War for Independence took place. The play exposes British colonial cruelties on the Indian people, who destroyed Indian peasants for doing indigo farming. The kind of cruelties committed and described in this 90-page play reminded me of Abhimanyu Anat’s ‘Lal Pasina‘ set in Mauritius that exposed the brutal cruelties on Indian indentured labour taken to that country by the British.

There are similar stories of cruelties on Indian indentured labour in Trinidad & Tobago, where I was based and also in Suriname, Guyana and Fiji. So has been the case in South Africa and other African countries colonised by the British those days.

Neel Darpan was translated into English by a British Christian priest and he was jailed for that. The play was performed in theatres in Calcutta in 1872 for the first time and despite ticketed entry, large crowds turned up to watch it. This play has become relevant again now, when under the neo liberal/colonial policies, peasant lands are again being snatched in favour of multinational companies to establish industries. I wish someone translated this play in Punjabi.

Another significant, though controversial novel of 1961, is again a translation from Bengali, called ‘Plassey ka Yudh’ by Tapan Mohan Chattopadhyaya. It is a history-based novel, but underlines historic dates and incidents perhaps accurately. It is written from the anti-Sirajudaulah angle and, in a way, supports the rise of British occupation of India led by Robert Clive. But, it attacks British myths, like Calcutta’s blackhole story, where, in the writer’s view, not more than 30 Britishers died, but Sirajudaulah had no hand in it. Though the Britishers propagated it as brutality by Sirajudaulah, and gave the figure of the dead as around 150.

During the 1857 War of Independence, therewas another blackhole in Ajnala in Punjab, where the British Deputy commissioner at that time made 257 Indian freedom fighters die of suffocation. The Britishers created a monument to a false blackhole, but the Indian government has nothing to show the Ajnala blackhole as a reminder of colonial brutalities.

An interesting feature of the 1757 Plassey war actors have been their personal tragedies. Starting with Sirajudaulah, who lived for just 25 years, which included 14 months of being the Bengal Nawab,  and was murdered in the most brutal and cruel manner. Mir Jafar, the traitor, who was also a close relative of Siraj, died in 1765 due to leprosy, and was hated by everyone, even his sons. Meeran, who killed all the close relations of Siraj in fear of the Nawab’s throne being passed on to them, died of lightning. Maharaja Nand Kumar was hanged.  British Admiral Watson did not survive even two months of the Plassey war and was buried in St. John graveyard. The ‘hero’ Clive, who looted Rs 21 lakh from the Plassey war, killed himself on November 22, 1774. Almost a similar fate was met by the Jallianwalabagh mass murderer, General Dyer.

Some Punjabi books that I read in this period also included Gurdial Singh’s novel ‘Aahan’, Gurbachan Bhullar’s travelogue “Ek Amreeka Eh Vi’, Swarajbir’s play ‘Kallar’, Atamjit’s play ‘Mangu Comrade’,Nand Singh Mehta’s autobiographical novel ‘Suhe Rahan da Safar’.

The 400-page first part of ‘Aahan’ has been published 17 years after Gurdial Singh’s last novel ‘Parsa’ was published. Its second part should have come by now, but seems to have been delayed. This novel also narrates the story of British colonial power’s destruction of the peasantry and a village Karamgarh near Jaitu. Set after the Praja Mandal movement in the 1936-40 period, the novel also depicts the cruelties of the colonial police at its worst. When peasants have nothing to eat due to a locust attack that destroys crops in the whole village, the British masters are bent upon charging annual land tax from peasants.

Gurbachan Bhullar’s travelogue of America is an example of objective observation of a country about which there are a lot of prejudices. Written in an interesting style, I liked the book a lot, but was surprised with Bhullar’s depiction of how Khalistanis had overtaken the Ghadar party’s Stockton Gurdwara and dumped all the Ghadarite fighters’ photographs, which did not create any ripples in Punjab, even among the Leftists.

Government occupation of Yugantar Ashram – the Ghadar Party HQ in San Francisco — not being opened daily is another shocking fact that did not seem to have bothered anyone. It should be protested strongly in my view in India and abroad by all right-thinking Punjabis and Indians.

Swarajbir’s play focuses on pauperisation of  Punjab’s peasantry in recent times and their fate in foreign countries, where they try to escape. Though realistic, this play is not as impactful as his earlier plays, such as Dharamguru and Krishna. 

Atamjit’s play opens our eyes to the great Indian freedom fighter in Kenya-Makhan Singh, whose sacrifices were recognised even by Jomo Kenyatta, the first President of independent Kenya, but whose role was soon to be forgotten by Kenya as well as India. This play has a good look at history, but Atamjit has unnecessarily tried to undermine the character of a revolutionary by making his character overplay the Gandhian philosophy.

Nand Singh Mehta’s Suhe Rahan da Safar-Trails of Red Path is neither an autobiography nor a novel. It would have been better if he had written plain memoirs of the Naxalite movement in the Bathinda area, where he was an activist. Incidentally, I was an observer during some of his narrations.

Apart from Hindi, Punjabi and English readings, I kept on practicing Urdu reading by way of Ibne Kanwal edited ‘Muntakhib Ghazaliyat’. This is a collection of Urdu ghazals, from the beginning to the contemporary period.

Philosophical and Real Problem in Reading Books

The world of books is like an ocean, and no one can ever think of swimming through all the waters, yet one is always tempted to read more and more. For academic/professional/creative writers, it becomes even more difficult to indulge in the luxury of just reading for pleasure. So, some hard choices need to be made. A reading selection has to be made. I cannot finish reading my own purchased books, even if I get 20 more years of healthy life. And I know that I will have to donate most of my books to some good libraries, if I don’t want these to go waste. (I have already set up Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre in Delhi Archives in 2018, and am gifting nearly 2,000 books, journals and other documents on freedom struggle)

Now I want to write on some of these books. Very few academics have interest in writing, especially on the history of the revolutionary stream of the freedom movement. It is not my academic area or study, yet I find it more attractive than my own professional area, literature. I have lost interest in fashionable and abstract theories of the academic world, whether in literature or social sciences, and just wish to record the hard facts/events of some aspects of the freedom struggle, long neglected or written in a distorted manner by vested interests.

(Concluded)

The writer is a retired Professor from JNU and Honorary Advisor to Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, New Delhi. He writes on some important books for Newsclick. Prof.chaman@gmail.com