Today is our hero Bhagat Singh (28 September 1907 – 23 March 1931) birthday. He is considered to be one of the most influential revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement.
Born to a family which had earlier been involved in revolutionary activities against the British Raj in India, Singh, as a teenager, had studied European revolutionary movements and was attracted to anarchism and communism. He became involved in numerous revolutionary organizations. He quickly rose through the ranks of the Hindustan Republican Association and became one of its leaders, converting it to the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association . Singh gained support when he underwent a 63-day fast in jail, demanding equal rights for Indian and British political prisoners. He was hanged for shooting a police officer in response to the killing of veteran freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai. His legacy prompted youth in India to begin fighting for Indian independence and also increased the rise of socialism in India.
Here are some of the famous quotes by Bhagat Singh:
- The aim of life is no more to control the mind, but to develop it harmoniously; not to achieve salvation here after, but to make the best use of it here below; and not to realise truth, beauty and good only in contemplation, but also in the actual experience of daily life; social progress depends not upon the ennoblement of the few but on the enrichment of democracy; universal brotherhood can be achieved only when there is an equality of opportunity – of opportunity in the social, political and individual life.— from Bhagat Singh’s prison diary, p. 124”
— Bhagat Singh, The Jail Notebook And Other Writings
- Lovers, Lunatics and poets are made of same stuff.”
— Bhagat Singh
- Life is lived its own..others help is needed in funerals only
— Bhagat Singh, Why I Am An Atheist: An Autobiographical Discourse
- Every tiny molecule of Ash is in motion with my heat
I am such a Lunatic that I am free even in Jail – Jail Note Book of Shahid Bhagat Singh (1929)
- One should not interpret the word “Revolution” in its literal sense. Various meanings and significances are attributed to this word, according to the interests of those who use or misuse it. For the established agencies of exploitation it conjures up a feeling of blood stained horror. To the revolutionaries it is a sacred phrase.
- Revolution did not necessarily involve sanguinary strife. It was not a cult of bomb and pistol. They may sometimes be mere means for its achievement. No doubt they play a prominent part in some movements, but they do not — for that very reason — become one and the same thing. A rebellion is not a revolution. It may ultimately lead to that end.
The sense in which the word Revolution is used in that phrase, is the spirit, the longing for a change for the better. The people generally get accustomed to the established order of things and begin to tremble at the very idea of a change. It is this lethargical spirit that needs be replaced by the revolutionary spirit. Otherwise degeneration gains the upper hand and the whole humanity is led stray by the reactionary forces. Such a state of affairs leads to stagnation and paralysis in human progress. The spirit of Revolution should always permeate the soul of humanity, so that the reactionary forces may not accumulate to check its eternal onward march. Old order should change, always and ever, yielding place to new, so that one “good” order may not corrupt the world. It is in this sense that we raise the shout “Long Live Revolution.”- Letter published in The Tribune (25 December 1929), with some reference to lines from Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson
- Any man who stands for progress has to criticize, disbelieve and challenge every item of the old faith. Item by item he has to reason out every nook and corner of the prevailing faith. If after considerable reasoning one is led to believe in any theory or philosophy, his faith is welcomed. His reasoning can be mistaken, wrong, misled and sometimes fallacious. But he is liable to correction because reason is the guiding star of his life. But mere faith and blind faith is dangerous: it dulls the brain, and makes a man reactionary.
- Why I am an atheist? (1930)
- By “Revolution”, we mean the ultimate establishment of an order of society which may not be threatened by such breakdown, and in which the sovereignty of the proletariat should be recognized and a world federation should redeem humanity from the bondage of capitalism and misery of imperial wars.
- As quoted in Bhagat Singh and His Ideology (1981) by Shiri Ram Bakshi
- I emphasize that I am full of ambition and hope and of full charm of life. But I can renounce all at the time of need, and that is the real sacrifice.These things can never be hinderance in the way of man, provided he be a man. You will have the practical proof in the near future.
- Selected writings of Shaheed Bhagat Singh (1986), p. 65
- If the deaf are to hear, the sound has to be very loud.When we dropped the bomb, it was not our intention to kill anybody. We have bombed the British Government. The British must quit India and make her free.
- As quoted in Awakening Indians to India (2008), p. 82
- Non-violence is backed by the theory of soul-force in which suffering is courted in the hope of ultimately winning over the opponent. But what happens when such an attempt fail to achieve the object? It is here that soul-force has to be combined with physical force so as not to remain at the mercy of tyrannical and ruthless enemy.
- As quoted in The Sikh Review, Vol. 55 (2007), p. 173
WorthvieW wishes our hero a very happy birthday!
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Salute to the great revolutionary leader bhagat singh
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Nice collection….!!