Bhagat Singh

  • Known as 'Shaheed (martyr) Bhagat Singh', he is considered a national hero of India's freedom struggle against colonial rule.
  • As a teenager, Bhagat Singh popularised the slogan of ‘Inqilab Zindabad’ which eventually became the catchphrase of the Indian independence movement and revolutionary idealism.
  • He quit education at the age of 13 and got admitted to National College in Lahore, where he studied European revolutionary movements. When his parents tried to get him married, Bhagat Singh left home for Kanpur.
  • In 1926, Bhagat Singh established 'Naujavan Bharat Sabha (Youth Society of India) and joined Hindustan Republican Association (later known as Hindustan Socialist Republican Association). During that time, he met many anti-colonial activists.
  • He was deeply influenced by socialist ideas of west. He along with other revolutionaries wanted to establish Federal Republic of United States of India.
  • In December 1928, Bhagat Singh, along with Sukhdev and Rajguru, planned to avenge the death of Indian nationalist leader Lala Lajpat Rai and plotted to assassinate Superintendent of Police James Scott in Lahore.
  • However, in a case of mistaken identity, John Saunders, Assistant Superintendent of Police was shot. To avoid being recognised and arrested for the crime, Bhagat Singh escaped from Lahore to Calcutta after shaving his beard and cutting his hair.
  • In April 1929, Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt bombed Central Assembly Hall in opposition to the passing of regressive, Public Safety Bill & Trade Disputes Bill and planned introduction of Press Sedition Bill in Delhi and shouted the slogan of “Inqilab Zindabad!”. He was later arrested after the incident. The pamphlets dropped by them were known as ‘The Red Pamphlet’.
  • Bhagat Singh (aged 23) and his revolutionary comrades Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged by the British on March 23, 1931, in Lahore Conspiracy case.