The young Bhagat Singh (28th September 1907—23rd March 1931) was brought up in a politically charged state of Punjab. The occurrence of the Jalianwala massacre in 1919 killed more than 400 innocent lives and thousands of people were injured. Bhagat Singh went to the park of Jalianwala to collect soil from the park and kept it for life.
In 1928, the British government appointed a commission under the leadership of Sir John Simon to report the political events.
In Lahore, India, Lala Lajpat Rai and Pundit Mohan protested again the commission. This was a silent protest and Chief Scott had a banned meeting, Scott beat Lala Lajpat Rai many times with a lathi, which was a bamboo stick.
Bhagat Singh had witnessed this scene and he took revenge with the help of Chandra Shekhar, Rajguru and Sukhdev whose aim was to kill Scott.
Mr Sanders, a junior officer, was killed instead due to a mistake in their identity. Bhagat Singh had to escape from Lahore to get away from death punishment.
On April 8, 1929 at Delhi Central Assembly, Bhagat Singh had volunteered to throw a bomb in the middle of the assembly where a meeting to pass a law was being held.
The bomb was planned carefully not to cause death or injury but to grab the government’s attention that the form of control was not going to be tolerated anymore.
Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt were arrested after throwing the bomb.
Bhagat Singh thought the court would be a proper place to get publicity for the cause of freedom, and did not want to deny the crime.
But he gave a fiery statement giving reasons for killing which was representation of freedom struggle. He wanted to be shot like a soldier, and not die at the gallows.
But, his plea was rejected, and he was hanged on the 23rd of March 1931.
Vocabulary
Brought up—reared
Massacre—mass killing
