Bhagat’s word now carried more weight since the assassination of Sanders. As soon as it became known to all that Bhagat Singh was responsible for the killing of ASP Sanders whose baton blows felled a prominent Indian leader of Lalaji’s stature, he had become an instant hero.
For millions of youth of India Bhagat Singh had become a sacred figure. His name echoed in every city, town and village of India. The very mention of Sardar Bhagat Singh brought sparkle to the eyes of the young people and their chests swelled with pride. Bhagat Singh was becoming a big inspiration and the motivating force.
His growing popularity was becoming an irritant for the Congress leaders who always swore by non-violence.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru admits in his biography—‘Bhagat Singh became a symbol. The killing of J.P. Sanders was soon forgotten but the symbol remained. In a few months every village and town of Punjab and most of the North India echoed with his name. Many songs were being written about him. And thus, the popularity he gained was amazing.’
Assembly bombing
After passing the resolution on ‘Assembly Bombing’ the revolutionary meeting concluded. The members who were assigned various tasks had a lot of ground work to do. The rest of the members were asked to leave Delhi and retreat to safe distances.
Azad left Delhi still feeling very bad about the plan. He knew that Bhagat would be hanged for the murder of Sanders once he fell into the police hands. And Bhagat was hell bent on walking into their hands deliberately. That didn’t make sense for Azad.
But Bhagat had his own ideas and own mission to become an inspiration to arouse the conscience of the people and get the youth explode in anger to blast away the British rule. He wanted to build up on the popularity he had earned by killing Sanders to make his martyrdom do the maximum damage to the British rule.
As a role model, he had the example of the world famous French labour revolutionary who had thrown bombs in the French Assembly and had become immortal in the annals of revolutionaries. Bhagat was determined to do the same act. The words spoken by that revolutionary had become motto of Bhagat’s life now.
Bhagat Singh travelled to Delhi to oversee the preparations for the final act being made by his friend Jaidev Kapoor who was staying in Delhi to do all the ground work.
With the help of an independent member of the Central Assembly, Jaidev had managed to secure two passes for the entry into the Assembly House (Now called Sansad Bhavan or Parliament House).
To test the usefulness of those ‘Visitor Passes’ Azad and Bhagat one day went to the Assembly House in disguise. Using them, they were able to go into the house and come out without facing any problem. They were happy.
All was set now.
During their visit to the Assembly Hall they learnt that on the day of Holi, a feast was scheduled in the Assembly Hall to be attended by the secretaries of the Central Secretariat and pro-British members of the Assembly. The occasion was to be graced by the Viceroy of India.
The H.S.R.A. made an emergency plan to bomb the motor car of the Viceroy while it would be on its way to the Assembly House for the Holi feast.
The revolutionary youth chosen for the mission hid themselves in the roadside bush with bombs the Viceroy’s caravan was supposed to pass through. They waited in vain. The convoy did come but without the Viceregal car with Crown emblem.
Infact, the Viceroy had gone fishing on impulse in the morning. He reached the Assembly Hall late using another route.
Now, all the attention of the revolutionaries reverted to the original plan ‘Assembly Bombing’.
6th April, 1929 arrived. The notorious bills were introduced in the Central Assembly. As expected the Congress members fiercely opposed the bills and voted them down.
The British and their stooge members were furious. The members of the native origin of a slave country had voted down the bills presented by the British masters.
The speaker, an Englishman was red faced. Lord Simon was shaking his head.
The Viceroy fumed. He must show to the Indians that the voting by native members mattered little. They could not stall the bills so vital for the perpetuation of the colonial rule. The British had the power to force the bills on Indians.
The Viceroy announced that the bills would be passed into Acts by special power of veto vested in him. The formal declaration to that effect was to be made formally in the Assembly Hall on the 8th April, 1929.
So, 8th April, 1929, was to be the fateful day. Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt smiled. The day of their glory was not far away.
At the appointed time the Assembly session began on 8th April, 1929.
Bhagat Singh and Dutt were already in seats in the visitor’s gallery. They were in blue shirts and khaki pants. Bhagat Singh wore his favourite felt hat and he had a rolled newspaper of that day in his hand. So had Dutt. The gallery was packed to the capacity.
The members who were stooges of the British began to speak. They pleaded the importance of the bills allowed to become Acts to enable the authorities to deal with the communist militants who were destroying the country and the British empire. They poured venom at the misguided youngmen who were indulging in the acts of anarchy.
Bhagat Singh and Dutt smiled meaningfully at each other.
Then, the speaker rose to announce the bills having been passed into Acts by the special power of the Viceroy of India. That was the moment the revolutionary duo were waiting for.
Suddenly, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar rose from their seats. Bhagat unrolled his newspaper to produce a pair of bombs. He threw one towards the empty benches down in the hall.
There was a deafening explosion. Thick smoke was filling the hall. The assembly was too stunned to react immediately. There were some shouts and cries.
Then, another bomb exploded.
Simultaneously, Dutt produced hand bills from his newspaper roll and threw them in the hall. The hand bills sailed down through smoke.
The speaker looked fear stricken.
Bhagat Singh drew out his revolver and fired two blanks in the air.
In the smoky darkness cries, sounds of clashes and crashes rant the air. Human shadow figures could be seen running for cover or towards the exits seeking safety.
Lord Simon was acting like a scared rat trying to hide behind the speaker’s desk. Some uniformed figures were dragging the speaker to the safety. They were the Marshals of the house. Many sought refuge in galleries while others dived into toilets.
When the smoke cleared, the Assembly Hall appeared empty. Only Motilal Nehru, Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Madan Mohan Malviya could be seen sitting in their seats calmly.
Up there in the gallery, standing by the front railing Bhagat Singh and Dutt were raising slogans “Inquilab Zindabad!” and “Down with Colonialism!”
A British Inspector and a police officer entered the visitor’s gallery. They panicked when they saw a revolver in the hand of Bhagat Singh although he was not pointing it at them.
Bhagat spoke, “Officer, we will tell the world very soon about what we did and why.”
The officers stood frozen in confusion not exactly knowing what the two youth were upto.
To allay their fears Bhagat Singh calmly put down his weapon on the bench he was sitting upon with Dutt. The officers looked relieved.
Then, Bhagat Singh and Dutt allowed themselves to be arrested by the officers.
The hand bills thrown in the hall carried the message—
HINDUSTAN SOCIALIST REPUBLICAN ARMY
Loud explosions are needed to make the deaf hear. We can prove the validity of our act by the words spoken by French anarchist Vellon on a similar occasion as this……………………………………………………………………”
The handbills were signed ‘Balraj, the Commander-in-chief.’
The arrest of Bhagat and Dutt proved catastrophic for H.S.R.A. The police and C.I.D. went after its members. The revolutionaries were nabbed one after another. Some of them spilled the beans and the bomb making units were seized. Azad and some others were too smart to get caught.
Bhagat Singh and Dutt refused to give any statements to the police. They insisted that they would speak only in the court of law at the time of the trial.
On 3rd May, 1929 Sardar Kishan Singh came to meet his son in jail.
The father revealed, “I have been told that your brother Kultar has been arrested while I was away at Lahore.”
“Why? He is merely a ten year old kid,” Bhagat Singh said angrily.
“Because he is my son and your brother. Anything can happen to any member of our family no matter what he is,” the father sadly said.
Bhagat cursed the police under his breath. Then, he pleaded with his father not to waste any money on his defence.
It was a foregone conclusion that the trial of the revolutionaries would be farce. No justice was expected from the British court. The father, Kishan Singh knew it.
