TODAY 23 MARCH IS SHAHEED DIWAS. It appears there were 28 accused, Prem Dutt, was the youngest, in the second Lahore Conspiracy Case. Three constituting P. N. Ghosh, Hans Raj Vohra and Jai Gopal who had been Bhagat Singhs associates in the HRSA; turned into prosecution witness. On 10 July 1930, the tribunal decided to press charges against only 15 of the 18 accused. The three accused against whom the case was withdrawn included Dutt, who had already been awarded a life sentence in the Assembly bomb case. I’m sorry I am not able to get to the bottom to ascertain the names of all accused. I solicit your guidance. It appears to me from various posts, to be a fanfare day! OK let’s take a reading first of the then leaders’ actions & observations:- Although the murder of Saunders was condemned as a retrograde action by Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress leader, others were more understanding of the motivation. Gandhi, once again, issued strong words of disapproval for their deed. Muhammad Ali Jinnah spoke in the Assembly supporting Singh, and sympathised with the prisoners on hunger strike. He declared on the floor of the Assembly: The man who goes on hunger strike has a soul. He is moved by that soul, and he believes in the justice of his cause ... however much you deplore them and however much you say they are misguided, it is the system, this damnable system of governance, which is resented by the people. Jawaharlal Nehru met Singh and the other strikers in Mianwali jail. After the meeting, he stated: I was very much pained to see the distress of the heroes. They have staked their lives in this struggle. They want that political prisoners should be treated as political prisoners. I am quite hopeful that their sacrifice would be crowned with success. An appeal was sent to Mahatma Gandhi by prisoners to intervene. In his notes dated 19 March 1931, the Viceroy recorded: While returning Gandhiji asked me if he could talk about the case of Bhagat Singh, because newspapers had come out with the news of his slated hanging on March 24th. It would be a very unfortunate day because on that day the new president of the Congress had to reach Karachi and there would be a lot of hot discussion. I explained to him that I had given a very careful thought to it but I did not find any basis to convince myself to commute the sentence. It appeared he found my reasoning weighty. Congress party president Madan Mohan Malviya filed a mercy appeal before Irwin on 14 February 1931. REACTIONS TO THE EXECUTIONS The execution of Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were reported widely by the press, especially as they were on the eve of the annual convention of the Congress party at Karachi. Gandhi faced black flag demonstrations by angry youths who shouted Down with Gandhi. The New York Times reported: A reign of terror in the city of Cawnpore in the United Provinces and an attack on Mahatma Gandhi by a youth outside Karachi were among the answers of the Indian extremists today to the hanging of Bhagat Singh and two fellow-assassins. Hartals and strikes of mourning were called. The Congress party, during the Karachi session, declared: While dissociating itself from and disapproving of political violence in any shape or form, this Congress places on record its admiration of the bravery and sacrifice of Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev and Raj Guru and mourns with their bereaved families the loss of these lives. The Congress is of the opinion that their triple execution was an act of wanton vengeance and a deliberate flouting of the unanimous demand of the nation for commutation. This Congress is further of the opinion that the [British] Government lost a golden opportunity for promoting good-will between the two nations, admittedly held to be crucial at this juncture, and for winning over to methods of peace a party which, driven to despair, resorts to political violence. In the issue of Young India of 29 March 1931, Gandhi wrote: Bhagat Singh and his two associates have been hanged. The Congress made many attempts to save their lives and the Government entertained many hopes of it, but all has been in a vain. Bhagat Singh did not wish to live. He refused to apologise, or even file an appeal. Bhagat Singh was not a devotee of non-violence, but he did not subscribe to the religion of violence. He took to violence due to helplessness and to defend his homeland. In his last letter, Bhagat Singh wrote, I have been arrested while waging a war. For me there can be no gallows. Put me into the mouth of cannon and blow me off. These heroes had conquered the fear of death. Let us bow to them a thousand times for their heroism.But we should not imitate their act. In our land of millions of destitute and crippled people, if we take to the practice of seeking justice through murder, there will be a terrifying situation. Our poor people will become victims of our atrocities. By making a dharma of violence, we shall be reaping the fruit of our own actions. Hence, though we praise the courage of these brave men, we should never countenance their activities. Our dharma is to swallow our anger, abide by the discipline of non-violence and carry out our duty. Subhas Chandra Bose said that Bhagat Singh had become the symbol of the new awakening among the youths...” Jawaharlal Nehru acknowledged that the popularity of Bhagat Singh was leading to a new national awakening, saying: He was a clean fighter who faced his enemy in the open field... he was like a spark that became a flame in a short time and spread from one end of the country to the other dispelling the prevailing darkness everywhere. On Singhs execution, Gandhi said, The government certainly had the right to hang these men. However, there are some rights which do credit to those who possess them only if they are enjoyed in name only. Gandhi also once remarked about capital punishment, I cannot in all conscience agree to anyone being sent to the gallows. God alone can take life, because he alone gives it. Gandhi had managed to have 90,000 political prisoners who were not members of his Satyagraha movement released under the Gandhi-Irwin Pact. Now let’s peep into brief history of some of these REVOLUTONARIES Bhagat Singh Born-28 September 1907; Jaranwala Tehsil, Punjab, British India Died-23 March 1931 (aged 23), Lahore, Punjab, British India Singh became disillusioned with Gandhis philosophy of non-violence after Gandhi called off the non-cooperation movement. On 10 July 1929 Singh, still on hunger strike, had to be carried to the court handcuffed on a stretcher: he had lost 14 pounds (6.4 kg) weight from 133 pounds (60 kg) before the strike. Singh finally heeded a resolution of the Congress party and the request of his father, ending ended his 116-day hunger strike on 5 October 1929. Shivaram Rajguru Born-August 24, 1908; Rajgurunagar, Pune, Maharashtra, India (British India) Died-March 23, 1931 (aged 22), Lahore, British India, (now in Punjab, Pakistan) Sukhdev Thapar Born-15 May 1907; Ludhiana, Punjab, British India Died-23 March 1931 (aged 23); Lahore, Punjab, British India Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were sentenced to death in the Lahore conspiracy case and ordered to be hanged on 24 March 1931 On 17 March 1931, the Home Secretary, Punjab, sent a telegram to the Home Department, New Delhi, fixing the execution on 23 March 1931. Singh was informed that his execution had been advanced by 11 hours on 23 March 1931, just a few hours before his execution. Singh was hanged on 23 March 1931 at 7:30 pm in Lahore jail with his fellow comrades Rajguru and Sukhdev. It is reported that no magistrate of the time was willing to supervise his hanging. The execution was supervised by the Honorary Magistrate of Kasur, Nawab Muhammad Ahmad Khan Kasuri, who also signed Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdevs death warrants as their original warrants had expired. The jail authorities then broke the rear wall of the jail and secretly cremated the three men under cover of darkness outside Ganda Singh Wala village, and then threw the ashes into the Sutlej river, about 10 km from Ferozepore (and about 60 km from Lahore). Batukeshwar Dutt Born- 18 November 1910; Kanpur, British India Died-July 20, 1965 (aged 54); New Delhi, India The three accused against whom the case was withdrawn included Dutt, who had already been awarded a life sentence in the Assembly bomb case. Shaheed Ashfaqulla Khan Born-22 October 1900; Shahjahanpur, British India Died-19 December 1927 (aged 27); Faizabad Jail British India Ashfaq was hanged at the Faizabad Jail Ashfaqulla Khan was the first Muslim who was hanged in a Conspiracy against British Raj from India Ram Prasad Bismil Born-11 June 1897; Shahjahanpur, United Province, British India Died-19 December 1927 (aged 30); Gorakhpur Jail, United Province, British India Bismil was hanged at Gorakhpur Jail Chandra Shekhar Azad Born-23 July 1906; Bhavra, Alirajpur, Central India Agency Died-27 February 1931 (aged 24); Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India Holding true to his pledge to never be captured alive, he shot himself dead with his last bullet. Rajendra Lahiri Born- 23 June 1901 Village Lahiri Mohanpur District Pabna erstwhile Bengal (now in Bangladesh). Died- 17 December 1927, (aged 27); Gonda district jail, United Province, British India He was hanged in the Gonda district jail on 17 December 1927, two days before the scheduled date. Bhagwati Charan Vohra Born-4 July 1904; Lahore, British India Died-28 May 1930 (aged 25); United Province, British India Vohra died while testing a bomb on the banks of the Ravi. The device was required for the proposed rescue of Singh and others under trial in the Lahore Conspiracy Case but it exploded during the test and he was severely wounded. Jatindra Nath Das Born-October 27, 1904; Calcutta, British India Died-September 13, 1929 (aged 24); Lahore, British India The memorable hunger strike started on 15 June 1929 and lasted 63 days. He died in Lahore jail after the continuous hunger strike. Durga Bhabhi led the funeral procession of Jatin Das from Lahore to Kolkata. A two-mile long procession in Kolkata carried the coffin to the cremation ground. Almost all the nationalist leaders in the country paid tribute to Das death, and Mohammad Alam and Gopi Chand Bhargava resigned from the Punjab Legislative Council in protest. Motilal Nehru moved a successful adjournment motion in the Central Assembly as a censure against the inhumane treatment of the Lahore prisoners. Roshan Singh Born- 22 Jan 1892; Navada village, Shahjahanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. Died- 19 December 1927, Allahabad. Roshan Singh was hanged at Naini Allahabad Jail His village Nabada is still as backward as it was in the period of British India. Nothing to the mark has been done by the India government for the rural development. Farmers are still deprived of their basic needs of the daily routine. It is said, although he had not taken part in the Kakori conspiracy, yet he was arrested and confined to capital punishment of death sentence by the then British Government. LONG LIVE REVOLUTION
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 18:32:28 +0000
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