THE ARMED REVOLUTION FOR FREEDOM ... 7

THE ARMED REVOLUTION FOR FREEDOM ... 7

Gandhi's opposition to revolutionary armed action for freedom will never win him the hearts of the people as they come into increasing self-consciousness. More and more the balance will tilt in favour of the immortal martyrs to freedom.

Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivram Rajguru will remain perennially etched in our memory and inspire us unto service and sacrifice for the motherland even as the baby Bhagat had imbibed with his mother's milk the valour of the great Guru Gobind Singhji as tales of the Sikh resistance to imperial tyranny had impregnated his soul and raised his aspirations unto fighting for his motherland's freedom. Jallianwala Bagh had triggered this great upsurge of emotions and silently prepared him over the years for revolutionary armed action against the British. Bhagat, a sensitive and precocious child, fast grew into maturity and by the age of sixteen had already emerged in the political scene in a big way. Thereafter it was a meteoric career of six more years before the curtains came down on his life and that of several of his compatriots.

First, the quartet of Rajendranath Lahiri, Ramprasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan and Thakur Roshan Singh died at the gallows for the Kakori Train Robbery in which a man was killed in crossfire. Then Jatin Das died in the Lahore Central Jail at the end of a 63 day fast unto death in protest against abysmal prison conditions. Then Bhagavaticharan Vohra died of a bomb-blast while testing a bomb made by him which under Chandrasekhar Azad's orders he had to later throw at the wall of the Lahore Central Jail in their bid to rescue Bhagat Singh and his two condemned compatriots from prison and the gallows. Days later Chandrsekhar Azad was betrayed by a revolutionary member of his party and was led into Allahabad's Alfred Park where he died after a valiant battle with the police. Finally, it was the turn of the three heroes to pay the debt of deceitful predecessors of their country who had sold India's freedom, and this they did with their lives on the 23 March, 1931, a day before the scheduled day of hanging on the 24th. Their bodies were whisked away through the prison's rear wall which was breached to make way, then carried to the riverside some distance away, burnt and cast away in the waters.

Gandhi, who most believed could have prevailed upon Lord Irwin during his deliberations on the terms and conditions for the prospective Gandhi-Irwin Pact and, so, secured the release of the three condemned revolutionaries which he failed to do, was offered the black rose the next day at the Lahore railway station by an angry mob asking him to go back. Gandhi was in the city to attend the Congress session due from that day.

Gandhi is still held by many as not having done enough to save Singh. Thus rolls on history and memories fade of most but not of the trio that laid down their lives on 23 March, 1931. Shining remains still the memory of these three martyrs to freedom -- Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivram Rajguru who truly kissed the noose with a smile.

Written by Sugata Bose