Bhagat Singh – One who dared on the rising sun which never set

– Kudrat Dutta Chaudhary

Bhagat Singh was a firm believer of Hindu-Muslim unity, and he till his last breath upheld that it is the only unity that would alleviate India from the shackles of colonialism. At a mere age of 23, he held ideals that most of us wouldn’t even be able to understand let alone garner in our entire lives.

Bhagat Singh envisioned India as a country which would be free and free in the truest sense, where there won’t be any barriers to limit a person’s growth, where farmers and workers would get their due and a land which would be a nation to the best of its definition. He wasn’t alone when he envisaged such an ideology, he had his brothers hand in glove with him being Rajguru and Sukhdev along with many others who could do anything than give up for the cause of the nation.

Bhagat Singh in 1928 wrote “The making of a nation requires the self-sacrifice of thousands of obscure men and women who care more for the idea of their country than for their own comfort and interest than their own lives and the lives of the ones they love”. Take note of the word nation in his words, the very word that should bind all Indians together and the very word, which some pseudo intellectuals feel the need to be defined.

In the HSRA, there weren’t only members who were Hindu but there were Muslims who equally felt attached to the cause of a free nation and a nation rid of imperialism, not just from the British but also from the boot licking Indians who didn’t mind being equated to dogs as long as their pockets were kept full.

It is but sad, to see the idea of a nation, the idea of Bharat Mata, the idea of India which all the revolutionaries fostered in their own way whether following Ahimsa or not, is threatened by the dirty dungeons of politics today. For an Indian his Indianness should be the defining factor of his/her identity and not the cult, clan, caste or creed. The moment we divide ourselves into such sub groups, which should be insignificant but largely are so established, it is we Indians who send the strongest of messages to the world that we still are not free and that we still are enslaved by trends started during the Colonial Era.

I urge again, fight and revolutionise the way you look at yourselves, You are an Indian before anything and everything else. We have been blessed with a brain, a mind, the opportunity to be educated so lets pledge to not let that go waste. You may feel connected to India, by saluting the tricolour, by singing Jana Gana Mana or by chanting Bharat Mata ki Jai, it doesn’t matter. What matters is whether we realise, “Mitti ka Farz”. (You really can’t translate everything!)

Bande Matram.