Bhagat Singh.

New Delhi: September 28 marks the birth anniversary of Bhagat Singh, a revolutionary freedom fighter who opposed Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘non-violence’ path for independence and fancied extremist measures in a fearless display of patriotism. He coined the phrase ‘Inquillab Zindabad’ (Long Live the Revolution), which later became the undertone of India’s freedom struggle.

Accompanied by his close confidantes Rajguru and Sukhdev, and guided by fellow revolutionary Chandra Sekhar Azad, Singh fought his own battles against the British Raj. Unperturbed by the consequences of revolt against the British or digressing the path of ‘ahimsa’ followed by Mahatma Gandhi, Singh romanced danger and considered jail his second home. Such was his love for an independent India, the teenager protested Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement by joining the likes of Azad at the age of 18.

It is well accounted that when the Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place in Amritsar in 1919, the 12-year-old fearless youngster went to the site just hours after the gruesome mass murder was carried out by Colonel Reginald Dyer. It is also believed that he had collected a bottle full of soil wet in blood and worshipped it every day.

Today, as we celebrate the 111th birth anniversary of the freedom fighter, there’s another side of this gutsy leader the world must know.

Once, at the age of 20, when Singh was at the peak of his fight against the British, he formed the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association with Azad, Sukhdev and a few others. However, he fled to Kanpur (then Cawnpore) when his family tried to coax him into an arranged wedlock. Always the one to revolt, Singh left a letter behind saying his “life has been committed to the freedom of his motherland and no worldly desire could lure him away from it”.

Singh was also actively involved in arts and played active roles in theatre. He took a keen interest in literature and had once participated in an essay competition organised by the Punjab Hindi Sahitya Sammelan. The head of the organising committee liked his article so much that he kept it as a memoir.

For those who would like to revisit the chronicles of the legend, the Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Museum houses memorabilia belonging to the revolutionary in Khatkar Kalan, Punjab, the village that also has his memorial.

Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author are personal.

The views expressed by the author are personal and do not in any way represent those of Times Network.