Bhagat Singh, a freedom fighter and revolutionary, is remembered today for his ideas and a different approach towards freedom struggle. A youth icon and a courageous freedom fighter, Singh was amongst those who believed in fighting the white colonists face to face and devoted his entire life to the struggle. Today, on Shaheed Diwas, we’ll see how the idea of a young 23-year-old Bhagat Singh is still relevant today and is the driving force behind protests and the voices of dissent throughout the nation.
THE YOUTH FACTOR
Bhagat Singh’s rise in the Indian freedom struggle challenged the British government more than anything else, because of the fact that he was able to rally the support of young freedom fighters who drove the freedom movement to new directions and gave new momentum to it. Even today, it can be clearly observed that any protest or movement which is driven by young citizens, is always difficult to manage by governments, and many times the protestors are labelled with different names, just like Singh and his companions were called ‘terrorists’ and ‘anarchists’ by the British government.
THE REALISTIC APPROACH
Indian struggle for independence was a mix of different ways of communicating the idea and message of freedom to the British administrators as well as to the Indian masses, but in hindsight, one can fairly argue and can put forth an alternative perspective that before the arrival of young leaders into the movement, the struggle was kind-of away from reality and was more symbolic in nature. It was only after leaders like Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru joined the movement, the revolution started happening in reality and people, especially the youth started mobilizing in huge numbers and pressure was created on the White administrators. This idea and approach of Bhagat Singh is still alive as most of the time when there is a difference of opinion between the citizens and government, it is the protests and demonstrations by young college associations and parties that raise their voice and catches the government’s attention the most.
BHAGAT SINGH AND NATIONALISM
In modern times, we see political parties, for most of the time, associating Bhagat Singh with Nationalism, for their own political good. But when we go deeper into the study of Singh’s ideologies and beliefs, we find that just like most of the educated youth in our country today, Bhagat Singh was also a believer of Socialism and Egalitarianism. It is reflected through his actions in the freedom struggle that he was someone who believed in class equality and was in no way a supporter of “Hyper-Nationalism” – as projected by some political leaders and parties. It feels great to read that his thoughts about society were so ahead of the time, and are still followed and preached by young leaders across the country.
On analysing the life and personality of Bhagat Singh, one can be sure of the fact that though Bhagat Singh sacrificed his life for the nation 90 years ago, his ideas are immortal and will remain to be followed in their true spirit by the young population of this country.
