Bhagat Singh, a Sikh was one of the legendary martyrs of the independence movement in India. He was executed by the British for the murder of a British police officer who was believed to have brutally beaten one of the loyalists of the freedom movement, Lala Lajpat Rai.

Bhagat Singh (September 27, 1907-March 23,1931) is remembered as Shaheed-e-Azam. His slogan of ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ made a great impact on the youth during the freedom movement.

Bhagat Singh studied in D.A.V. College, Lahore where Lala Lajpat Rai was a teacher. Lala Lajpat Rai died a few weeks after the assault and Bhagat Singh, as one of three young men, along with Rajguru and Sukhdev, who avenged his death. Bhagat singh at age of 23 years was hanged along with his two other comrades Rajguru and Sukhdev. To avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, he killed Saunders on 17th December, 1928. Bhagat Singh was an active member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army.

When Bhagat Singh was in class nine, he joined the Non-Cooperation Movement.In 1925, he initiated the militant youth organization called the Naujawan Bharat Sabha. Bhagat Singh exploded bombs in the Central Legislative Assembly, Delhi in 1929. Bhagat singh was 16 when he joined the Naujawan Hind Sabha (Hindustan Republican Association), a mass organization of the youth that worked against the exploits of British colonialism. Later, in 1928 he changed the name to The Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.

His revolutionary view point was very evident from all his writings. He believed in “no exploitation of man by man and nation by nation” and wanted qualitative changes in the society.

He thought that the Gandhian philosophy would only result in the replacement of one set of exploiters by another.

Bhagat Singh studied the European revolutionary movement and was greatly attracted towards socialism.

A clarity of vision and determination of purpose distinguished Bhagat Singh from other leaders of the National Movement. He emerged as the only alternative to Gandhi and the Indian National Congress, especially for the youth.

He was a honest reader and inculcated this habit of reading and thinking among his associates.

Bhagat Singh was intellectually engaged to Marxism and we all know how he had asked the warden who had come to take him to the gallows to wait until he finished what he was reading.

In his short life span he moved from a romantic idealist to a true revolutionary, who continues to inspire, even now.“Why I am an Atheist” is one of the pamphlets, he wrote during his stay in jail before execution.

The British authorities treated him in the cruelest manner but still they could not crush his spirit.

The youth was disappointed by the non violent methods of the Indian National Congress and they grouped for an alternative path – the revolutionary path.

The best way to keep their sacrifices alive is to commemorate the memory of such icons of yesteryears. The sad part is that as compared to martyr day, Bhagat Singh’s birth anniversary has not been given national importance or accorded official patronage reserved for national heroes and this day goes without any celebrations every year.