India will observe 76th Independence day on August 15, 2022. To mark 75 years of freedom from British Rule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebration for which started in March last year.
August 15 is a celebration of unity, freedom and Indianness. It is also the day we remember, acknowledge and pay tribute to thousands of freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for a better, British free India. Among some of the most well-known freedom fighters is Sardar Bhagat Singh, who was hanged at a young age of 23 for his role in the revolt against the British Raj.
Ahead of the 76th Independence day, here are some facts about Bhagat Singh that school students should know. They can use it for an Independence day speech or quiz:
- Bhagat Singh was born on September 27, 1907 in Lyallpur district of British India (now in Pakistan) to Kishan Singh and Vidyavati. He was born in a family that had a legacy of involvement in the freedom struggle.
- Bhagat did his schooling at Dayanand Anglo-Vedic High School and then went on to study at National College in Lahore.
- In his early days, Bhagat Singh was a follower of the ideals of non-violence popularised by Mahatma Gandhi.
- Singh was a follower and admirer of Marxism and was inspired by writings of Vlaimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky and Mikhail Bakunin.
- In March 1926, he founded the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, a socialist organization with the aim to overthrow British rule in India. In 1927, he was arrested and was charged with involvement in Lahore bombing case that took place in 1926. He was released after 5 weeks.
- In 1928, he formed the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), which later became Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA). Revolutionaries like Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan and Chandrashekhar Azad were also part of it.
- In 1928, a protest march led by freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai against the British’s Simon Commission in Lahore, came under baton charge by the police in which Rai was severely injured and later passed away. Singh, along with HSRA members Sukhdev, Rajguru and Chandrashekhar Azad, drew up a plan to kill police superintendent James Scott and avenge Rai’s death.
- On December 17, 1928, they executed their plan at the district police headquarters in Lahore but they later realised that instead of James Scott, they have mistakenly killed Scott’s assistant John P Saunders.
- Inspired by the French anarchist Auguste Vaillant, who had bombed the Chamber of Deputies in 1893, Singh drew up a plan to oppose the Public Safety Bill and Trade Dispute Bill in the Central Legislative Assembly. On April 8, 1929, Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw bombs in the Assembly. They intend only to scare British and not to kill anyone but still, some members were injured. After throwing the bombs, Singh and Dutt did not ran away and stood there shouting ‘Inquilab Zindabad.’ They were arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment.
- Singh was shifted from a Delhi prison to Mianwali where he and his co-prisoners protested against discrimination between Indian and European prisoners, sat on a hunger strike demanding better food, books, newspaper etc on the grounds that they were political prisoners, not criminals.
- On March 23, 1931, Singh was executed along with Rajguru and Sukhdev. March 23 is observed as ‘Shaheed Diwas’ to pay tribute to the trio.