Bhagat Singh Executed (1931)
Mon Mar 23, 1931
Image: Photograph of Bhagat Singh taken in 1929, when he was 21 years old [Wikipedia]
On this day in 1931, Marxist Indian revolutionary Bhagat Singh was executed by the colonial British government at 29 years of age after assassinating a police officer and exploding two bombs in a government building.
Singh was an avid reader of Bakunin, Marx, Lenin, and Trotsky. He was also openly critical of Mahatma Gandhi, having become disillusioned with his non-violent tactics after Gandhi called off the non-cooperation movement.
In December 1928, Bhagat Singh and an associate fatally shot a 21-year-old British police officer, John Saunders, in retaliation for the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, a popular Indian nationalist leader who died after being attacked by police. On the run from the police, Singh was arrested when he, along with Batukeshwar Dutt, exploded two improvised bombs inside the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi, showered leaflets onto the legislators below, and allowed the authorities to arrest them.
Awaiting trial, Singh gained public sympathy after he joined fellow defendant Jatin Das in a hunger strike, demanding better prison conditions for Indian prisoners. Das died from starvation in September 1929. Singh was convicted and hanged in March, 1931. Four days before his execution, Singh refused to sign a letter drafted for him that would appeal for clemency.
"Non-violence is backed by the theory of soul-force in which suffering is courted in the hope of ultimately winning over the opponent. But what happens when such an attempt fail to achieve the object? It is here that soul-force has to be combined with physical force so as not to remain at the mercy of tyrannical and ruthless enemy."
- Bhagat Singh
- Date: 1931-03-23
- Learn More: www.britannica.com, en.wikipedia.org, www.marxists.org.
- Tags: #Assassinations, #Colonialism, #Marxism.
- Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org