“Our real battle is against our own disabilities which are exploited by the enemy”
“…we Indians, what are we doing? A branch of peepal tree is cut and religious feelings of the Hindus are injured. A corner of a paper idol, tazia, of the idol-breaker Mohammedans is broken, and ‘Allah’ gets enraged, who cannot be satisfied with anything less than the blood of the infidel Hindus. Man ought to be attached more importance than the animals and, yet, here in India, they break each other’s heads in the name of ‘sacred animals’. Our vision is circumscribed by narrow communalism, while the youth of the world thinks in terms of internationalism.…”
In the present context of Indian politics, I have tried, through this article, to look at the ideological position of Shaheed-e-Azam Com. Bhagat Singhon the communal question by tracing his intellectual environment and evolution. The influences of the writings of other revolutionaries and events of his time on his stand regarding communalism are also included as a part of the analysis as it helps us in understanding it more scientifically.
In recent years, communal tension seems to have fiercely taken over our country. At such a juncture— the revolutionary spirit of enquiry that led Bhagat Singh and his comrades to take their firm position in the struggle of independence may become a major motivatorfor the Indian youth and the other toiling masses in general. I am using the term “major motivator”; because what else can be more precious and more inspirational to the Indian people than the history of its own struggle for independence? To reiterate the Fundamental Duty (b) of our Constitution:
“To cherish and follow the noble ideas that inspired our national struggle of freedom…”
I
Shaheed-e-Azam Com. Bhagat Singh remains the most celebrated martyr of both India and Pakistan, doing away with the imagined political boundary. His revolutionary legacy remains alive in the collective memory of both the countries. But in order to get into a scientific understanding of the ideological persona of Com. Bhagat Singh, we must first of all think beyond the popular “nationalist revolutionary martyr” image of Bhagat Singh. More importantly, we must at once discard the false and appropriated images of Bhagat Singh as a “Hindutva Pracharak”or a “Sikh nationalist revolutionary” at one blow! While going through the articles, letters and statements which he wrote in his extremely short political career (1924-1931¾ from 16-17 years to 23 years), we come to realize that he was not only one of the greatest revolutionary martyrs, but also one of the most progressive intellectual activists of his time. He, with a keen interest in the political developments taking place, read voraciously and wrote on burning topics like problems of Punjab’s language and script, religion, caste, communalism, 1857 war of Independence, violence and non-violence, universal brotherhood or internationalism, anarchism, students and politics, current political scenario et cetera. These articles have not yet lost their relevance even a bit.
The infamous JallianwalaBagh massacre took place on 13th April, 1919, where more than thousand unarmed Indian people were brutally slaughtered by the British Indian troops on the inhumane orders of Brigadier General Dyer. Bhagat Singh, then just a twelve year old lad, getting to know about this blameworthy incident, went straight to the JallianwalaBagh without attending the usual classes at his D.A.V High School in Lahore on the very next day and picked up some blood-soaked mud which he collected inside a small glass jar.He got to find out that the very mud of Jallianwala Bagh was consisted of blood of the oppressed Indian people irrespective of their religion or caste-based identity. This particular event left a large impact inside his mind to bring forth a radical transformation in his general attitude towards life.
After the occurrence of this massacre, apparently since 1922, the British imperialist government tried to incite poisonous communal feelings in the minds of the Indian people with the aid of its’ same old barbaric “divide and rule” policy to check the ever-growing anti-imperialistresistancethat was coming to the fore.The consequence of this was seen shortly afterwards by 1923-24, just after the Non-Cooperation movement reached to a failure, resulting in the unimaginably cruel countrywide riots between the Hindus and Muslims that had the worst impact in Kohat, now in present day Pakistan. Following these riots, a long debate ensued in the political level on thequestion of tackling these communal riots. The Congress politicians were unable to stop this strong influx of communalism. They, with their reactionary political view, tried to reach out a compromise between the Hindu and Muslim leaders, which turned out to be obviously a futile effort.
Com. Bhagat Singh, in the backdrop of this communal upsurge, when the fundamentalist organizations like the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) and the Tablighi Jamaat were getting formed, composed a supremely significant article with the title-“Sampradayik Dange aur unka Ilaj (Communal riots and their Remedy)”,which was published in Kirti (Punjabi) magazine of the Ghadrite revolutionaries in June 1927. Both the RSS and TablighiJamaat became instrumental in the process of religious polarization of the national political leadership as well as the Hindi and Urdu Press of the middle and late 1920s. Living in 2018, ninety-one years after the article was written by Com. Bhagat Singh, we are able to witnessthe rise of the fundamentalist forces at its’ peak.
Back then on 13th March 1926— comprehending that tools of exploitation like communalism, casteism, religious fundamentalism etc. are impediments in the country’s progress, and the toilers must unite against the capitalist order to abolish these at once, Com. Bhagat Singh and his comrades, organized and publicized the Naujawan Bharat Sabha (henceforth NBS) in Lahore, which carried on an all-aroundanti-casteist, anti-communalist and anti-fundamentalist propaganda among the masses along with thecall for organizing the peasants and labourers to build up their class consciousness. NBS, with its’ aim to establish an independent socialist republic of India, declared in its manifesto, written by Propaganda secretary Com. BhagwatiCharanVohra on 6th April, 1928:
“Religious superstitions and bigotry are a great hindrance in our progress. They have proved an obstacle in our way and we must do away with them. ‘The thing that cannot bear free thought must perish.’ There are many other such weaknesses which we are to overcome.
The conservativeness and orthodoxy of the Hindus, extra-territorialism and fanaticism of the Mohammedans and narrow-mindedness of all the communities in general are always exploited by the foreign enemy.
Young men with revolutionary zeal from all communities are required for the task… our leaders are fighting amongst themselves to decide what will be the share of each community in the hoped achievement. Simply to conceal their cowardice and lack of spirit of self-sacrifice, they are creating a false issue and screening the real one. These arm-chair politicians have their eyes set on the handful of bones that may be thrown to them, as they hope, by the mighty rulers. That is extremely humiliating… We want people who may be prepared to fight without hope, without fear and without hesitation, and who may be willing to die unhonoured, unwept and unsung. Without that spirit we will not be able to fight the great two-fold battle that lies before us – two-fold because of the internal foe, on the one hand, and a foreign enemy, on the other. Our real battle is against our own disabilities which are exploited by the enemy and some of our own people for their selfish motives.”
The political programme of theNBS also included the objective of expressing sympathy with and to assist the economic, industrial and social movements which, whilebeing free from the communal sentiments, are intended to take the organization nearer to the consummation ofthe ideal of socialism- namely through the establishment of a completely independent republic of labourers and peasantsthrough the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
It is to be noted here that the NBS fully subscribed the ideal of Marxian socialism and it also stood for the complete decolonization of all the oppressed nations. Before getting enrolled in the Sabha, each and every member was made to sign a particular pledge that he would place the interests of the oppressed people and country above those of his community or religion. Furthermore, the NBS organized social dinners with the objective of maintaining and promoting the feeling of “commonness” among the oppressed people of the country. People of all castes, creeds and religions were invited at those dinners where they served meal to each other. The Sabha also once issued pamphlets praising Marx and Engels as the greatest thinkers of the world above Buddha or Christ.
Unlike the Congress, the Sabha did not believe in appeasing the various religious groups/communities to gain their support. The Congress, in its’ public meetings, raised slogans like “Allah-o-Akbar”, “Sat Sri Akal”, “BandeMataram” etc., which it thoughtto be a method of showing its’ so-called “commitment to the secular cause”, and which indeed was not anyhow close to the concept of secularism. On the opposite, NBS made the slogans “Inquilab Zindabad” (Long Live Revolution!) and “Hindustan Zindabad” (Long Live Hindustan!), hailing the revolution and the country, its’ sole means for promoting the secular, patriotic and socialist revolutionary ideal to the masses.The Sabha later became an open organization of the Hindustan SocialistRepublican Association (HSRA), formed on 8-9th September, 1928, from its’ erstwhile formation — the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), which was formed earlier in 1923-24.
Why do we still lag behind in our so-called “progressive” political attitude and not try to take a lesson from the great bond that existed within the HRA, that is, between revolutionary Shaheed Ramprasad Bismil, an outspoken Arya Samajist (Arya Samajists are strong believers in the Vedas, but they are against century old rituals, customs and superstitions as well as the hierarchical &discriminatory caste system), and revolutionary Shaheed Ashfaqullah Khan, a devout Muslim? Together, they are still one of the greatest symbols of communal harmony and a comradeship. Both of them were convicted in the Kakori Conspiracy Case (1925), which led to their final execution by hanging in December 1927 along with two other revolutionary comrades of the HRA, Rajendra Nath Lahiri and Thakur Raushan/Roshan Singh. As we just come across the lines written by Shaheed Ashfaqullah in his last message written on 16th December, 1927 from Faizabad Jail in Uttar Pradesh:
“Hindustani brothers, let you be of any religion but get united for the country’s cause.Don’t fight among yourselves in futile. The paths may be many but the goal is the same. They are the means to fulfil a single cause, then why is this useless quarrel? Challenge the bureaucracy of the country together and free India. I am really proud that of the seven crores in the country, I am the first Muslim to get to the scaffold for the country.”
II
When the radical Congress leader Lala Lajpat Rai started propagating communal sentiments and was busy in joining hands with the communal Hindu Mahasabha, the revolutionary NBS issued a pamphlet in 1926, containing Robert Browning’s famous poem: THE LOST LEADER, whose first line reads:
“Just for a handful of silver he left us…”
Browning wrote this poem for criticizing William Wordsworth, who at that time became disillusioned in the ideals of the French revolution. Similarly in this case, Lalaji abandoned his earlier radical nationalist ideas, and became a part of the dirty politics of narrow-mindedness, that is, a part of the communal-sectarian politics.Bhagat Singh and his comrades also sent an open letter to Lalaji opposing his communal stance.
We must know that this very BhagatSingh, who made these scathing attacks on behalf of the NBS against Lalaji, murdered DSP JP Saunders on 17th December, 1928, only to avenge the brutal murder of Lalaji, who received fatal lathi charges on the hands of DSP JP Saunders on the orders of SSP JA Scott, on 30th October, 1928, while he was leading a mass procession against the imperialist Simon Commission at Lahore Station. Despite having serious ideological differences on the communal issue, Com. Bhagat Singh and his comrades did not hesitate to uphold the dignity of the oppressed nation and its’ people as a whole against the callous and inhumaneimperialist oppressors.
Com. Bhagat Singh, through the article,“Communal Riots and their Remedy”, strived to analyze the cause, outcome and solution of communal riots:
“Today India’s future seems extremely bleak. These religions have screwed India and one does not know when India will be freed from these communal riots … in the deluge of superstitions, everyone gets swept away.
During these riots, hardly do you see examples of a Hindu, Muslim or a Sikh who keeps his head cool while the rest pick up rods, sticks, swords and knives to maintain their dominance and eventually kill each other in this pursuit of dominance…
During these times, the role of communal leaders and newspapers has also been observed in instigating these riots. In these times of communal hatred, the leaders of India have decided to remain quiet… some of them are even getting swayed by the rage of religious bigotry… There are very few leaders who sincerely worry and think about everyone. Even these sincere leaders are unable to stop the strong influx of communality.”
Bhagat Singh concluded that Indian political leadership had become completely bankrupt! Then he continued with his views and analysis:
“The other instrument for fomenting and inciting communal violence is the people writing for the newspapers. The profession of journalism was once considered to be noble but today it is in a dirty mess. These people write against another community with big bold headlines which provoke the constant feeling of hatred and enmity among communities… There were very few reporters who could boast of a balanced poise in their minds and hearts during these turbulent times.
… Where are those days when we glimpsed of independence right in-front of our eyes? And look at the times today where independence has again become a distant dream! This is the third and final benefit that these riots have given to its perpetrators! During the Non-cooperation days, the bureaucracy whose existence was under threat has now deepened its roots which have become unshakable in the present circumstances.”
Bhagat Singh proceeded to highlight:
“So, if there is any solution to communal riots, it can only be achieved through improvement of economic condition in India..”.
He also reminded:
“The martyrs of 1914-15 [the Ghadarite revolutionaries] had separated religion from politics. They understood that religion is the personal matter of an individual which needed no interference from other. But they all agreed that religion should not enter politics because it does not allow people to work together for a common cause. This was the reason why during the revolution called by ‘Ghadar Party’, people remained united. Here Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims were put on gallows for the cause of revolution...
Even though we have different religious beliefs, if we separate religion from politics we all can stand together in the matter of politics and national cause...”.
And he concluded with his proposition:
“To prevent people from fighting each other, ‘class consciousness’ is the need of the day. The poor labourers and the farmers must be clearly taught that their real enemies are the capitalists. So, you should be careful of their tricks and should not follow them blindly.”
He gave the call:
“The poor of the world, regardless of race, colour, religion or nation have the same rights. Your well-being is in erasing the discrimination based on colour, creed, race, religion, regionalism and unite together to try and take the power of government into your hands. By trying so, you are not going to lose anything but one day your shackles will break freeing you from economic despondency.”
Bhagat Singh and his comrades firmly believed in “The thing that cannot bear free thought must perish.”
This 23rd march, on the 87th martyrdom anniversary of Comrades Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, let us pledge to follow the footsteps of the visionary revolutionaries of our land. As inspiringly wrote our Com. Bhagat Singh:
“The youngsters should not be afraid. In the beginning a lot of difficulties arise, but those should be faced with courage…In the end, labour movement will win. Hail Communists! Let the Revolutionary caravan march on!”
Mazdoor-Kisaan Ekta Zindabad!
Quami Ekta Zindabad!
Inquilab Zindabad!
Samrajyavad Murdabad!
Duniya Ke Mazdooron Ek Ho!
