Bhagat Singh

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Bhagat Singh

This photograph was clicked in a photo studio of

Delhi before going for Central Assembly Hall action
in first week of April 1929
28 September 1907. Nahrosa farm,
Born Jaranwala Tehsil, Punjab, British
India
23 March 1931 (aged 23)
Died
Lahore, Punjab, British India
Nationality Indian
Naujawan Bharat Sabha,
Kirti Kisan Party,
Organization
Hindustan Socialist Republican
Association
Influenced by Communism, Socialism
Political
Indian Independence movement
movement
Sikhism (early life),
Religion
Atheism (later life)[1][2][3][4]

Bhagat Singh aka Shaheed Bhagat Singh (28 September 1907 – 23 March 1931) was an Indian
socialist and a revolutionary. He is considered to be one of the most influential revolutionaries of
the Indian Independence Movement.

He was born in a Sikh family. His family had earlier been involved in revolutionary activities
against the British Raj. When Bhagat Singh was a teenager, he studied European revolutionary
movements. He became attracted to anarchist and Marxist ideologies.
He became involved in numerous revolutionary activities. He quickly gained prominence in the
Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) and became one of its chief leaders. Eventually, the
name of the organization was changed to Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA).
This happened in the year 1928.

Lala Lajpat Rai was killed at the hands of the police. Bhagat Singh wanted revenge for this
incidence. He became involved in the murder of the British Police Officer John Saunders. The
police tried to capture him. However, Bhagat Singh was successful in avoiding arrest.

He made a plan to bomb the Central Legislative Assembly. He partnered with Batukeshwar Dutt
for this task. He bombarded the assembly with two bombs. They were shouting slogans of
revolution and threw pamphlets.

After the bombarding, they surrendered. He was held on this charge in prison. He underwent a
116 day fast in jail and so he did not have food for that long. He did this to demand equal
political rights for both British and Indian political prisoners. In response to this determined
protest, he gained nationwide support.

His mentor as a young boy was Kartar Singh Sarabha, whose photo he always carried in his
pocket.[94] Singh is himself considered a martyr by Indians for acting to avenge the death of
Lala Lajpat Rai.[95] [96] After studying the Russian Revolution, he wanted to die so that his
death would inspire the youth of India which in turn will unite them to fight the British
Empire.[95] While in prison, Singh and two others had written a letter to Lord Irwin, wherein
they asked to be treated as prisoners of war and consequently to be executed by firing squad and
not by hanging.[97] Prannath Mehta, Singh's friend, visited him in the jail on 20 March, four
days before his execution, with a draft letter for clemency, but he declined to sign it

Jhansi Ki Rani

Her Birth
and
Greatness
Foretold
(1835-1858)

Rani Lakshmi
Bai, daughter
of Moropant
Balwant Rao
Tambe and
Bhagirathi
Bai, was born
at Kashi
(Benares) on
16 November
1835
(approximate
date). She
came of a
Karhada
Brahmin
family of
Satara district
which had
migrated to
Kashi in 1819
with its
patron
Chimanji
Appa, brother
of Peshwa
Baji Rao II.

Her mother
died during
her infancy
and her father
shifted to
Bithur after
the death of
his patron.
There she
grew up in
the political
atmosphere of
the Peshwa's
household
and came in
close contact
with Nana
Sahib, Rao
Sahib and
Tatya Tope.
Her original
name was
Manikarnika,
but she was
affectionately
called Manu
by her parents
and Chhabili
by the
Peshwa. She
received
traditional
education and
learnt horse-
riding and
wielding of
small arms.
She was
beautiful,
highly
intelligent,
energetic and
courageous.

After the
marriage in
1842 with
Maharaja
Gangadhar
Rao of Jhansi,
Manikarnika
was named
Lakshmi Bai.
With her
father she
shifted to
Jhansi where
her talents
blossomed
fully. She
developed a
magnetic
personality,
high-spirited,
resolute and
domineering
demeanour,
generous
disposition
and
administrative
skill. Her
only male
child died in
infancy and
her husband
expired
prematurely
on 21
November
1853,
nominating
her as Regent
of his adopted
son, Damodar
Rao, aged
five years.

As a widow,
Lakshmi Bai
became
deeply
religious and
led a very
simple and
austere life.
By efficient
administratio
n she
endeared
herself to her
subjects. Lord
Dalhousie,
however,
annexed
Jhansi on the
plea of lapse
on 27
February
1854 despite
her
remonstrance
s and
resentment.

The Rani's
resolve not to
give up her
Jhansi was of
no avail. She
had to quit
the fort palace
and retire on
a small
annual
pension of
Rs. 6000/-.
Her appeals
to the
Governor-
General and
the Court of
Directors to
revoke the
decision
proved in-
effective.

This unhappy
treatment
drove the
Rani to
rebellion in
1857. After
the massacre
of the British
at Jokhan
Bagh by the
sepoys on 8
June and the
departure of
the Sepoys
for Delhi, she
assumed the
reins of
government,
and met
successfully
by force the
challenge
posed to her
authority by
an impostor
Sadashiv Rao
and by the
neighbouring
pro-British
states of
Datia, Pihari
and Orchha.
On being
attacked by
Hugh Rose on
20 March
1858, she
offered very
stiff
resistance for
two weeks
and
ultimately
escaped to
Kalpi on
horseback,
with her son
tied on her
back, to
prepare for
another
encounter in
conjunction
with Great
Tatya Tope
and Rao
Sahib.

The
combined
forces were,
however,
routed by
General Rose
at the battles
of Poonch
and Kalpi.
Rani Lakshmi
Bai then
reached
Gwalior and
established
the Peshwa's
authority. At
last, when
Rose attacked
Gwalior, she
fought
strubbornly to
the finish,
sword in both
hands and the
reins of the
horse in her
mouth, and
died a
glorious death
in the thick of
battle on 16
June. She was
cremated in a
nearby garden
where a
memorial was
erected after
independence
in honour of
her
martyrdom.

By her
matcheless
heroic deeds
Rani Lakshmi
Bai made a
mark in
history.
General Rose
considered
her as "the
bravest and
the best
military
leader of the
rebels". In the
Indian
freedom
struggle she
has been
compared
with the
British
Boadicea and
the French
Joan of Arc
and remains
immortalized
in ballads.