Mahatma Gandhi and Bhagat Singh

CONTEXT:

To celebrate 75 years of India’s Independence, Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT) has organised an exhibition of its publications and commissioned artworks over the past 30 years, commemorating major landmarks in the freedom struggle.

Titled “India is not Lost”, the exhibition at Jawahar Bhawan has a curation of works marking Mahatma Gandhi’s 125th birth anniversary and the 75th anniversary of Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom among others

Mahatma Gandhi

About

• Born on 2 October 1869, in Porbandar, Gujarat, Mahatma Gandhi was son of Karamchand Gandhi and Putlibai Gandhi.
• Married to Kasturba, he was a lawyer by profession.
• In the year 1888, Mahatma Gandhi left for London to study law. In May, 1893 he went to South Africa to work as a lawyer.
• On 22 May, 1894 Gandhi established the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) and worked hard to improve the rights of Indians in South Africa
• In 1915, Gandhiji returned to India permanently and joined the Indian National Congress with Gopal Krishna Gokhale as his mentor.
• Shot by Nathuram Ghodse on 30th January 1948 which caused his demise.

Early movements

• The first civil disobedience movement by Gandhi in the freedom struggle was Champaran Satyagraha.

• Persuaded by Rajkumar Shukla, an indigo cultivator, Gandhi went to Champaran in Bihar to investigate the conditions of the farmers there.
• The farmers were suffering under heavy taxes and an exploitative system. They were forced to grow indigo by the British planters under the tinkathia system.
• He was able to gather support from the farmers and masses and appeared in court in response to a summons, with almost 2000 locals accompanying him.
• After peaceful protests against the planters and landlords led by Gandhi, the government agreed to abolish the exploitative tinkathia system.
• The peasants also received a part of the money extracted from them as compensation.
• Champaran struggle is called the first experiment on Satyagraha by Gandhi and later Ahmedabad Mill Strike and Kheda Satyagraha occurred.
• It was during this time that Gandhi was given the names ‘Bapu’ and ‘Mahatma’ by the people.

• 1918 Kheda Satyagraha

• It was a year of failed crops in the Kheda district of Gujarat due to droughts.
• The government refused any remission from paying land revenue.
• Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, under Gandhi’s guidance, led the farmers in protest against the collection of taxes in the wake of the famine.
• The protest was peaceful and people showed remarkable courage even in the face of adversities like confiscation of personal property and arrest.
• Finally, the authorities gave in and gave some concessions to the farmers.

• Ahmedabad Mill Strike (1918)

• Gandhi used hunger strike for the first time during an industrial dispute between the owners and workers of a cotton mill in Ahmedabad.
• The owners wanted to withdraw the plague bonus to the workers while the workers were demanding a hike of 35% in their wages.
• During the peaceful strike led by Gandhi, he underwent a hunger strike.
• The Ahmedabad Mill strike was successful and the workers were granted the wage hike they wanted.

Literary works

• Gandhi was a prolific writer. Some of his literary works are as follows:

• Hind Swaraj, published in Gujarati in 1909.
• He edited several newspapers which included Harijan in Gujarati, in Hindi and the English language; Indian Opinion, Young India, in English, and Navajivan, a Gujarati monthly.
• Gandhi also wrote his autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth.
• His other autobiographies included: Satyagraha in South Africa, Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule.

Bhagat Singh

About:

• Born into a Sikh family in September, 1907 in Lyallpur District, present-day Pakistan.
• As a child, he defied the British government by burning textbooks recommended by it.
• Initially, he supported Mahatma Gandhi and the Non-Cooperation Movement.
• However, when Gandhi withdrew the movement in the wake of the Chauri Chaura incident, Bhagat Singh turned to revolutionary nationalism.
• He was particularly affected by the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (1919) and the violence against unarmed Akali protestors at Nankana Sahib (1921).
• Inspired by leftist writings he read widely, Singh was an atheist and against capitalism.

Contribution in the freedom movement:

• In 1926, he founded the Naujawan Bharat Sabha.

• This organisation aimed to encourage revolution against British rule by rallying the peasants and workers.
• Singh was the organisation’s secretary.

• In 1928, he established the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) along with Sukhdev, Chandrashekhar Azad and others.
• When Lala Lajpat Rai died in 1928 as a result of injuries sustained in a police lathi charge, Bhagat Singh and his revolutionary friends decided to avenge the death of the dear leader.

• However, in a case of mistaken identity, they assassinated another police official J P Saunders.
• This was part of the Lahore Conspiracy Case.
• After this incident, Singh fled from Lahore and made changes to his appearance.

• Central Assembly Bombing Case

• On 8th April 1929, Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw a bomb in the Central Assembly at Delhi, from the Visitors’ Gallery.
• Both the revolutionaries courted arrest since they wanted to spread their message of revolution and anti-imperialism, and needed a platform for it.
• Nobody was hurt in the incident, and it was never their intention to cause physical harm to anyone.
• Their stated aim was ‘to make the deaf hear’.
• Bhagat Singh was the mastermind behind the incident, and he was inspired by Auguste Vaillant, a French anarchist, who was executed by France for a similar incident in Paris.
• In the trial that ensued, both Singh and Dutt were sentenced to transportation for life.

Execution

• Bhagat Singh was arrested and charged in the Saunders murder case, along with Rajguru, Sukhdev and others. The trio was ordered to be hanged on 24 March 1931 but the sentence was carried out a day earlier at the Lahore Jail.

• 23rd March is observed as ‘Martyrs’ Day’ or ‘Shaheed Diwas’ or ‘Sarvodaya Day’ in honour of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev.