People's Democracy

HARYANA

Shaheed Bhagat Singh And 1857 Martyrs Remembered

A view of the gathering in Rohtak

Inderjeet Singh & Sahiram

A UNIQUE and lively programme was organised at Rohtak to commemorate the 150th anniversary of 1857 Revolt and the birth centenary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. It was not the customary paying of homage as witnessed in most of the official functions rather a display of true patriotic fervour, the kind which motivated our countrymen, be it 1857 martyrs or Bhagat Singh and his comrades.

A firm resolve and determination could be seen exuding through the pledge being expressed in the slogans remembering the martyrs and for carrying forward the struggle to its lofty goal of building a society as visualised by the martyrs.

This was the scene at HUDA complex ground in Rohtak on on September 28 while observing the Shaheed Yaadgar Samagam on behalf of Shaheed Yaadgar Samithi, a committee comprising of mass organisations like CITU, Kisan Sabha, Khet Mazdoor Union, Sarva Karamchari Sangh, Janvadi Mahila Samiti, SFI, DYFI and many distinguished personalities.

This colourful function was a culmination of local functions conducted at nearly 15 places of historical importance all over Haryana through the past two months. The cultural team of Gyan Vigyan Samiti and other cultural teams made an important contribution to these functions through their plays and group songs.

It may be recalled that the people of the region forming today’s Haryana had taken part in 1857 uprising in a big way and being in Delhi’s proximity the peasants and other sections contributed significantly to the defense of Bahadurshah Zafar and his sustenance despite all odds. For this they were punished very severely and with full vengeance by the Britishers. Stories of horrors and tyrannies could still be heard from elders. One can find many such glaring testimonies of the barbaric reprisals perpetrated by the Britishers on the people in order to suppress them. It is however ironical that there are stone structures here and there in memory of the British officers killed during the uprising but one hardly finds any names of Indian martyrs of this first war of independence.

REVIVING THE ANTI-IMPERIALIST SPIRIT

This campaign on 1857 and Shaheed Bhagat Singh's birth centenary was mounted to revive and rekindle the spirit of anti-imperialism and people's unity in the wake of the present challenges from a more aggressive imperialism led by USA. Coupled with this our ruling classes are bent upon sacrificing the country’s sovereignty and this campaign focussed on the need to build mass resistance to counter such compromising attitude of our ruling classes. The imperative of fighting communalism was also stressed.

Much needed solidarity in this endeavour was extended by historians and academicians like Professor Suraj Bhan, Dr K L Tuteja, Suraj Bhan Bhardwaj, Ghasi Ram Malik, S Irfan Habib, Professor Jag Mohan (Bhagat Singh’s nephew), D R Chaudhry, M M Juneja and others. Around 6000 copies of the booklet written on Haryana’s role in 1857 by Professor Suraj Bhan were distributed along with 20,000 folders, 72,000 stickers, 12,000 posters during the campaign.

The culmination function at Rohtak, presided over by D R Choudhary, began with placing of floral tributes to Bhagat Singh’s portrait by the chief guest, CPI(M) central committee member and J&K MLA Mohd Yusuf Tarigami. Professor S Irfan Habib of the NISTADS was the other main speaker.

Professor Suraj Bhan in his opening address made a fervent appeal to the audience to imbibe the lessons of history and apply these to the present challenging times so that the real objective of creating a just society is not allowed to be obliterated on the one hand while the mistakes are not repeated on the other. He explained that the people were more united in those times despite being illiterate while they are more vulnerable to be divided in the name of religion and castes today even though they are more literate today. While remembering Bhagat Singh on this occasion Suraj Bhan said that he was definitely among the important personalities who shaped the history of the 20th century. He criticised that UPA government for its ambivalent stand on Setu Samundram even while the Hindu fundamentalist forces led by BJP were trying to exploit the issue for their nefarious political ends.

Yusuf Tarigami spoke at length on our historical legacies and the prevailing situation. He said that martyrs can’t be forgotten as they sacrificed their lives for the better future of next generations. He asked the audience to search for the reasons as to why our country had come to face the kind of problems that should have been solved much earlier had we embarked on the path envisaged by Bhagat Singh and his compatriots. Today the youth is desperate to find work; farmers are dying, women are insecure, workers are facing worst exploitation while all spheres of life are steeped in unprecedented crises. He referred to the social stigmas like female foeticide in this part of the country, which is a grave indicator of social decline.

Tarigami said that they have not assembled to shed tears that Bhagat Singh was hanged at the young age of 23 rather to express our collective pride in his sacrifice which forms our eternal strength. While recalling 1857 Revolt he reminded that the all powerful British empire which appeared invincible was shaken to the core by the scale of the Revolt. He came down heavily against the UPA government for entering into a strategic alliance with US imperialism even while ignoring the destruction it had done to countries like Vietnam and Iraq. He strongly criticised the Indo-US nuclear deal being pushed through by the UPA government under the pretext of meeting energy requirements. He said our ruling classes were bent on belying the aspirations of the people and called for launching united struggles for equality and justice.

Professor Irfan Habib highlighted main ideological moorings of Bhagat Singh’s organisation on the basis of which he clarified the distinctness of Bhagat Singh being Shaheed-e-Azam. He underlined that Bhagat Singh has become a symbol because he provided ideological leadership to the revolutionary movement. He appealed to the people to guard his ideology from being diluted and distorted by by those who are hostile to it and to peoples interests. They were misusing Bhagat Singh’s name only to cover their real faces. He referred to the BJP desperately trying to depict Bhagat Singh as an ultra nationalist.

Professor Habib quoted extensively from his own research and writings to put across Bhagat Singh's alternative vision of society and his conscious ideological distancing from people like Lala Lajpat Rai who sought to criticise Bhagat Singh for his commitment to the cause of socialism.

While addressing the Samagam, JMS state vice president Shubha dealt in detail about the distorted perception of development whereby the workers, women, dalits are thrown to the margins. She reminded how a large number of people had to suffer the miseries of communal carnage and mass migration during partition. She also emphasised the role that women had played in 1857 and later periods which needed to be rightfully established. She warned the people to remain vigilant against the misuse of martyrs’ names to spread chauvinism and anarchy by disparate forces.

CPI(M) state secretary Inderjit Singh assured active support to all future activities of the Yadgaar Samiti as before. He welcomed Yusuf Tarigami and other guests on behalf of the Party state committee.

Samiti's convenor Surender Malik declared while concluding the deliberations that this was not the last activity of the Samiti and it would continue the tempo in various other ways. He said this was necessary as the situation was very challenging when the ruling classes were trying to divide the people in name of religion, caste, gotra etc. which could never be allowed to happen. He placed the resolution demanding of the government to work out a suitable plan of action to establish appropriate memorials for 1857 martyrs and also for Shaheed Bhagat Singh. He declared that the Samiti would observe May 10, every year as anti-imperialist day all over Haryana.

The function concluded with inspiring group songs, folk songs and plays which enhanced the enthusiasm of participants.