Proof set: Bhagat Singh

ਸੂਰਾ ਸੋ ਪੇਹ੍ਚਾਨਿਯੇ ਜੋ ਲੜੇ ਦੀਨ ਕੇ ਹੇਤ ||
ਪੁਰਜਾ ਪੁਰਜਾ ਕਟ ਮਰੇ ਕਬਹੂ ਨਾ ਛਾਡੇ ਖੇਤ ||

Bhagat Singh

Bhagat Singh proof set cover

Obverse

Reverse

Bhagat Singh 100 rupee

Bhagat Singh in prison

Bhagat Singh 5 rupee

When Westerns think about India's long and gruelling struggle for independence, they picturize Richard Attenborough and Mahatma Gandhi, and maybe peaceful protests. But what is usually missed out in this is the other side of the coin: The revolutionaries epitomized by none other than Shaheed-e-Azam(king of martyrs) Bhagat Singh. Gandhi himself said of Bhagat Singh: "There has never been, within living memory, so much romance round any life as has surrounded that of him."

Though movies have been made many times about Bhagat Singh, romanticizing a life which comprises of romance itself, but not many knew about the man before Manoj Kumar's Shaheed wherein songs likeMera Rang De Basanti chola were immortalized for the generations and also reused in the remakes of the iconic movie.

Born in a family of radicals, revolution came to be in Bhagat Singh's blood and breath. A young Bhagat at age 12 was deeply moved when he missed his school to visit the site of Jallianwala Bagh maassacre in Amritsar: British army officers had shot dead about 400 peaceful protesters without any provocation and many people also died by jumping into the local well when trying to escape from the ubiquitous hail of bullets.(Yours truly has visited the site and bullet marks are still visible on the walls which scream out the story of the horrible event which occured way back in 1919). In 4 years this spark in Bhagat Singh's heart became a raging fire as he read the philopsophies of socialists like Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. He developed a socialist and secular vision for India which extended beyond mere freedom towards nation-building and the removal of the caste system.

In a few years, Bhagat Singh found himself at the very centre of underground Indian struggle for independence. He threw a bomb in 1929 in the legislative assembly in protest against the repressive public safety bill. As intended, nobody was hurt. As Bhagat Singh said "to make the deaf hear you need a bomb". Bhagat Singh could easily have escaped but allowed himself to be arrested in order to use his court appearances as a revolutionary platform. With courageous and powerful speeches in the court that bore little relevance to his own defense, he articulated his vision for a free India – enduring prison persecution, hunger strikes, forced-feeding and violent beatings in order to give voice to his self-proclaimed “people’s movement.” Sentenced to life imprisonment, Singh was subsequently tried – along with two fellow revolutionaries – for the killing of a police officer two years earlier. Conducted by a special tribunal fraught with violations of due process, the farcical trial ended in death sentences. Singh refused to move a mercy petition and he and his two young comrades were hanged in Lahore Jail on 23rd March 1931. He was 23 years old.

Today, India slips rapidly into the folds of capitalism. Perhaps India could have profited more if only – like Nelson Mandela – Bhagat Singh had survived to usher in its new independent era.

Composition

Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai
Dekhna hai zor kitna baazu-e-qaatil mein hai

Aye watan, Karta nahin kyun doosraa kuch baat-cheet
Dekhta hun main jise woh chup teri mehfil mein hai
Aye shaheed-e-mulk-o-millat main tere oopar nisaar
Ab teri himmat ka charcha gair ki mehfil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Waqt aanay dey bata denge tujhe aye aasman
Hum abhi se kya batayen kya hamare dil mein hai
Kheench kar layee hai sab ko qatl hone ki ummeed
Aashiqon ka aaj jumghat koocha-e-qaatil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Hai liye hathiyaar dushman taak mein baitha udhar
Aur hum taiyyaar hain seena liye apna idhar
Khoon se khelenge holi agar vatan muskhil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Haath jin mein ho junoon katt te nahi talvaar se
Sar jo uth jaate hain voh jhukte nahi lalkaar se
Aur bhadkega jo shola-sa humaare dil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Hum to ghar se nikle hi the baandhkar sar pe kafan
Jaan hatheli par liye lo barh chale hain ye qadam
Zindagi to apni mehmaan maut ki mehfil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Yuun khadaa maqtal mein qaatil kah rahaa hai baar baar'Kya tamannaa-e-shahaadat bhi kisee ke dil mein hai
Dil mein tuufaanon ki toli aur nason mein inqilaab
Hosh dushman ke udaa denge humein roko na aaj
Duur reh paaye jo humse dam kahaan manzil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Wo jism bhi kya jism hai jismein na ho khoon-e-junoon
Toofaanon se kya lade jo kashti-e-saahil mein hai
Chup khade hain aaj saare bhai mere khaamosh hain
Na karo to kuch kaho mazhab mera mushkil mein hai

Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai
Dekhna hai zor kitna baazu-e-qaatil mein hai