भगत सिंह , राजगुरु , और
सुखदेव को आज
के ही दिन
लाहौर सेन्ट्रल जेल
में फांसी दी
गयी थी। 1907 से
1931 का सफर कितना
होता है ? फिर
भी महान कार्य
करने के लिये
दीर्घायु होना ज़रूरी
नहीं है। शंकराचार्य
32 और विवेकानंद 39 वर्ष
की आयु में
जो करने आये
थे , कर के
चले गये। भगत
सिंह रोमांटिक एडवेंचरिस्ट
नहीं थे। ब्रिटिश
शासन की कमियों
और साम्रज्यवाद के
दंश को उन्होंने
समझा था। उनका
असेम्बली में बम
फेंकना किसी गुणराह
और भावुक नौजवान
का क्रिया कलाप
नहीं था। वह
सत्ता , अधिकार , और औपनिवेशिक
ऐश्वर्य में डूबी
ब्रिटिश राज व्यवस्था
के चर्बी चढ़े
कानों का बहरापन
खोलने के लिए
किया गया धमाका
था। अपने मुक़दमें
की सुनवाई के
दौरान उन्होंने सत्र
न्यायाधीश की अदालत
में अपना जो
बयान दिया था
उसे जब आप
पढ़ेंगे तो न
सिर्फ भगत सिंह
के एक नये
रूप से परिचित
होंगे , बल्कि उनके इस
कृत्य को भी
विधि विरुद्ध नहीं
मानेंगे।
शहीदों को याद
करना एक प्रकार
का कृतज्ञता ज्ञापन
है। यह तो
किया ही जाना
चाहिये। पर भगत
सिंह को केवल
बहादुर नौजवान मानना और
उनके कृत्य को
बहादुरी की मिसाल
बताना ही उनके
प्रति सच्ची श्रद्धांजलि
नहीं होगी। भगत
सिंह के उस
रूप को भी
देखिये , जिसमें उन्होंने साम्राज्यवाद के खिलाफ
, मेहनत कश लोगों की
ओर से समाजवादी
शासन स्थापित करने
का संकल्प और
मार्ग भी दिखाया
है। अँगरेज़ शायद
उन्हें अंडमान भेज देते
, पर वे भगत
सिंह की विचारधारा
और मेधा से
सशंकित थे। वह
उस समय मार्क्सवाद
और समाजवाद के
बढ़ते प्रसार और
प्रभाव से चिंतित
थे। उन्हें गांधी
और कांग्रेस से
कोई खतरा नहीं
था। गांधी का
सारा आंदोलन , साम्राज्य
के मूल के
विरोध में नहीं
था। वह आंदोलन
पहले ब्रिटिश क्राउन
के अंतर्गत आज़ादी
के लिए फिर
, बाद में पूर्ण
आज़ादी के लिए
बदल गया। पर
उस आंदोलन में
ब्रिटिश विरोध तो था
, पर ब्रिटिश राज
से कहीं न
कहीं तादात्म्य भी
था। भगत सिंह
, ब्रिटिश सहित सभी
यूरोपीय साम्राज्यवाद के विरोधी
थे। उनकी आज़ादी
की अवधारणा , राज
का स्वराज में
रूपांतरण ही नहीं
था , बल्कि एक
ऐसा राज स्थापित
करना था , जिस
में सदियों के
दबे, कुचले, पीड़ित
और शोषितों को
उनका सम्मानजनक अधिकार
मिले। यह उनका
गांधी से वैचारिक
अंतर था।
अँगरेज़ इसे और
उनमें छिपी आग
को समझ गये
थे। वर्ना असेम्बली
बम काण्ड में
कोई घायल नहीं
हुआ था। पर
ब्रिटिश न्याय की कथित
न्यायप्रियता को धज्जियां
उड़ाते हुए उन्हें
आज के हे
दिन फांसी पर
लटका दिया गया
था। भगत सिंह
को सिर्फ इस
लिए मत याद
कीजिये कि उन्होंने
व्यक्तिगत बहादुरी दिखायी बल्कि
इस लिए याद
कीजिए कि वह
एक महान विचारक
और कर्मयोगी के
नवांकुर थे। जिन्हे
अंग्रेज़ों ने बर्बरता
से कुचल दिया।
भगत सिंह , राज गुरु
और सुखदेव को
विनम्र श्रद्धांजलि।
-vss
Copy of the written statement filed by Bhagat
Singh and B. K. Dutt in the Court of the Sessions Judge, Delhi, in
the Assembly Bomb Case, on 6th June, 1929
"We stand charged with serious offences and at this stage we
explain our conduct.
The following questions arise.
(1) Were bombs thrown
into the Chamber, if so, why ?
( 2) Is the charge as framed by the lower court correct or
otherwise ?
"To the first half
of the first question our reply is in the affirmative but some of the so-called
eye-witnesses have perjured themselves and since we are not •denying our
liability to the extent and as such as it is our statement about
them-.be judged for what it is worth. By way of illustration, we may point
out that. The evidence of Sergeant Terry regarding the seizure of pistol
from one of us is a deliberate falsehood, for neither of us had a pistol at the
time we gave ourselves up. •
"The other
witnesses who depose to-having seen bombs thrown by us, have not scrupled to
tell lies, patent on the face of them. It has its own moral for .those
who aim at judicial purity and fairplay. At the same time we
acknowledge the fairness of the Public Prosecutor and the judicial attitude
of the court so far.
"In our reply to the next half of the first question, we are
constrained to go. Into some details to offer full and frank explanations
of our motive and circumstances leading upto what has now become
a historic event. When we were told by some of the Police Officers who visited
us in the jail that Lord Irwin in his address to the joint session of the two
houses after the event in question, described it as an attack directed against
no individual but against a •constitution itself, we readily recognized that
the true significance of the incident had been correctly appreciated.
"We are next to none in our love for humanity and so far from
having any malice against any individual, we hold human life sacred beyond words
; we are neither perpetrator of dastardly outrages and therefore a
disgrace to the country as the pseudo-socialist Diwan Chaman Lal is
reported to have described us, nor are we lunatics as the Tribune' of Lahore
and some others would have it believed."
Serious Students of History
"We humbly claim to be no more than serious students of
history and conditions of our country, and human aspirations and we despise
hypocrisy.
"Our practical
protest was against the institution which since its birth has eminently
displayed not only its worthlessness, but its far-reaching power for mischief.
The more we have pondered, the more deeply we have been convinced that it
exists only to demonstrate to the world the Indian humiliation and helplessness
and it symbolizes the over-riding domination of an irresponsible and autocratic
rule.
"Time and again the national demand has been pressed by the
representatives of the people, only to find the waste paper basket as its final
destination. Solemn resolutions passed by the house have been
contemptuously trampled under foot on the floor of the so-called Indian
Parliament. Resolutions regarding the repeal of repressive and arbitrary
measures have been treated with sublime contempt and Government measures and
proposals, rejected as unacceptable by the elected members have been restored
by a storke of the pen. •
"In brief, in spite
of earnest endeavor, we have utterly failed to find any's justification
for the existence of an institution which despite all pomp and splendor
organized with the hard earned money of the sweating millions of India is only
a hollow show and a mischievous make-believe.
"And alike have we
failed to comprehend the mentality of public leaders who help to squander
public time and money on so manifestly a stage-managed exhibition of India's
helpless subjection.'
We have been ruminating
upon all this, as also upon the wholesale arrests of the leaders of the Labour movement
when the introduction of the Trade Disputes Bill brought us into the Assembly
to watch its progress and the course of the debate only served to confirm our
conviction that the labouring millions of India had nothing to expect
from an institution that stood as a menacing monument to the strangling power
of the exploiters and the serfdom of the helpless labourers.
'”Finally an insult which we considered inhuman and barbarous, was
hurled on the devoted heads of the representatives of the entire country and
the starving and struggling millions were deprived of their primary rights and
the sole means of their economic welfare.
"None who has felt like us for the
dumb-driven drudges of laborers could possibly witness this spectacle with
equanimity, none whose heart bleeds for those who have given their life-blood
in .silence to the building up of the economic structure of the exploiters of
whom the Government happen to be the biggest in the country, could repress the
cry of the soul-agonising anguish which is so ruthlessly wrung out of our
hearts. Consequently bearing in our minds the words of late Mr. S. R. Dass,
once the Law Member of Governor General's Executive Council, which appeared in
the famous letter he had addressed to his son to the effect that the bomb
was necessary to awaken England from her dreams, we dropped bombs on the floor
of the Assembly Chamber to register our protest on behalf of those who had no
other means left, to give expression to their heart-rending agony. Our
sole purpose was ' to make the deaf hear' and to give the heedless timely
warning.
"Others have as
keenly felt as we have done and from under the seeming illness of the sea of
the Indian humanity a veritable storm is about to break out. We have hoisted a
'danger signal' to warn those who are speeding along without heedings the
grave dangers ahead. We have only marked the end of an era of Utopian
non-violence of whose (June 8, 1929) futility the rising generation has been
convinced beyond a shadow of doubt, Out of our sincerest good-will
and love for humanity we have adopted this. method of warning to
prevent untold sufferings which we like millions of. others clearly
foresee.
Utopian Non-Violence
"We have used the expression 'Utopian. non-violence'
in the foregoing, para.which requires some explanation. Force when aggressively
applied is 'violence/ and is, therefore, morally unjustifiable. But when it is
used in the furtherance of a legitimate cause it has its moral justification. Elimination
of force at all. costs is Utopian and the new movement which has arisen in
the country and of which we have given a warning is inspired by the deeds
which guided Guru-Govind Singh and Shivaji, Kamal Pasha,
and Riza Khan, Washington and Gari baldi, Lafa yetteand
Lenin. As both the alien Government and the Indian public leaders appeared to
have shut their eyes and closed their ears against the existence and voice of
this motive, we have felt it our duty to sound the warning where it could not
go unheard.”
Our intentions
"We have so far dealt with the motive behind the incident in
question and nowwe must define the extent of our intentions.
" It cannot be
gainsaid that we bore no personal grudge or malice against any one of those who
received slight injuries 'or against any other person in the
Assembly. On the contrary we report "that we hold human lives sacred
beyond words and would sooner lay down our "own lives in the
service of humanity "than injure any one else. Unlike mercenary Soldiers
of imperialist armies, who are disinclined to kill without
compunction, we respect, and in so far as it lies in us, we attempt to save
human life. And still we admit having deliberately thrown bombs into "the
Assembly Chamber. Facts, however, speak themselves and
intention should be judged from the result of action without drawing upon hypothetical
circumstances and presumptions.. Despite the evidence of the Government
expert, the bombs that were thrown in the Assembly Chamber resulted in slight
damage to an empty bench and few-slight abrasions in less than half a dozen
cases. While the Government's scientist ascribed this result to a miracle we see nothing
but precisely scientific process in it all. The first two bombs exploded in
vacant spaces within the wooden barriers of desks and benches. Secondly even
those who were within even two feet of the explosion for instance Mr. Rau, Mr. Sankar Rao and
Sir George Schuster were either not hurt or only slightly scratched. Loaded
with an effective charge of Potassium Chlorate and sensitive Picrate the
bombs would have smashed the barriers and laid many low within some yards of
the explosion. Again had they been loaded with some other high explosive, with
charge of destructive pellets or darts, they would have*/ sufficed
to wipe out a majority of the members of the Legislative Assembly. Still again
we could have flung them into the official box chockfull with people of note.
And finally we could have embushed Sir John Simon, whose luckless
Commission was hated by all reasonable people and who was sitting in the presidential
gallery at the time. All this,. however, was beyond our intention and the
bombs did not do more than what they were designed to do and the miracle consisted
of no more than a deliberate. aim which landed them in safe places.
We then deliberately
offered ourselves; to bear the penalty for what we had done and to
let the imperialist exploiters-know that by crushing individuals they cannot
kill ideas. By crushing two insignificant units the nation cannot be crushed.
We wanted to emphasize the historical lesson that Letters de Catchet and
Bastilles could not crush the revolutionary movement in France. Gallows -and
Siberian mines could not extinguish the Russian revolution. Can ordinances and
safety bills snuff out the flames of freedom in India ? Conspiracy
cases trumpeted up or discovered and incarceration of all youngmen who
cherish the vision of the greater ideal cannot check the march of
revolution. But timely warning if not unheeded, can help
to-prevent loss of life and general suffering. We took it upon ourselves to
provide this warning and our duty is done.
What is Revolution ?
Bhagat Singh was asked
in the lower court as to what he meant by revolution. In answer to that
question, we would say that revolution does not necessarily involve sanguinary strife nor is
there any place in it for individual vendetta. It is not the cult of
the bomb and the pistol. By" Revolution" we mean that the present
order of things, which is based on manifest injustice must changer-Producers or
labourers in spite of being the most necessary element of society,
are robbed by their exploiters of the fruits of their labour and
deprived of their elementary right. On the one hand, the peasants who grow corn
for all starve with their families. The weaver who supplied the world markets
with textile fabrics cannot find enough to cover his own and his children’s
bodies. Masons smiths and carpenters, who rear magnificent palaces, live and
perish in slums ;.on the other hands capitalists, exploiters, parasites
of society, squander millions on their whims. These terrible in-.equalities,
and forced disparity of chances are heading towards chaos. This state of affairs cannot
last and it is obvious that, the present order of society is merrymaking on
the brink of a volcano, and the innocent children of exploiters no less than
millions of the exploited are walking on the edge of a dangerous precipice.
The whole edifice of this civilization, if not saved in time, shall crumble.
Radical change, is therefore necessary and it is the duty of those
who realize this to reorganize society on a socialistic-basis. Unless
this is done and the exploitation of man by man and of nation by nation which
goes masquerading as imperialism, is brought to an end, the suffering and
carnage with which humanity is threatened today cannot be prevented, and all
talk of ending wars, and ushering in an era of universal peace is undisguised
hypocrisy. By revolution, we mean the ultimate establishment of an
order of society. Which may not be threatened by such break down
and in which the sovereignty of the proletariat should be recognized and as a
result of which the world federation should redeem humanity from the bondage of
capitalism and the misery and peril of wars.
Fair and Loud enough Warning
This is our ideal, with
this ideology for our inspiration we have given a fair and loud enough warning.
If however, it goes unheeded and the present system of Government continues to
be an impediment in the way of the natural forces that are swelling up, a grim
struggle must ensue involving the overthrow of all obstacles and the
establishment of dictatorship of the proletariat to pave the way for the
consummation of the ideal of revolution. Revolution is the inalienable right of
mankind. Freedom is the imprescriptible birth-right of all.
The labourer is the real sustainer of society.
The
sovereignty of the people is the ultimate destiny of the workers. For these
ideals and for this faith we shall welcome any suffering to which we may be
condemned. To the altar of this revolution we have brought our youth as
incense, for no sacrifice is too great for so magnificent a cause. We are
content to await the advent of revolution, Long Live Revolution."
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