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Bhagat Singh

Indian revolutionary (1907-1931) · Activists · Died at 23

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At 23, Bhagat Singh was hanged by the British Raj for a botched assassination and a symbolic bombing - but the execution made him something larger than the acts.

Bhagat Singh is read about 1,642 times a day, in 44 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 1 November 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 400 days, one point a day.

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A life in dates

1931Died23 March 1931“It is there that our leaders prefer a surrender to the British than to the peasantry. Can you point out any effort to organize the peasants or the labourers?”In their wordsTo Young Political Workers (1931)

“Revolution means action. It means a change brought about deliberately by an organized and systematic work, as opposed to sudden and unorganised or spontaneous change or breakdown.”In their wordsTo Young Political Workers (1931)

“I do not mean that bombs and pistols are useless, rather the contrary. But I mean to say that mere bomb-throwing is not only useless but sometimes harmful.”In their wordsTo Young Political Workers (1931)

1930“Any man who stands for progress has to criticize, disbelieve and challenge every item of the old faith.”In their wordsWhy I am an atheist? (1930)

1929“Every tiny molecule of Ash is in motion with my heat I am such a Lunatic that I am free even in Jail.”In their wordsJail Note Book of Shahid Bhagat Singh (1929)

“Revolution did not necessarily involve sanguinary strife. It was not a cult of bomb and pistol. They may sometimes be mere means for its achievement.”In their words25 December 1929Letter published in The Tribune (25 December 1929), with some reference to lines from Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson

1907Born28 September 1907

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In their own words 4

,
Bhagat Singh
,
4 statements, newest first

  1. Compromise is an essential weapon which has to be wielded every now and then as the struggle develops.

    1931 · To Young Political Workers (1931), Own words

  2. Revolution is a very difficult task. It is beyond the power of any man to make a revolution. Neither can it be brought about on any appointed date.

    1931 · To Young Political Workers (1931), Own words

  3. One should not interpret the word “Revolution” in its literal sense.

    25 December 1929 · Letter published in The Tribune, Own words

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About this person

Bhagat Singh shot a 21-year-old probationary British officer named John Saunders in December 1928, mistaking him for the senior superintendent they believed responsible for nationalist leader Lala Lajpat Rai's death after a baton charge. Months on the run, Singh surfaced in April 1929 to detonate low-intensity bombs in Delhi's Central Legislative Assembly with Batukeshwar Dutt - no casualties, just leaflets and slogans and a deliberate arrest. The publicity exposed his role in the Saunders killing. A hunger strike in jail, which ended in fellow prisoner Jatin Das starving to death, turned sympathy into legend. Singh, an atheist drawn to Bolshevism and anarchism, was hanged in March 1931. Nehru later wrote that people forgot the act and kept the symbol: in the Punjab and across northern India, Singh became the Shaheed-e-Azam, claimed by communists and Hindu nationalists alike, lionized in popular art long after his co-revolutionaries faded.

Category
Activists
Topics
Activists
Type
Activist
Status
Deceased
Dates
Lived 1907 to 1931 · aged 23

Activists born in the 1900s 5

Ashfaqulla Khan51.1Shivaram Rajguru53.3Jatindra Nath Das52.6Komaram Bheem51.5Tiruppur Kumaran50.3