Abstract
This study intends to explore, investigate and analyze the thoughts and actions of
Bhaghat Singh for the independence of India. It is generally narrated by some
writers that colonial Punjab was an easy going province of British India. Most
probably these writers have focused on the history of elite classes of India and
especially of the Punjab but they have not taken into account the resistance shown
by individuals and parties against the colonial administration. This paper aims to
fill an important gap in the historical writings of the colonial Punjab by utilizing
relevant primary and secondary sources. This paper focuses on the ideas and
struggle of Bhaghat Singh for the liberation of India and this paper will
demonstrate that if one looks through the prism of historical records one can have
a clearer picture about the freedom fighters of India who offered considerable
active and passive resistance against the British administration. The role of
Bhagat Singh from the platform of Hindustan Socialist Republican Association,
(hereafter HSRA) is the most significant one in the history of Indian nationalism.
He was greatly influenced by Punjabi freedom fighters and Marxist ideas and
gave a new and active life to the freedom movement. Bhagat Singh preached his
philosophy of nationalism through his belief that Independence for India could
only be achieved by a thorough cleansing of the exploitative nature of imperialism
and such change could only be brought forward by means of an armed revolution
in which he was successful as many Punjabis especially the youth tried to follow
his foot prints. A remarkable feature of Bhagat Singh which makes him clearly
different from other revolutionaries was that in perception of his acts of
aggression, he understood the fact that armed struggle would be useless without a
political ideology which propels the freedom fighters. So it is also significant to
study not only the resistance offered by Bhagat Singh but also to analyze his
political philosophy regarding revolution, resistance and socialism. This paper
attempts to understand Bhaghat Singh’s philosophy about revolution, anarchy and
class struggle, which have not comprehensively been analyzed by historians to
date, the paper is produced, apart from using primary and secondary sources, by
utilizing confidential documents released by Punjab Archives in Pakistan
Anam Iftikhar, Muhammad Iqbal Chawla. (2018) Re-contextualizing Bhagat Singh’s Freedom Struggle for Independence of India, Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan, Volume 55, Issue 1.
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