bhagat singh

1907–1931

A militant revolutionary of the Indian independence movement, Bhagat Singh’s resistance to British rule and his early death raised him to the status of national martyr.

Bhagat Singh was born in the Punjab Province of British India, now Pakistan. He left home at the age of 16 to devote himself to freeing India from British rule. A socialist and atheist, Singh was inspired by thinkers such as Karl Marx to fight for liberation.

Singh believed that Gandhi’s politics were intended to preserve the oppressive British system rather than overthrow it. To Singh, in order to effect real change, violent action was required.

In 1928, Singh shot a British policeman he mistook for the officer responsible for the death of nationalist leader Lajpat Rai. The officer’s innocence led Gandhi and the wider public to condemn Singh’s actions. Arrested in 1929, Singh and his followers went on hunger strike to campaign for prisoner’s rights. With this, Singh’s image was rehabilitated into that of a revolutionary hero. In spite of growing sympathy for his cause, Singh was eventually hanged.

Singh and his followers planted nonlethal bombs in the British Empire’s political headquarters in New Delhi (below). They scattered political leaflets on the delegates, for which they were arrested.