Shahid Bhagat Singh: A Martyr for India's Freedom

Get to Know the Revolutionary Hero: 20 Questions About Shahid Bhagat Singh. How many can you answer?

🙏 ਪ੍ਰਣਾਮ ਸ਼ਹੀਦਾਂ ਨੂੰ 🙏

Bhagat Singh in Lahore, Jail, 1928. Photo courtesy: Indian Express

Legends are Immortal

Today, on the 23rd of March 2024, as we commemorate the Martyrdom Day of one of India’s most iconic freedom fighters, Shahid Bhagat Singh, we revisit our article, in the nature of a quiz, that we wrote exactly a year ago.

Born in 1907 in a family of revolutionary activists, Bhagat Singh grew up with a deep commitment to the cause of Indian independence. He was a prolific writer, a fearless orator, and a revolutionary thinker who challenged the colonial power and inspired a generation of Indians to fight for their rights and freedoms. Bhagat Singh’s life and work remain an inspiration to millions of people in India and around the world, who continue to struggle for justice, equality, and dignity. On this day, we remember his courage, his vision, and his sacrifices, and we reaffirm our commitment to the values that he fought and died for. May his legacy continue to guide and inspire us in our ongoing struggles for a better world.

20 question about his life and legacy

While we all pay homage to him and his two associates today, please make time to answer these questions about him. Even if you google for answers— for refer to ChatGPT4—, good — at least you will have at least something more about the legendary hero. Do leave your answers in the comments section.

1. Where and when was Shahid Bhagat Singh born?

2. Although caste of the free-fighters and those who laid down their life at the altar of freedom does not matter, what was the caste, religion and surname of the family he was born into?

3. What was the level of his formal education?

4. What languages could be read and write?

5. Was he ever married, engaged to, or otherwise romantically involved with any woman?

6. Where was he on 13th April, 1919, when the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre took place?

7. Did he ever meet Shaheed Udham Singh in his lifetime? If so, where and when?

8. Of which organisation was he the member?

9. Was he influenced by Shahid Kartar Singh Sarabha? Did he meet him in person?

10. Are his pictures wearing a hat, hair cut short and clean-shaven look derived from real-life photographs, or are they merely an artist’s imagination?

11. Does his last photograph, taken while he was in Jail should long and unshorn hair?

Super life-size statue of the three Martyrs.

12. When and where was he (and his associates) executed by the British?

13. When and where was he (and his associates) cremated after his execution by the British?

14. Give the full names of two of his associates, who were executed with him.

15. Give basics of the “Lahore Conspiracy Case”. Who was the British Police Officer he and his associates assassinated?

16. Where and why Shahid Bhagat Singh throw bombs? How many people died in the incident?

17. Did he ever travel to England? If so, when?

18. Did he meet Mahatma Gandhi in person? If so when and where?

Chandigarh-Mohali International Airport officially named after him.

19. Name some of the institutions named in his honour and memory, within and outside Punjab.

20. Are there any memorials in the honour of Shahid Bhagat Singh in the present-day Pakistan or UK?

Now, to the answers

I shall NOT give the answers right now; check out in a new article during the course of the day, around noon. In any case, some of the questions do not have a universally accepted answer. The idea is for you to spend some time researching on his life and times, rather than paying just a perfunctory homage.

“शहीदों की चिताओं पर लगेंगे हर बरस मेले, वतन पर मरने वालों का यही बाकी निशां होगा।” —

‘Inqlab Zindabad!”