Veer Savarkar and Bhagat Singh

 

Veer Savarkar and Bhagat Singh

Dr. Vivek Arya

Communists are all the time spilling venom against Veer Savarkar and praising Bhagat Singh. They intentionally hides what was the relation between the two. How Bhagat Singh was inspired from Veer Savarkar writings and works? This article will throw light on this topic. When Bhagat Singh expired on 23rd March, 1931 it was a day of mourning for Savarkar.

Savarkar's house in Ratnagiri that always had the saffron flag atop it as a notable identifier had a black flag hoisted to grieve for the young brave hearts. Savarkar also composed a poem in honor of Bhagat Singh immediately after the news of his execution trickled out. The poem was sung in different parts of Maharashtra where tribute meetings for the martyr were held. Children in Ratnagiri also took out a procession singing this poem.

“Ha, Bhagat Singh, hi ha! You galloped on the gallows, oh hai for us! Rajguru, you ha! Veer Kumar, martyr in National warfare Hi ha! Jai Jai Ha! This ah of today will win tomorrow Royal crown will come home Wore you crown of death before that. We will take arms in our hands the ones with you were killing the enemy! Who is a sinner?

Who does not worship the unmatched sanctity of your intentions, Go, martyr! We take oath with testimony. The fight with arms is explosive, we are remaining behind you Will fight and win freedom!! Hi Bhagat Singh, Hi Ha!”

Four months later, Savarkar wrote another article in Shraddhanand,

reminding people of Bhagat Singh and his associates and their brave martyrdom. This was in line with the several articles that Savarkar routinely wrote in the Shraddhanand in support of revolutionaries. For instance, on 15 February 1930, he wrote a piece in support of the martyr of the Kakori case Ashfaqullah Khan titled "Janatecha Pyara Ashfaq' (The darling of the masses Ashfaq).

Savarkar and his works inspired revolutionaries across India. Bhagat Singh had the fourth edition of Savarkar’s book on 1857 secretly published in India. 46 There are references of how Bhagat Singh was deeply influenced by a small English biography of Savarkar that he read in the Dwarkadas Library of Lahore.47 Copies of the book were found in the course of the raids on all the members of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) who were accused in the Lahore Conspiracy case (1928–31), including Bhagat Singh. This fact is bolstered by a first-person account given by Durga Das Khanna in an interview in 1976.48 Khanna was the former chairman of the Punjab Legislative Council in independent India, but was a revolutionary in his youth days. He recalls his first meetings with Bhagat a Singh and Sukhdev. During their recruitment drive for the organization, they had met Khanna, spoken to him on politics and a wide range of issues to gauge his political orientation, and also suggested several books to read. These included Nikolai Bukharin and Evgenii Preobrazhensky's The ABC of Communism (1920), Daniel Breen's My Fight for Irish Freedom (1924) and Chitragupta's Life of Barrister Savarkar. It hence becomes clear that Bhagat Singh and his associates expected new recruits to the HSRA to not only read about the Russian Revolution and the Irish Republican Army, but also the life story of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

In fact, six quotes from Savarkar's book Hindu Pad Padashahi were noted down by Bhagat Singh in his own handwriting in his Jail Diary. The quotes are as follows:

1) Sacrifice was adorable only when it was directly or remotely but reasonably felt to be indispensable for success. But the sacrifice that does not ultimately lead to success is suicidal and therefore had no place in the tactics of Maratha warfare (Hindu Pad Padashahi, p. 256).

2) Fighting the Marathas is like fighting with the wind, is to strike on the water (Hindu Pad Padashahi, p. 254).

3) That remains the despair of our age, which has to write history without making it, to sing of valorous deeds without the daring abilities and opportunities without actualizing them in life (Hindu Pad Padashahi, pp. 244-45).

4) Political slavery can be easily overthrown at any time. But it is difficult to break the shackles of cultural domination (Hindu Pad Padashahi, pp. 242–43).

5) No freedom! whose smile we shall never resign. Go tell our invaders, the Danes, “That's sweeter to blood for an age at thy shrine. Than to sleep but a minute in chains!' (Hindu Pad Padashahi, p. 219, Savarkar quoting Thomas Moore.

6) “Rather get killed than converted.' This was the prevalent call among Hindus at that time. But Ramdas stood up and exclaimed, ‘No, not thus. Get killed rather than converted is good enough but better than that. Do not get either killed nor get violently converted. Rather, Kill the violent forces themselves and get killed while killing to conquer in the cause of righteousness' (Hindu Pad Padashahi, pp. 141–62)

An article titled “Vishwa Prem' published twice in the Matwala of 15 and 22 November 1926, Bhagat Singh had this to say about Savarkar and what he perceived as the latter's tender heart despite being a revolutionary: World-lover is the hero whom we do not hesitate a little to call a fierce insurgent, staunch anarchist—the same heroic Savarkar. Coming in the wave of world-love, he used to stop walking on the grass thinking that the soft grass would be mowed under the feet.”In March 1926, Bhagat Singh also wrote about Savarkar and his equation with his protégé in London, the martyr Madan Lal Dhingra:

The impact of the Swadeshi movement reached England as well and Mr. Savarkar opened a house called 'Indian House'. Madan Lal also became its member. ... One day, Mr. Savarkar and Madan Lal Dhingra were talking for a long time. In a test of daring to give up his life, Savarkar pierced a big needle in his hand by asking Madan Lal to lay his hands on the ground, but Punjabi Veer did not even say ah. Tears filled the eyes of both. The two hugged each other. Oh, how beautiful that time was. How invaluable and indelible that teardrop was! How beautiful that match was! So glorious! What should we know about that emotion, what cowardly people who are afraid of even the thought of death, know how high, how holy and how revered are those who die for the sake of the nation! From the next day, Dhingra did not go to the Indian House of Savarkar and attended the Indian students' meeting organized by Sir Curzon. Wylie. Seeing this, the boys of the Indian House got very agitated and started calling him even a traitor, but their anger was reduced by Savarkar saying that after all he had tried to even break his head to run our house. And due to his hard work, our movement is going on, so we should thank him! On July 1, 1909, there was a meeting at the Jahangir Hall of the Imperial Institute. Sir Curzon Wylie also went there. He was talking to two other people that was when Dhingra suddenly pulled out a pistol. He was put to sleep forever. Then after some struggle Dhingra was caught. What to say after that, there was a worldwide cry! Everyone started abusing Dhingra wholeheartedly. His father sent a telegram from Punjab and said that I refuse to accept such rebel, rebellious and murderous man as my son. The Indians held large meetings. There were big speeches. Big proposals moved. All in blasphemy! But even at that time Savarkar was the hero who favored him openly. At first, he offered an excuse for not letting the motion pass against him that he is still on trial and we cannot call him guilty. Finally, when the vote was taken on this proposal, the Speaker of the House, Mr. Bipin Chandra Pal, was saying that if it is deemed to be unanimously passed by everyone, then Savarkar Sahib stood up and started the lecture. Just then, an Englishman punched him in the mouth and said, “Look, how straight the English fist goes! A Hindustani young man put a stick on the head of the Englishman, and said, “See, how straight the Indian club goes! There was a noise. The meeting was left in between. The proposal remained unpassed. Well!

Quite evidently there was mutual admiration between these two revolutionaries—Bhagat Singh and Savarkar. An article published in Savarkar's Shraddhanand titled "The Real Meaning of Terror' was published by Bhagat Singh and colleagues in Kirti in May 1928. An article written by Savarkar expressing solidarity and support for Bhagat Singh and his companions was titled 'Armed but tyrannicaľ. A similar article on the name of the bomb's philosophy was published by Bhagat Singh's HSRA and Bhagwati Charan Vohra on 26 January 1930. The article was given final shape by Bhagat Singh in jail and was distributed across the country.

Now will the communists of our country accept this Truth that Bhagat Singh was inspired from the revolutionary writings of Veer Savarkar?