Bhagat Singh was among the prominent revolutionaries of India’s freedom struggle who laid the stones of freedom movement against British Rule. He was born on 27 September 1907 at Banga in Lyallpur district (now Pakistan) to Kishan Singh and Vidya Vati, to a Sikh Jat family. His uncle, Sardar Ajit Singh as well as his father were great freedom fighters and founded the Indian Patriots' Association. Born to a family of patriots, patriotism ran in his blood and as he grew up in such an environment, he has been a patriot since his childhood. The thought of being incarcerated by the British disturbed him but as a child he could not actively participate in the freedom movement. The Ghadar Movement left a deep impact on his life and his mind. Kartar Singh Sarabha, who was hanged at the age of 19, became his idol. The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre on April 13, 1919 made him to go to Amritsar, where he kissed the earth purified by the blood of the martyrs and brought back home a little of the soaked soil. He actively participated in the non-cooperation movement of India started by Mahatma Gandhi when he was just 13 years old. He openly violated against the British and burned all the Government funded books. He became despondent when Mahatma Gandhi withdrew the Non-Cooperation movement because of the violent incident of "Chauri Chaura" and decided to join the Young Revolutionary Movement. After completion of his primary education, he was admitted to the DAV College and there he was motivated and encouraged by two Nationalist, Jai Chand Vidyalankar and Bhai Parmanand, who managed to leave their mark on his mind. From here he started his actual journey of becoming a revolutionary and gave a new direction to the revolutionary movement of India. According to him, armed revolution was the only way to win freedom from the Colonial rule and discarded non-violence. In the year 1923, Bhagat Singh won an essay competition held by the Punjab Hindi Sahitya Sammelan and managed to grab the attention of the members of the Sammelan including its General Secretary Professor Bhim Sen Vidyalankar. During this young age, he extracted famous Punjabi literature and discussed the problems of the Punjab. After that he went to the National College in Lahore and there he came in touch with a number of revolutionaries namely, Bhagwati Charan, Sukhdev and many more. However, he ran away from home to get away with early marriage to Kanpur and there he met Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, from where his first lessons of actual revolution started. However, he had to return back home owing to some family problem but he continued with his revolutionary activities from his village. He went to Lahore and formed a revolutionary group by name 'Naujavan Bharat Sabha' and started thinning out the message of revolution in Punjab. Bhagat Singh dedicated his life for the freedom of India and joined Akalis and Babbar Akalis, who had organized Morcha at Guru Ka Bagh and in the same year he joined the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association at the request of Professor Vidyalankar, which was then headed by Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla Khan. He was elected as the general secretary of its central committee and was delegated with the task of coordinating the inter-provincial activities of the Association. In 1926, he together with Kundan Lal and Chandra Sekhar Azad, planned to liberate the prisoners of the Kakori incident but unfortunately, it failed. However, they did not keep silent and on the day of Dusherra, they exploded a bomb in Lahore and Bhagat Singh was then after arrested and prosecuted but due to lack of proper evidence of the bomb blast, he was discharged of the charges. In September 1928, a meeting of different revolutionaries from all over India was called at Delhi under the banner of the Kirti Kissan Party and Bhagat Singh was the secretary of the meet. The capture and hanging of the main HRA Leaders, Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaquallah Khan and others made him the leader of party, along with his fellow revolutionary Sukhdev. In the same year, he, along with Chandra Sekhar Azad, formed the 'Hindustan Samajvadi Prajatantra Sangha', which was aimed to establish republic in India with arm revolution. In the same year, the Simon Commission visited India under Sir John Simon to report on the existing political condition in India and since there was not a single Indian in the committee, the people of the nation decided to boycott Simon Commission. The Congress decided to take out a black flag demonstration as a protest and a huge procession, led by Lala Lajpat Rai with black flag greeted the commission. This led to a despicable offense and lathicharge took place, where even Lala Lajpat Rai was not spared and after suffering from serious injury, he soon surrendered to death. This again created a huge havoc among all the revolutionaries. Bhagat Singh along with Rajguru and Azad, decided to kill Mr. Scott, who was believed to be responsible for the whole episode, which led to the death of Lala Lajpat Rai. On 17 December 1928 while attempting to kill Scott, they shot at Saunders, a Deputy Superintendent of Police and he was killed. Bhagat Singh ran away from Lahore and went to Calcutta to escape from being caught by the police. He also shaved his beard and cut his hair, which was a sin for a Sikh. Along with B.K. Dutt, he opened a new branch of their association in Calcutta. In the mean time, the British government enacted the Defense of India Act to give more power to the police with the objective to fight revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh. The Act was defeated in the council by one vote but the Act was then passed under the ordinance that asserted that it was in the best interest of the public. As a response to this act, the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association planned to explode a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly where the ordinance was going to be passed. It was decided that Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt, another revolutionary, would throw the bomb in the assembly. The association entrusted them with the task of bombing in the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi and on April 8, 1929, to give result to the task entrusted upon them, they bombed the Legislative Assembly while in session. Bhagat Singh and B.K.Dutt surrendered before the police soon after bombing and constantly shouted Inquilab Zindabad and Long Live Revolution. They were then tried and were summoned to be hanged till death. Bhagat Singh along with his other friends wrote letters to the Viceroy to treat them as Prisoners of War hence to put them to death by firing and not by hanging. Prannath Mehta, a friend of Bhagat Singh, visited him in the jail on March 20, four, with a draft letter for mercy, but he refused to sign it. On 23 March 1931 at about 7.30 in the evening, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged in the Central Jail of Lahore. Birth:27 September 1907 Martyrdom: 23 March 1931 Achievement:Gave a new direction to revolutionary movement of India, formed the 'Naujavan Bharat Sabha' and 'Hindustan Samajvadi Prajatantra Sangha'
