Bhagat Singh Vs Gandhi

On this very day when we are celebrating our 63rd birth as a liberated nation, let’s remember two of our most spectacular characters of our freedom struggle, Martyr Bhagat Singh and Mahatma Gandhi. Both men are symbols of fearlessness but on their own ways. Bhagat Singh a proud revolutionist, Mahatma a staunch sathyagrahi. Bhagat Singh was an atheist; mahatma an ardent believer of the almighty. Their ways were different; means were different with one common goal to see a liberated India in their own ways. Both were critical of individual terrorism and realized the need for mass mobilization. Their principles were different, thought process was different, but one thing that was common to both of them was their unmatchable love for their country. Bhagat Singh kissed the gallows for the cause of his country, while Mahatma Gandhi was killed by his own country men in the country he helped to liberate. Both respected each other personally but did not believe in the principles of each. Bhagat Singh believed that “Gandhiji was a kind hearted philanthropist but it is not the philanthropy that is needed but a scientific social force”. Bhagat Singh followed Gandhi with all his enthusiasm for the non - cooperation movement, but after the withdrawal of the movement by Gandhi following the violence at Chauri Chuara he changed his path to revolution. After throwing bombs in the assembly hall, Bhagat singh and his comrade B.K.Dutt threw pamphlets which started like saying;

‘It takes loud noise to make the deaf hear’.

Then it ended up mentioning that

‘We are Sorry to admit that we who attach so great a sanctity to human life, we who dream of a glorious future when man will be enjoying perfect peace and full liberty, have been forced to shed human blood. But the sacrifice of individuals at the altar of the great revolution that will bring freedom to all, rendering the exploitation of man by man impossible, is inevitable.’

Mahatma Gandhi believed them to be a bunch of misled people dictated by the cult of the bomb.
Bhagat Singh wanted to prove Gandhi that the revolutionaries could endure the rigours of fasting and the torture of approaching death. He sat on a hunger strike wanting better facilities for the political prisoners in the jail. He resented to the acts of force feeding and continued his strike for 116 days without food. The youth who was considered to commit an action due to his anger and intolerance proved to the world that his heart was as mettle as it could be for anyone to imagine, giving his gutsy blow after blow against the British imperialism, this time though on a completely non violent act.
When there was mounting pressure from the people to commute the death sentence of Bhagat singh, Mahatma Gandhi wrote a letter to the viceroy, where he stated that

‘Execution is an irreversible act. If you think there is the slightest chance of
error of judgment, I would urge you to suspend for further review an act that is beyond recall.’

The request was declined by the viceroy.
Bhagat singh on his last letter to his brother wrote,

‘I was just one of thousands of Indians who, unmindful of their religion and region, were engaged in the battle to free India. They had been thrown into the same crucible. Together they were struggling and suffering for the cause. One day they will emerge victorious.’

After the death of Bhagat Singh there were wide spread agitations against Gandhi that he did not do enough to stop the death. There were youth all around with black bands on their arms and inviting Gandhi with black roses.
Gandhiji mentioned that he failed in his efforts to stop the death. He mentioned that the youth who were incensed against him gave vent to their wrath in a dignified manner. It was open for them to cause a physical injury but they refrained from doing so. It was open for them to insult him in many ways, but they confined their resentment by handing him a black cloth flower. They could have even thrown the flowers at him, instead they handed it over to him. This he considers has a legitimate expression of their anger. His head bends before the bravery of bhagat singh, but he wanted a greater bravery that will mount the gallows without injuring, or harboring any thought of injury to a single soul.
Gandhi believed that the British fights for life both against the revolutionaries as well as the non violent sathyagrahis. But it knows how to deal with the revolutionaries but is baffled by the non violent sathyagrahis who have already shaken it to its foundations. True he was.
I Salute both Mahatma Gandhi and martyr Bhagat Singh for their bravery against the british and would quote a verse from James Russell Lowell captioned freedom;
True Freedom is to share
All the chain our brothers wear,
And, with heart and hand, to be
Earnest to make others free.

Long live India with peace and Harmony, Vande Mataram.

- N.Maharajan