Freedom, a word which
literally means “” the state of being
free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint””,
is a word that holds dear to all of us. As kids, when we learnt our lessons on independence,
we were told that our country first kissed the soul of freedom on 15th August 1947. A day when the
lives of our ancestors changed forever,
and was hoped it changed for good. I remember, as a kid, the only time I took
part in any dancing activity, was when I danced on the tunes of “Ae vatan, ae vatan, humko teri kasam”. At
that time, I didn’t know the meaning of any word of that song, but I cared about
it. I cared about taking care of the song because my teachers told me it was
like caring for my own country. And,
today, when I know the meaning of each and every word of that song, I feel that
we, as India’s countrymen, have stopped caring about it. For us, it's just
another song.
Today is not just another day. And, yes, today is not only
Sunday. Today is a special day in the history of our country. It’s a day when 3
individuals, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru and Sukhdev, laughed at their own
demise 83 years before. It’s a day to be proud of. It’s a day to understand
that the freedom which we have today is not because we are lucky enough
to get it, it's because someone fought for it, someone died for it. Freedom, as
simple as it sounds, is hard to achieve. And, someone provided it to us not
because he/she didn't have a choice, it’s because they wanted us to live in a
country we could call our home.
Bhagat Singh is a Shaheed to most of us. But, when I asked a
guy of the same age as mine who lives right next door to me, he asked me if he lives
nearby. This is Bhagat Singh for him. No wonder, he’s a revolutionary
terrorist, and thus not a Shaheed, for our Central Government too.
But, today , I will tell you Bhagat Singh’s views on some
issues which I believe everybody should know, quoting from the texts of the
book, “INDIA’S STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE”.
“Bhagat Singh, born in 1907 and a nephew of the famous
revolutionary Ajit Singh, was a giant of an intellectual. A voracious reader,
he was one of the most well read of the political leaders of the time”
“In the assembly bomb case, Bhagat Singh told the court:’ ‘’Revolution,”
dosen’t necessary involve sanguinary strife, nor is there any place in it for
individual vendetta(individual heroism). It’s not the cult of the bomb and
pistol. By “Revolution”, we
mean that the present order of things, which is based on manifest injustice,
must change”. In his letter from jail, he
wrote: “The peasants have to liberate themselves not only from the foreign yoke
but also from that of landlords and capitalists”. He said that the struggle in
India would continue so long as “a handful of exploiters go on exploiting the
labour of common people for their own ends. It matters little whether these
exploiters are purely British, or British and Indians in alliance, or purely
Indians”.
Bhagat Singh also saw the importance of freeing the people
from the mental bondage of religion and superstition. In his article, ‘Why I am an atheist’, he subjected
religion and religious philosophy to a scathing critique. He wrote, “Any man who
stands for progress has to criticise, disbelieve and challenge every item of
the old faith”.
The 2 most important views of Bhagat Singh were written
above. The latter of the above made me wonder that if someone hadn't challenged
the old age systems like that of Sati, Jauhar, etc, we might still be having
those in our society today, and we might still be saying, “Chalta hai. India me esa hi hota hai”. We would have accepted it
as our tradition. This a small example of how our life would be without
challenging the old systems which we feel are undermining the relationship of a
human with another human.
We, as citizens of this country, should understand that the
freedom in which we live today is not god-gifted to us. It has been given to
us so that we could respect it and we could protect it for our future
generations. It’s a liability that we should be proud to be made care takers
of.
In the end, I should just say that, “”Ghodi pe to sab chadh jate hai,
desh ke lie jaan sirf kuch hi dete hai”. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Raj
Guru were the special ones!
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