A revolutionary dies, but the revolution remains as an idea rooted
deep inside the dynamics of our daily society. The words of Lenin goes like this,
“ Man does not live by politics alone”. The
maturity of human being is itself the biggest bane to human society. A society can never be flat. Divisions and hierarchy,
is the sole functional aspect and the base of any utilitarian organisation. Great
people have scripted history trying to modify it by transferring the authority
of the society (which is synonymous to a organisation) to the masses. Their efforts
resulted in a more sophisticated structure, on which the modern day world is
working. As I stated earlier, division ad hierarchy cannot be eliminated from
the society, but the efforts of few great men have idealized the concepts of a
perfectly flat society, where the driving force for change is not constrained to
any individual.
60 years long independence is just a small time for a country as diverse as
India to be as developed as it is today. The preamble says, India is a socialist,
secular, democratic republic, and we proudly live by it. The progress of India
was scripted by some legendary individuals, whose ideas and values framed the foundation
and the mindset of modern day Indians. In a Gandhi- Nehru dominated history; we
tend to overlook some of the significant persons behind the socialist framework
of Indian constitution.
“The sanctity of law is maintained as long as it
is the expression of the will of the people”- Bhagat Singh. One key factor of socialist constitution is
abolishment of totalitarian laws, which many visionary, mainly Bhagat Singh
stood for. Bhagat Singh was one
of the foremost socialist thinkers of the country—someone who argued that the
country’s independence from the British rule would be truly effective if and
when the issues of class struggle are taken care of. In the short life that he
lived, Bhagat Singh transformed himself from an action-oriented teenage
revolutionary to a rational, socialist and democratic thinker with an
egalitarian view of society.
In fact, in his last
message from jail dated March 3, 1931, he said, “…the struggle in India would
continue so long as a handful of exploiters go on exploiting the labour of the
common people for their own ends. It matters little whether these exploiters
are purely British capitalists, or British and Indians in alliance, or even
purely Indians.”
“The story of a 23
years old youth, portrayed as a macho revolutionary (in motion picture and
social media), sacrificing his life for the sake of mother-land” , is heard
over and over again. But the real ideas of Bhagat Singh are yet to be truly
understood by India.
At a time when a
Hindu-right government rules the country, Maoist movements are widespread, and
social inequality rules the roost, a detailed study of Bhagat Singh’s
egalitarian ideologies, anti-communal stand and his indomitable fight to remove
inequality might hold the key for better times.
Source: The Hindustan Times, www.shahidbhagatsingh.org
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