Shaheed Bhagat Singh

One of the most prominent revolutionaries of India, Bhagat Singh was born on September 27, 1907 in a Sikh family in the village of Banga in Layalpur district of present-day Pakistan. The third son of Sardar Kishan Singh and Vidyavati, Bhagat Singh's father and uncle were members of Ghadar party. He was greatly attracted towards socialism. Believed to be one of India's earliest Marxists, Bhagat Singh was one of the leaders and founders of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA).

Bhagat Singh was deeply saddened by the Jalianwala Bagh massacre of 1919. Though he participated in the Non-cooperation movement, he was disappointed when Gandhi called off the agitation after the Chauri Chaura incident. He studied at the National College in Lahore where he came into contact with other revolutionaries such as Bhagwati Charan, Sukhdev and others. He fled from home to escape early marriage and became a member of the organization Naujawan Bharat Sabha.

Bhagat Singh was against individual acts of terrorism and gave a clarion call for mass mobilization. In 1928 he came into contact with another famous revolutionary Chandrasekhar Azad. The two combined to form the 'Hindustan Samajvadi Prajatantra Sangha'. During the Simon Commission's visit to India in February 1928, there were protests against the Simon Commission's visit to Lahore. In one of these protests, Lala Lajpat Rai was injured in a lathicharge and later on succumbed to his injuries. To avenge Lajpat Rai's death, Bhagat Singh decided to kill the British official responsible for the killing, Deputy Inspector General Scott. But he accidently shot Assistant Superintendent Saunders instead, mistaking him for Scott.

Bhagat Singh threw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly on April 8, 1929 and thereafter courted arrest. Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev and Raj Guru were awarded death sentence by a court for their subversive activities. They were hanged on March 23, 1931.

Get to know about some more Historical Figures:
Kanishka Harshvardhana Ashoka Chandragupta Maurya Babar Sher Shah Suri Prithviraj Chauhan Akbar Humayun Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Aruna Asaf Ali Mahatma Gandhi Bal Gangadhar Tilak Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Mangal Pandey