Independence Day is celebrated annually on 15th August. It is considered a national holiday in India as the nation got Independence from British Rule on 15th August 1947.
It is a day when the provisions of the 1947 Indian Independence Act, which transferred legislative freedom to the Indian Constituent Assembly, came into effect. British rule over 200 years in India. A lot of Indians gave their lives. The first freedom fighter to fight against the British was Mangal Pandey. Freedom Fighters like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, Subhas Chandra Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru, Tantia Tope, Bhagat Singh, Nana Sahib, Sarojini Naidu, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Kasturba Gandhi, Rani Lakshmi Bai, Sukhdev and many others are engraved in golden letters in Indian history.
Bhagat Singh was born in a Sikh family of Freedom Fighters on 28th September 1907, in Banga, Punjab India present-day Pakistan and Died on 23rd March 1931 in Lahore Central Jail, Lahore, Pakistan. He was 23 years old when he sacrificed his life for the freedom of our country. He was the son of Vidyavati and Sardar Kishan Singh Sandhu.
He was studying in the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic Schools System. In 1923 Bhagat Singh joined the National College of Arts in Lahore. His Siblings name was Bibi Amar Kaur, Bibi Shakuntla, Kultar Singh, Rajinder Singh, Kulbir Singh, Bibi Parkash Kaur, Jagat Singh, Ranbir Singh.
In 1919 the British ordered the arrest of Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlu and Dr. Satyapal. On 13th April 1919 Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar Punjab near Golden Temple a large but peaceful crowd gathered to protest against the arrest. There was only one exit and the other 3 sides were enclosed with buildings. General Dyer, the commander of Amritsar, surrounded the Bagh with his soldiers. He closed the exit and ordered them to shoot at the crowd. About 1000 Innocent people were killed. When Bhagat Singh heard about this incident he went 20km walking to Jallainwala Bagh and decided to teach a lesson to the Britishers. So he left his school at the age of 13. He participated in many processions and joined revolutionary parties Chandra Shekhar Azad, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivram Rajguru.
The Government of India Act known as Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms 1919 was passed by the British to bring out constitutional reforms in India. The Government had decided to review the report after every 10 years in 1929 However in 1927, the British government declared that a statutory commission should be appointed soon. In Nov 1927 under Sir John, there were seven members appointed in the team known as Sir John Simon commission however there was no Indian name on it. Everyone strongly opposed this. On 30th October 1928, the commission visited Lahore. Lala Lajpat Rai directed a non-violent march in protest and the protesters raised the slogan “Simon Go Back”. The superintendent of police, James A. Scott, ordered the police to lathi charge the protesters. Lala Lajpat Rai died after this incident on 17th November 1928. This incident created severe bitterness among Indians. Bhagat Singh and his friends decided to take revenge and planned to kill Scott, the British Superintendent of Police. In December 1928 Bhagat Singh and Shivaram Rajguru shot and killed assistant superintendent of police John Saunders. Sukhdev Thapar and Chandrashekhar Azad supported them in this act. In this way, they took revenge for Lala Lajpat Rai Death.
After this Bhagat Singh shaved his beard and cut his hair so that no one could recognize him. Bhagat Singh and his friend Batukeshwar Dutt threw a bomb while shouting Inquilab Zindabad in the Central Legislative Assembly on 8th April 1929 against the passage of the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill which would reduce the civil rights of citizens. They didn’t want to kill anyone, they just wanted to protest against it. So they threw it in an empty place and there were no harmful things used in it.
After doing this with a slogan of ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ they surrendered themself. He didn’t stop here. When he was in jail he observed that Indian prisoners were not treated well. Their clothes were not changed for years, there were rats and cockroaches in the kitchen, no pen, paper or newspaper were provided to them however the British prisoners were provided with all these facilities. In June 1929 Bhagat Singh and Bhatukeshwar Dutt went on a hunger strike. To break their hunger strike they were kept on an Ice block for several hours and they used to hit them with a stick. Forcefully they used to try to put milk in their mouth however they didn’t allow a drop of milk to go into their body.
After a few days, he was shifted to Lahore Jail. After which Sukhdev Thapar, Jatindra Nath Das, Shivaram Rajguru and the other freedom fighters who were in jail started with the hunger strike. For many days they were not even given water to drink. Instead of water, they used to keep milk in their pot. On 13th September 1929, Jatindra Nath Das died due to the Hunger Strike as he didn’t eat anything for 63 days. However, the others didn’t give up. After which the British government had to agree to all his conditions. On 5th October 1929 after 116 days the strike was over.
On 26th August 1930, it was proved that Bhagat Singh had committed a crime. On 7th October 1930, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru were given punishment to hang till death and the other freedom fighters were given life imprisonment. Instead of 24th March 1931, they were hanged on 23rd March 1931 at 7.33 pm. They were happy to sacrifice their life for the country and the last word they said was ‘Inquilab Zindabad’.
Today we have completed 75 years of Independence. We celebrate this day in different ways by doing get-togethers, singing the national song, wearing Tricolor, Kite Flying and remembering all our freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for the country. VANDE MATARAM. JAI HIND.
WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY
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