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WITHOUT FEAR — Life and Trial of Bhagat Singh: Kuldip Nayar; HarperCollins Publishers,

1A Hamilton House, Connaught Place,

New Delhi-110001. Rs. 395.

TO MAKE THE DEAF HEAR — Ideology and Programme of B hagat Singh and His Comrades: Irfan Habib; Three Essays Collective, B-957, Palam Vihar,Gurgaon-122017. Rs. 250.

Bhagat Singh’s is a hallowed name in Indian history for his heroism, courage of conviction and commitment to freedom. The character and ideological content of the revolutionary nationalist phase of the anti-colonial struggle were decisively influenced by his intellectual ability and political acumen. His political career was short, for he was hanged by the British when he was only 23, but within this brief span of time he placed before the nation a revolutionary agenda, even if it was marginalised in the face of the hegemonic Gandhian movement. His martyrdom, as he believed, aroused the nation to intensify the struggle against colonialism. The birth centenary of Bhagat Singh, though has passed without official celebrations, has kindled interest in the life and ideas of this rare revolutionary.

Among the publications on the occasion are the two books under review, one by a researcher and the other by a journalist, which capture the complexities of his life and work. Irfan Habib’s (who is primarily a historian of science and not to be confused with medieval historian with the same name) account is a meticulously documented and analytical work which takes particular care to portray the political and intellectual evolution of Bhagat Singh as a revolutionary. The focus of this well-researched work is not on events, but on the ideological processes which enabled Bhagat Singh to espouse a revolutionary philosophy and a programme of political action. On the other hand, Kuldip Nayar’s is a revised version of an earlier publication which is mainly concerned with the mutual relationship and inner differences within the group of revolutionaries. He also devotes considerable space to expose the biased methods of the prosecution of Bhagat Singh and his comrades. In both the accounts the attitude of the Congress-led national movement, particularly of Mahatma Gandhi, towards Bhagat Singh and his comrades has received critical consideration. While Irfan Habib highlights Gandhiji’s reluctance to intercede with the Viceroy to save their life, Kuldip Nayar suggests that the British had already resolved to execute Bhagat Singh and his comrades, and Gandhiji’s plea at least to postpone the execution had no effect. For he argues that the British could “deal with Gandhi’s non-violent revolution but not Bhagat Singh’s violent one.”

Read together these two books provide a fairly clear picture of the efforts of the revolutionary nationalists to foreground a political philosophy and chart out a path of action different from the one pursued by the Congress-led nationalist movement. The central theme of Irfan Habib’s work is the ideological formation of the revolutionary movement in the shaping of which Bhagat Singh played an influential role. He rightly underlines the differences between the early and later movements, as expressed in the manifestos of the Hindustan Republican Association and Hindustan Republican Socialist Association. The former “did not use the word socialism even once though it talked about class struggle, of making exploitation of man by man impossible, of nationalisation of major public works and industries and preferred cooperative unions to private and unorganised business.” The inclusion of “Socialist” in the title of the latter was the result of adopting socialism as the ideal future order.

In the making of this ideological advance the influence of Bhagat Singh, who by then had become quite familiar with Marxism, was a decisive factor. The Association stood for freedom from the yoke of British imperialism, overthrow of the then prevalent system of relationship based on manifest inequality and exploitation, adoption of socialism which will sound the death knell of capitalism and the establishment of the dictatorship of the Proletariat. Given these objectives it was not surprising that the mainstream anti-colonial movement led by the Indian National Congress was not able to accommodate the revolutionaries. The differences obviously went much beyond the question of violence and non-violence as a means in the anti-colonial struggle. An important contribution of Irfan Habib’s work is his careful documentation about the influence of Marxism on Bhagat Singh and his comrades which led him to the conclusion that the revolutionaries “were gradually feeling, studying and thinking their way towards a scientific socialist understanding of the problems of the Indian revolution.”

The analysis of the social reality from the standpoint of class relations and class struggle which they undertook was a result of this understanding. They were quite conscious that the workers and peasants would not be able to improve their conditions until the capitalist relations were abolished. An assessment of imperialism which has some contemporary relevance followed: “Unless Imperialism is brought to an end, the suffering and carnage with which humanity is threatened today cannot be prevented and all talk of ending wars and ushering in an era of universal peace is undisguised hypocrisy... a World Federation should redeem humanity from the bondage of capitalism and the misery of imperial wars.”

Kuldeep Nayar draws attention to the tendency among the Sikh militants to equate their acts of violence with those of Bhagat Singh and his comrades. The comparison is odious. The Sikh militants show no respect for human life. Bhagat Singh, on the contrary, regarded human life as sacred, despite the attack on colonial officials as a political act. The best testimony to his regard for human life was the manner in which the bomb was hurled in the Legislative Assembly. The revolutionaries had taken care to ensure that nobody was hurt. It was not an act to kill but only “to make the deaf hear.”

The Hindu communalists’ attempt to appropriate the legacy of Bhagat Singh is equally improper. Bhagat Singh was an atheist who believed in secularism and there was no departure from it till he faced the gallows. The stereotypes have a tendency to persist in history. The tag of a terrorist which the colonial rulers attributed to Bhagat Singh continues to be used even today. But he was a humanist who believed in the revolutionary transformation of society.

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