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Hail the rebel!

As K.C. Yadav brings Bhagat Singh back to the mass consciousness, ANUJ KUMAR speaks to the veteran historian

Photo: R.V. Moorthy

EMPIRICAL EVALUATION K.C. Yadav says Bhagat Singh stays relevant even today

History has its prejudices. It sees the larger picture, misses out on the blanks, ostensibly, in a haste to complete the equation. One of the glaring blanks is the understanding of the phenomenon called Bhagat Singh. History books are replete with encomiums on those who pleaded their way to freedom but there is hardly any work of substance on Bhagat Singh, who dared to take the Empire head on and made the supreme sacrifice at the age of 24.

Now in an attempt to set things right, in the 75th year of Bhagat Singh's martyrdom, veteran academic K.C. Yadav has come with 10 volumes on the revolutionary. Yadav has edited the volumes, six of which are already in bookstores, in association with Babar Singh, the nephew of Bhagat Singh.

Lamenting the present status of works on Bhagat Singh, Yadav says, "Nobody has tried to understand his ideology and its relevance today. Part of the problem is his writings have been scattered and most of the published work on him is in the vernacular. No doubt the films that have been made on him have succeeded in taking him to the masses but here again the scripts lacked authenticity. That's why we undertook a thorough research and chose English as the medium."

Marxist influence

Clearing the air on allegations that Bhagat Singh's vision was marred by confusion, Yadav explains Bhagat Singh started as a Gandhian who participated in the Non Cooperation Movement as a 13-year-old but Jallianwala Bagh massacre and Lala Lajpat Rai's death made him reconsider his ideology He soon came under Marxist influence and is said to be the first socialist.

In one of the books "Why I am an Atheist", Yadav has reproduced the pamphlet written by Bhagat Singh in the jail. "He was well-read and clear-headed. He didn't like the Gandhian policy of taking the movement to a height and then abdicating it. He believed in certain circumstances violent methods are a must. He was not only fighting for the independence of the country but also of the common man from exploiting classes, foreign or Indian."

Yadav says he touched upon issues like language, corruption, religion, which remain pertinent even today. Yadav agrees Bhagat Singh's his policy of not mixing religion with politics cost him at the political level. In his prison diary Bhagat Singh says, "The aim of life is no more to control the mind, but to develop it harmoniously; not to achieve salvation hereafter, but to make the best use of it here below... social progress depends not upon the ennoblement of the few but on the enrichment of democracy; universal brotherhood can be achieved only when there is an equality of opportunity - of opportunity in the social, political and individual life." Yadav adds, "This, however, didn't cost him mass support.

Freedom struggle

During his trial and after execution thousands joined the freedom struggle. At the same time we must understand Indians at large don't have the heart to go for supreme sacrifice. Gandhiji understood this point... people like Bhagat Singh and Bose didn't."

Yadav doesn't approve of Gandhiji's reluctance in saving him from the gallows. "He did not approve of his methods but he always maintained that his head bends in front of his courage. He tried hard. In fact, Irwin agreed but things went out of control when the British bureaucracy threatened to resign en masse if Bhagat Singh was set free."

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