Bhagat Singh
Date: 27 September 2025
Category: HOLIDAY
Bhagat Singh (born September 27/28, 1907, Banga, Lyallpur, western Punjab, India [now Faisalabad, Pakistan]—died March 23, 1931, Lahore [now in Pakistan]) was an Indian freedom fighter who was honored as a hero of the Indian Independence Movement after his execution by British authorities at the age of 23. He is also known as Shaheed Bhagat Singh (shaheed meaning “martyr”).
Early life
The phrase “Inquilab zindabad” (“Long live the revolution”) was coined by Hasrat Mohani (pseudonym of Syed Fazl-ul-Hasan), an activist and freedom fighter. Mohani, along with Swami Kumaranand (a leader of the Communist Party of India), proposed the idea of Purna Swaraj (“Complete Self-Rule”) for the first time in 1921. The idea was rejected at the time by Mahatma Gandhi, a prominent leader of India’s freedom movement.
Singh was born into a Jat Sikh family to Kishan Singh and Vidyavati. The exact date of his birth remains a topic of debate, with sources differing between September 27 and September 28, 1907. His desire to fight against the British was inspired by his family’s involvement in the freedom struggle, in which his grandfather, father, and uncles actively participated. In fact, his father and one of his uncles were in prison when he was born. Singh attended the local primary school in Lyallpur before moving to Lahore. There he attended Dayanand Anglo Vedic High School, which was operated by the Arya Samaj (a reform sect of modern Hinduism), and then the National College.
Career and political involvement
Singh was 12 when the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre took place in Amritsar, where British troops opened fire on a large crowd of unarmed Indians, killing hundreds and injuring more than a thousand people. This event immediately motivated him to fight for India’s freedom. He soon joined the noncooperation movement organized by Indian nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi to press the British government of India to grant self-governance, or swaraj, to India. However, he was disappointed when Gandhi called off the movement after an incident at Chauri Chaura, during which Indian protesters broke out in violence, killing 23 police officers.
While at the National College, Singh connected with members of the Hindustan Republican Association (a radical left-wing organization), which was later renamed Hindustan Socialist Republican Association on his recommendation. In 1926 he founded the Naujawan Bharat Sabha (India Youth Association). Singh also worked as a writer and editor in Amritsar for Punjabi and Urdu newspapers espousing Marxist theories. He popularized the phrase “Inquilab zindabad” (“Long live the revolution”).