Last Letter from Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, India’s Invincible Martyrs – Shoot Us, Don’t Hang Us

Editor’s Note – This famous letter dated March 20^th, 1931, was written by India’s invincible martyrs – Sardar Bhagat Singh, Shivram Hariram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar, three days before they were brutally and unjustly hanged on March 23^rd, 1931. This short piece of prose is a must read for every Indian to understand the spirit of our fearless revolutionaries and the endless sacrifices that are a hallmark of India’s long and arduous struggle for Independence.

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March 23^rd is observed as Shaheed Diwas (Shahid Diwas) in memory of these brave freedom fighters.

Text of the Last Letter from Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, India’s Invincible Martyrs – Shoot Us, Don’t Hang Us

To
Governor
Punjab.

Sir,

With due respect we beg to bring to your kind notice the following:

That we were sentenced to death on 7th October 1930 by a British Court, L.C.C. Tribunal, constituted under the Sp. Lahore Conspiracy Case Ordinance, Promulgated by H.E. The Viceroy, the Head of the British Government of India, and that the main charge against us was that of having waged war against H.M. King George, the King of England.

The above-mentioned finding of the Court pre-supposed two things:

Firstly, that there exists a state of war between the British nation and the Indian nation and, secondly, that we had actually participated in that war and were therefore war prisoners.

The second pre-supposition seems to be a little bit flattering, but nevertheless it is too tempting to resist the desire of acquiescence in it.

As regards the first, we are constrained to go into some detail. Apparently, there seems to be no such war as the phrase indicates. Nevertheless, please allow us to accept the validity of the pre-supposition taking it at its face value. But in order to be correctly understood, we must explain it further. Let us declare that the state of war does exist and shall exist so long as the Indian toiling masses and the natural resources are being exploited by a handful of parasites. They may be purely British capitalist or mixed British and Indian or even purely Indian. They may be carrying on their insidious exploitation through mixed or even on purely Indian bureaucratic apparatus. All these things make no difference. No matter, if your Government tries and succeeds in winning over the leaders of the upper strata of the Indian society through petty concessions and compromises and thereby causes a temporary demoralization in the main body of the forces. No matter, if once again the vanguard of the Indian movement, the Revolutionary Party, finds itself deserted in the thick of the war. No matter if the leaders to whom personally we are much indebted for the sympathy and feelings they expressed for us, but nevertheless we cannot overlook the fact that they did become so callous as to ignore and not to make a mention in the peace negotiation of even the homeless, friendless and penniless female workers who are alleged to be belonging to the vanguard and whom the leaders consider to be enemies of their utopian, non-violent cult which has already become a thing of the past; the heroines who had ungrudgingly sacrificed or offered for sacrifice their husbands, brothers, and all that were nearest and dearest to them, including themselves, whom your government has declared to be outlaws. No matter, if your agents stoop so low as to fabricate baseless calumnies against their spotless characters to damage their and their party’s reputation. The war shall continue.

It may assume different shapes at different times. It may become now open, now hidden, now purely agitational, now fierce life and death struggle. The choice of the course, whether bloody or comparatively peaceful, which it should adopt, rests with you. Choose whichever you like but that war shall be incessantly waged without taking into consideration the petty (illegible) and the meaningless ethical ideologies. It shall be waged ever with new vigour, greater audacity and unflinching determination till the Socialist Republic is established and the present social order is completely replaced by a new social order, based on social prosperity and thus every sort of exploitation is put an end to and the humanity is ushered into the era of genuine and permanent peace. In the very near future, the final battle shall be fought and final settlement arrived at.

The days of capitalist and imperialist exploitation are numbered. The war neither began with us nor is it going to end with our lives. It is the inevitable consequence of the historic events and the existing environment. Our humble sacrifices shall be only a link in the chain that has very accurately been beautified by the unparalleled sacrifice of Mr. Das and most tragic but noblest sacrifice of comrade Bhagawati Charan and the glorious death of our dear warrior Azad.

As to the question of our fate, please allow us to say that when you have decided to put us to death, you will certainly do it. You have got the power in your hands and the power is the greatest justification in this world. We know that the maxim “Might is right” serves as your guiding motto. The whole of our trial was just a proof of that. We wanted to point out that according to the verdict at your court we had waged war and were therefore war prisoners. And we, claim to be treated as such i.e., we claim, to be shot dead instead to be hanged. It rests with you to prove that you really meant what your court has said.

We request and hope that you will very kindly order the military department to send its detachment to perform our execution.

Yours,

Bhagat Singh
Rajguru
Sukhdev

Disclaimer: There may be minor errors in the above letter given there were some non-material variations that existed in the sources that we used to extract this letter. Punctuation may not be in line with the original letter. Emphasis and highlighting are our editorial calls and not in line with the original version. We believe that this letter is in the public domain and are not aware of any copyright restrictions.

References:

• Singh, Bhagat. Bhagat Singh, Select Speeches & Writings. India, National Book Trust, 2007. (edited by D. N. Gupta)
• Verma, Anil . Rajguru – The Invincible Revolutionary. Publications Division Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.