Cultural Samvaad| Indian Culture and Heritage
Cultural Samvaad| Indian Culture and Heritage

Why is Shaheed Diwas observed on March 23? Shaheedi of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev

Garima Chaudhry - Founder and Editor - CulturalSamvaad.com Garima Chaudhry

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7.15 pm. Monday. 23rd March 1931.  Three of India’s bravest young revolutionaries, Sardar Bhagat Singh, Shivram Hariram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar were hanged to death by the British Empire. Loud and consistent shouts of Inquilab Zindabad were heard by those in the vicinity of Lahore’s Central Jail.

The unjust and cruel execution order which led to their hanging was passed by a Special Tribunal in the infamous Lahore Conspiracy Case. Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were convicted u/s 121 of the Indian Penal Code for waging war or attempting to wage war or abetting the waging of war against the King Emperor. The murder of John Saunders to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai was one of the charges on which they were found guilty by the Tribunal.

Read the Last Letter of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev before their Martyrdom

While the brutal order silenced the mortal voices of the immortal martyrs, the war that waged fearlessly with their fellow comrades did not end till India’s eventual independence in 1947.

Execution Certificate Bhagat Singh
Execution Certificate: Sardar Bhagat Singh

A grateful nation pays homage to them every year on Shahid Diwas (Shaheed Diwas) – March 23rd and remembers their supreme sacrifice.

सरफ़रोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है,
देखना है ज़ोर कितना बाज़ु-ए-कातिल में है?

Jai Hind.

Extract of the Famous Leaflet thrown in the Central Assembly Hall, New Delhi on April 8, 1929

“Let the representatives of the people return to their constituencies and prepare the masses for the coming revolution, and let the Government know that while protesting against the Public Safety and Trade Disputes Bills and the callous murder of Lala Lajpat Rai, on behalf of the helpless Indian masses, we want to emphasize the lesson often repeated by history, that it is easy to kill individuals but you cannot kill the ideas Great empires crumbled while the ideas survived. Bourbons and Czars fell. While the revaluation marched ahead triumphantly.

We are sorry to admit that we who attach so great a sanctity to human life, who dream of a glorious future, when man will be enjoying perfect peace and full liberty, have been forced to shed human blood. But the sacrifice of individuals at the altar of the ‘Great Revolution’ that will bring freedom to all, rendering the exploitation of man by man impossible, is inevitable.

Long Live the Revolution.”

 

 

Garima Chaudhry - Founder and Editor - CulturalSamvaad.com

Garima Chaudhry

Garima Chaudhry is the Founder and Editor of Cultural Samvaad and Founder and Managing Partner of Hiranya Growth Partners LLP, a boutique consulting and content advisory firm based in Mumbai.

A scholar-practitioner with deep roots in Indic Studies, Garima has been a visiting faculty member for over a decade at Mumbai University and KJ Somaiya Institute of Dharma Studies, among other institutions. She has taught diploma, graduate and post-graduate courses in Development of Religious Thought in India, Hindu Thought, Bhartiya Purakatha, Buddhism and Comparative Mythology. She regularly conducts immersive workshops on India's dharmic traditions, civilisational heritage, enduring values, stories and symbols for diverse cohorts across institutions and organisations.

Garima brings over 25 years of leadership experience across financial services, digital payments, eCommerce, education and media. She began her career as a TAS Officer with the Tata Group, working across functions and sectors including FMCG and Power. At Citibank, she held progressive leadership roles culminating as Head of Strategy, Citi South Asia — working with the CEO, South Asia and Asia Pacific office on near and long-term strategic initiatives. Garima earlier led the business team for Digital Marketing, ePayments and eCommerce across India, building one of the country's early digital payment platforms. As Director at Capital18 (Network18), she led investment transactions and managed portfolio companies across focus sectors. She also served as CEO of GreyCells18 (Topperlearning and Topper TV), where she turned around and scaled the company to a 150-member team and built one of India's foremost supplementary education platforms.

Garima holds an MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur and a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Statistics from DAV College, Kanpur.Her scholarly interest in India's ancient संस्कृति — culture — and her conviction that a native idiom rooted in India's own ethos is essential to equitable growth and sustainable change, is the founding impulse behind Cultural Samvaad.

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