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

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7.15 pm. Monday. 23^rd 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.

A grateful nation pays homage to them every year on Shahid Diwas (Shaheed Diwas) – March 23^rd 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.”