Out loud, quietly.

The Taste of Freedom

3425955_final“Merciless criticism and independent thinking are the two necessary traits of revolutionary thinking.”, were the words of a revolutionist who laid his life so his fellow countrymen could see the dawn of Independence.

The Jallianwala Bhag on April 13th 1919 wasn’t just an incidence but a carnage, a massacre that lead to the bloodshed of 1479 Indians. It affected a young Bhagat Singh as it would have affected any other Indian. Since then Bhagat Singh, a brave young soldier started planning on how to destroy the British Empire in India. Seeing such a merciless act from the British, any Indian would have felt the same rush in his blood, to slaughter every single British soldier alive. But Bhagat Singh rushed to Amritsar, kissed the earth that was sanctified by the martyrs’ blood and brought back home not only a handful of the soil but a heartful of courage and a mindful of revenge.

As many children who had similar thoughts, why couldn’t the whole of India drive away a handful of invaders? He then met two of such children Sukhdev and Rajguru  who joined arms with Chandrashekar Azad to form an army whose aim was not only to get the rightful independence form the British but also to make a socialist India.

What kindled the fire, the incident that acted as a fuel for the burning thirst of freedom in the young mind of Bhagat Singh was the murder of veteran freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai at an anti-British procession where the British police held a brutal attack. Bhagat Singh then made up his mind to avenge his death as he shot Assistant Superintendent Saunders instead of shooting Deputy Inspector General Scott where he dramatically eloped from Lahore to Calcutta and thereby reaching Agra and starting a bomb factory. The bombs were not to hurt anyone but to give a loud roar so as to wake up all the freedom thirsty souls back to life.

Meanwhile Sukhdev, a friend and a senior member of the army started dealing with the youths from all the National Institutes from Lahore so as to make the future India a stronger one. Along with Bhagat Singh, he actively involved the youth in the freedom struggle thereby ending the practice of untouchability and also fight communalism.

Shivram Hari Rajguru, who was a significant member of the army led by Bhagat Singh as he had a fearless spirit and an indomitable courage. He was there with the army in every movement happened in places like  UP, Punjab and Kanpur. He was a skilled shooter of the gun. In fact he was the gunman of the army, his significant participation was in the shooting of Saunders. He took a clean shot when Saunders came out of his office as he took a motor-cycle that would eventually lead him to his funeral.

“The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility  and the wings of Independence.” As rightly quoted by Denis Waitley, these people has given us the taste of freedom while they led their own lives to doom. Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were prosecuted for the murder charges and were given life sentence and were hanged on March 23, 1931. ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ were the slogan that echoed all over the country. The first person that pops in our mind when we think about Indian Independence is Mahatma Gandhi, father of our nation. But we also have to know some of these great soldiers who have laid their own lives at very young ages in the fight for the freedom and  for the betterment of their country and their countrymen. These martyrs were full of ambition, hope and always had the charm of life but they renounced it all at the time of need, and that is the real sacrifice. These martyrs were selfless in their acts, always acted for the goodness of the society. “I am a man and all that affects mankind concerns me,” was written by Bhagat Singh in his Jail Notebook.  As a salute to the martyrs who has given their lives for our freedom, the need to make India a far better country in the world lies on our hands. As young and spiritful minds, we all must take an oath to always remember and pay homage to these legends by uplifting India to a ten times of what it is now and maintain the pride of our tricolour.

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