Social activist Anna Hazare on Monday said that some “traitors” in the country have forgotten the sacrifices made by the great martyrs Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. Anna, while talking to the reporters after paying homage to Bhagat Singh and other martyrs at Singh's ancestral village Khatkar Kalan in Nawanshahr district, said that the country was observing the day when these three martyrs sacrificed their lives to secure freedom for the country. “Par kuchh gaddar log bhool gaye hain. Jinhone desh ke liye kurbaani di, unhi ko bhool gaye (But some traitors have forgotten them. People who sacrificed their lives for the country have been forgotten),” he lamented not specifying who these “traitors” were.
Referring to present-day politicians, he said that they were only running after power and money. “Satta se paisa, paisa se satta. Iske peeche ghoom rahe hain bas (money from power and power from money. They are only running after that),” Anna said. Anna, at the same time, was optimistic that some youth still remembered the sacrifices of the martyrs and followed their path. He also expressed his concerns over the drug abuse problem in the State that produced “martyrs like Bhagat Singh”.
Anna arrived in Khatkar Kalan along the Jalandhar-Chandigarh highway, and paid homage to the martyrs. Paying tributes, Anna became teary as he gazed at a photo from Bhagat Singh’s childhood. Singh spent few years of his life in Khatkar Kalan. The village has the house of his maternal grandfather, which has been turned into a monument, and a museum in the memory of Bhagat Singh.
PPP SEEKS REVIEW OF CRIMINAl CASE AGAINST BHAGAT SINGH
People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) has called for the “reopening” of the criminal case of Bhagat Singh. PPP chief Manpreet Badal said that he would move the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking a review of the conviction of the martyr. “It will be befitting not only to the people of India but also to the legacy of the greatest martyr of the Indian freedom struggle that this case is re-examined via due judicial process,” he said.
Citing examples of Joan of Arc of France and scientist Galileo, he said that history was fraught with examples in which the court verdict was reviewed and reversed several years after the death of the person. Twenty-five years after she was burned at stake in 1431, Joan of Arc’s case was reopened and charges reversed. likewise, Galileo — whose case the Pope John Paul called a miscarriage of justice in 1979 — was exonerate in 1993, 360 years after he was sentenced to death in 1632 for saying that the earth revolved around the sun.
“It is a tragedy that India’s greatest martyr is still regarded as a convict in court records,” he said. Bhagat Singh was executed for the murder of a British Police officer, an assistant superintendent of police (ASP) John Saunders in 1928. However, the FIR registered on December 17, 1928, at the lahore’s Anarkali Chowk Police Station did not identify who killed Saunders.
The revolutionary, along with two other leaders — Sukhdev and Rajguru— was sentenced to death. The then Governor of Punjab had constituted a tribunal through an ordinance that was valid for four months, but the tribunal began its proceedings only six days prior to the lapse of its terms and barely recorded the testimony of 450 witnesses. It is also accused of not hearing Singh’s testimony impartially. The three were hanged in the lahore Jail on 23 March, 1931.
PUNJAB CONGRESS REMEMBERS MARTYRS
Punjab Congress leader on Monday remembered the great martyrs and revolutionary leaders — Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru — for their sacrifices for the country’s freedom. An impressive function was organised at Chandigarh’s Sector-15 Punjab Congress Bhawan to pay floral tributes to these martyrs, which was presided over by the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) secretary Gurpartap Singh Mann. Mann, in his address, said that commendable courage and conviction was shown by Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru during the struggle for independent India.