The sage rebel

From the present-day perspective, it is refreshing to read the freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose described as, of all things, “an emotional Bengali”. Historical figures are so insistently frozen in the mould of hero that observers of the past are almost apologetic about finding chinks in their armour.

But in July 1928, Bose had not yet passed into myth, and neither had a young Bhagat Singh, who, as a 20-year-old fervid with revolutionary spirit, wrote the essay Varied Views of the New Political Leaders . In it, he made a case for the youth of Punjab to follow in the footsteps of Jawaharlal Nehru and not Bose, even though both were prominent national leaders at the time. Bose, according to Singh, was a “sentimentalist” who wanted Independence from foreign rule, whereas Nehru was where the “Inquilab” was — a revolution that would not just topple British rule, but free India’s millions from economic and social deprivation.

Inquilab, the rallying cry that Singh and his compatriot BK Dutt raised after they flung non-lethal bombs at the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi in 1929, was more than a slogan. It was a covenant, a commitment to pledge their lives to the fulfilment of an idea.

S Irfan Habib

Executed by the British in 1931 at the age of 23, Singh’s legacy outlasts his brief and incandescent life. He is revered across party lines and geographical borders as a symbol of resistance, and a martyr. Yet, it is this legacy — like the legacies of many historical figures reduced to tokens — that a new book seeks to reclaim.

Inquilab: Bhagat Singh on Religion and Revolution (Yoda Press and Sage) is a new collection of Singh’s essays, edited by historian S Irfan Habib. The essay comparing Bose and Nehru is one of the many stirring ones that bring to fore historical events as lived experiences.

The key purpose of the book is to foreground Singh’s intellectual legacy, says Habib (65), during a wide-ranging discussion with BL ink in New Delhi. “Bhagat Singh has a legacy that everyone wants to appropriate because it is convenient. What is less convenient is engaging and respecting his ideology, his intellectual scholarship,” he says.

Not to be confused with the octogenarian historian Irfan Habib of Aligarh, the academic pursued research on the history and philosophy of science at the National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies, New Delhi. His long association with the freedom fighter began when he was a graduate student looking for a subject for his doctoral studies. He came across the work of the historian Bipan Chandra on Singh and was captivated. “I didn’t know much about Bhagat Singh at the time apart from the fact that he was a martyr.” The discovery of Singh’s writings turned his fascination into a lifelong one.

While he has spent close to three decades working on the history of science in India, he found himself returning to Singh’s legacy time and again. In 2007, he published To Make the Deaf Hear: Ideology and Programme of Bhagat Singh and His Comrades , his first book on Singh and his comrades.

Inquilab: Bhagat Singh on Religion and RevolutionS Irfan HabibYoda Press and Sage PublicationsNon-fiction₹295

“In Inquilab , many of Bhagat Singh’s essays are being published in English for the first time. Till now, they had a scattered presence in Hindi and Punjabi books, but nothing in English in an accessible and coherent form,” he says. The reasons for this have been many, with the first being Singh himself. On the run from 1928 for the assassination of the British officer John Saunders, Singh wrote in Hindi and Punjabi dailies under pseudonyms such as Balwant Singh, Agyat and Sainik. After his death, there was little effort to compile his scholarship as part of the wider freedom movement. Even Singh’s famous Jail Notebook was found as late as 1977.

The essays locate Singh’s scholarship in the context of the political nationalism of his time, and reveal the startling clarity with which he not just engaged with international events — such as the Irish War of Independence and the Bolshevik Revolution — but also viewed them through the lens of what India needed to achieve Swaraj in its truest sense.

After spending decades with Singh, it is admittedly hard for Habib to be surprised by anything about the young rebel, but there is one thing that continues to amaze the historian — Singh’s reading list. “I couldn’t believe that someone at his tender age was reading Spinoza, Lenin, Nikolay Bukharin, James Mill, Victor Hugo — along with Tagore and Rumi,” Habib says. “It’s mind-boggling that one could read so much, while on the run, mind you.” Pointing out how Singh didn’t just read but devoured books, Habib says, “It is fitting, then, that his last wish was to finish reading Lenin’s biography before being executed.”

Part of Singh’s misunderstood legacy is his evolving relationship with violence, which he would go on to categorically renounce; but his early political actions earned him the tag of “revolutionary terrorist”. Given how loaded the term is in the present day, Habib puts it in perspective. “When this word was being used in post-Independent India, no one found it objectionable. Today, terrorism is associated with indiscriminate violence. If one calls him a terrorist, one should also clarify the context in which this word was used.”

Has modern India failed the egalitarian, cosmopolitan vision of Bhagat Singh? Habib gives a wry smile. “We failed him over and over again,” he concludes with a sigh.