I was at MR Books buying comics for my sister when I saw this slim book and picked it up. It is Bhagat Singh's (September 27, 1907-March 23, 1931) essay on why he is an atheist. It is written at a time when he is facing death by hanging for the murder of policemen John Saunders and Channan Singh and the symbolic bombing of unoccupied seats of the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajuguru, members of HSRA (Hindustan Socialist Republican Association) were hanged, based on the testimony of a HSRA member Hansraj Vohra. The three revolutionaries were hanged at Lahore jail, their bodies chopped to pieces, cremated and ashes dropped in the Sutlej river. Bhagat Singh became a cult figure as a 23 year old revolutionary who gave his life for his motherland.
Reading the book, which has other writings by Bhagat Singh - letters to his fellow revolutionaries Sukhdev and Rajguru, his father, petitions, messages to students and young revolutionaries, reveals his mind. Though born into a family with normal religious leanings, and schooled at DAV School where he learned mantras, his views changed as he entered National College, Lahore, and joined the Revolutionary Party. He read books by Bakunin, Lenin, Marx, Trotsky, Nirlamba Swamy on Marxism, Communism, Common Sense, to improve his knowledge and his views on God changed. As a fiery young man he believed in being real and uncompromising and believing in himself than relying on abstract ideas such as God. In his defence of why he is an atheist, he writes with candor and honesty in this essay.
He wonders at the very beginning that many might think his stand is based on pride or vanity. He agrees that people call his a dictator, inflexible with his views, a boaster and a sceptic. He says that pride and vanity are not connected to belief in God or Godly beliefs. A man who is proud of being an atheist and who has vanity of being an atheist, believes in the concept of God - whereas he does not. He fully rejects the idea of God. He says he needs no opiate to meet his end, has no selfish motive to believe in the idea of God so he purges his sins or gets a reward of paradise. He would rather listen to cold blooded reason - 'Instead of developing the ideas and experiments of ancient thinkers, thus providing ourselves with the ideological weapon for the future struggle, lethargic, idle, fanatical as we are - we cling to orthodox religion and in this way reduce human awakening to a stagnant pool'. He also says 'It's necessary for every person who stands for progress to criticise every tenet of old beliefs.' Words that ring true even today after a century.
He has questions - why did God create a world where there is no peace, why did he create man when we know all's not well in God's kingdom, a hoax that snatched the power of reason. He says that the Puranas are but fairy tales. He is against casteism, brahmanism, believes that religion is the creation of the privileged classes to usurp power and riches. Where is God when the British are ruling he asks. He quotes Upton Sinclair who wrote 'only make a man a firm believer in the immortality of soul, then rob him of all that he possesses. He will willingly help you in the process'.
Bhagat Singh calls out 'the dirty alliance between religious preachers and possessors of power brought the boon of prisons, gallows, knouts and above all, such theories for mankind.' He also says that 'man created God in his imagination when he realised his weaknesses, limitations and shortcomings.' He urges others to face adversaries with courage and valour, even on the gallows and says he will not change his beliefs as the date of his death nears. And he did not.
Even in jail he wrote letters asking for books - Militarism by Karl Liebnecht, Why Men fight (Russel), Civil War in France (Marx), Land Revolution in Russia, Spy (Upton Sinclair), Let Wing Communism and such.
In December 1928, Bhagat Singh and Rajguru shot dead John Saunders a junior British officer mistaking him for James Scott, a Superintendent of Police on whose order to lathi charge protesters resulted in injuries and later death of Lala Lajpat Rai. Bhagat Singh and Rajguru escaped on bicycles after shooting John Saunders while Chandrashekhar Azad, their accomplice shot dead policeman Channan Singh who was giving them chase. Hiding in a safe house for a couple of days the duo left for Calcutta under disguise, taking along with them a wife and child of another revolutionary to provide cover. They evaded detection and reached Calcutta. It was only in April 1929 when Bhagat Singh and Bhatukeshwar Dutt went to the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi and threw a symbolic bomb into the unoccupied portion, threw leaflets and shouted slogans and courted arrest were they found to be involved in the earlier murder. In court Bhagat Singh defended himself.
In prison Bhagat Singh went on hunger strike along with another revolutionary Jatin Das protesting against poor prison conditions. Das died after 63 days of hunger strike and Bhagat Singh carried on his strike for 116 days. He was carried into court as he had become weak. At some point he refused to attend court until the conditions were met - the court went ahead and held the hearings in his absence and sentenced him to the gallows ex parte.
At no stage did Bhagat Singh seek lenience from the court and all his petitions were only to clarify his position. He wrote to his father asking him not to plead lenience for him as it is against his principles and portrays him as a weak man begging for his life. He writes to Sukhdev not to entertain thoughts of suicide which would be seen as a weakness. He was not a fan of Gandhi's policies of non-violence - not that he encouraged violence - he valued human life but felt that symbolic gestures are important for the bigger cause. At all times he was fiercely patriotic, committed to equality among people, against casteism, for the working class, for women - every single progressive idea you see today. All this in a life of 23 years.
It was a very enlightening read.
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