In the 6th episode of the series ‘Therefore we are free’, read the story of Delhi Central Assembly Blast-1929 …
On hearing the name Bhagat Singh, the picture of a young man with a mustache standing in a hat comes in front of his eyes. The story of drawing this picture is also interesting. 4 days before the Central Assembly bombing, i.e. on 4 April 1929, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt reached Ramnath Photographers at Kashmere Gate, Delhi, avoiding the eyes of the police. Jaidev Kapoor, a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), gave a special instruction to the photographer – ‘Our friend is going away from us, we need a very good picture of him.’
When Bhagat Singh reached the studio, he was wearing a khaki shirt and a felt hat on his head. In this dress, he was about to carry out the bomb blast. Along with carrying out the incident in his mind, the coverage of his newspapers was also drawn. It was the brainchild of Bhagat Singh. Taking the responsibility of revolutionary activities, he wanted to take it to the common man.
Today, after 93 years, I am standing at the same Kashmiri Gate, which has been a witness to revolutionary activities. Those selling the poster of Bhagat Singh on the roadside have no idea that this picture was first clicked here.
On the morning of the assembly blast, when the revolutionaries met for the last time,
Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt had already started doing Reiki 3-4 days before the Delhi Assembly. Sitting in the public gallery of the assembly, he had decided where the empty space was and where the bombs were to be dropped.
Date 8 April 1929. Morning time Morning walkers in Delhi’s Qudsia Park were coming and going as usual. The last meeting of the revolutionaries with Bhagat Singh was going to take place in this park. Bhagat Singh’s accomplice Sukhdev was aware of the entire planning of the assembly blast and the dangers involved. Therefore, Bhagat Singh called Durga Bhabhi and some revolutionaries from Lahore to Delhi on some pretext.
Qudsia Park in Delhi. This is the same place where Bhagat Singh, BK Dutt, Sukhdev and Durga Bhabhi had their last meeting.
Durga Bhabhi is the same with whom Bhagat Singh eloped after killing Saunders in Lahore. Durga Bhabhi had brought oranges and rasgulla for Bhagat Singh. Bhagat Singh loved Rasgulla very much.
See the discipline of the revolutionaries that even after this meeting, Durga Bhabhi did not even know what Bhagat Singh was going to do today. In HSRA, it was a rule that only the members of the core group were told about the big and important planning matters.
Even today the old trees in Qudsia Park are witness to that meeting of the revolutionaries. The building built in the garden is almost in ruins, but there is not even a board attached to the memory of Bhagat Singh. Alam is that even those who come here do not know that this is the historical place of meeting of the revolutionaries.
Bhagat Singh, BK Dutt Sukhdev and Durga Bhabhi are sitting and talking in Qudsia Park. Along with this, rasgulla and oranges are also being eaten. Illustration: Gautam Chakraborty
Like today’s Parliament, there was an uproar over two bills
. After the last meeting with Durga Bhabhi, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt got ready to go to the Delhi Assembly Hall. What is today Parliament House, in 1929 it was called Council House. In this council house was the assembly hall, which is today’s Lok Sabha. Today, when there is a ruckus in Parliament on issues like inflation and GST, 93 years ago the ‘Trade Dispute Bill’ and ‘Public Safety Bill’ were being discussed here.
There was tremendous anger among the revolutionaries about both these bills. The ‘Trade Dispute Bill’ had already been passed, under which strikes of workers were banned. At the same time, through the ‘Public Safety Bill’, the British government could keep the suspects in custody without trial. This bill was brought to crack down on those who raised the voice of independence.
Bhagat Singh wanted to give a message to the workers, farmers and youth by blasting the assembly hall. The passes had already been arranged to enter the assembly hall.
Today’s Parliament House. 93 years ago Bhagat Singh and BK Dutt threw a bomb here. It was then called the Council House.
April 8, 1929, the time of 11 o’clock in the morning. Shortly before the assembly proceedings began, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt entered. Bhagat Singh was wearing a khaki colored shirt and half pants. A gray coat was worn over the shirt. On his head was an English felt hat. It is said that he bought this hat from a shop in Lahore.
Both the revolutionaries had already done Reiki, so everything had to go according to planning. Without haste, both were listening to the proceedings of the House and were waiting for the occasion.
Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt listening to the proceedings of the House before the bombing. Bhagat Singh is in a gray coat and an English felt hat. Illustration: Gautam Chakraborty
It’s about 12:30 in the afternoon. Central Assembly Speaker Vitthalbhai Patel stood up to announce the results of the voting of both the bills. Then two bombs fell on the vacant places of the House and one after the other, there were two loud explosions. There was chaos all around. The assembly resonated with the slogans of ‘Inquilab Zindabad, Imperialism Murdabad’. Those pink colored pamphlets started flying in the air, which were prepared by HSRA colleagues under their planning.
Bhagat Singh’s full-sleeved khaki colored shirt with an Italian collar. Wearing this shirt, Bhagat Singh entered the Delhi Assembly. (Photo: Supreme Court)
Sir John Simon, Motilal Nehru, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, RM Jayakar and NC Kelkar were also present in the House at the time of the blast. It was almost certain that the British would get both the bills passed.
Durgadas was present in this house as a journalist. On hearing the sound of the blast, he ran towards the press room, so that the news of this blast could be conveyed to the world. He got the message detected to inform foreign news agencies about the incident, but the police immediately closed the main door of the assembly, showing strictness.
Seeing the empty space in the assembly, Bhagat Singh threw a bomb and started raising slogans of Inquilab Zindabad. Together Batukeshwar Dutt is tossing HSRA pamphlets. Illustration: Gautam Chakraborty
Immediately after the blast, Bhagat Singh fired with the same pistol that killed Saunders, a British officer. After the chaos, there was a stampede, there was such a crowd that Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt could easily run away, but the HSRA’s plan was to arrest them.
Whatever revolutionary incidents took place before the bombing, whether it was the Kakori incident or the murder of Saunders, it had negative coverage in the media. The revolutionaries wanted that this time their action should get a face and they should take responsibility for their actions.
After this, from the police action to the action of the courts, your views should be placed so strongly so that it is covered in the media and can generate sympathy for the revolutionary movement among the common people.
The pamphlets that were tossed after the bombing in the Delhi Assembly read: ‘The deaf need a loud bang to hear.’ The first word of this pamphlet was ‘Notice.’ Finally the name of Commander-in-Chief Balraj was registered.
After the incident, Batukeshwar Dutt was taken to New Delhi police station and Bhagat Singh was brought to Daryaganj police station. The Chief Commissioner of Delhi Police wrote to the Home Secretary, ‘As per the report received from the SP of Delhi on the blasts in the assembly this afternoon, the two men who threw the bombs did not make any effort to escape. Bhagat Singh said that he is responsible for the blasts.
Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar are named in this FIR written in Urdu. This FIR was registered at New Delhi Police Station during the assembly bomb case (Photo- Supreme Court)
Date 9 April 1929. On the second day of the blast, there was a lot of media coverage of this incident. A newspaper wrote- ‘Red warning to the government. You can kill people, not ideas.’ Hindustan Times gave full print of HSRA’s red leaflet. According to the planning of the revolutionaries, people were now recognizing their rebellion. For about two years, newspapers across the country kept publishing about Bhagat Singh and his associates.
The Delhi Assembly bomb case also went on in the court. During this, Bhagat Singh was imprisoned in the basement of the then Vice Regal Lodge in Delhi. Today this place is the Vice Chancellor’s Office of Delhi University. The eight by ten room in which Bhagat Singh was imprisoned is still safe. There is a cot lying in that room and there is a picture of Bhagat Singh on the wall.
Delhi University VC’s office. In the British era, this building was known as Vice Regal Lodge.
Historian S Irfan Habib, who did research on Bhagat Singh, says that the bomb used by Bhagat Singh was not meant to kill anyone. Their only aim was to make a loud bang. That’s why he threw the bomb after seeing the empty space.
Learned bomb making in Calcutta, prepared it in Agra and tested in Jhansi
A few months after the assassination of Saunders in December 1928, Bhagat Singh and the rest of the revolutionaries gathered at the Ferozeshah Kotla in Delhi. Here Bhagat Singh gave a message to his revolutionary comrades- ‘Instead of a thousand pamphlets, a far more powerful propaganda can be prepared than one action alone.’ The effort was to bring the movement to the hearts and minds of the common people. It needed a big bang.
After this the revolutionary reached Calcutta (Kolkata) to learn the technique of making bombs. There Bhagat Singh stayed in Chhajjuram ki Haveli. They looked for people who were experts in making bombs. During that time he got the support of revolutionaries like Jatin Das, Yatindra Ghosh.
Now these revolutionaries went to Agra. After coming to Agra, these people rented a small place in the asafetida market. A small library was also opened here. On the other hand also started making bombs. The bomb was tested in the jungles of Jhansi. The bomb was already designed for the purpose that it would only explode. Do not harm anyone’s life.
Who will give arrest by throwing a bomb in the assembly?.. Controversy over this The
bomb was tested and now the planning of action was going on. There were first suggestions that the Simon Commission should be targeted, but then there was a lack of resources. After this, all the revolutionaries agreed when the bomb was blown in the Delhi Assembly. Bhagat Singh put forward his name to carry out the action, but the file in the Lahore Conspiracy Case in which Saunders was murdered was not yet closed.
Chandrashekhar Azad was strongly against sending Bhagat Singh for the bombing. In the meeting, the names of Kanpur revolutionaries Shiv Verma and Batukeshwar Dutt were finalized for the bomb case.
This poster of Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt was printed at the National Art Press in Lahore. It was divided into different parts of Punjab.
When Sukhdev came to know about this decision, he got angry. He believed that only Bhagat Singh should go for this work. Sukhdev even called Bhagat Singh a coward and said that he is afraid to die for a girl.
After this, by writing a long letter, Bhagat Singh replied to Sukhdev.
‘In an atmosphere of happiness, I can say that the question on which we are discussing, cannot remain without taking our side. I say out loud that I am full of hopes and aspirations and filled with the joyful colors of life, but can sacrifice everything in times of need and that is the real sacrifice. These things can never become a hindrance in the way of a man, provided he is a man. You will get the direct proof in the near future only.’On the go, also know the story of Bhagat Singh’s photo,
Ramnath had already taken the photo of photographer Bhagat Singh, but even after the bomb incident, these photos were not ready. After the arrest, the police took a photo of Bhagat Singh in the police station and in front was the same photographer who had taken his photo 4 days ago. He immediately recognized Bhagat Singh.
Jaidev Kapoor did not know that the Ramnath photographers with whom he had gone to get the picture of Bhagat Singh had a contract to take photographs with the police as well.
Jaydev was afraid what would happen if he went to collect the photos and the police caught him. That’s why he took a pistol with him, so that if anything untoward happened, it could be dealt with, but Ramnath photographers not only gave photos, but also gave negatives as well.
Ramnath photographer had refused to recognize Bhagat Singh even in front of the police. After 4 days this photo was published in Bande Mataram newspaper published from Lahore and the face of Indian revolutionary movement came in front of the country.
Reference:
1. Bhagat Singh Documents, Chaman Lal
2. Historian Irfan Habib
3. History of Modern India, Bipin Chandra
4. The Delhi Archives
