Even after 70 years of Independence from the British colonial rule, India can never forget the great sacrifices offered by the great souls who took birth on its soil. Many Indian youth cannot even imagine the pain endured by the freedom fighters then, without any feeling of religion or caste differences for each other. The very souls knew truly, the value of freedom and they are the only first people of India who deserve to be called Indians.

But compared to them, the present generation, who has lost many of the freedom fighters after they expired due to age, cannot understand the struggle they faced. They cannot even imagine the taste of freedom which they felt at that time. Slowly they are forgetting these values, contributing to huge loss to the India society.

But yes, some of them who are held in high esteem, are still remembered and continue to remain an icon for the present as well as future generations to come.

The name that comes to everyone’s mouth when talking about the freedom struggle is Bhagat Singh. As of today, we observe the great sacrifice he offered to the motherland India, because of his merciless and illegal hanging by the then British occupying government. Yes, today was the same day when he was executed for the simple and basic reason every human needs it fundamentally. He was hanged for fighting against the British rule for his own freedom and for the freedom of his fellow brethren of India. He fought for the Indian Society at large. He fought for the Indian civilization and culture. He fought for each and every heart that is beating now and was alive at that time and in the time between. We owe a lot for him and others who contributed greatly for the society.

Many of us try to make him an ideal for nationalism. But we fail to propagate the values he fought for. Bhagat Singh was a Patriot as well as a humanist at the same time. Both the adjectives are complementary to each other and do not contrast. So for us too, there is basic lesson to be learnt as a citizen of this great country. Patriotism and Nationalism does not mean that we can exploit these ideals to achieve our own goals, crossing the bounds set for us as a human being. We need to understand Patriotism through humanity.

Bhagat Singh grew up in a society which was full of poverty with farmers and workers being exploited by the British Government. He saw the whole society divided along the lines of caste and religion. After witnessing these issues, he began questioning himself the existing state of affairs and tried to search for an alternate model to address those issues.

He was inspired by great freedom fighters like Guru Gobind Singh, Shivaji and many others. He observed the ongoing Russian revolution at his time.

Bhagat Singh once wrote in a book: “With no selfish motive or desire to be awarded here or hereafter, quite disinterestedly have I devoted my life to the cause of Independence because I could not do otherwise. The day we find a great number of men and women with this psychology, who cannot devote themselves to anything else than the service of mankind and emancipation of the suffering humanity; that day shall inaugurate the era of liberty.”

Bhagat Singh along with Rajguru and Sukhdev were sentenced to death in the Lahore conspiracy case and a verdict was passed ordering that they all be hanged on 24 March 1931. The schedule for their hanging was moved further by a total 11 hours and the three were hanged on 23 March 1931 at 7:30 pm in the Lahore jail.