Bhagat Singh's handwritten jail notes immortalised

Among a few things that legendary martyr Bhagat Singh had with him during his last three years in Lahore Central jail was a 404-page diary and a pen. They were his companions all through, during his highs and lows, his trying moments inside the condemned jail cell. Before the fateful evening when Bhagat Singh embraced the gallows at an age of  23 years, his thoughts had filled 288 pages of his jail diary. The rest remain blank.

His own handwritten notes scribbled on the diary pages immortalised him. Several decades later, his own handwritten jail diary notes will be published as a coffee table book. No commentary, no interpretation and no opinions, the book being compiled for release next month will be just pure plain original writings of the martyr. Alongside the handwritten notes will be a simple translated text in English in case the handwriting is hard to read. 

Yadvinder Singh Sandhu, the grandson of the late Kulbir Singh who was the real younger brother of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, said the original jail diary has been with them ever since Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom and passed on to next generation in its original form. “After the hanging, Bhagat Singh’s clothes, letters and the diary were handed over to the family. My grandfather and Bhagat Singh’s real brother was then just 14 years,” Sandhu told Deccan Herald.

He said the book has been “authored” by Bhagat Singh since it has just his own written thoughts and not a word of the writer. “This is first authentic notes retailed reproduction of his diary notes in his own handwriting. The idea is to help the youth interact directly with the thought process of the visionary martyr,” he said.Page No 16 of jail diary was a reflection of Bhagat’s resolve. He wrote: “Give me liberty or death --is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, almighty god! I know not what course they may take, as for me, give me liberty or death”.

On another page the martyr shares his vision about revolution beyond its stated defines. He wrote: “Our political parties consisted of men who had but one idea, i.e to fight against the alien rulers. That idea is quite laudable but cannot be termed a revolutionary idea. We must make it clear that revolution does not merely mean an upheaval or a sanguinary strife. Revolution necessarily implies the programme of systematic reconstruction of society on new and better adapted basis, after complete destruction of the existing state of affairs (i.e regime).”

Bhagat Singh made his impressions clear about the fate of wrongdoers whom he saw with little sympathy or compassion. He wrote: “We hang murderers not merely so that it may deter others, but for the same reason we kill snakes, namely because it is better for us that they should be out of the world than in it.”

Sandhu said his family had the choice of handing over the martyr diary to a government archive. “But how many youth visit such places? The diary truly inspires, and the youth cannot be deprived of it. This book was a dream of my late father and the nephew of Bhagat Singh,” he said. “A micro-chip of the diary is at the Nehru Museum New Delhi, and the original is with us,” he said.

Bhagat Singh was in Lahore Jail from September 12, 1929 to March 23, 1931, the day of his hanging along with Rajguru and Sukhdev. Much of the writings are in English with a few in Urdu. “There have been many biographies on him and many writers have presented their own views. In this format, there is no interpretation and that is intentional,” Sandhu says.

There are his notes on educational reforms, child labour, economic issues, international concerns, and writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, not in any chronological order. In the to-be-released book, Sandhu, who is also the vice-chairman of the All India Shaheed Bhagat Singh Memorial Trust, has included transcripts of letters written by Bhagat Singh to his friends and images from his childhood. It has an image of a young Singh with family, and a portrait of him wearing a turban. Also, there are photos of other revolutionaries, such as a full-sized black and white portrait of Chandrashekhar Azad twirling his moustache.
Sandhu cites another of Bhagat Singh’s handwritten note that perhaps tries to explains the choice of the decisions he made and its reasons. Bhagat Singh wrote: “Offences are committed through the influence of motives upon characters, and may be prevented either by a change of motives or by a change of character”.

A jail notebook of Bhagat Singh was first published in Hindi in early 1990s. It was also published in Punjabi in the late 1990s. A few years ago, the Punjab government had got it published during Bhagat Singh’s birth centenary celebrations.

 However, Sandhu maintained this is the first time that it will be available in the form of a coffee table book with 288 pages of all scanned version of the original manuscript.