# Bhagat Singh

Bhagat Singh (Punjabi: ਭਗਤ ਸਿੰਘ بھگت سنگھ, IPA: [pə̀ɡət̪ sɪ́ŋɡ]) (28 September 1907 – 23 March 1931) was an Indian freedom fighter, considered to be one of the most influential revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement.

## Quotes

Here are some of the best bhagat singh quotes "Inquilab Zindabad!" (Long Live the Revolution!) - This iconic slogan encapsulates Bhagat Singh's unwavering commitment to the cause of freedom and revolution.
"They may kill me, but they cannot kill my ideas. They can crush my body, but they will not be able to crush my spirit." - Bhagat Singh's determination and fearlessness in the face of adversity are evident in this powerful quote.
"Every tiny molecule of Ash is in motion with my heat, I am such a Lunatic that I am free even in Jail." - This quote reflects Bhagat Singh's indomitable spirit and his belief in the freedom of the mind and soul, even in the most restrictive circumstances.
* Every tiny molecule of Ash is in motion with my heat I am such a Lunatic that I am free even in Jail.
** Jail Note Book of Shahid Bhagat Singh (1929)
* One should not interpret the word “Revolution” in its literal sense. Various meanings and significances are attributed to this word, according to the interests of those who use or misuse it. For the established agencies of exploitation it conjures up a feeling of blood stained horror. To the revolutionaries it is a sacred phrase.
** Letter published in The Tribune (25 December 1929)
* Revolution did not necessarily involve sanguinary strife. It was not a cult of bomb and pistol. They may sometimes be mere means for its achievement. No doubt they play a prominent part in some movements, but they do not — for that very reason — become one and the same thing. A rebellion is not a revolution. It may ultimately lead to that end. The sense in which the word Revolution is used in that phrase, is the spirit, the longing for a change for the better. The people generally get accustomed to the established order of things and begin to tremble at the very idea of a change. It is this lethargical spirit that needs be replaced by the revolutionary spirit. Otherwise degeneration gains the upper hand and the whole humanity is led stray by the reactionary forces. Such a state of affairs leads to stagnation and paralysis in human progress. The spirit of Revolution should always permeate the soul of humanity, so that the reactionary forces may not accumulate to check its eternal onward march. Old order should change, always and ever, yielding place to new, so that one “good” order may not corrupt the world. It is in this sense that we raise the shout “Long Live Revolution.”
** Letter published in The Tribune (25 December 1929), with some reference to lines from Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson
* Any man who stands for progress has to criticize, disbelieve and challenge every item of the old faith. Item by item he has to reason out every nook and corner of the prevailing faith. If after considerable reasoning one is led to believe in any theory or philosophy, his faith is welcomed. His reasoning can be mistaken, wrong, misled and sometimes fallacious. But he is liable to correction because reason is the guiding star of his life. But mere faith and blind faith is dangerous: it dulls the brain, and makes a man reactionary.
** Why I am an atheist? (1930)
* Compromise is an essential weapon which has to be wielded every now and then as the struggle develops. But the thing that we must keep always before us is the idea of the movement. We must always maintain a clear notion as to the aim for the achievement of which we are fighting.
** To Young Political Workers (1931)
* It is there that our leaders prefer a surrender to the British than to the peasantry. Can you point out any effort to organize the peasants or the labourers? No, they will not run the risk. There they lack. That is why I say they never meant a complete revolution. Through economic and administrative pressure they hoped to get a few more reforms, a few more concessions for the Indian capitalists.
** To Young Political Workers (1931)
* Revolution means action. It means a change brought about deliberately by an organized and systematic work, as opposed to sudden and unorganised or spontaneous change or breakdown.
** To Young Political Workers (1931)
* Revolution is a very difficult task. It is beyond the power of any man to make a revolution. Neither can it be brought about on any appointed date. It is brought about by special environments, social and economic. The function of an organized party is to utilise an such opportunity offered by these circumstances.
** To Young Political Workers (1931)
* I do not mean that bombs and pistols are useless, rather the contrary. But I mean to say that mere bomb-throwing is not only useless but sometimes harmful.
** To Young Political Workers (1931)
* By "Revolution", we mean the ultimate establishment of an order of society which may not be threatened by such breakdown, and in which the sovereignty of the proletariat should be recognized and a world federation should redeem humanity from the bondage of capitalism and misery of imperial wars.
** As quoted in Bhagat Singh and His Ideology (1981) by Shiri Ram Bakshi
* I emphasize that I am full of ambition and hope and of full charm of life. But I can renounce all at the time of need, and that is the real sacrifice. These things can never be hinderance in the way of man, provided he be a man. You will have the practical proof in the near future.
** Selected writings of Shaheed Bhagat Singh (1986), p. 65
* If the deaf are to hear, the sound has to be very loud. When we dropped the bomb, it was not our intention to kill anybody. We have bombed the British Government. The British must quit India and make her free.
** As quoted in Awakening Indians to India (2008), p. 82
* The bomb was necessary to awaken England from her dreams. We dropped the bomb on the floor of the assembly chamber to register our protest on behalf of those who had no other means left to give expression to their heart-rending agony. Our sole purpose was to make the deaf hear and give the heedless a timely warning. Others have as keenly felt as we have done and from such seeming stillness of the sea of Indian humanity, a veritable storm is about to break out.
** As Quoted in B. R. Agarwala (1991). Trials of Independence. National Book Trust, India. p. 128. ISBN 9788123712598. Part of Bhagat Singh's statement during his trial.
* Non-violence is backed by the theory of soul-force in which suffering is courted in the hope of ultimately winning over the opponent. But what happens when such an attempt fail to achieve the object? It is here that soul-force has to be combined with physical force so as not to remain at the mercy of tyrannical and ruthless enemy.
** As quoted in The Sikh Review, Vol. 55 (2007), p. 173
* The elimination of force at all costs is Utopian and the new movement which has arisen in the country and of whose dawn we have given a warning is inspired by the ideals which Guru Gobind Singh and Shivaji, Kamal Pasha and Reza Khan, Washington and Garibaldi, Lafayette and Lenin preached.
** As Quoted in B. R. Agarwala (1991). Trials of Independence. National Book Trust, India. p. 128. ISBN 9788123712598. Part of Bhagat Singh's statement during his trial.
* Bombs and pistols do not make a revolution. The sword of revolution is sharpened on the whetting-stone of ideas.
** Quotations by 60 Greatest Indians. Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology.

## Misattributed

* Inquilab Zindabad!
** Long live the revolution!
** Phrase used by members of the Indian independence movement, which did not actually originate with Singh. In a Letter published in The Tribune (25 December 1929), Singh stated:
       We are not the originators of this cry. The same cry had been used in Russain revolutionary movement. Upton Sinclair, the well known socialist writer, has, in his recent novels Boston and Oil, used this cry through some of the anarchist revolutionary characters. The phrase never means that the sanguinary strife should ever continue, or that nothing should ever be stationary even for a short while. By long usage this cry achieves a significance which may not be quite justifiable from the grammatical or the etymological point of view, but nevertheless we cannot abstract from that the association of ideas connected with that. All such shouts denote a general sense which is partly acquired and partly inherent in them. For instance, when we shout “Long Live Jatin Das”, we cannot and do not mean thereby that Das should Physically be alive. What we mean by that shout is that the noble ideal of his life, the indomitable spirit which enabled that great martyr to bear such untold suffering and to make the extreme sacrifice for that we may show the same unfailing courage in persuance of our ideal. It is that spirit that we allude to.

## Quotes about Singh

* We may conclude that Bhagat Singh cannot serve as an example to be emulated by today's Indians. His political-economic vision, still inarticulate, was to prove wrong. His strategy was not the best for his country at that time, though it deserved a more nuanced judgment than Gandhiji's condemnation. His love of his nation, however, was genuine and heartfelt. His acts were morally ambiguous but undoubtedly patriotic and heroic. It is in that sense that Bhagat Singh must be remembered.
** Elst, K. 2013, Bhagat Singh, the revolutionary (Law Animated World, Hyderabad, 15 March 2013)