‘All traits of Bhagat Singh not highlighted

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 23

The image of martyr Bhagat Singh has been typecast into that of an angry young man holding pistol in one hand and with the other on a curl of his moustache. At least it is true for the younger generation, which is hell bent on flaunting his pictures on rear of their cars.

Undoubtedly, Bhagat Singh was a well read and intellectual person. We talked to many youngsters in the city to know how they felt about the martyr and his relevance in the current scenario.

A local youth Kabir Khan said, “One of the important legacies of Bhagat Singh is a sense of internationalism and global solidarity. This narrow framing of nationalism, which is promoted by the Saffron Brigade on his name, is antithetical to what Bhagat Singh stood for.”

He said, “Unlike what is pasted as portrait of Bhagat Singh on walls of Punjabi households, it was not the pistol, which he always had in his hands. That is hyper-masculine imagery, promoted by men, who suffered much insecurity.”

Kabir added that instead the martyr should have been promoted as an avid reader, a political intellectual and a true nationalist.

Cleary, Bhagat Singh did not become a legend just because he threw a bomb in the Assembly or he was ready to kill or die. Still there is not even a single poster of him in the market, which depicts him reading a book.

A first such effort was made by a Bathinda-based artist Gurpreet Singh, who painted one such portrait depicting Bhagat Singh reading a book ‘Mother’, written by Maxim Gorky.

Discussing Bhagat Singh, whose sacrifice inspired and infuriated thousands to join the Independence Movement in the country, youngsters hesitantly admitted that other traits of his personality were not highlighted, either deliberately or unconsciously.

However, another fact is that of all freedom fighters Bhagat Singh has held youngsters much in awe since Independence. Even Udham Singh, who avenged Jallianwala massacre by assassinating Michael O’ Dwyer, seems not any near to the celebrity status, which Bhagat Singh enjoys as is evident from his posters on rear of vehicles.