The library that shaped the revolutionary movement

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Strap: Founded by Lala Lajpat Rai in Lahore in 1921, Dwarka Das Library, now in Chandigarh, was frequented by Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev

Slug: Bhagat Singh’s 89th martyrdom day falls tomorrow

Sarika Sharma

“My Dear Jaidev,” lodged at Lahore Central Jail, Bhagat Singh wrote to his friend, “Please take following books in my name from Dwarkadas (sic) Library and send them through Kulvir on Sunday.” The letter dated July 24, 1930 lists a host of books, which Bhagat Singh wanted to read in jail. An accused in the Lahore Conspiracy Case along with comrades, the library, “the only library which fostered patriots then”, was his sanctuary.

The library was founded by Lala Lajpat Rai in 1921 and he named it after Dwarka Dass, an educationist and a former colleague of Rai from Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College in Lahore. He had initially contributed 7,000 books from his own library. It was a rich collection, considering that he had lived for eight years in the UK and America. Most books would later come from Ram Kishan and Sons, a bookstore in Lahore.

Lala Lajpat Rai had wanted the library to be the go-to place for students of economics and politics. And it turned out to be that. Since it was surrounded by colleges, youngsters visited it in large numbers. A major chunk of it was revolutionary and socialist books.

In a memoir, its librarian from those days, Raja Ram Shastri, who was also a comrade of Lalaji and Bhagat Singh, writes that he would arrange a lot of socialist text for the youth to read. Raja Ram worked at the library from 1926 to 1931. He writes that the library was frequented by Bhagat Singh and his comrade Sukhdev and shares several stories of Bhagat Singh and the library. Bhagat Singh was a regular member of the library and when he was being tried in Lahore Conspiracy Case, the police had seized records of the library too.

Raja Ram writes that Bhagat Singh would mostly read biographies of revolutionaries and socialist theory. “But he sometimes missed revolutionary novels and I would then go looking for them,” he writes. Some of the novels that he read include Maxim Gorki’s Mother, Victor Hugo’s Ninety Three, Les Miserables and Charles Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities. His other favourites included Upton Sinclair’s Jungle, Boston and King Call.

Bhagat Singh was very keen that the library reaches out to youth. Since it was located around colleges, he wanted to take to the hostels texts like An Appeal to the Young. Raja Ram says Bhagat Singh told him to read revolutionary books first and then share them with him and Sukhdev.

On April 8, 1929, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt had bombed the Central Legislative Assembly and famously said during the trial: “If the deaf are to hear, the sound has to be very loud.” The formula for making the bomb, says Raja Ram, came from one of the books at Dwarka Das Library.

“He asked me one day that if I know so much about books, get me a book that teaches how to make a bomb. I said it wasn’t my subject but would try nonetheless. I kept trying for three days, only to fail, but on the fourth day, I succeeded. It was a huge book. I think it Britannica encyclopedia. It showed a detailed method. He asked me if he could take the book home. I told him it was against the library’s policy. He then returned to note it down the next day.”

The library shifted from Lahore to Shimla during Partition and then came to Chandigarh in 1966. As then, it is thronged by students even now from the various colleges in its vicinity. A generation of old timers too finds a prominent place. Portraits of Lala Lajpat Rai, Bhagat Singh and other revolutionaries hang from the walls. The books Bhagat Singh borrowed find a special space. These can’t be borrowed by members, but they inspire make you think about the young man who took on the British empire and died to fight for India’s freedom.

Dwarka Das Library was a source of books for Bhagat Singh and his comrades even when they were lodged in jail. Given two-year jail term for giving a seditious speech during Salt Satyagrah, Raja Ram met Bhagat Singh in jail. “He told me he had been wondering why he hadn’t been receiving books from Dwarka Das Library. He said he now knew. He hugged me,” he writes and tells that they both had tears in their eyes.

I told him: “The books you read at Dwarka Das and the books we debated all night at the library, you have practiced it in real life. Along with you, the name of the library would be immortalised too.” This was towards the end of 1930. That was Raja Ram and Bhagat Singh’s last meeting. He was a few months away from the gallows.

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A glorious past, a sad present

Lala Lajpat Rai wanted the library to be a nursery of political thought and this is what attracted the revolutionaries of the time to it. Today, however, it is frequented only by aspirants of civil services and competitive exams. Alka, librarian at Dwarka Das Library since 2008, says, with times the profile of members has changed too. “We have a lot of young students coming here. Most of them are those pursuing competitive exams,” she says. Prof Chaman Lal, editor of The Bhagat Singh Reader, says this was the first library in India to procure books and magazines related to socialism and Marxism from all over the world. “It is a collective heritage of the country and is of monumental value. Unfortunately, the library that played a vital role in giving a new turn to freedom movement is in a shambles. It needs to be saved,” he says.