A martyr who dreamt of egalitarian India

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 27

Enclosed within the 1929 edition of the Kirti Magazine issue was one of Bhagat Singh’s iconic essay Achoot Da Sawaal or ‘Question of Untouchability’, penned by a 16-year-old him.

It was a scathing critique on the age-old discrimination meted out to the oppressed and a vigorous exhortation to Dalits to arise! “So called untouchables, the real sustainers of life, awake and reflect over your past,” he mentioned.

Bhagat Singh’s call for Dalit consciousness and simultaneous exhortation against fundamentalism rings true even in the present times. Achoot Da Sawaal also bears an important reference to the Ad Dharam Movement of Punjab, led by Doaba-based ideologue and Dalit pioneer Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia, born in Hoshiarpur. With the help of Seth Kishan Das (a wealthy merchant of Boota Mandi) the headquarters of the Ad Dharm Mandal were established at Jalandhar.

In ‘Achoot Da Sawal’ Bhagat Singh wrote… “When they (untouchables) discovered that the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs were raking profits due to them (untouchables), they gave a thought to re-organising on their own. No one is certain whether they are doing so as a result of official prompting or at their own but once this line of thinking takes roots, this trend will be fully backed up by official quarters. “Ad Dharam Mandal” and the like are the end result of this trend…The answer is quite obvious; above all, it needs to be settled for good, that all humans are equal without distinctions of birth or vocation.”

Scholars today say Bhagat Singh’s constant exhortations on Dalits along with the Ad Dharam Movement have had a major impact on the Dalit consciousness in the state, the references to these however, are only found in academic circles and scholarly works while no prominent reminders are found in the mainstream political discourse.

Expertspeak

Prof Raunki Ram, Political Science professor at Panjab University and an expert on

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