March 23 is observed as the Shaheed Divas in India every year to mark the death anniversary of Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Hari Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar, the revolutionary leaders who were hanged at the Lahore Central Jail in Lahore in 1931.
Bhagat Singh, the charismatic socialist freedom fighter who proclaimed that “I am a man and all that affects mankind concerns me”, was born in Banga village of Faisalabad district, now in Pakistan’s Punjab province, in 1907.
His bravery to fight against the Britishers made him a hero of the Indian independence movement. Singh became actively involved in India’s freedom movement at an early age after quitting formal education at the age of thirteen. He left home for Kanpur after his parents tried to get him married.
In December 1928, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru plotted the assassination of the superintendent of police James Scott in Lahore to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, the nationalist leader of the famous Lal-Bal-Pal trio. In a case of mistaken identity, assistant superintendent of police John Saunders was shot dead. Singh escaped to Calcutta after shaving his beard and cutting his hair to avoid arrest.
In April 1929, Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt hurled bombs in the Central Assembly Hall in Delhi and raised the slogan of “Inquilab Zindabad!”. They were later arrested. In the Lahore Conspiracy case, Singh and his revolutionary comrades Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged to death on March 23, 1931.
