Ten Poems on Bhagat Singh

[(These poems have been sent to us, for publication in Mainstream Annual 2008, by Professor Chaman Lal, Chairperson, Centre of Indian Languages, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, with the following note:
“While searching for writings on Bhagat Singh, I came across some poems on Bhagat Singh in the P.C. Joshi Archives of the JNU, New Delhi. It was a pleasant surprise for me as these poems are collected from Home Ministry files. These are proscribed poems published in different Indian languages—Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and Tamil. All over the country, poems were published mostly after the execution of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev on March 23, 1931. Most of the poems were published in 1931 and proscribed in 1931-32. It seems the English translations were done by colonial officials in order to get orders from superior British officers for proscribing the literature. P.C. Joshi’s own comments are not there, but on one poem, it seems Joshi had written about the Act or Ordinance which was promugulated to proscribe these publications, which is referred to by Joshi as “extra-ordinary, extra-judicial powers verging on martial law”. It is a fitting tribute to P.C. Joshi to see his collection of proscribed poems on Bhagat Singh published in his birth centenary year, courtesy the P.C. Joshi Archives of the JNU, which allowed photocopying this precious collection.
“The tenth poem is a recent one by the celebrated Pakistani poet Fahmida Riyaz who, on reading about the controversy relating to the statue of Bhagat Singh in the Parliament House complex, wrote this poem in Urdu and herself translated it into English.” —Editor)]

Nine Proscribed Poems

Insaaf ka Khoon (Murder of Justice)

(Extracts from pamphlet in Urdu entitled ‘Insaf ka Khoon’, printed at the Narindra Electric Press, Lyalepur, edited and published by Pandit Shivlal ‘Bismil’, journalist, Lyalepur)

Long live Revolution
 Long Live Revolution
 Unparalleled Revolution
 Unparalleled Revolution
 Revolution! Revolution!

On this side heads for the sacrifice
 And enthusiasm to add,
 From that side tyranny.
 On this side silence,
 Revolution in silence
 Long live Revolution
 Revolution! Revolution!

On that side baton. Practice
 On this side indifference,
 On that side mischief-making
(and) excessive bragging
 On this side melting of hearts.
 On that side acts of high-handedness
 It is their doings that will bring about Revolution.
 Revolution! Revolution!

On that side acts of oppression
 On this side starvation
 Source of aspirations.
 Are these revolutionaries
 Who put up with rigours?
 Revolution demands rigours
 Revolution! Revolution!

When Bhagat, Sukhdev and Guru have
 Sacrificed themselves for the nation.
 Many a man will come to ascend the gallows
 Without fear and anxiety.

We want a Revolution
 But fight shy of rigours,
 Revolution of the youth.
 Glorious Revolution.
 The Russian Revolution.
 Asia’s Revolution.
 This Revolution of India,
 Is the Revolution of the world.
 That too was a Revolution
 This too is a Revolution
 Revolution from every side.
 Behold the Revolution is coming,
 Long live revolution.
 Revolution! Revolution!
LONG LIVE REVOLUTION.
[Home Poll. F. No. 13/IV A & KW./1932]

Bhagat Singh
 (From the Tamil book, Bhagat Singh or the Heroic War of the Gallows)

The 23 March, 1931
 The wretched day
 In which goddess Bharate’s eyes
 Were suffused with tears

The inauspicious day
 Which was responsible
 For all the Indian’s weeping aloud.

(The) day is an important
 landmark in the history
of the future war of independence

India realised her helpless
 Condition on that day,
 On account of the domination
By six erose of Englishmen
Over thirty erose of India,
Keeping the latter under subjection
And ruling over them with arrogance

That cruel day
On which were sacrificed
The lives of three selfless heroes
Can never be forgotten in any manner, by anyone.

The Duty of the True in India
 (Statement I)
 BOMBAY—from Mauji newspaper of Karachi, 26th May, 1932.

O ye Indians, rise against slavery,
 O youth, Mother is shedding tears
 And calls you to the field.

 The Firangis have spread out
 A big snare of ignorance
 Destroyed the fertile garden of Bharat.

Hearing the lamentations of the starving breathren
 The stony heart melts.
 Defame not the name of India like cowards, give life
 Like Bhagat Singh, Raj Singh, Sukhdev.

(They) taught the Tension of heroism to everyone
 and then went to the execution ground.

Now the innocent are suffering in Jail
 The award of patriotism is gallows
 If you have true love, O ye Indian,
 Strike at slavery, pull out its very root.
[Home Poll. F. No. 13/IV A & KW. 1932]

Piyara Bhagat Singh

(Extracts from a pamphlet entitled Piyara Bhagat Singh, compiled, printed and published by Mehr II in Hindi, Punjab Satyagraha Camp, outside Delhi Gate, Lahore, printed at the Sanatan Dharma Press, Hospital Road, Lahore).
ON COVER PAGE:
BHAGAT SINGH ZINDABAD! INQUILAB ZINDABAD! BOL BHARAT MATA KI JAI!

O pitcher don’t drown me midstream but help me meet (my lover)
 Dashing Bhagat Singh sacrificed himself for the country
 Dashing Bhagat Singh ascended the gallows laughing.
 (He) passed his love in love for the country
 (He) at last sacrificed his life for its sake
 Without caring for death dashing Bhagat Singh
 Made his own life miserable, in his love for the country.

They caused mothers to be invented
 They got children flogged
 May God cast his wrath upon them
 The bukkers did not show mercy.

The tyrants seized in India.
 Slaughtered with the blunt side of the kives
 Go and ask the widows at
 What happened at Peshawar
 Ever since the time they have taken India
 They have sucked our blood like lucks.
 The tyrants got Bhagat’s daughters
 This stranger (the poet) says with folded hands
 Brothers you should burn the foreign goods.
 [Home Poll. F. No. 13/IV A. 1932]

Bhagat Singh
 (Statement I specimens of objectionable books, articles etc. published in 1931, when no ordinance was in force in respect of which prosecutions were instituted or warnings issued.
Put before the Legislative Assembly in defence of Criminal Law Amendment Act 1932 incorporating all the powers of Special Powers Ordinance and more, extra-ordinary, extra-judical powers verging on martial law.)

MADRAS: Extracts from a book, entitled “Sutindra Nadam” by K.B.S. Mani
 (Bhagat Singh is) the lion that appeared on earth
 to render service to Mother Bharata.
 (He is) the lion that avenged the wrong
 done to the lion of the Punjab.
 (He is) the lion that said that victory
 must be achieved by means of war
 (He is) the lion that damned the Legislative Assembly
 as a pretence indulged in broad day-light.
 (He is) the lion that threw a bomb (deemed to be)
 an act of conspiracy.
 (He is) the lion that stood
 boldly on the gallows.
 (He is) the lion that departed
 from the world with (his) two comrades.
 (He is) the lion of India that relieved
 the misery of the poor.
 (He is) the lion that helped
 get rid of timidity.

Lutfi-Shahadat ya Teen Shaheed
 (Extracts from a pahmphet in modern Urdu entitled ‘Lutfi-Shahadat ya teen Shaheed’, compiled by Bharat Bhushan alias Aflatoon, printed by Bharat Bhushan at the Sanatan Dharma Steam Press, Hospital Road, Lahore.)

Inquilab Zindabad! Bande Mataram!
 Indian Napoleon Sardar Bhagat Singh,
 Rajguru Zindabad.
 Sukhdev Zindabad
 If for the sake of the country anyone applies
 The sword to your throat

Bow your neck laughing after
 Uttering: Bande Mataram!

O Britain what has thou gained
 By dismembering the dead body.
 They should have allowed some visible
 Relic of my Sardar to remain.

O Youngman! Why are you waiting
 For the Kindness of the Sarkar
 A non-violent cry for redress
 Never gets a hearing.

You should also bring your courage
 And bravery into play
 You have so far ruined
 Your lives in cowardliness

What hast thou gained
 By dismembering the dead body, Inquilab!
 O Tyrant! We shall make you moment a donkey
 After blackening your face, Inquilab!

O firanghi! We will give you the taste
 Of the tyranny you practice, Inquilab!
 What right have they to the country
 We state the truth.
 Little men like Aflatoon will
 Sacrifice their lives for the country, Inquilab!

O Indians rally under the banner
 Of Inquilab, Inquilab!
 You are how to go into jails, laughing, Inquilab
 Remember whoever will practice tyranny
 The sighs of the poor will blow him off.
 Remember, this citadel of sand will
 One day tumble down!

[Home Pol. F. No. 13/IV. A 1932]

Dialogue between Bhagat Singh and Dutt

(From the Gurumukhi pamphlet entitled “Virlap”, a verse on the execution of Bhagat Singh)

Dutt: how are you doing Bhagat Singh?Bhagat Singh: My blood increased by a seer
When I heard of my impending execution.

 Dutt: O Brother, your separation has wounded my heart
 Bhagat Singh: O beloved Dutt! Don’t weep
 I shall send for you soon.

 Dutt: O Bhagat Singh! I will die weeping, for you soon.
 Bhagat Singh: O my dear Dutt! Accept my last saluation!

[Home Poll. No. 13/IV A & KW 1932]

Qaumi Shahid
 (Extract from a pamphlet in Hindi entitled ‘Qaumi Shahid’ (National Martyrs) written by Bismal, printed by Ram Prasad of Kandan Printing Press, Lahore and published by Ram Prasad, publisher and bookseller)
(From statement I specimen of objectionable articles, books, etc. published in 1931 when no Ordinance was in force in respect of which prosecutions were instituted or warnings of prosecution issued—plea for amending the criminal law and for Criminal Law Amendment Act 1931, giving extraordinary powers to the government.)

Sardar Bhagat Singh
 Was a courageous man.
 If you ask me the truth
 (he) was the lion of India.
 O! The Tyrants did not
 Act considerately.
 O! They executed
 The gem of India.
 By bringing the false
 Charge of murder
 They executed them.
 And finished with them.
 Ah! The gems of India
Were separated from us.
 (Their) dead bodies
 were thrown into lorries
 On reaching the Sutlej bank
 Pits were dug in the ground,
 And the dead bodies

Were taken down the lorries.
 (The dead bodies)
 were first cut into pieces
 and were next
 placed in the pit.
 The British troops
 Stood around the pit,
 Considering (the matter) a play,
 The tyrants poured petrol
 And kerosene oil
 On (the dead bodies).

Ah! The saws are
 Sawing our hearts.
 The tyrants threw
 The half-burnt (bodies)
 Into the river
 (and Thus proved that)
 Their days are numbered.

They did not let
 The dead bodies
 Be burnt into ashes.
 May the martyrs go
 to paradise
 flying happily!

O! May the House
 Of the enemies
 Who put them
 (Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru)
 to great trouble,
be destroyed!

 Soon take another birth,
 Come and teach them
 A good lesson,
 For the oppression
 They are practicising,
 (We) are anxiously waiting
 for you!

[Home Poll. F. No. 34/IV A & KW (Printed)]

Dialogue between Mother India and Bhagat Singh

Mother India:
 When my ‘Moon’ disappears, darkness
 Will spread all over the world, O people!
Bhagat Singh:
 O Mother! This ‘Moon’ of yours
 Will illumine the whole world.
Bhagat Singh:
 We will swing on the gallows. As people do
 in swings during the rainy season.
Mother India:
 O Son! Your sacrifice will cut
 Asunder my bonds.
 Bhagat Singh:
 O Mother! Let me sleep in peace.
 Don’t keep me awake now.
Mother India:
 O Son! Your execution will break
 the chains of India.
Bhagat Singh:
 I will be reborn over and over again
 for the liberation of India
 Mother India:
 O people, I bred and brought up the lion but
 Irwin put him in a cage.
Bhagat Singh:
 O Mother! When your lion wars
 The whole of England will shake.
 Let one lion die, lakhs of lions
 Will take birth in his place.
Earth and sky shook when Bhagat Singh
 Mounted the gallow.
 He took Sukhdev and Rajguru with him and began
 The end to the sufferings of Mother India.
(From the Gurumukhi pamphlet “Virlap” of verses on the execution of Bhagat Singh)
[Home Pol. F. No. 13/IV A & KW 1932]