Visitors flock to Bhagat Singh’s village

Residents voluntarily maintain family home of freedom movement hero

JARANWALA:

Bhagat Singh’s family home in Bangay village is being maintained without government patronage as no department has initiated efforts to preserve the monumental Haveli of the subcontinent’s shared hero and freedom fighter who was a great symbol of resistance from the Sandal Bar region.

Bhagat Singh, one of the revolutionaries who participated in the freedom movement, was born to Kishan Singh and Vidiavati at Chak 105GB, Bangay in Jaranwala on September 27, 1907. He got early education from his native village and got associated with the Naujawan Baharat Sabha in 1925. Afterwards, he sought membership of the Hindustan Republic Association and the revolutionary movement led by Lala Lajpat Rai, through which he extended his links with other revolutionaries of to promote an armed struggle against the British Empire.

On the arrival of the Simon Commission in Lahore in 1928, Bhagat Singh, along with dozens of his companions, staged a protest demonstration at the railway station, where an assistant superintendent of police baton charged the demonstrators, severely injuring Lajpat Rai. According to historical accounts, to avenge the police brutality, Bhagat Singh, with the help of Raj guru and Sukhdev, planned to shot dead the police officer and hurl bombs at the legislative assembly. After implementing the plan, he surrendered to the police.

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During imprisonment, he observed a hunger strike against excesses of the jail staff against the prisoners, becoming a hero of revolutionaries across the subcontinent.

He was sentenced to death on charge of murdering the police officer and hanged at the age of 24 years on Mar 23, 1930, at Lahore jail. After independence, his family migrated to India and the evacuee property was allotted to Chaudhry Fazal Qader Virk whose heirs look after the Haveli Bhagat Singh.

Saqib Iqbal Virk of Fazal Qader’s family told The Express Tribune that the government had not taken interest in protect the monuments related to Bhagat Singh. Only renovation of the freedom fighter’s primary school had been carried out in 2013.

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Virk suggested that the government build a gate at the entrance of the village, a double road and install street lights. He said a higher secondary school should be built and a dispensary with a senior doctor, a park and other facilities should be provided to the residents.

He said hundreds of visitors arrived annually from across the world to pay homage to Bhagat Singh.

Virk said a street or chowk in the village should be named after the hero. He offered to give donation for setting up a library.

He also suggested that a Bhagat Singh chair should be established at universities for research. He said officials of the Walled City authority had visited the village but his family had maintained the premises itself.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2024.