Bhagat Singh
The man who goes on hunger strike has a soul. He is
moved by that soul, and he believes in the justice of
his cause. . . . However much you deplore them, and
however much you say they are misguided, it is the
system, this damnable system of governance, which
is resented by the people.
—Muhammad Ali Jinnah, 1929
With batons they beat his comrade
Lala Lajpat Rai, whose heart would surrender
to the blows. In the foam spilling
from the dying man’s mouth Bhagat heard
from the dying man’s mouth Bhagat heard
the voices of Douglass and Du Bois,
and he wept at the sheer nobility of the oppressed,
and he wept at the sheer nobility of the oppressed,
be they Indian or American, and thereafter
he resolved to die a free man.
he resolved to die a free man.
That the Angrez so wholeheartedly believed
their blue eyes were divine favors
their blue eyes were divine favors
rubbed him all wrong. They were first-class
thieves, the whole lot, and it mattered
thieves, the whole lot, and it mattered
not what their laws said about revolution,
nor which of them caught a bullet.
nor which of them caught a bullet.
If it would cost him his life to reclaim
his life, then why hesitate? I can kill you too,
his life, then why hesitate? I can kill you too,
he shouted, and I will. And he did,
despite the Mahatma’s insistence on nonviolence.
despite the Mahatma’s insistence on nonviolence.
His version of dignity had room enough
for bombs. For bludgeoning hunger and thirst.
for bombs. For bludgeoning hunger and thirst.
