The history of Lahore is replete with incidents, each connected to the next, that make up our struggle for freedom against colonialism. It is the story of a struggle that set off in search of freedom, and ended up in an ugly communal bloodbath the likes of which this world has never seen.

Let us start with the outcome in which two economically powerful states of British India – Bengal and the Punjab – were divided, some claim deliberately to ensure continual communal bloodletting and hate. Gandhi’s non-violence eventually failed. The situation of both India and Pakistan today certainly points in that direction. But back to Lahore where we have a decaying and neglected Bradlaugh Hall on Rattigan Road, probably the oldest surviving symbol of our collective freedom struggle.

Let us focus on the most important revolutionary movement that was born in Lahore. In Bradlaugh Hall, which also housed the Punjab National College set up by Lala Lajpat Rai in 1928, was formed the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA). Its leadership, initially was Punjabi students of the college who all came from the surrounding countryside. The organisers were Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Bhagvati Charan and Yashpal. Its written objectives were simple: (a) liberation from foreign rule, and (b) Indian society be restructured on Socialist principles.

A lot of analysis has gone into just why was this army of revolutionaries set up. The consensus seems around the fact that the leaders of all other political parties belonged to the privileged classes only, with no room for the poor. The Congress, the Muslim League, the Arya Samaj, the Akali and other such communal organisations opposed this HSRA and supported the ‘glorious efforts’ of the British rulers. Most rich families today have their roots in British largess.

But it seems the immediate seeds for such an army arose out of the massacre at Jallianwala in Amritsar in April 1919. It certainly was a turning point in India’s and the Punjab’s freedom struggle. In the rooms of Bradlaugh Hall the HSRA planned and plotted the killing of a British policeman, ASP Saunders, after his attack on Lala Lajpat Rai, then known as the ‘Lion of the Punjab’, at Lahore’s railway station as he led a protest against the Rowlett Act. Lala Lajpat died of his wounds a few weeks later.

The HSRA immediately set up a committee comprising Bhagat Singh, Azad, Rajguru and Jai Gopal. One notices at this stage that the activities of the army evoked considerable interest in Calcutta and revolutionaries from there moved to Lahore. One even set up a bomb manufacturing workshop in Shahdara, Lahore. The committee studied the movement of the police at their head office from a GC Hostel window opposite it. A plan was hatched and the operation began.

On the 17th of December 1928 as Saunders left his office on a motorcycle, Bhagat Singh and Rajguru entered the gate and shot the policeman several times point blank, killing him instantly. As the police moved in to arrest the shooters, Azad standing behind the huge tree opposite the police office gate shot all pursuers. In the process another constable, Charan Singh, was killed. This led other policemen to run away and the revolutionaries fled.

The very next day the HSRA stuck up posters all over the city. It was an electrifying experience for everyone. The revolution was on. Amazingly, the main political parties did not back the incident. Pandit Nehru issued a statement which said: “Bhagat Singh has not become famous as a terrorist, but because the death of Lala Lajpat Rai has been avenged”. Even the Muslim League, as well as the Hindu extremist parties, condemned the terrorism involved.

All the participants of the army escaped in different directions. Sukhdev rushed to Shahdara to his secret bomb factory and disguised himself as a farmer working in a nearby field. Shiv Verma took a train to Saharanpur where he set up another bomb manufacturing workshop. But where did Bhagat Singh rush to? Here a bit of research over the years came in handy. Bhagat and B.K. Dutt ran towards Government College, Lahore, and then moved towards the back gate, where an accomplice took from them their arms and disappeared into the walled city.

The two revolutionaries headed into Urdu Bazaar, Anarkali, and walked calmly up Hospital Road and onto the road headed towards Lakshmi Chowk and quietly took the back door of the Dyal Singh College. The hostel superintendent Prof. Malhotra, who belonged to Bhera, took them in and safely lodged them in a ‘safe room’. Outside the search was aggressively on and intelligence operatives spread out. But not a word escaped Prof. Malhotra. The HSRA posters now claimed that constitutional democratic methods only make the poor poorer and the rich richer.

Suddenly we see Bhagat Singh and Dutt appear in the Visitor’s Gallery of the ‘parliament’ in Delhi. They were well-dressed and carried posh leather hand bags. Little did the guards suspect that underneath official papers lay bombs manufactured by the HSRA bomb workshops.

Sir George Schuster stood up to present the Trade Disputes Bill, which made trade owners able to dissolve workers’ claims, we see Bhagat Singh stand up and throw a bomb towards the wall behind Schuster. Dutt followed with another bomb and smoke filled the assembly. Both stood up and shouted: “Long Live Revolution. Down with Imperialism. Workers of the World Unite”.

Both the revolutionaries stood up and waited to be arrested. One account by Yashpal claims that they could have both escaped, but choose not to. Bhagat Singh and BK Dutt were charged under Section 307 and the Explosives Act. In court when Bhagat Singh was asked just why did he throw a bomb with no intention to kill? He retorted: “We are inspired by Guru Gobind Singh, by Shivaji, by Kemal Pasha, by Raza Khan, by George Washington, by Garibaldi, by Lafayette and by Lenin”. A stunned court looked on at the sheer sweep of the learned revolutionary. “We are here not to kill, but to make a statement”. On the 12th of June, 1929, both were jailed for life.

The colonial power with the assistance of informers raided the factories in Saharanpur and Shahdara. Yashpal had managed to escape and joined Bhagvati Charan in Calcutta. There a huge demonstration took place in which the slogan ran out: “Bhagat Singh Zindabad, Punjab Zindabad”. A new group was formed which planned to bomb the Viceroy’s train near Delhi.

The bomb under the track went off slightly late and the dining car was blown to bits. The Viceroy fell out of his bed and his Secretary was knocked unconscious. Yashpal escaped and headed towards Calcutta to reorganise. Gandhi condemned the bombing and congratulated the Viceroy for escaping.

Next the HSRA got busy planning the escape of Bhagat Singh and his companions as they were transported from Lahore’s Borstal Jail to the Lahore Central Jail. But things went wrong when a planned bomb went off in the Bahawalpur House quarters where it was housed a day earlier. Yashpal discovered that there were moles in the army organisation who wanted him shot dead. The organisation was severely depleted by arrests and desertions. In February 1931 Azad was killed by police. In March we learn that Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were hanged. The HSRA started to fragment into groups.

There is yet another version that the bodies of the three revolutionaries after being hanged were cut into bits and taken in sacks to be cremated at Hussainiwala village. For all effective purposes the revolutionary army was destroyed.

There is a new theory that the Punjab and Bengal were both deliberately partitioned by the British in 1947 on a recommendation of Nehru and Gandhi. It was a tragic communal partition of the two most economically powerful States. What happened then is before us all.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2022