UNPERISHING FLOWERS OF HUMANITY
In the context of the
unforgettable martyrdom of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh
and other comrades, who were basically non-conformist internationalists
demanding and fighting for, in the then circumstances, independence to our
country, with their cherished slogans of “Long live Revolution!” and “Down with
Imperialism!”, the glowing tributes paid by late Comrade P.C. Joshi while
meeting the Kayyur martyrs prior to their hanging at their cells in Cannanore
Jail come to mind: “… across the verandah – there was a sort of flower
bed. Without a thought, what was inside me got formed into a sentence. "Those flowers are
perishable. You, comrades, are the flowers of humanity that will never perish".” How exquisitely put, and how truly it applies to
all the great martyrs of our freedom struggle. Time and again it has been
stressed in these columns that we owe our political independence as also all
the successes, and trials, in our persistent and indefatigable struggle to
achieve the needed socio-economic independence and development too, to the
pioneering and consistent contributions of various groups and individuals
working strenuously to overthrow the colonial rule and usher in a free
democratic socialist society by all possible means including waging intense
armed struggles against the ferocious enemy. The heroes and martyrs to whom our
reverent tributes are being paid in the title cover page of this issue are among
such pioneers who, giving up their relatively comfortable lives and livelihoods
in a foreign land, came rushing to their motherland during World War I to wage
a Gadar i.e. rebellion, as they
called. Unfortunately their plans and measures were foiled, most of them caught
and jailed. Ultimately sentenced to death in the First Lahore Conspiracy Case
Kartar Singh Saraba, Vishnu Ganesh Pingle and five others were hanged – to take
their names into the Roll of Honour of many such martyrs who perished in body,
but not in spirit as they believed, and most of them yearned to take birth
again to continue the fight. It is remarkable that Kartar Singh Sarabha – just
a 19 year old ‘kid’ it might be said - was like a deewana parwana (mad moth) passionate to plunge into the fire of
freedom and burn to ashes, and refused to file any mercy petition. He is said
to have “put the noose around his
neck himself and laughed away death and immortalized himself.” He became the idol for
Bhagat Singh, who faithfully followed in his footsteps to a later, similar
glory. Hundreds of others suffered and many perished in various jails and in
transportation at the Andamans, but remaining firm in spirits unto the last.
Our glowing tributes to all these fighters and unflinching commitment to their
ideals. §§§
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