Bhagat Singh’s ideology is not meant to be hijacked. He has written with remarkable intellectual clarity. Read what he stood for in his essay — Why I Am an Atheist.

Do not let anyone cloud your mind and reasoning. Snippets in the 🧶 below, link at the very end
This 5,790-word essay was first published in People, a periodical brought out from Lahore, in September 1931.
In it, Bhagat Singh, a revolutionary freedom fighter, a socialist in his beliefs, a powerful writer, and a prolific journalist, begins by asserting that his atheism is the result of rational inquiry as opposed to vanity or pride.
He had an 'unswerving, unwavering belief in God' through childhood and his time at the National College, Lahore (which he joined at 15), writes @ProfChaman Lal (honorary advisor, Bhagat Singh Archives & Resource Centre, Delhi Archives)
His own convictions changed radically when he started to study the existence of God more seriously: 'By the end of 1926, I was convinced that the belief in an Almighty, Supreme Being who created, guided and controlled the universe had no sound foundations.'
In 1923, when Singh, who was born in 1907 in Banga village of Lyallpur (now Faisalabad in Pakistan), came to Kanpur, he joined the Hindustan Republican Association which he refers to it as the ‘Revolutionary Party’ in his essay, found his comrades to be ambiguous on the subject
He compares God to Genghis Khan and Nero, who fiddled when Rome was burning
Society, he wrote, must fight against this belief in God.
He couldn't see reason in a God, if he/she were continued to oversee sufferings
In prison on a death sentence, people turn to God, not Bhagat Singh. He wrote and read prodigiously.
In this essay, Bhagat Singh asks the theists: why did this god create a world full of woe and grief? To the Hindus, he asks: 'What is your view about those punishments inflicted on the people who were deliberately kept ignorant by selfish and proud Brahmans?'
He points to why he thinks the British have been ruling the Indian subcontinent for so long
He writes and notes that 'Merciless criticism and independent thinking are the two necessary traits of revolutionary thinking'

And God is not an exception to it.
Bhagat Singh believed, and wrote in this essay, that in the long run, all religions, faiths, theological philosophies, and religious creeds become supporters of tyrannical and exploiting institutions, men, and classes.
He said God is a well-developed philosophy and he doubts very much doubts the existence.
Why I Am an Atheist – which historian @irfhabib, calls 'a strong rebuttal of blind faith and a zealous defence of reason' – is a product of this period. He notes that Bhagat Singh matured as a thinker and his prison diary reveals the trajectory of his political evolution.
He drafted 4 manuscripts while in jail: The Ideal of Socialism, Autobiography, History of Revolutionary Movements in India, and At the Door of Death. He also wrote several other papers, including Why I Am an Atheist and Letters to Young Political Workers.
Bhagat Singh, who was 23 when he was hanged, had no illusions regarding his impending execution. Beliefs [in god] make it easier to go through hardships, but as an atheist, the only option is to depend on yourself, he noted.

"I am going to sacrifice my life for a cause."
The day [he sacrificed his life] ushered in a new era of liberty when a large number of men and women, taking courage from the idea of liberating humanity from sufferings and distress, decide that there is no alternative before them except devoting their lives for India’s freedom
The full 5,790-word essay, first published in People, a periodical brought out from Lahore, in September 1931 is available here to read, download and share.

ruralindiaonline.org/en/library/res…
Tributes Shivaram Hari Rajguru, Sukhdev Thapar, and Bhagat Singh on #MartyrsDay

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with People's Archive of Rural India

People's Archive of Rural India Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @PARInetwork

Mar 22
#WorldWaterDay 🧶📹
#WorldWaterDay
Latur, Maharashtra
How much time does it take to fill one pot?
#WorldWaterDay
Gunji, Uttarakhand
Citizens struggle for water in one of the largest villages on the Indo-Sino border
Read 5 tweets
Mar 21
It takes months of hard work to find water in Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu. It is an assault on the senses — the heat, the smoke, the juddering engine. The well-diggers – 5 men and 3 women – hew mud and rock, and heave it up in 40°C #WorldWaterDay2022 🧶

📹 @AparnaKarthi 1/3
Sivagangai is a part of Chettinad, famous for its cuisine and architecture. Here, water has always been a problem. Given its location in Tamil Nadu’s ‘rain shadow’ region, rainfall is often patchy and has been distressingly meagre in the last couple of years

📹@AparnaKarthi 2/3
#WorldWaterDay2022 🧶 The well-diggers of Sivagangai and the punishing amount of hard labour needed to strike groundwater.
Read 4 tweets
Mar 21
A city cab driver, who operated taxis in Mumbai and bulldozers abroad for decades, is now devastated by illness. He and his family are struggling with hospital visits and expenses, moving between fear and hope

ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/dr…
Abdul Rahman’s world has shrunk – professionally, personally, physically. And quite literally. A migrant worker who once travelled across 4 continents, he is now confined to the 150 sq.feet room he lives in with five family members. Image
He's driven bulldozers and cars in Saudi Arabia, worked in Dubai, Britain, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, parts of Africa. Today he's to be physically carried in a chair, down a narrow lane in a Mahim slum colony, to a taxi that can take him to Sion hospital – over and over again Image
Read 4 tweets
Dec 15, 2021
The stories by @AparnaKarthi have warmth and empathy. It is why they are so humane, surprising, and affecting. It is also why one can dive into them blindly and be glad that one did.

Here's a short list of some fantastic rural reporting from her 🧵

ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/sm…
Read 11 tweets
Nov 19, 2021
The repeal of the farm laws is a fantastic victory for one of the greatest protests in decades. We are unsure of what lies ahead, but today we must celebrate the resilience of the many farmers who showed us what standing up for your rights can do.
[thread]
#farmlawswithdrawn
First off: What were they protesting?
The farmers were fighting for a cause much larger than the repeal of three unjust laws. They were fighting for the rights of us all.
ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/an…
The farmers didn't fight to maintain status quo. After all, they are the first victims of a broken system. “We never said it was perfect. We need reforms.” But the question is, reforms for whom – farmers or the corporate world?
ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/we…
Read 12 tweets
Oct 31, 2021
Festivals across rural India: Diversity, Devotion, Celebrations 🧵
Tens of thousands of pilgrims come from the villages of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to the Urs of Hazrat Janpak Shaheed – many drawn by an enduring faith in the dargah, some for brisk business at the venue

ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/th…
The historic Azhagar festival in Madurai – its last day is today, April 22 – includes a huge procession where some devotees sport colourful costumes. But who their dressmakers are is even more interesting finds @kavithamurali

ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/go…
Read 11 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(