Forgotten Sacrifices..!

“Why are you crying Mumma?” Asks my 9 year old daughter. I was watching this movie on Shaheed Bhagat Singh (The Legend of Bhagat Singh) and every time I watch it, I cry my eyes out and by the time the movie ends I am soggy with the tear fest in my eyes. In reply to her query I tell her that I will give her a few books to read on our revolutionary freedom-fighters and may be after reading those she might get near the reasons of me crying over such movies and stories.

There is a court trial scene going on and Bhagat Singh and his whole group are shouting and booing the prosecution lawyer with the cries of ‘Inquilaab Zindabad’. She asks again, ‘What is Inquilaab, Mumma?’ I tell her Inquilaab means revolution. She mulls over this and then pat comes the next volley, ‘Why was it necessary?’ I am silent. She nudges me and I tell her to keep quiet so that I can watch the movie in peace.

But in my heart the question is pricking, like a thorn…and that starts my mind churning.

Why was it necessary? Their struggle for our freedom, yes, our freedom. Because they knew that they are sacrificing their lives for a freedom that they will never live to see. Bhagat Singh and all other revolutionary heroes, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Jatin Das, Madanlal Dhingra, Batukeshwar Dutt, Azad, Ramprasad Bismill, Ashfaqullah Khan, there are so many more. They bore inhuman torture for our sakes and in the end either got rigorous life-term imprisonment in the dingy deathly cells of Port-Blair or capital punishment by the then British Govt. 

What made these men (Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru) embrace death chanting Jai Hind and Inquilaab Zindabad at the young age of 23? An age where most of our present generation kids are queuing up to buy iPhones or get zonked up high in late night parties or spent in watching the latest movies ‘First Day First Show’ or take their parents’ fancy cars out for a midnight thrill ride without them knowing or in other cases take up admissions in world class universities, abroad and leave the country to never come back again.

Was this the future these insane soldiers of freedom had in their minds when they kissed the rope of their nooses and bid their mother-land, they loved so much, the final good-bye? Aren’t we too responsible for raising our generation in this way? Are we telling them and imbibing their heart and mind about our freedom fighters and the struggles they have gone through? Have we told them how they quit colleges and universities run by the British, gave up on all the comforts and chose a life of sacrifice and endured unthinkable torture to free our Nation from the British Raj? 

The hunger strike that went on for 116 days. The beatings taken on bare back when they were tied to freezing slabs of ice and then their wounds were literally rubbed with salt and chilly powder to break their undaunting spirit. They were treated worse than the condemned criminals and common killers. But even so, these warriors turned the entire nation into an army of revolutionaries to bring us the joy of the free air that we are breathing today.

But at what cost? Are we doing their sacrifice any justice? How do we justify our behavior of greed, indifference, cruelty and disrespect towards our Nation and the people who are less fortunate? Aren’t we maligning the names of our national heroes and the vision that they had for this country? 

Just look at us, we need a Supreme Court order to stand for our National Anthem and to pay respect to our National Flag. We question the reasons and logic behind our Army operations and actions. We judge and demoralize our soldiers by saying insensitive things such as ‘Who asked them to join army and to die for the Nation?’ In such a case, do we really deserve this freedom which has been handed to us at the price of countless sacrifices? Should we be taking it for granted in this way?

The questions weigh heavy like a brick tied to my neck as I think about our customery Independence Day celebrations in schools and Govt offices or a few social media campaigns that are carried out on the death anniversaries of our freedom fighters. Our sense of patriotism is as opportunist as our political leaders, limited to a few social media status updates or change of profile pictures. 

We are definitely not the kind of nation that Bhagat Singh had in mind. Now is the time to wake up or otherwise the struggle and the sacrifices that have built this Nation will be confined to mere stories and news reels and the day is not far when these might be forgotten altogether.