Sukhdev Thapar was born in Ludhiana, Punjab. He was an Indian freedom
fighter who lived from 15 May 1907 to March 23, 1931, who was involved
with Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Shivaram Rajguru in the killing of a
British police officer J.P. Saunders in 1928 in order to take revenge
for the death of veteran leader Lala Lajpat Rai due to excessive police
beating.
All three were hanged in Lahore Central Jail on March 23, 1931 in the
evening at 7.33 pm . The dead bodies were secretly taken away by
breaking the back walls of the jail and were seceretly burnt on the banks of River Satluj at Hussainiwala about 50 miles away from Lahore. The bodies were cut into pieces to make the burial quick.
Sukhdev was an active member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican
Association, being one of its most senior leaders. He is known to have
started study circles at National College, (Lahore) in order to delve
into India’s past as well as to scrutinize the finer aspects of world revolutionary
literature and the Russian Revolution. Along with Bhagat Singh, Comrade
Ram Chandra and Bhagwati Charan Vohra, he started Naujawan Bharat Sabha
at Lahore. The main aims of this organisation were to activate youth
for freedom struggle, inculcate a rational scientific attitude, fight
communalism and end the practice of untouchability.
Sukhdev was deeply impressed by Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, and Chandrashekhar Azad.
Sukhdev also participated in the 1929 Prison hunger strike to protest against the inhuman treatment of inmates.
His letter to Mahatma Gandhi written just prior to his hanging, protesting against the latter’s disapproval of revolutionary tactics, throws light on the disparities between the two major schools of thought among Indian freedom fighers.
Nevertheless, this relatively baseless contention does not detract
from the tremendous courage, patriotism and self-sacrifice that Sukhdev
Thapar embodifies, as is evident in the recent naming of a school after
him, in his native Ludhiana (city in Punjab).
From the sands of time emerges the tallest name of all – Sukhdev Thapar, the revolutionary
whose birth centenary falls on May 15, 2007. Born to Ralli Devi and Ram
Lal Thapar at Mohalla Arya Samaj, Lyallpur in 1907, Sukhdev rose to
fame along with comrades Bhagat Singh and Rajguru. Together, the trio
shook the foundations of the British Empire.
Historical records show that Sukhdev was particularly content with
the death sentence awarded to him. In a letter to Mahatma Gandhi,
written some days prior to the hanging on March 23, 1931, he says, “The
three prisoners of the Lahore conspiracy case who have been awarded
capital punishment and who have incidentally gained greatest popularity
in the country are not everything in the revolutionary party. In fact, the country will not gain as much by the change of their sentences as it would by their being hanged.”
Arrested when the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army’s (HSRA) bomb
factory was accidentally discovered in Lahore, Sukhdev was very happy
with the revelation of their secret activities. He rejoiced at the stir
it would create. When arrested, he had said, “It was a good thing that
everything came to light. I consider my arrest a good luck for this
reason.” Sukhdev, though less popular and less written about than his
best friend Bhagat Singh, was a fearless man of exceptional integrity,
who cared about the smallest needs of his party and its members. Comrade
Shiv Verma, who was awarded life imprisonment in the Lahore Conspiracy
Case, writes of Sukhdev’s character in his memoirs, Sansmrityiaan,
preserved with the National Archives, Delhi: “In reality, Bhagat was the
political mentor of the Punjab party; Sukhdev was the organiser – one
who built its edifice brick by brick…”
“Not much has been written about him. Despite the availability
of original documents pertaining to that age, no one has seriously
undertaken their writing. Truth has been a casualty and many details
about the lives of revolutionaries like Sukhdev continue
to be unknown. Sukhdev was, in fact, the prime accused in the Lahore
Conspiracy Case. Being the Punjab chief of HSRA, he was the man behind
Saunders’ murder and assembly bomb drop plot.”
The first information report (FIR) of the Lahore Conspiracy Case,
filed by Hamilton Harding, senior superintendent of police, in the court
of R.S. Pandit, special magistrate in April 1929, mentions Sukhdev as
accused number 1. It describes him as Swami alias villager, son of Ram
Lal, caste Thapar Khatri. In a
list of 25 accused, Bhagat is on the 12th position, while Rajguru is on
the 20th position. It’s Sukhdev who leads the pack.
Another hardly known truth about the martyr is revealed through the
judgment of the Lahore Conspiracy Case, 1930. Its title reads “In the
court of The Lahore Conspiracy Case Tribunal, Lahore, constituted under
Ordinance no III of 1930: The Crown – Complainant versus Sukhdev and
others”. The fact that Sukhdev, despite his indirect involvement in the
conspiracy, was tried as principal accused, confirms his importance in
HSRA. He was the mover of all major decisions.
The Lahore Conspiracy Case judgment places him in a new league. After
gathering dust in the National Archives for seven decades, the full
judgment was published in 2005 by Waraich and Gurdev Sidhu. Part of the
book, The Hanging of Bhagat Singh, the judgment beautifully sums up
Sukhdev’s role in the conspiracy. It states: “Sukhdev may be said to be
the brains to the conspiracy while Bhagat Singh was its right arm.
Sukhdev was an organizer and zealous in recruiting members and finding
work suitable to the capacity of each. He was backward in taking part
himself in acts of violence but he must be nonetheless held responsible
for those acts to the execution of which his brains and organizing power made important contribution.”
Sukhdev was indeed singular in his focus of promoting the HSRA, of
whose central committee he was a member. He was so driven by the party’s
tenets that he didn’t hesitate to bet his best friend to achieve the
party’s goals.
A little known fact about the plan to drop bombs in the Central
Legislative Assembly in April 1929 is that HSRA’s central committee had
first refused to send Bhagat for the job. Sukhdev was absent from the
meeting where the decision was taken. The party feared sending Bhagat,
as the Punjab police was after him for his involvement in Saunders
murder. His arrest would have meant death.
But Sukhdev would not but send the best man for the job, says Shiv
Verma in his memoirs: “Sukhdev came after three days and opposed the
decision tooth and nail. He was sure no one could convey HSRA’s goal as
well as Bhagat. He went to Bhagat and called him a coward, one who was
afraid to die. The more Bhagat refuted Sukhdev, the harsher Sukhdev
became. Finally, Bhagat told Sukhdev that he was insulting him. Sukhdev
retorted saying he was only doing his duty towards his friend. Hearing
this, Bhagat told Sukhdev not to talk to him, and went away.”
Sukhdev had pushed his friend into jaws of death, writes Verma, adding: “The committee had to change
its decision and Bhagat was chosen to drop the bombs. Sukhdev left for
Lahore the same evening without saying a word. According to Durga
Bhabhi, when he reached Lahore the next
day, his eyes were swollen. He had wept bitterly all night over his
decision. Such was Sukhdev – softer than a flower and harder than a
stone. People only saw his harshness but he never complained. He always
hid his feelings.”
Much misunderstood, especially having broken the hunger strike twice
without consulting his companions (as per Verma’s records), Sukhdev was
rated over Bhagat in terms of his organisational and fellowship skills.
Of him, his friends have said: “While Sukhdev was indifferent to his
looks, he felt happy to dress his comrades. In this he was the reverse
of Bhagat.”
“He was equally stubborn and whimsical,” states Waraich, pointing to
the pen portrait of Sukhdev, written by an HSRA comrade. It states:
Sukhdev once poured nitric acid over his left arm to remove “Om”
tattooed thereon. This, he did to test his endurance. To remove the
remaining marks, he hung his festering wounds over a candle flame.”
Man of action
Fierce patriotism and pragmatic action came together in a magical
weave in Sukhdev, a true revolutionary. In his last letter dated October
7, 1930 to comrades (the day the judgment was pronounced), Sukhdev
criticised mindless acts of violence and justified HSRA’s actions as the
ones that sought to fulfill people’s aspirations.
He wrote, “Take the case of Saunders murder. When Lala receive lathi
blows, there was unrest in the country. This was a good opportunity to
draw people’s attention towards the party. That’s how the murder was
planned. To run away after the murder was not our plot. We wished to
enlighten people that it was a political murder and its perpetrators
were revolutionaries. Our actions were always in response to people’s
grievances. We wanted to infuse revolutionary ideals in the public and
the expression of such ideals looks more glorified from the mouth of one
who stands on the gallows for the cause.” A certified copy of this
letter was sent by Punjab CID to the Home Department.
Sukhdev’s letter to Gandhi is also a fine reflection of his ideals.
“The aim of revolutionaries is to establish a socialist republic in the
country. There is no possibility of even a slight amendment to this
goal. I think you believe the revolutionaries are irrational people who
enjoy destructive actions. I want to tell you that the truth is quite
the opposite. They know their responsibilities and they hold the
constructive elements high in their revolutionary constitution even
though in the present circumstances, they have to attend to their
destructive side only,” he wrote.
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