Bhagat Singh

Bhagat Singh (1907–1931) was an Indian socialist revolutionary born in Punjab. Radicalized by the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, he rejected Gandhian non-violence in favor of Marxist revolution. A prominent leader of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, Singh retaliated against Lala Lajpat Rai’s death by killing police officer J.P. Saunders in 1928. In 1929, he and Batukeshwar Dutt bombed the Central Legislative Assembly to surrender and publicize their anti-imperialist cause. In prison, he led a famous hunger strike for Indian political prisoners. Executed by the British at twenty-three following the Lahore Conspiracy Case trial, "Shaheed" Bhagat Singh became an enduring national martyr.