Vijayan pays homage to freedom fighters, calls on progressive forces

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said that progressive forces should unite to realise their dream of an egalitarian India.

While paying homage to #BhagatSingh, Sukhdev & Rajguru on this #ShaheedDiwas, CM Vijayan in a tweet said, "Remembering #BhagatSingh, Sukhdev & Rajguru on this #ShaheedDiwas is a political act as their revolutionary legacy is being appropriated by communal elements who had no stake in our freedom struggle. Progressive forces should unite to realise their dream of an egalitarian India".

Bhagat Singh was born in Banga village of Faisalabad district (previously called Lyallpur), now in Pakistan's Punjab province, in 1907.

The revolutionary freedom fighter was a charismatic Indian socialist revolutionary whose two acts of dramatic violence against the British in India and execution at the age of 23 made him a folk hero of the Indian Independence movement.

Singh, who was hanged in the Lahore jail along with Shivaram Hari Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar on March 23, 1931, left a strong impact during his lifetime.

March 23 is observed as Shaheed Diwas to pay tribute to Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, who were hanged by the British government in 1931.

The trio was found guilty of the murder of deputy police superintendent JP Saunders in 1928, to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai. Bhagat Singh was 23, Rajguru was 22 and Sukhdev was 23 when they were hanged at Lahore Central Jail.