2008/04/22 by Neeti Nair · 3 citations
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Indian History and Philosophy #South Asian Studies and Conflicts #South Asian Studies and Diaspora #Civil disobedience #Colonialism #Nationalism #Resistance (ecology) #Politics #Law #Imprisonment #Legislature #Political science #History #Criminology #Sociology
paper · doi:10.1017/s0026749x08003491
openalex publication_date 2008/04/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Abstract Among anti-colonial nationalists, Bhagat Singh and M.K. Gandhi are seen to exemplify absolutely contrasting strategies of resistance. Bhagat Singh is regarded as a violent revolutionary whereas Gandhi is the embodiment of non-violence. This paper argues that Bhagat Singh and his comrades became national heroes not after their murder of a police inspector in Lahore or after throwing bombs in the Legislative Assembly in New Delhi but during their practice of hunger strikes and non-violent civil disobedience within the walls of Lahore's prisons in 1929–30. In fact there was plenty in common in the strategies of resistance employed by both Gandhi and Bhagat Singh. By labelling these revolutionaries ‘murderers’ and ‘terrorists’, the British sought to dismiss their non-violent demands for rights as ‘political prisoners’. The same labels were adopted by Gandhi and his followers. However, the quality of anti-colonial nationalism represented by Bhagat Singh was central to the resolution of many of the divisions that racked pre-partition Punjab.