Every year, on 28 September, India remembers the birth of Bhagat Singh (1907–1931), one of the most iconic revolutionaries of the freedom movement. His fiery courage, intellectual depth, and ultimate sacrifice at the age of just 23 continue to inspire generations.
On such an occasion, it is worth revisiting not only Bhagat Singh’s own ideas but also the connections between him and Vinayak Damodar (Veer) Savarkar. Both were crucial and towering figures of India’s nationalist movement and freedom struggle. Though their ideologies diverged in important ways, Bhagat Singh and Savarkar shared common ground as revolutionaries who sought to awaken a colonized and suppressed nation by the British.
Early Inspirations and Shared Revolutionary Spirit
Bhagat Singh grew up in a Punjab charged with political ferment — from the Jallianwala Bagh massacre to the non-cooperation movement. He turned towards radical politics early on, and his commitment to armed struggle and socialism shaped the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA).
Savarkar, more than two decades older, had by then already established himself as a well-known revolutionary in London’s India House and the author of the seminal book The Indian War of Independence 1857. This work reinterpreted the so-called “Sepoy Mutiny” as a national uprising, and its underground circulation deeply influenced the many young radicals, including Bhagat Singh.
Bhagat Singh on Savarkar
What makes the connection explicit are Bhagat Singh’s own writings.
- In 1924, writing under the pseudonym Balwant Singh in the journal Matwala, Bhagat Singh described Savarkar as “Veer Savarkar,” acknowledging him as a “braveheart” and “fierce insurgent.”
- Later, in Kirti magazine (1928), Bhagat Singh recalled Madan Lal Dhingra’s sacrifice and located Savarkar’s influence within that revolutionary lineage.
- His jail notebooks also reveal that Bhagat Singh copied passages from Savarkar’s historical text Hindu Pad-Padashahi, showing how seriously he engaged with Savarkar’s writings.
These gestures indicate not blind allegiance, but rather a young revolutionary’s recognition of Savarkar’s place in the genealogy of militant resistance.
Savarkar on Bhagat Singh
The respect was not one-sided. When Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar, and Shivaram Hari Rajguru were executed on 23 March 1931, Savarkar publicly mourned. Reports mention that he displayed a black flag at his residence in Ratnagiri as a mark of grief, and he even composed verses in their honor.
For Savarkar, who had himself endured transportation for life in the Andamans, Bhagat Singh’s sacrifice was the continuation of the revolutionary struggle against colonial rule.
Convergences and Divergences
Despite these links, the relationship between the two should not be over-simplified.
- Common Ground: Both rejected the idea that mere petitions or constitutional reforms would achieve freedom. They valorized sacrifice, courage, and revolutionary action as the means to awaken a nation.
- Differences: Bhagat Singh gravitated towards socialist and Marxist ideals, arguing that true independence meant not just liberation from the British but also the dismantling of exploitation, inequality, and communal divisions. Savarkar, especially after his release from prison, increasingly articulated the vision of Hindutva — a cultural-political idea of India as a Hindu nation. However, aspects of Savarkar’s economic policy displayed certain socialist leanings.
Thus, while Bhagat Singh recognized Savarkar’s revolutionary contribution, his own intellectual journey was directed towards a radically different, secular, and socialist horizon.
Remembering Crossroads
On Bhagat Singh’s birth anniversary, reflecting on his ties with Savarkar opens up an important conversation about the plurality of the freedom struggle. It reminds us that the Indian independence movement was not monolithic: it contained competing visions, crosscurrents of thought, and unexpected solidarities.
Bhagat Singh and Savarkar may not have walked the same ideological path, but their intersecting legacies underline the diversity of revolutionary energies that ultimately shook the foundations of colonial rule.
💭 What do you think? Do you think Bhagat Singh and Savarkar can be seen as part of the same revolutionary tradition, or do their ideological differences outweigh their common ground? What lessons from Bhagat Singh’s and Savarkar’s legacies do you find most relevant in today’s India? When you think of Bhagat Singh, do you remember him more as a revolutionary martyr, a thinker, or a youth icon?
👉 Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Sources:
KEER, Dhananjay. 1988. Veer Savarkar. Third Edition. (Second Edition: 1966). Popular Prakashan: Bombay (Mumbai).
SAVARKAR, Vinayak Damodar. 2007. Hindu Rashtra Darshan. Bharat Bhushan. Abhishek Publications: New Delhi.
SAMPATH, Vikram. 2019. Savarkar (Part 1). Echoes from a forgotten past. 1883-1924. Penguin Random House India: Gurgaon.
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