Bhagat Singh and His Legend
Contents: Preface. Editor\'s introduction. Inaugural address/S. Bhattacharya. Key note address/Kuldip Nayar. 1. Bhagat Singh\'s life, activity and thought/J.S. Grewal. 2. Situating Bhagat Singh in the Ghadar Movement/H.K. Puri. 3. Paradox of Armed Revolution/Bhagwan Josh. 4. Bhagat Singh and his journey away from terrorism/Prem Singh. 5. Gandhi and Bhagat Singh: Ideas and ideologies/Shashi Joshi. 6. Political correspondence of Bhagat Singh/Chaman Lal. 7. The martyr on martyrs/Malwinderjit S. Waraich. 8. Bhagat Singh\'s introduction to the Dreamland: The text and the context/Harkishan Singh Mehta. 9. The contemporary image of Bhagat Singh/P.S. Verma. 10. Bhagat Singh in Marathi Literature/Ashok S. Chousalkar. 11. Bhagat Singh in Gujarati Literature/Raj Kumar Hans. 12. Bhagat Singh in Hindi literature/Prem Singh. 13. Bhagat Singh in Yashpal\'s Sinhavalokan/Harish C. Sharma. 14. Bhagat Singh in Punjabi poetry/Tejwant S. Gill. 15. Short notes: Remembering Bhagat Singh/Mubarak Ali. Works cited. Bibliography on Bhagat Singh. Index. Contributors. (Three articles are in Punjabi).
"This unique collection on Bhagat Singh brings out the distinctiveness of his life, activities and thought which made him an iconic figure in his life time. Based on his own writings and other contemporary sources, four essays dwell on the transitions in his worldview, ideology and methods, which mark a great advance over the Ghadarites and other revolutionaries. The fine nuances of Bhagat Singh moving away from terrorism to become a social revolutionary and artificiality of the binary of \'violence\' and \'non-violence\' in case of Bhagat Singh and Gandhi are discussed in two essays. One contribution shows that the networks of colonial control were so powerful and pervasive that armed revolution was foredoomed to failure. The image of Bhagat Singh in contemporary India and efforts of writers, politicians, organizations and ideologues of different political parties to appropriate his legacy, without reference necessarily to his goal, is highlighted by one study. The legend of Bhagat Singh with its multiple meanings in different literary forms in Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and Punjabi comes out in half a dozen essays.
With contributions from historians, political scientists, scholars of literature, creative writers and senior journalists this volume should be of great interest to the general reader, the politician and the social scientist." (jacket)
