 "Inaccurate and hurtful slurs had been made in Pakistan on the character of one of India’s greatest heroes and martyrs, Bhagat Singh. Image: News18")
Reports had appeared in the Indian media in early November of the Lahore Municipal Corporation informing the Lahore High Court that it could not accept the request of Pakistan’s Bhagat Singh Foundation to rename the Shadman Traffic Circle in the city as the Bhagat Singh Circle. However, perhaps after reading this writer’s article carried in Firstpost on the subject (Opposition to naming a traffic circle after Bhagat Singh shows Pakistan’s true Islamist face: November 11, 2024), Congress MP from Chandigarh Manish Tiwari asked a question on the subject in the Lok Sabha.
Tiwari asked Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar if the government was aware that “derogatory” remarks had been made in submissions to the Lahore High Court on Shaheed Bhagat Singh and, if so, whether government had taken “diplomatic steps” to convey India’s concerns regarding these comments. The question was admitted by the Lok Sabha as an ‘unstarred’ one. Hence, in keeping with Parliamentary practice, a written response was given to Tiwari on December 6 by the Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs, Kirti Vardhan Singh.
Kirti Vardhan Singh stated, “Government of India has noted the recent reports regarding objectionable remarks made against Shaheed Bhagat Singh in Pakistan and has lodged a strong protest with the Government of Pakistan on the incident through diplomatic channels. Government of India has also been raising, with Pakistan, issues concerning attacks on cultural heritage, growing intolerance and lack of respect for minority communities in Pakistan.”
He added, “The Government and the entire nation recognise the invaluable contribution of Shaheed Bhagat Singh in India’s freedom struggle. The death anniversary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh is observed every year in India and abroad. India’s diplomatic Missions abroad also hold events to pay tributes to Shaheed Bhagat Singh.”
Impact Shorts
View AllThe issue was very serious for, as noted in this writer’s article of November 11, inaccurate and hurtful slurs had been made on the character of one of India’s greatest heroes and martyrs, Bhagat Singh. These were contained in the opinion of Tariq Majeed, a retired Commodore of the Pakistan Navy and that opinion was not only accepted by the Lahore Municipal Corporation but it had been filed in Court and formed the basis for rejecting the renaming of the Shadman traffic circle, as requested by the Bhagat Singh Foundation, in the martyr’s name. For purposes of the reader’s ease Tariq Majeed’s comments are given here though were quoted in the November 11 article. Majeed opined that Bhagat Singh was “not a revolutionary but a criminal, in today’s terms a terrorist. He killed a British police officer, and for this crime he was hanged along with two of his accomplices”.
Can greater slurs and insults be imagined against Bhagat Singh when he is called in court proceedings as a “criminal” and a “terrorist”. Now, it is good that India protested through diplomatic channels but the country has not been made aware by MEA of the contents of the diplomatic protest. Surely, this protest was not of a confidential nature. And, this writer, based on his diplomatic experience, can confidently state that once a protest has been made, no diplomatic convention is breached if it is made public.
As the contents of the protest have not been made public it is not known the date on which it was made and if the Pakistani authorities were asked to withdraw the insults against Bhagat Singh. It could have been made known to them that it is up to them to decide if the traffic circle should be re-named or not but there was simply no need to make malicious insults against a great Indian hero and martyr in the court proceedings. This was a grave and unnecessary provocation on their part. They could also have been told that the young Bhagat Singh followed an ideology which sought justice for people and was not against Islam. That too was an incorrect representation of the hero.
While the general MEA practice is that answers to unstarred questions are not cleared by the External Affairs Minister personally, once the media reports about the proceedings of the Lahore High Court involving Bhagat Singh’s name had appeared it would have been appropriate for him to personally examine them and take action. He should also have taken the country into confidence for no nationalist Indian can ever accept that Bhagat Singh is called a “criminal” and a “terrorist”. Indeed, once Parliament had convened he could have also sought to brief it on the issue. Amidst all the present acrimony it is doubtful if any political party would not have concurred with him that a strong demand, supported by the entire political class of India—in government and opposition alike—be made that would Tariq Majeed’s opinion containing the insults be withdrawn from the Lahore High Court proceedings.
It is true that Bhagat Singh occupies a stature that cannot be besmirched by pygmies such as Tariq Majeed or by countries such as Pakistan. However, Indian honour demands that the insult cannot be dismissed lightly. In Bhagat Singh’s honour lies India’s honour. That should never be forgotten.
The writer is a former Indian diplomat who served as India’s Ambassador to Afghanistan and Myanmar, and as secretary, the Ministry of External Affairs. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.