Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar were revolutionaries associated with the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA). They are remembered for the 1929 Central Legislative Assembly bomb-and-leaflet action and the Lahore Conspiracy Case that followed. All three were executed on 23 March 1931, and they remain among the most widely discussed figures of India's freedom struggle.
The revolutionary stream within a broader movement
India's freedom movement is often described as flowing through several currents at once. One current pursued constitutional petitioning and reform; another, associated with mass civil disobedience and non-violence, mobilised millions; and a further current — the revolutionary stream — held that armed action could hasten the end of colonial rule. Historians differ on how these currents interacted and on what each contributed. This article describes the revolutionary stream through Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev without ranking it above or below the others.
The Hindustan Republican Association, formed in the mid-1920s, was reorganised in 1928 as the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), signalling a turn toward explicitly socialist aims alongside the goal of complete independence. For a wider map of these overlapping movements, see the India freedom struggle timeline.
Who were the three men?
| Name | Born | Associated with | Notably linked to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bhagat Singh | 1907, Punjab region | HSRA | Assembly action; Lahore Conspiracy Case; prison writings and hunger strikes |
| Shivaram Hari Rajguru | 1908, present-day Maharashtra | HSRA | Lahore Conspiracy Case |
| Sukhdev Thapar | 1907, Punjab region | HSRA | Organising in Lahore; Lahore Conspiracy Case |
Each came to the movement by a different route, but all three became linked in the public record through the events in Lahore and the trial that carried the city's name.
The Assembly bomb case, 1929
On 8 April 1929, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw two devices into the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi and scattered leaflets, then remained at the scene and allowed themselves to be arrested. Contemporary and later accounts note that the action was intended to be demonstrative rather than to cause mass casualties, and that the pair sought a public platform through the ensuing trial. The leaflets carried the phrase "to make the deaf hear," which is popularly attributed to the action.
The Assembly action drew national attention to the HSRA and to the demands the accused advanced in court. Historians debate the effectiveness and the ethics of the method, and readers will find a range of assessments across the scholarship. The event is one of several turning points covered in our broader profile of the freedom fighters of India.
The trial as a platform
During the proceedings that followed, the accused used the courtroom to state their political aims. Their statements and letters — some written from prison — circulated widely and became part of the public memory of the period. Coverage of the trial in the press of the day helped extend awareness of the revolutionary current beyond the cities where it was organised.
The Lahore Conspiracy Case
Separately, an incident in Lahore in December 1928 — the killing of a British police officer, John Saunders — led to a wider prosecution known as the Lahore Conspiracy Case. Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were among those tried. Accounts note that the Saunders incident followed the death of Lala Lajpat Rai after a lathi charge during a protest against the Simon Commission, and that the revolutionaries connected the two events in their own statements; historians continue to examine motive, sequence and the reliability of different sources.
The case was heard by a special tribunal established under emergency provisions, a procedure that itself became a subject of debate about the fairness of the process. The three men were sentenced to death.
Timeline of key events
- 1924–1928: Formation and reorganisation of the revolutionary body into the HSRA.
- December 1928: The Saunders incident in Lahore.
- 8 April 1929: The Central Legislative Assembly action in Delhi.
- 1929–1930: Prison hunger strikes over the treatment of political prisoners.
- 1930: Verdict in the Lahore Conspiracy Case.
- 23 March 1931: The executions in Lahore.
Prison hunger strikes
While imprisoned, Bhagat Singh and fellow detainees undertook hunger strikes to press for recognition and improved conditions for political prisoners, including the right to books and writing materials. The prolonged strikes attracted press attention and public sympathy. One associated prisoner, Jatindra Nath Das, died during a hunger strike in 1929, an event that was widely reported at the time. The hunger strikes are frequently cited in discussions of how the revolutionaries sought to shift attention onto the conditions of colonial imprisonment.
The executions of 23 March 1931
Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were executed on 23 March 1931 in Lahore. The date is commemorated in India as Shaheed Diwas (Martyrs' Day). Their deaths generated widespread public reaction across the country. The relationship between the revolutionary stream and the leaders of the mass non-violent movement in this period — including questions about appeals for clemency — is a genuinely contested area of history, and scholars present differing interpretations without a single agreed conclusion. This article reports that range rather than adjudicating it.
Contested assessments
Several aspects of the revolutionary stream remain subjects of scholarly disagreement. The table below summarises some of the debated questions and the fact that a range of views exists; it does not settle them.
| Question debated by historians | Nature of the debate |
|---|---|
| Effectiveness of armed action versus mass mobilisation | Assessments range widely; no scholarly consensus is reported here. |
| Ideological content of the HSRA's socialism | Different readings of the group's programme and its influences. |
| Interaction between revolutionary and non-violent currents | Interpretations differ on cooperation, tension and mutual influence. |
| Fairness of the special-tribunal procedure | Debated as an example of emergency legal process under colonial rule. |
Presenting these as open questions reflects the state of the scholarship rather than any editorial preference.
Legacy and remembrance
The three men are commemorated through memorials, place names and Shaheed Diwas observances. Their prison writings continue to be read and discussed, and their story is taught as part of the history of the freedom movement. In popular memory they are frequently grouped together, though each had a distinct role and background. Their place within the wider struggle — and the connection between that struggle and the events of 1947 — is explored across our coverage of the Partition of India in 1947 and what happened on 15 August 1947.
Remembering them in 2026
As India marks Independence Day, the revolutionary stream is one of many parts of the freedom movement recalled together. 15 August 2026 is the 80th Independence Day, marking 79 completed years of independence. Because this is a common point of confusion, we explain the counting in detail on our dedicated page on the 80th vs 79th Independence Day. For the full commemorative overview, see our Independence Day 2026 pillar.