Batukeshwar Dutt had a deep friendship with Bhagat Singh.
Born in Vardhaman, Bengal. Studied from Kanpur, UP. It was here that he met heroes like Chandrashekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh. If you make friends, they remain for life. His last wish was to be cremated next to the mausoleum of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Bhagat Singh’s autographs were found in his jail diary. When he was sent from Lahore Jail to Cellular Jail Andaman, he did not meet Bhagat Singh after that. He was greatly neglected in independent India. Couldn’t get the respect he actually deserved. 113 years ago on this day i.e. 18 November 1910, revolutionary Batukeshwar Dutt was born. On his birth anniversary, let us know some stories related to him.
The story of the famous revolutionary Batukeshwar Dutt is similar. There are many stories about him, which are enough to tell how much and how he contributed to the country’s independence. Studies were going on in Kanpur. The flame of freedom had awakened in the country. People were agitating in their own ways. Youth like Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad were also against the British rule. They were determined to take on the British in their own way. Batukeshwar Dutt not only became happy after getting their support but also jumped into the freedom movement.
Had deep friendship with Bhagat Singh
His friendship with Bhagat Singh was very deep. The proof of this comes from the fact that, when Punjab CM Ram Kishan reached AIIMS Delhi to meet him. He was ill at that time and was in the last stages of his life. He told the CM that his only last wish was that his last rites should be performed near the mausoleum of his friend Bhagat Singh. When he died on July 20, 1965, at AIIMS Delhi, the Punjab government, as per his wish, performed his last rites near the mausoleums of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev at Hussainiwala near the India-Pakistan border.
I regretted not being hanged
Batukeshwar Dutt was the fighter who, along with Bhagat Singh, threw two bombs in the moving assembly in Delhi. They were arrested there and then, while living in separate jails, they were sentenced to Kalapani. The British government sent him to Andaman. He remained regretful throughout his life as to why he was not hanged like Bhagat Singh. Actually, Bhagat Singh was angry with SP James A Scott for ordering lathi charge on the freedom fighters who were protesting under the leadership of Lala Lajpat Rai.
A plan was made to murder the SP and due to mistake in identification, another officer John was murdered in place of Scott and in this murder, Bhagat Singh and his other associates were hanged. Batukeshwar Dutt escaped the gallows because he had no role in this murder and he was sent to Kala Pani as punishment for throwing a bomb in the Delhi Assembly.
Arrested again for the second time
In the year 1937, the British government shifted him from Andaman to Patna jail. The next year he was released but was again arrested for taking part in the non-cooperation movement. When he was released again after about five years, the country had moved towards independence. He was happy that his hard work was coming to fruition, sad that his friend Bhagat Singh had been hanged and he was not. Well now he decided to stay in Patna.
There he was faced with the challenge of running a life. He continued to earn his living by doing various small jobs. There came a time when his health deteriorated. He could not get proper treatment in Patna hospital. Then the Punjab government contacted the Bihar government and took the initiative to bear all the expenses, then the Bihar government woke up and his treatment started.
Bhagat Singh’s mother considered him as her son.
When his condition deteriorated and he was brought to Delhi, Dutt told the journalists that he did not know that he would be brought on a stretcher in the same Delhi where we along with our friend Bhagat Singh had burst the bomb under British rule. He was admitted to AIIMS. During investigation it was found that it was cancer. The Punjab CM was not only taking care of him but was also meeting him at regular intervals.
Bhagat Singh’s mother also loved Dutt like a son. She had also reached AIIMS Delhi to meet Dutt. After a few months of treatment, Dutt breathed his last in the hospital on 20 July 1965 and was cremated as per his wish. His wife Anjali and daughter Bharti were with him till his last moments.
Also read – Why did Mahatma Gandhi choose Nehru instead of Patel?
