Inquilab Zindabad slogan will stay relevant till people continue their struggle against diverse inequalities

Inquilab Zindabad slogan will stay relevant till people continue their struggle against diverse inequalities

There are some iconic words or expressions that become immortal and stay with us forever. Inquilab (Revolution) is one of them. It was used for the first time in a slogan Inquilab Zindabad (Long Live Revolution) by Maulana Hasrat Mohani in 1921 and soon became a rallying cry of our freedom struggle.

Maulana Hasrat Mohani (1875-1951) was born as Syed Fazlul Hasan in a town called Mohanin Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh. Hasrat was his pen name (takhallus) as a revolutionary Urdu Poet, that also became his identity as a political leader. Hasrat Mohani was a labour leader, a scholar, a well-known Urdu poet and also one of the founders of the Communist Party of India in 1925.

Along with Swami Kumar anand—another important name in the Indian Communist movement — Hasrat Mohani was the first person to raise the demand for ‘Complete Independence’ or ‘Poorna Swaraj’ for India at the Ahmedabad session of the Indian National Congress in 1921. This session was also attended by Ramprasad Bismil and Ashfaqullah Khan (both played an important role in passing the resolution in the general body of the Indian National Congress).

Hasrat Mohani was elected member of the Constituent Assembly after Independence and was also a member of the drafting committee of the Constitution along with Dr B R Ambedkar. His stress on Inquilab and the slogan Inquilab Zindabad was inspired by his urge to fight against social and economic inequality and of course in his struggle for freedom from colonial oppression. Before Hasrat Mohani coined this slogan, the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia made revolution symbolic of struggle for oppressed nationalities globally.

It was from the mid 1920s onwards that this slogan became a war cry of Bhagat Singh and his Naujawan Bharat Sabha as well as his Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA). Bhagat Singh was committed to Inquilab or revolution but it was not merely apolitical revolution he aimed at. He wanted a social revolution to break age-old discriminatory practices. This Inquilab Zindabad was not merely an emotional war cry for the revolutionaries but had a lofty ideal, which was explained by the Bhagat Singh and his Naujawan Bharat Sabha regarded communal amity as central to their political agenda. They raised just two slogans, Inquilab Zindabad and Hindustan Zindabad, hailing the revolution and the country. All those who revel in the name of Bhagat Singh should care to understand the vision he left behind for us as his intellectual legacy. This slogan got major traction when Bhagat Singh and BK Dutt dropped bombs in the Delhi Assembly on April 8, 1929,and shouted Long Live Revolution (Inquilab Zindabad).