DU opens room at lodge where Bhagat Singh was imprisoned during trial

New Delhi: Delhi University marked the death anniversary of Bhagat Singh as ‘Martyrs’ Day’ on Wednesday by opening the doors of a room in the Viceregal Lodge, where the freedom fighter was reportedly imprisoned for a day during a court trial. The Viceregal Lodge Estate, which now houses the office of the DU vice-chancellor, was given over to the university in 1933.

The university invited 100 school students from five schools for the first guided tour of the resource materials and a visit to the room, which housed works on and by Bhagat Singh. The resource centre on Bhagat Singh displays compilations of handwritten letters by the freedom fighter and will be later developed as a museum.

“The resource centre aspires to make everyone learn from the lives of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and his associates,” DU vice-chancellor Yogesh Tyagi said. However, the VC said the university has no plans to open it for the public.

“But this is definitely a beginning where students of our university and research scholars and even school children will get an opportunity to learn from the writings of the martyr and the scholarly works on him,” Tyagi said.

It was on this day in 1931 that freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were executed, a few hours ahead of schedule after the trio was sentenced to death in the Lahore conspiracy case.

Asked to comment on the comparisons between Jawaharlal Nehru University students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar and Bhagat Singh, Tyagi -- an alumni of JNU said he believes anyone fighting for a just cause is inspired by the legendary freedom fighter.

“This is not the right occasion (to comment). It’s a solemn occasion where we are commemorating the death of a martyr who spent one day in this room. But I believe that anyone who is fighting for a just cause is inspired by Bhagat Singh,” Tyagi said.