'Bhagat Singh, Rajguru referred as terrorists in ICSE textbook'

Freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev have been referred to as terrorists in a textbook of ICSE syllabus, the Maharashtra Legislative Council was informed on Tuesday. "We will write to the Central government and lodge our protest," Minister of State for School Education Hasan Mushrif said during question hour.
Offences against the concerned author and publisher would be registered and cases filed within a month, the minister said in a reply to a query by Sudha Joshi and Sanjay Dutt (both Congress).
Joshi said the chapter titled `Revival of terrorism' in the 10th class book of ICSE referred the trio as terrorists.
The minister said the chapter would be expunged. Orders to the effect would be issued on Tuesday itself, he said.
The state government would also set up an independent machinery to check ICSE board syllabus, he said. The government has taken the issue seriously, he added.

Seventy-four years ago, on March 23, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, were hanged to death while fighting for India’s Independence. The three have been immortalised with history books passing on their sacrifices to successive generations.

BHAGAT SINGH

Bhagat Singh (September 27, 1907 – March 23, 1931) was an Indian revolutionary, considered to be one of the most famous martyrs of the Indian freedom struggle. For this reason, he is often referred to as Shaheed Bhagat Singh (the word shaheed means “martyr”). He is also believed by many to be one of the earliest Marxists in India and has been labeled so by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) . He was one of the leaders and founders of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. Bhagat Singh was cremated at Hussainiwala on banks of Sutlej River in Punjab where Bhagat Singh Memorial commemorates freedom fighters of India.

"The aim of life is no more to control the mind, but to develop it harmoniously; not to achieve salvation here after, but to make the best use of it here below; and not to realise truth, beauty and good only in contemplation, but also in the actual experience of daily life; social progress depends not upon the ennoblement of the few but on the enrichment of democracy; universal brotherhood can be achieved only when there is an equality of opportunity - of opportunity in the social, political and individual life." — from Bhagat Singh's prison diary

SUKHDEV THAPAR

Sukhdev Thapar (15th May 1907 - March 23, 1931) was an Indian revolutionary. He is best known as an accomplice of Bhagat Singh and Shivaram Rajguru in the killing of a British police officer in 1928 in order to take revenge for the death of veteran leader Lala Lajpat Rai due to excessive police beating. All three were convicted of the crime and hanged in Lahore Central Jail on March 23, 1931Sukhdev was an active member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, being one of the seniormost leaders. He is known to have started study circles at National College (Lahore) in order to delve into India's past as well as to scrutinize the finer aspects of the Russian Revolution. Sukhdev also participated in the 1929 Prison hunger strike to protest against the inhuman treatment meted out to the inmates.

Hari Shivaram Rajguru

Hari Shivaram Rajguru (1908 - March 23, 1931) was an Indian revolutionary. He is best known as an accomplice of Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev in the killing of a British police officer in 1928 in order to take revenge for the death of veteran leader Lala Lajpat Rai due to excessive police beating. All three were convicted of the crime and hanged on March 23, 1931.
Rajguru was hiding in Nagpur. He met Dr. K. B. Hedgewar and was hiding in one of the RSS worker's house. But after some days he went to Pune and later was arrested there.
For more information on the events leading up to the killing, read about Lala Lajpat Rai's death.

Lala Lajpat Rai's death

The British government created a commission under Sir John Simon to report on the current political situation in India in 1928. The Indian political parties boycotted the commission because it did not include a single Indian as its member and it was met with protests all over the country. When the commission visited Lahore on October 30, 1928, Lala Lajpat Rai led the protest against the commission in a silent non-violent march, but the police responded with violence. The police chief Scott beat Lala Lajpat Rai severely and he succumbed to his injuries later. Bhagat Singh, who was an eyewitness to this event, vowed to take revenge. He joined with other revolutionaries, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev, in a plot to kill the police chief. However, in a case of mistaken identity, Bhagat Singh accidentally killed J.P. Saunders, a Deputy Superintendent of Police. He quickly left Lahore to escape the police. To avoid recognition, he shaved his beard and cut his hair, a violation of one of the sacred tenets of Sikhism.