The nation observed Bhagat Singh’s birthday today as thousands thronged to parks, museums, libraries and even social media and pretended to know what, exactly, Bhagat Singh did.
“We will celebrate this day and remember the legacy of a man who did so much for the environment, a man who was in fact the first environmentalist of the sub-continent,” said Faiza Hassan, a student of Kinnaird College, Lahore.
“What comrade Bhagat Singh did, specially for the tannery workers of Kasur, is going to be remembered by worker rights advocates throughout the world,” said Shumail Butt, a student of computer sciences in Karachi. “We will never forget this legacy of his.”
“He was a true son of the soil, of the Punjab. Just the way I am, the way my father was, the way his father before him was,” said Murad Hassan Sial, referencing his grandfather who was a member of the Unionist Party and had actively campaigned for Bhagat Singh to be given the death sentence.
“I fully endorse the demand to name Shadman Chowk in Lahore after him,” said Ahmer Lodhi. “He deserves it, having planned and built the entire area of Shadman, not to mention a number of other buildings of Lahore, like NCA, Aitcheson College, the GPO etc.”