Sukhdev Thapar

Sukhdev Thapar (15 May 1907 – 23 March 1931) was an Indian freedom fighter who fought against the British government for Indian independence. He was a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), and was executed along with Shivaram Rajguru and Bhagat Singh on 23 March 1931. Statues of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev at Hussainiwala, near the India–Pakistan Border.

Early life of Sukhdev Thapar Sukhdev Thapar was born in Naughara area of Old Ludhiana, Punjab, British Raj on 15 May 1907 to Ramlal Thapar and Ralli Devi. His father died three months before his birth

After completing his early education at Lyallpur, Sukhdev attended Arya High School. He passed his High School examination in 1922, and then went to Lahore for further studies at National College.

Revolutionary activities

Hindustan Socialist Republican Association Sukhdev Thapar was a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association and the Naujawan Bharat Sabha. He also initiated revolutionary movements in Punjab and other regions of northern India. He was the chief of the Punjab unit of the HSRA and was instrumental in making decisions.

Sukhdev took part in a number of revolutionary events, including a prison hunger strike in 1929. He is widely known for his assaults in the Lahore Conspiracy Case (1929–1930). He is well known for his role in the assassination of Assistant Superintendent of Police John P. Saunders on 17 December 1928, by Bhagat Singh and Shivaram Rajguru, the assassination carried out in retaliation for the senior leader Lala Lajpat Rai's horrific death.

Thapar, Bhagat Singh, and Shivaram Rajguru were all hanged on 23 March 1931, in Lahore Central Jail. According to the New York Times: In an editorial for his daily Janata, B. R. Ambedkar blamed the British government for the killings, despite widespread popular sympathy for the revolutionaries. He believed that the decision to execute the trio was not made in the spirit of justice, but rather out of fear of a backlash from the Conservative Party and a need to please public opinion in England.

Conservatives saw the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, signed just weeks before the execution, as undermining the authority of the British Empire. If the British government or the Viceroy of India had changed the death sentences of the trio convicted of murdering a British police officer in such a situation, it would have given conservatives more ammunition to criticize the already weak British government in Parliament.

Legacy

National Martyrs Memorial is located at Hussainiwala, where Sukhdev, along with Bhagat Singh and Rajguru, were cremated. A Martyrs' Day (Shaheed Diwas) is observed on 23 March in their memory. Tributes and homage are paid at the memorial.

Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, a constituent college of the University of Delhi, is named in memory of Sukhdev. It was established in August 1987.

Amar Shaheed Sukhdev Thapar Inter-State Bus Terminal is the main bus stand of Ludhiana city, the birthplace of Sukhdev.