August 9th is a memorable date in India's revolutionary movement. On this day in 1897, Damodar Chaphekar was arrested, subsequently to become India's first martyr. On this date again in 1925, 10 intrepid young men stopped a running train in U.P and decamped with substantial cash. Again 9th August, 1942, saw the beginning of the Quit India Movement, the first in our long war of independence led by the Congress which swerved from non-violence and produced different types of leaders like Jai Prakash Narain (J.P) and Aruna Asaf Ali.

MANIFESTO OF THE HINDUSTAN SOCIALIST REPUBLICAN ASSOCIATION* [ Prepared by B.C. Vohra, it was widely distributed at the time of the Lahore Session of the Congress in 1929.] The food on which the tender plant of liberty thrives is the blood of the martyr. FOR DECADES THIS LIFE BLOOD TO THE PLANT OF India's liberty is being supplied by revolutionaries.

[It was published in Young India (Ahmedabad), dated February 12, 1925, and reproduced by M.N. Gupta in his book. They Lived Dangerously, PPH, New Delhi, 1969.] I THINK IT IS MY DUTY TO REMIND YOU OF THE promise you made some time back that you would retire from the political field at the time when the revolutionaries will once more emerge from their silence and enter into the Indian political arena. The experiment with the non-violent non-cooperation movement is now over.

[Bhagat Singh wrote this letter to Jaidev Gupta, a close friend from his schools days, for some books. It gives an idea of the type of books he used to study in jail. It also shows as to how keen he was about the intellectual development of his comrades.] Lahore Central Jail 24.7.30 MY DEAR JAIDEV, Please take following books in my name from Dwarkadas Library and send them through Kulvir on Sunday: Militarism (Kari Liebknecht) Why Men Fight (B.

[Our case before the Special Tribunal opened on May 5, 1930. On May 12 the presiding judge lost his temper on the question of a song. He ordered that the accused be handcuffed. The accused resisted. They were removed from the court by force and sent back to the jails. The accused boycotted the court from the next day onward and demanded that the presiding judge must apologize, on he should be removed.

[A handwritten leaflet explaining the reasons for Saunders' murder, written on December 18, 1928 on Mozang House den and pasted at several placs on the walls of Lahore in the night between the 18th and 19th. A copy in Bhagat Singh's handwriting was produced as an exhibit in the Lahore Conspiracy Case.] HINDUSTAN SOCIALIST REPUBLICAN ARMY NOTICE J.P. Saunders is dead; Lala Lajpat Rai is avenged Really it is horrible to imagine that so lowly and violent hand violent hand of an ordinary Police Official, J.P.

[The Second Punjab Students' Conference was held at Lahore on October 19, 1929, under the persidentship of Subhash Chandra Bose. Bhagat Singh grabbed the opportunity and sent this message asking the students to plunge who'e-heartedly into the comming movement of 1930-31 and carry the message of revolution to the remotest corners of the country. It was jointly signed with B.K. Dutt. The message was read in the open session.