Bhagat Singh vs Sobha Singh

Sahid Bhagat Singh

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may have just wanted to reaffirm his idea of ‘nation building’ when he asked Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to name a spot in the national capital after Sir Sobha Singh, writer Khushwant Singh’s father and the ‘builder’ of modern Delhi. But it seems that he was rubbing some of his patriotic countrymen the wrong way.
The PM, citing a representation, had written to Dikshit on June 28 to name an area after Sir  Sobha Singh, who was a key contributor in the construction of landmarks in the Capital, including Connaught Place. Acting on the letter, the Delhi Government zeroed in on Windsor Place and has moved the proposal to the Home Ministry seeking permission to rename the area to mark the 100th anniversary of Delhi being declared the national capital.
Freedom fighters and Left parties are up in arms against the PM’s name-changing move. They feel that Sir Sobha Singh had deposed against Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh in a Lahore court which led to his martyrdom. Upset with the decision, some of them have written to the PM urging him not to go ahead with the plan while others have begun a massive letter campaign representing the entire country. There are also plans to hold a dharna and a candlelight march at Windsor Place.
Leading the pack is the Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena. It has written to the PM reminding him that Sobha Singh was the person who gave a statement against freedom fighters—Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt—in the Lahore Bomb case because of which they were hanged to death.
“Bhagat Singh is a source of inspiration for the youth of the country. Whenever somebody talks about youth patriotism, Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s name comes up. This decision of the PM has hurt the sentiments of the entire country,” Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena has said in its letter.