Bhagat Singh: Sacrifice, Suffering, and the Tradition of the Oppressed

Abstract

Bhagat Singh (1907–1931) occupies a singular place in debates about the anti-colonial movement in India. His interest in Marxism ensures his popularity on the left, while his turn to violence makes him a hero for the nationalist right. However, their admiration of his “sacrifice” unites his followers. Examining the association between sacrifice and the death penalty in anti-colonial discourse, this chapter proposes that an affective attachment to the figures of both the colonizer and the colonized structures this discourse. This attachment cuts across sexual difference and supports the ability to relinquish life. Today, though the sacrifice of anti-colonial revolutionaries is routinely celebrated, the willingness to suffer or bear pain is entirely feminized and despised—it is no longer considered a political virtue.