The ancestral home of Indian socialist revolutionaryShaheed Bhagat Singh has been the pride of Khatkar Kalan village in Nawanshahrfor over a century now. But a few know that the house was built in 1858 byBhagat Singh’s great-grandfather Fateh Singh, who named it as ‘Deewan Khana’,as he would hold a darbar at the house to impart justice to the people of hisvillage. Besides, he used to encouragepeople and tell them that governments may come and go but their problems willfind solutions if they earmark them jointly.
It is said that after the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh,the East India Company officials started suppressing the people, so to protectthemselves; people took arms in their hands. During the 1857 revolt, theBritish government requested Fateh Singh for help against the rebels, but herefused to oblige. “Since then, the house has been the epitome of great valuesand resistance to the colonial rule exhibited by the family”, said ProfJagmohan Singh, Ludhiana-based nephew of Bhagat Singh.
Prof Singh said it was after a great struggle that hemanaged to get the house converted into a protected monument in the 1980s, asmany then questioned the fact the house had a connection with Bhagat Singh,claiming that he never visited the place. The truth is though Bhagat Singh wasborn and brought up in Faisalabad (now in Pakistan), he used to visit the houseregularly, along with his grandfather Arjan Singh. He had many fond childhoodmemories associated with the house, Prof Singh said.
Throwing light on his struggle to protect the house, ProfJagmohan said: “While portraits of Bhagat Singh have made their way to theoffices of politicians, especially those from Punjab, who make a beeline toKhatkar Kalan village on every birth or death anniversary of Bhagat Singh’s orduring elections, the martyr gets effaced from their memories in a matter ofdays.”
Awalk through the past
As per information it was till 1975, Bhagat Singh’smother lived in this house. It was then in 1982, the house was declared amonument under the Punjab Ancient and Historical Monuments and ArchaeologicalSite and Remains Act 1964. After the family handed it over the responsibilityof Government to keep it as national monument. But the legendary freedomfighter’s house was relatively ignored for a long time. Sources say it wasfirst in 2005 when the chappar (sewer pond) found at the front of BhagatSingh’s house was converted into a memorial park but the structure of the housewas not touched and one of its walls remained in a bad shape and paint on itslower walls worn away owing to dampness.
Prof Jagmohan Singh said, “The Department ofArchives/Culture used to be mostly out of funds whenever they approached themfor restoration. It was like we have to beg the government for grants even thoughthe house’s upkeep should have been its job.” It was only in 2015, thedepartment of cultural affairs, archaeology and museums for the first timestarted to restore the house since it was handed over to it in 1984 by thefamily. Before that, the local panchayat used to take care of the house. Thehouse was restored at a cost of Rs 42 lakh by the state government, he added.
Sharing an old instance, Prof Jagmohan recalled that in2017 when then Punjab tourism minister Navjot Singh Sidhu went to the villageto take stock of the ongoing museum work at the village, he handed over acheque of Rs 2.5 lakh from his ministerial funds to then deputy commissionerSonali Giri, in favour of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) as thestate government miserably failed to clear the power bills of freedom fighterBhagat Singh’s house and of the memorial park. “Such was the plight of thehouse and ignorance of the state government”, he said.
Thehouse now
It was in July 2015, the state government hired a Chandigarh-basedprivate firm to carry out the restoration work at the house in a way that itcould attract more and more visitors. The restoration work was completed in2016 and the roofs, which were in a dilapidated condition earlier, were removedand replaced with new ones keeping the original form.
The walls of rooms, kitchen are now repaired with aspecial technique to strengthen them by restoring their historical value. Thefloors of the building were restored and its level has been raised. Old doors andwindows are replaced with new ones. Special cabins for displaying thebelongings of the martyr and his family have been made so that these are notdamaged by visitors by touching them frequently. The house has got a completefacelift and is one of the most visited places in Punjab.
Messagefrom Prof Jagmohan
“As the country remembering Bhagat Singh on his 90th death anniversary today, thisyear, let’s all pledge to bring the change he dreamt of and instead of holdingrallies, political events, we follow his ideology in true spirits.
Taking the message from this house people shouldstrengthen Gram Sabha. Bhagat Singh raised the slogans of Inquilab Zindabad andSamrajwaad Murdabad, but the country’s leaders and some parties were limitinghis message and thus restricting his ideology”, he said.