Shaheed-E-Azam Bhagat Singh (Born: September 28, 1907) was a revolutionary par excellence who took up arms against the British Raj. For this, he first threw off the yoke of faith in God which many other revolutionaries were guided by and created his own brand of revolution - Socialist Revolution.
He was convicted and hanged on March 23, 1931, when he was in his twenties for his involvement in the killing of John Saunder.
He became an atheist revolution icon for the youth of India and got inspired to take up revolutionary path to free the country from oppressive British Raj.
He wrote boldly informing the world, “I was a true atheist then and I am an atheist now. It was not an easy task to face that ordeal. Beliefs make it easier to go through hardships, even make them pleasant. Man can find a strong support in God and an encouraging consolation in His Name. If you have no belief in Him, then there is no alternative but to depend upon yourself. It is not child’s play to stand firm on your feet amid storms and strong winds. In difficult times, vanity, if it remains, evaporates and man cannot find the courage to defy beliefs held in common esteem by the people. If he really revolts against such beliefs, we must conclude that it is not sheer vanity; he has some kind of extraordinary strength. This is exactly the situation now.”
He was of the view, that God was the invention of a weak human mind and had wanted that the society and the social reformers must fight against the belief in God in totality. He held that some social reformers had only fought against idol worship and and rituals of religion. So he went a step further, he became an atheist to boldly fight for freedom from slavery of religious bigotry and imperialism with courage and valour and his head high and erect to the last.
Some of his thoughts on atheism and freedom from status quo are as follows.
Social progress depends not upon the ennoblement of the few but on the enrichment of democracy; universal brotherhood can be achieved only when there is an equality of opportunity - of opportunity in the social, political and individual life.
Oppression! Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad.
Merciless criticism (of the oppressor) and independent thinking are the two necessary traits of revolutionary thinking.
Through the ordeal of sufferings and sacrifice you shall come out victorious.
..Mere faith and blind faith is dangerous: it dulls the brain, and makes a man reactionary.
..Social progress depends not upon the ennoblement of the few but on the enrichment of the many; and spiritual democracy or universal brotherhood can be achieved only when there is an equality of opportunity in the social, political and industrial life.
One can conclude that he had subscribed public governance has atheist and socialism principles. If that is not happening, it is time for revolution by the youth, he had thought