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Bhagat Singh, Bose took shelter here PDF Print E-mail
Written by Varinder Walia,Tribune News Service   
Friday, 24 August 2007

he Bara Makan lane in the Islamabad locality of Amritsar where Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose took shelter.

The Bara Makan lane in the Islamabad locality of Amritsar where Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose took shelter.

Amritsar.
Even as the Central government, in consultation with the state government, has decided to celebrate the birth centenary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh from next month, it remains to be seen if the ruling party evinces interest to preserve the Bara Makan in the local Islamabad locality where Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev took shelter in 1928 after shooting the ASP of Lahore, J.P. Saunders.

It was in the rented house of freedom fighter Sohan Singh Josh in Bara Ghara where the young revolutionaries took shelter after shooting the British police officer.

The incident later came to be known as the Lahore conspiracy case. Apart from sheltering revolutionaries on the run, Bara Makan or Bara Ghara was also the headquarters of an underground monthly Punjabi magazine called “Kirti”.

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose also took shelter during his escape from Kabul through the Holy City. Neither the local administration nor the state government has bothered to preserve the heritage associated with the freedom fighters. Bara Makan, the only Hindu area surrounded by a Muslim population before the Partition, has already lost its essence with the large-scale renovation of houses and the lane.

The lane is now under the shadow of tall buildings. Portions of the two gates of the lane are intact but the well from where the “fugitives of the British government” used to fetch water has been filled up and a building constructed over it.

Being a Muslim-dominated village, it was named Islamabad in the early 20th century.
Bara Makan (as per official records) had six houses on either side of the lane. It was said to be a haven for revolutionaries because of its strategic location.

Giving a firsthand account, Josh says in his autobiography “My Tryst with Secularism” that “on December 17, in the afternoon, a British officer was killed by some revolutionaries outside the police headquarters. On the same night somebody knocked at my door in Bara Ghara. I was all alone in the house. I opened the door and to my utter surprise I found Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev standing there.”


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Deepak Sabharwal said: _

  This person Mr. Dev Dard is misleading people by showing his own house.Actually this house was not build when Shaheed Bhagat singh Ji was alive.Dev Dard motive is to be popular in people and try to change the history by showing his own house.
October 04, 2007
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