Historian urges Delhi, Punjab to secure Bhagat Singh’s files from Pakistan

The historic records include documents, photographs and other material that can throw light on Punjab’s lesser known history

As the Governments of Punjab and Delhi have uniquely adopted the late legends Bhagat Singh and B.R. Ambedkar, respectively, as the official icons of their governments, Professor Chaman Lal, a former senate member of Panjab University and honorary advisor to the Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre in Delhi, has urged both governments to acquire the 135 files related to Bhagat Singh’s court cases from the Punjab Archives at the Anarkali tomb in Lahore, Pakistan. “A digital copy of the same may be provided to Bhagat Singh Archives in Delhi and maximum [number of Indian] Universities for the purpose of research,” he said in his letter.

On March 23, 2018, for the first time, the Lahore archives held a month-long exhibition of more than 200 items from the Bhagat Singh files, and there is a plan to digitise them. The historic records comprising thousands of pages of documents, photographs and other material, include many unrevealed aspects of Punjab’s history.

Prof. Lal’s letter also says that books on Bhagat Singh should be purchased in bulk for all school, college and public libraries of both the States, and gifted to the MLAs of Punjab and Delhi. He also suggests that the Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre in Delhi, and the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Museum in Punjab’s Khatkar Kalan, should interact regularly. The museum in Khatkar Kalan should have an advisory committee led by the Punjab Chief Minister, and include some family members and scholars of Bhagat Singh, Prof. Lal wrote.