Noori Darwaza, once a hideout for Bhagat Singh, forgotten

Agra :

Not many know that Bhagat Singh, who was hanged to death on March 23, 1931, by the British government for the murder of police officer John Saunders, stayed in Agra for months after committing the murder. Though locals have made something of a monument at the spot, the district administration has shown little interest in conserving the site, besides passing a bill to name Noori Darwaza after Bhagat Singh in 1962.

According to historians, when Bhagat Singh and Bijoy Kumar Sinha were chalking out their course of action after murdering Saunders, they held a meeting in Delhi. There, they decided to go for mass awakening, protests, and also changed the name of the party from Hindustan Republican Association to Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.

“They also decided that the organization should be broadly divided into two groups, mainly the active group and the sympathizers. They also decided to setup the new party’s headquarter,” informed SP Singh, head of the history department at Christ Church College, Kanpur.

He added that the team of revolutionaries decided to keep the party headquarters in Jhansi but later it was changed to Agra. They reached Agra in 1929, took two houses on rent and started training their supporters. With his ever increasing zest for study, Bhagat Singh began to build up a small library in Agra. With this purpose he roamed around, begging for books from sympathizers. In a short time, a distinctive though small library grew up here and the most important section among the books were of course, Economics.

However, currently no library exists here at Noori Darwaza whose official name should have been Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg, according to the local petha makers. The house where he lived for three months is lying in a dilapidated state.

Former ward corporator Ratan Bharti said that the decision of changing Noori Darwaza’s name to Bhagat Singh Marg was taken in 1962.

“The civic body of Agra had its first elections in 1959 and in the third annual session of municipal corporation, it was decided that Noori Darwaza would be renamed to Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg. A bill was passed but it remained confined to paper only. The locality is still called Noori Darwaza,” added Ratan Bharti.

Even the voter IDs of the locals says Noori Darwaza instead of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg.

“It is shameful that the government and its representatives are least bothered about preserving history and its evidence in Agra. It was only after a prolonged struggle that locals managed to build a statue of Bhagat Singh in 1970. We would also have an annual fair in the name of Bhagat Singh for years, starting from 1978 till 1983,” said Vijay Sharma, a social activist and member of Indian People Theatre Association (IPTA) who used to organize the fair in the name of Bhagat Singh.

He added, “Many attempts were made to ask the administration why they are not renaming the locality as Bhagat Singh Marg to which they said they haven’t received any official confirmation for renaming Noori Darwaza, from the civic body.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Agra / by Ishita Mishra, TNN / March 23rd, 2015