Sukhdev Thapar

01The organiser

Sukhdev was born in the Naughara quarter of Ludhiana and lost his father early; he was raised by his uncle Lala Achint Ram in Lyallpur. At the National College in Lahore, founded by Lala Lajpat Rai, he met Bhagat Singh, Bhagwati Charan Vohra and Yashpal. Together they set up the Naujawan Bharat Sabha and, in 1928, joined with Chandrashekhar Azad’s men to form the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. Sukhdev was the man of the back room: he recruited, found safe houses and ran the Lahore bomb workshop.

02Saunders and the gallows

Lala Lajpat Rai died in November 1928, weeks after he was beaten by police during a protest against the Simon Commission in Lahore. The HSRA decided to answer, and on 17 December 1928 Bhagat Singh and Rajguru shot Assistant Superintendent J. P. Saunders. In April 1929 the police raided the Lahore and Saharanpur bomb factories and arrested Sukhdev. In the Lahore Conspiracy Case the tribunal sentenced him with Bhagat Singh and Rajguru to death. The three were hanged in Lahore Central Jail on the evening of 23 March 1931, a day earlier than announced, and their bodies were burned secretly near Hussainiwala on the Sutlej.

Place · Ancient; tradition names Lava, son of Shri Rama, as founderLahore (Lavapura)The old capital of Punjab on the Ravi, part of the Hindu Shahi realm until Mahmud’s conquest, and from 1799 to 1849 the capital of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Sikh empire. At Partition in 1947 nearly all its Hindus and Sikhs had to leave.Read →