Remembering Revolutionary Freedom Fighter Batukeshwar Dutt

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The Union Home Minister paid national tributes to the prominent Indian revolutionary freedom fighter **Batukeshwar Dutt** on his death anniversary.

**Batukeshwar Dutt**, also known as B.K. Dutt, Battu, or Mohan, was a leading Indian socialist revolutionary who executed the historic **Central Legislative Assembly bombing** in New Delhi alongside **Bhagat Singh** in **1929** to protest colonial oppression.

He was born on **November 18, 1910**, in Oari village located in the Purba Bardhaman district of West Bengal.
He spent most of his childhood in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, where he completed his basic schooling at **P.P.N. High School**.
In **1924**, Dutt met **Bhagat Singh** in Kanpur, and under the mentorship of **Chandrashekhar Azad**, he joined the underground revolutionary movement and learned bomb-making techniques.

The British administration introduced two anti-Indian laws, namely the **Public Safety Bill** and the **Trade Disputes Bill**, to suppress labor movements and revolutionary activities.
On **April 8, 1929**, Dutt and **Bhagat Singh** threw two low-intensity, non-lethal bombs into empty areas of the Central Assembly in Delhi, scattered anti-imperialist leaflets, and raised the slogan **Inquilab Zindabad**.
Both revolutionaries chose not to run away and voluntarily offered themselves for arrest to use colonial courtrooms as a platform to spread their message.
After receiving a life sentence, Dutt and **Bhagat Singh** started a historic hunger strike in prison to demand equal rights and better living conditions for Indian political prisoners compared to European convicts.
Sentenced to life imprisonment in **1929**, Dutt was deported to the **Cellular Jail** in the Andaman Islands, where he faced harsh forced labor and participated in major prison hunger strikes in **1933** and **1937**.
He was released in **1938** after contracting tuberculosis in jail, but he later joined Mahatma Gandhi's **Quit India Movement** in **1942** and spent four more years in **Motihari Jail** in Bihar.

He was a key leader of the **Hindustan Socialist Republican Association** (HSRA), working closely with **Bhagat Singh**, **Chandrashekhar Azad**, and **Sukhdev**.
He was also actively involved in the **Naujawan Bharat Sabha**, a youth organization established to mobilize workers and students against British colonial rule.

After independence in **1947**, **Batukeshwar Dutt** lived quietly with his family in Patna, Bihar, while facing severe financial struggles and official neglect.
In the **1960s**, he developed bone cancer and was admitted to **AIIMS Delhi**, where he passed away on **July 20, 1965**, at the age of 54.
Following his final wish, his last rites were performed at **Hussainiwala** in Firozpur, Punjab, alongside the memorials of his revolutionary comrades **Bhagat Singh**, **Rajguru**, and **Sukhdev**.