At 23, Bhagat Singh walked to the gallows — and never stopped walking into the hearts of every generation that followed. On the revolutionary's birth anniversary, Union Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar offered a national salute on Monday, 28 September 2026, honouring the martyr as an eternal flame for India's youth.

Posting in Hindi, Khattar wrote: 'I bow before the brave son of Mother India, the immortal martyr Sardar Bhagat Singh, on his birth anniversary, on behalf of a grateful nation.' He added that Bhagat Singh had, even in his short life, made the freedom of the country the sole resolve of his existence — drawing countless young people into the struggle for independence through the sheer depth of his patriotism.

The martyr who made youth the vanguard

Bhagat Singh, born 28 September 1907 in what is now Punjab, Pakistan, was hanged by British authorities on 23 March 1931 — aged just 23. In that compressed life, he transformed from a teenage revolutionary into one of British India's most feared and celebrated anti-colonial figures. His writings, his defiance in court, and his willingness to die made him a blueprint for a generation of freedom fighters.

Khattar's tribute specifically noted Bhagat Singh's role in 'deepening the spirit of patriotism among the youth and connecting them to the freedom struggle' — a framing that speaks as much to the present as to the past. India's political leadership, across party lines, has consistently invoked Bhagat Singh as the archetype of selfless national service, particularly when addressing younger citizens.

A ritual of remembrance, and what it signals

Birth and death anniversaries of freedom fighters are marked by formal tributes from leaders across India's political spectrum — a practice that is as much about the living as the departed. On 28 September each year, schools, universities, and state governments typically organise commemorative events, essay competitions, and cultural programmes in Bhagat Singh's name. The minister's post is part of that larger, ongoing national effort to keep the memory of the independence movement alive for citizens who were born decades after 1947.

Khattar — who served as Chief Minister of Haryana before taking charge of the Union portfolios for Power and Housing & Urban Affairs — carries particular resonance in paying this tribute. Haryana, which borders Punjab, shares deep cultural and historical ties with the land that produced Bhagat Singh. His tribute closes with the conviction that Bhagat Singh's 'indomitable courage and love for the nation will continue to inspire patriots to serve the motherland for centuries to come.' That is not just a ceremonial line. It is the bet every generation places on the one before it.