Basawon Singh (Sinha)

Basawon Singh, also known as Basawon Sinha, (died 7 April 1989) was an Indian independence activist and a campaigner for the rights of the underprivileged, industrial labourers and agricultural workers. He spent a total of 18 and a half years in prisons in British India as a consequence of his support for independence and he was committed to democratic socialism. Along with Yogendra Shukla, he was a founder member of the Congress Socialist Party in Bihar.

Basawon Singh was born in a poor Brahmin farming family in Jamalpur (Subhai), Hajipur on 23 March 1909. An only son, he lost his father at the age of eight. He had come from an small farmer's family. At the age of ten he ran off to Hajipur to see and hear Mahatma Gandhi. A brilliant student, he secured scholarships in both primary and middle schools. Thereafter he joined Dighi High School. He used to teach older boys for food and lodging. His mother sold a bamboo every month for two rupees to meet his other school expenses.

Singh passed Matriculation Examination with a high first division in 1926 and began studies at G. B. B. College.

During last two years of school Singh came in close contact with revolutionaries, with Yogendra Shukla, the head of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HRSA), as his mentor. Soon after joining the HRSA in 1925, Singh was rusticated from G. B. B. College, thus ending his formal education. He was subsequently involved with Bihar Vidyapeeth at Sadakat Ashram in Patna, where he undertook intensive military training with a small group of youths.

Singh absconded in 1929 after the Lahore Conspiracy Case. He was co-accused in the Bhusawal, Kakori, Tirhut and Deluaha conspiracy cases. He carried on the movement along with Chandrashekhar Azad and Keshav Chandra Chakravarty. He was sentenced to seven years in prison but escaped from Bankipore Central jail in June 1930 after three days. He was re-arrested and sent to Bhagalpur Centrail Jail.

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