Bhagat Singh Memorial Hall inaugurated in Public Library Rampura Phul
Public Library Rampura Phul came into existence in the year 1939 in a smaller place, set up by young freedom fighters of those times, including Advocate Madhusudan Lal, Siri Ram Singhal, Dr. Girdhari Lal Hindi, Girdhari Lal Bhagat and a few more active persons.
After independence, as Rampura Phul was part of Barnala district, the Barnala Deputy Commissioner allotted the present site in the Chowk of Rampura Phul in 1951 and in 1953, the library was shifted to the present place. Some concerned citizens, like Mela Ram, donated a large amount for the construction of the library hall. A statue of Bhagat Singh was placed below the library in 1995, so it is now called Bhagat Singh Chowk.
A national peace conference was held close to the Public Library in 1953, and the conference chairman, a famous freedom fighter, Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew, visited the library and put a note-
In 1956, another freedom fighter and the first Chief Minister of post-independence Indian Punjab, Dr. Gopi Chand Bhargav, also visited the library and put his comment-(Both Kitchlew and Bhargav were close to Bhagat Singh and supported them during their revolutionary activities)
I became a reader member of the library after the first Indian Prime Minister Pandit Nehru’s demise and got the first novel issued, Munshi Premchand’s world famous classic, Godan, in Hindi, though the library has its Urdu copy also, which I got issued later for the reading of my father, who knew Urdu only.
This photograph is of recent years, but this novel impacted my aesthetic sensibility greatly and became a kind of benchmark for standard or higher sensibility literature, which later helped me top the Prabhakar(Hons. in Hindi) exam of Panjab University, Chandigarh in 1967, which further helped me get a job as a Hindi Teacher in the Govt. High School Poohla in the same year. In those early years, I was known as Chaman Lal Prabhakar and published as such! Doing many jobs till the year 2014, though retired from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU ), New Delhi by the end of the year 2012 as Professor in Hindi Translation., Serving a year post retirement at Central University of Punjab, Bathinda during the year 2014 as Professor in charge of departments of Comparative Literature and Punjabi being in charge of Library as well! in year 2007 on the occasion of 68th foundation day of the library I was honoured by the Public Library, when many founders of the library were alive and participated in the function-
While gifting my whole collection, mainly of literature, to the Public Library, Rampura Phul, I put a life sketch on a flex displayed in the hall-
I offered a whole collection of my books as to gift to the Public Library with the desire that a separate hall may be built to display this collection. It was accepted by the library management, encouraged by Sh. Shashi Singhal and a new AC hall was built, named as Shaheed Bhagat Singh Memorial Hall, with eight almirahs, in which my whole collection was displayed, organised by me in different sections. This hall was inaugurated by Bibi Gurjit Dhatt, a niece of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, on 3rd August 2025, linking the day to commemorate 23rd July-Shaheed Chandaer Shekhar Azad martyrdom day, 31st July- martyrdom day of Shaheed Udham Singh and birth anniversary of Munshi Premchand.
Bibi Gurjit Dhatt inaugurated the hall and garlanded the Shaheed Bhagat Singh photograph, after which a discussion on the role of libraries and books in imparting social awareness and knowledge was held inside the main hall of the library.
Message from Vir Chakara holder Retd. Major General Sheonan Singh
I am honoured to be invited to the inauguration of ‘Shaheed Bhagat Singh Memorial Hall’ at Rampura Phul. I thank Shri Yogesh Singla ji, Shri Mehar Chand Bahia ji, Shri Kailash Kaushik ji and other members of Rampura Phul Public Library.
It is a greater privilege to have been invited to a gathering dedicated to commemorating the memory of Shaheede-Azam. I regret my inability to be personally present due to unavoidable commitments. I request Prof. Chaman Lal to convey my gratitude on my behalf. Regards
Message by Punjabi senior fiction writer Gurbachan Singh Bhullar-
Message by Dr. Margit Koves from Delhi University-
Congratulations to the Rampura Phul Library on your recent addition to the library of Hindi and Urdu literature, criticism, poetry, Russian literature and criticism, Dalit literature and Women’s literature and theory and Lenin’s, Marx’s and Plekhanov’s Works, altogether about two thousand three hundred books! Professor Chaman Lal, who gifted the books to the library, has been writing and publishing on the work of Pash and Bhagat Singh, and a number of Hindi writers. We all know how important libraries are as tools for literacy and education, and how private libraries thrive in the capital. In this context, we are also very happy that the Rampura Phul Library in Bathinda decided to widen its collection and extend its services, and to enable a greater number of readers to read these valuable works gifted by Professor Chaman Lal.
On a personal note, I can add that many of us who come to work and live in India and those Professor Chaman Lal taught in the West Indies, know in detail about Bhagat Singh and revolutionary movements in the Punjab through him. It deserves special acknowledgement that, as a teacher, he also found this way to educate people in his native district.
Congratulations and warm wishes to the administration and the readers of the Rampura Phul Library!
Dr. Margit Köves
Visiting Lecturer of Hungarian
Department of Slavonic and Finno-Ugrian Studies
University of Delhi
Message from Dr. Swarajbeer Singh, Punjabi writer/editor
I presented two of my books to Bibi Gurjit and her husband Harbhajan Singh Dhatt, apart from showing the Urdu manuscript of Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s younger brother Ranbir Singh, written perhaps a biography of his elder brother Bhagat Singh. Bibi Gurjit Dhatt appreciated the Public Library Rampura Phul for building the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Memorial Hall. Rampura Phul, born and Chandigarh-based senior journalist and chief editor of Babushahi.com, Baljit Balli, and I shared memories of our young age and the impact of the Library in shaping our ideas. Messages from Punjabi writers Grbachan Singh Bhullar, Swarajbir Singh-both, ex ex-editors of Punjabi Tribune, Bhagat Singh’s nephew Major General(Retd) and Vir Chakar holder Sheonan Singh, whose sister Iskara is married to one of the descendants of the founders of this library and by Dr. Margit Koves, Hungarian Professor in Delhi University, were read. Punjabi novelist Baldev Singh Sadaknama made presidential remarks. It was an enthusiastic response to the impressive function, not only from Rampura Phul residents, audience who turned up from Bathinda, Barnala and Moga. Yogesh Singhal, President of the Library, organised the function under his supervision, while Sunil Bansal conducted the proceedings impressively. All office bearers and the management of the library were present.
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Very few people in Rampura Phul or in whole of Malwa knew that Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s niece Iskara, daughter of Ranbir Singh, who was having the spirit of elder brother, whom he saw little as he was only four years old, when Bhagat Singh was arrested in Delhi bomb case in 1929 and just six years old, when his brother was executed. His picture also reflects shade of Bhagat Singh-
There are a lot of stories about Ranbir Singh. His naming of his children showed his radicalism. He named his daughter Iskara, which was an underground journal of the Russian Communist Party prior to the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. He named his son on a Japanese war hero, Sheonan Singh, who retired as Major General from Indian army, winning the Vir Chakra. Iskara is married to Baldev Raj Gupta, the son of one of the founders of the library, Girdhari Lal Bhagat. Both now live in the USA and visit Rampura Phul occasionally. Picture of Iskara and Baldev with their child-
Both Sheonan Singh and Iskara had their higher education from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. Another picture sent by Sheonan ji-
Some clippings from the media
The function of this day will live in memory forever, and it was a happy occasion for me!
With gifting my literary collection to the Public Library Rampura Phul, my home town I feel satisfied. Before gifting my final collection, which may include a few hundred more at a later stage, I had gifted books relating to Bhagat Singh, other revolutionaries and the Indian freedom struggle, numbering more than 1700 books plus a lot much archival papers collected from many archives like the British Library London, the National Archives of India and few state archives. This was integrated on 23rd March 2018 inside the Delhi Archives of the Delhi Govt., which also built a special hall like Bhagat Singh memorial hall here in the Public Library Rampura Phul. This is now used by many national and international scholars for their research and common readers as well, who are interested in Bhagat Singh and the freedom struggle of India! Some pictures of Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre-
After creating these two archival collections at my home town Rampura Phul and New Delhi, from where I had my higher education from JNU and later served as Professor, I retired from Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU), New Delhi. I gifted 1000+ books to Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, while serving for a year post-retirement in the year 2014, apart from gifting a few hundred books to Punjabi Bhavan, Ludhiana. With all this, I feel I have performed my social duty as a teacher and researcher and also as a passionate follower of the ideas of Bhagat Singh-the supreme icon of revolutionary ideas and practice in India!
