LUCKNOW (TIP): Sagar Sharma, one of the two men who had jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber and set off smoke canisters, maintained for some years a diary in which he often wrote “Inquilab Zindabad” on top of the page and at one stage talked about “dying for the nation”.

“I have given my life to the nation. I have taken a step towards freedom. Now the turn will come to die for the nation. I have already rested a lot,” he wrote in Hindi on June 13, 2015.

Sharma (28), a resident of Ramnagar in Lucknow, maintained the diary from 2015 to 2021, keeping it along with his books that included crime novels and a Hindi translation of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, police officials said.

Family members of Sharma gave the diary to the local police who then handed it over to their Delhi counterparts investigating Wednesday’s security breach in Parliament. The diary entries are not regular. It included his thoughts on society, poems and couplets by revolutionaries and freedom fighters.

In one such entry, Sharma wrote “Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai, dekhna hai zor kitna baazu-e-qaatil mein hai”— a couplet that was made famous by Ram Prasad Bismil as a war cry during the British rule.

On February 6, 2021, Sharma wrote, “Ghar se vida lene ka samay najdik aa gaya hai (It’s almost time to bid adieu to home). On one hand, there is a fear and on the other the fiery determination to go through anything.”

“I have waited every moment of five years for the time when I will move towards my duty. The strongest person in the world is not one who knows how to snatch but the one who can give up everything,” he added.

In a diary entry on June 12, 2015, Sharma wrote, “The modesty of daughters is being looted in the open here. Then why are we sitting patiently with folded hands?”

The very next day, he wrote about giving his life for the nation. Police sources, quoting the family members, said that Sharma studied till class 12 and tried to join the army but failed despite several attempts. He later moved to Bengaluru for a few years. After returning home a few months ago, Sagar began driving an e-rickshaw.

According to the family members, while leaving home on Monday, Sagar told them that he was going to Delhi to take part in a protest. His kin claimed that were unaware of his involvement in the Parliament security breach.

Satyam Singh, a friend of Sagar said that he wanted to study more after class 12 and talked about financial constraints. “He wanted to do something for his family. He talked of earning an honest living without harming anyone. I find it hard to believe that he took such an extreme measure of causing a ruckus inside Parliament,” he said. According to the police, Sagar’s father Roshan Lal is a carpenter while his mother Rani is a homemaker. The family hails from the Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh but has been living in a rented accommodation in Lucknow for over a decade. A Delhi court on Friday, December 14 sent Lalit Jha, arrested in the Parliament security breach case, to 7-day custody of the Delhi Police that claimed he was the “mastermind” of the shocking incident.

In a major security breach on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack on Wednesday, Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, released yellow smoke from canisters and shouted slogans before being overpowered by MPs.

Around the same time, two others, including a woman, raised slogans and released yellow smoke from canisters outside the Parliament premises, prompting police to round up the duo. The four persons have been arrested and slapped with terror charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
(Source: PTI)