Throws bombs and flyers inside Central Legislative Assembly

By early 1929, the British colonial government sought to crush rising labor strikes and radical political activism across India by introducing two draconian legislative measures: the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill. These laws aimed to empower imperial authorities to detain political dissidents without trial and outlaw industrial strikes. Despite widespread opposition from Indian elected members in the Central Legislative Assembly, the colonial administration was determined to override parliamentary objections using executive decrees.

In response, the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) met in Agra to formulate a protest that would capture national attention. While initial plans leaned toward armed assault, Bhagat Singh successfully argued for a non-lethal demonstration designed to broadcast their ideological message without taking human lives. On April 8, 1929, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt entered the visitors' gallery of the Central Legislative Assembly in New Delhi, carrying hidden low-intensity bombs and hundreds of political leaflets.

As Assembly President Vithalbhai Patel rose to announce his ruling on the Trade Disputes Bill, Bhagat Singh hurled the first bomb into an empty space on the floor of the house, followed immediately by Dutt throwing a second. The low-explosive devices, made deliberately with potassium chlorate and picric acid to generate maximum noise and dense smoke rather than lethal shrapnel, detonated with thunderous blasts. Members of the assembly, including British officials and prominent Indian leaders like Motilal Nehru and John Simon, scrambled for cover.

Simultaneously, the pair showered the assembly chamber with bright pink leaflets titled 'To Make the Deaf Hear,' which articulated the HSRA's opposition to imperial exploitation and labor repression. The leaflets quoted French anarchist Auguste Vaillant, explaining that violent sound was necessary to force an oppressive government to listen to its people. The calculated action avoided fatalities, resulting in only minor injuries to a few members, but immediately transformed the national narrative around revolutionary resistance.