Context: Recently, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) has celebrated February 23 as ‘Pagri Sambhal Diwas’ as part of the ongoing farmers’ protest against the three farm laws.

Pagri Sambhaal Movement

• Pagrhi Sambhaal Jatta was a successful farm agitation that forced the British government to repeal three laws related to agriculture back in 1907.
• Bhagat Singh’s uncle Ajit Singh was the force behind this agitation, and he wanted to channel people’s anger over the farm laws to topple the colonial government.
• Slogan: The slogan, Pagdi Sambhal Jatta, the name of the movement, was inspired by the song by Banke Lal, the editor of the Jang Sayal newspaper.
• Protest: The protests were violent and the protestors ransacked government buildings, post offices, banks, overturning telephone poles and pulling down telephone wires.

What were the ‘three laws’?

• The three farm-related acts at the centre of the storm in 1907 were the Punjab Land Alienation Act 1900, the Punjab Land Colonization Act 1906 and the Doab Bari Act.
• These acts would reduce farmers from owners to contractors of land, and gave the British government the right to take back the allotted land if the farmer even touched a tree in his field without permission.
• Amid resentment against the laws, Bhagat Singh’s father Kishan Singh and uncle Ajit Singh, with their revolutionary friend Ghasita Ram, formed the Bharat Mata Society.
• It worked to mobilise this unrest into a revolt against the British government.

Repeal of the laws

• Ajit Singh persuaded Congress leader Lala Lajpat Rai to come on the stage during a rally in Lyallpur in 1907 to protest against the laws.
• ‘Pagrhi sambhaal oh Jatta’ became the anthem of the movement.
• Lyallpur district was chosen as centre for agitation because it was a developed area and it had people from almost all parts of Punjab as also retired military people.
• The agitation couldn’t remain non-violent as Ajit Singh was booked for sedition after his speech at a public meeting in Rawalpindi in 1921 and violence erupted afterwards.