A. Annexation of Punjab and Administration at that time-

• Annexation of Punjab to British dominions in India in 1849 by Lord Dalhousie, the British governor general, which finally put an end to the sovereignty of the Sikhs over north-western India, was the sequel to a chain of events that had followed the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh ten years earlier.
• Internal dissensions and treachery had caused the defeat of the Sikh army at the hands of the British in the first Anglo Sikh war (1845-46).
• When on 16 December 1846, the Lahore Darbar was forced to sign the treaty of Bhyrowal (Bharoval), the kingdom of the Punjab was made a virtual British protectorate.

Machinery of Government at that time in Punjab-

Board Administration	Executive Staff	Armed Police Force	Civil and Criminal Courts
Members- President and other 2 members	Consists of Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners and Extra Assitant Commissioners	For the protection of the province and preservation of internal peace	For judicial proceedings

• 1853- Board of Administration was abolished
• In its place Sir John Lawrence was appointed the first Chief Commissioner as the head of the local executive administration and with the control over the Punjab Frontier Force
• A Judicial and a Revenue Commissioners were appointed subordinate to him
• Judicil Commissioner- Head o the Police, Supervised Educational bodies and superintended the control of local and municipal funds  (Robert Montgomery was the first Judicial Commissioner)

The Judicial Department was set up in the year 1853 to provide the courts with the written law which they could administer.

Following the revolt of 1857, the administration of the Punjab came under the Crown

In November 1858, Queen Victoria assumed the direct control over the Government of India. The East India Company practically ceased to exist.

B. The Punjab- A Lieutenant Governor’s Province-

• At the commencement of 1859, the Punjab, together with the Delhi territory, was placed under a separate Lieutenant Governor.
• Sir John Lawrence was the first to hold the office and was succeeded by Sir Robert Montgomery.

Following territories were included under the administration of the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab-

1) The Punjab, west of river Beas (which was annexed in 1849)

2) The Jalandhar Doab and hill district of Kangra (which was annexed in 1846) and

3) The area east of River Satluj (popularly known as the cis- Satluj states) including-

• The possessions of Maharaja Dalip Singh (which was annexed in 1845)
• States lapsed on the death of the chiefs without heirs or confiscated under the British administration due to the misconduct of their Chiefs
• The hill district of Shimla (which was annexed after the Gorkha War in 1814-16)

In 1865, Sir Robert Montgomery resigned the Lieutenant- Governorship of the Province and was succeeded by Sir Donald McLeod.

In the same year the office of the Judicial Commissioner was abolished and a chief court, consisting of Commissioner of the Punjab was appointed and Mr. E. Princep was first to hold that office.

C. Socio Religious Reform Movements-

• Punjab was one of the most important and eventful regions in British India and was the homeland of a number of socio-religious movements. The socio-religious movements in Punjab were founded with a variety of aims like purifying a particular religion or spreading education among the masses or propagating new ideas or philosophies.
• The first among the movements was the Brahmo Samaj founded in 1828 by Raja Ram Mohan Roy, which travelled from Bengal to Punjab. The first branch of the Brahmo Samaj in Punjab was opened at Lahore in 1864.
• The other such movement was the Arya Samaj, founded in 1875 by Swami Dayanand, which travelled from Bombay to Punjab. The first branch of the Arya Samaj was opened in Punjab at Lahore in the same year.
• Among all the movements, the Nirankaris, the Namdharis and Singh Sabha were prominence and made huge impacts in the society of Punjab.

1) Nirankari Movement

After the fall of kingdom of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, there were several attempts to raise the old glory of the Khalsa. Several movements to reform the Sikhism were started. First one was Nirankari movement.

Objective-

• To restore the purity of Sikh belief and custom
• Reemphasized the Sikh Belief in Nirankar- the formless on

Persons Associated-

1. Baba Dayal

• A bullion merchant of Peshawar (founder)
• He coined the Phrase-

1. Dhan Nirankar (Praise be to the formless creator)
2. Deh Dhari Sab Khwar (Worship of mortals is of no avail)

• He founded the Nirankari Darbar at Rawalpindi in 1851, on the banks of stream Layee, was named after him as Dayalsar.

2. Baba Darbara Singh

• Built new centres (Biras) and issued hukamnama to standardize the rituals connected with birth, engagement, marriage and death, based on the Guru Granth Sahib

3. Rattan Singh

4. Gurdit Singh

5. Hara Singh

Due to the partition of Punjab in 1947, the Nirankari Darbar had to be shifted from Rawalpindi first to Amritsar and then to Chandigarh.

Teachings-

• Condemned Idol worship, going on pilgrimages and performing Brahmanical ritual

Other Information-

• The Nirankaris have always considered themselves to be Sikhs and not a separate seat. But they do not subscribe to the orthodox Sikh’s view that Adi Granth was the last and only eternal Guru for all Sikhs.
• They believe, along with the Guru Granth Sahib, in the existence of a living teacher and a guide. At the time of Ardas (prayer), they do not invoke the blessings of Bhagoti, but use the word “Nirankari” instead of it. They also disapprove of the militant Khalsa.
• The movement as such took the lead in reforms among the Sikhs and could rightly be claimed as a harbinger of Sikh renaissance.

2) Radha Soami Movement-

Radha Soami is a sect & spiritual movement, founded in 1861 by Shiv Dayal Singh Seth.

Objective-

Described God as the union between ‘Radha’ (symbolizing the soul) and ‘Soami’ (the master)

Persons Associated-

1. Shiv Dayal-

• Founded
• He was highly influenced by the teachings of Adi Granth
• He propounded a doctrine which contained elements of both Hinduism and Sikhism
• His teachings attracted disciples from across India
• After his death, Radha Soamis split into two centres

2. Jaimal Singh
3. Sawan Singh Grewal
4. Charan Singh

Teachings-

Their teachings centre upon a type of meditation practice known as Surat Shabd Yoga.

1. Shabd- Refers to spiritual current which can be perceived in meditation as inner light and sound
2. Yoga- Refers to uniting of our real essence (soul) through an inner listening with focused mental concentration (Surat) upon an inner sound (Shabd) which it is maintained emanates from Radha Soami

Following the practice of meditation under the guidance of a spiritual teacher who is himself in contact with Shabd, is considered of paramount importance

Other Information-

• They greet each other with the words ‘Radha Soami’
• They do not subscribe to the orthodox Sikhism. They believe in a living Guru.
• The temples of Radha Soamis do not have the Granth sahib
• They have no kirtan because they believe that music diverts people’s minds from the meaning of the hymns to the simple enjoyment of sounds

Difference between Sikhs and Radha Soami-

• Radha swami Never preaches Khalsa Tradition and Do not believe in philosophy of Khalsa.
• Radha swami Give a secret name to people which they have to recite and that name should not tell to anyone which is opposite to Sikh philosophy.
• The Radha Soami dogma is one such prominently known way of life. The Sikh Gurus have conferred the gift of Gur Mantar and Mool Mantar to their Sikh

3) Namdhari Movement (1872)-

The movement was essentially a religious in nature but gradually took the form of Anti-British character because of the programmes and activities of the followers of the movement.

2014, December- Indian post released stamps on Kuka movement

Objective-

• Its principal object was to spread the true spirit of Sikhism shorn of tawdry customs and mannerism, which had been growing on it since the beginning of Sikh monarchy.
• In the midst of national pride born of military glory and political power, this movement extolled the religious obligation for a pious and simple living.

The Beliefs and Faiths of the Kuka Sect

• The sect believes that Adi Granthis the only true holy book of their religion.
• Gobind Singh is the only Guru.
• Any person, irrespective of caste or religion, can be admitted as a Namdhari convert.
• Sodhis, Bedis, Mahants, Brahmins and such like are impostors, as none are Gurus except Gobind Singh. It’s worth note that among Sikhs the Sodhis and Bedis had started getting worshipped during those times.
• Devidwaras, Shivdwaras and Mandirs are a means of extortion, to be held in contempt and never visited.
• Idols and idol-worship are insulting to God, and will not be forgiven.
• Converts are allowed to read Gobind Singh’s Grantha and no other book.
• Pure vegetarianism. It was against killing of cattle and kine.
• No caste system
• Namdharis are not allowed to drink tap water; water must be drawn from the lake or captured from rain and from well.
• Only white cloths, no any other colour allowed.

From the above, we can easily make out that the origin of the Kuka Movement had its roots in religious purification of the Sikhism. In their social beliefs, the Kukas were against child-marriage.

They condemned infanticide and dowry system. The Namdharis in fact were religiously denied the right to spend more than Rs. 13 on a marriage.

The Kukas gave strictly equal status to women and believed inner-caste marriage between caste Hindus and untouchables. The first such inter-casts marriage was performed among the Kukas on January 4, 1863.

Persons Associated-

1. Baba Balak Singh-

• Follower of Bhagat Jawahar Mal, who preached the virtues of poverty and denounced the rich as Godless
• Taught the strict doctrine of salvation through meditation of the nam (the Divine Name)
• Before his death, referred to as ‘Jagiasis’ but their modern descendants prefer the title ‘Namdhari’ (adherents of divine name)

2. Baba Ram Singh-

• Transferred headquarter of Namdharis from Hazro to his village Bhaini in Ludhiana district.
• Follower of Sikhism and attached special importance to the administration of the rites of Khalsa Pahul
• Issued Hukumnamas to his followers which embraced ethical, personal, social, hygienic and political matters
• Against idol- worship
• His followers tied Sidhi Pag (straight turban) and kept white rosary.
• Like him, his followers chanted hymns into a state of frenzy and emitted loud shrieks (Kuks), hence the name Kukas.
• He was an ardent protector of the cow

3. Baba Hari Singh
4. Baba Partap Singh
5. Baba Jagat Singh

Teachings-

• The major emphasis of the Namdhari movement was on the reading of Gurbani with stress on Sikh Rehat Maryada, teaching of Gurmukhi and development of Punjabi language, simple marriage without dowry, no child marriage and prohibition of cast distinctions, Protection of cows and simple living.
• Focused on concept of non-cooperation with the British government, use of the Swadeshi products, organisation of local Postal system, boycott of government posts and services and also the recruitment of the Namdhari army

Events Associated-

1870- Attack on slaughter house at Amritsar; four of the butchers were murdered and three seriously wounded

15 July 1871- Attack on slaughter house at Raikot in Ludhiana district, killing three and injuring nine persons

11 January 1872- hundreds of Kuka met at Bhaini to celebrate the Lohri festival and Baba ram Singh told his followers to observe peace. But some of the Kukas planned to murder the butchers of Malerkotla ignoring the advice of Baba Ram Singh. On their way to Malerkotla, they raided the house of Sardar Badhan Singh of Malaudh to get the arms, where they were counter attacked by the men of Sardar. In the fraces that followed, eight policemen and seven Kukas lost their lives.

Other Information-

• The followers of the movement while reciting Nam began to shriek and thus came to be popularly known as the Kukas.
• The followers of the Namdhari movement also visited Kabul and Russia along with attempted contact with Maharaja Dalip Singh in order to bring him back.
• Journals- Nawan Hindustan, Sacha Marg and Satyug
• The Namdhari followers of the movement were very active against the slaughter-houses and they compared the cow killings with the cause of martyrdom of Guru Teg Bahadur for the protection of the Hindu religion.

4) Singh Sabha Movement-

Nirankari and Namdhari movements had failed to stir Sikh people because of their restricted scope and schismatic character they acquired.

After the annexation of Punjab by British in 1849, the British Government patronized and assisted the rapid spread of Christian missionary activities. The Sikhs were being converted to Christians.

Objective-

• Aim of achieving a moral, spiritual and educational reawakening of the Sikh people.
• The basic aim of the founders of the Singh Sabha Movement was to impart the knowledge of the glorious heritage of the Sikh faith and its traditions to the younger generations.
• The movement sought to inspire the young with high moral standards of conduct so that they could become the best models of the community.
• The leaders were determined to alert the Sikh people to the corruption of Sikh values and practices, and they set about correcting detrimental deviations that had crept into social customs and religious practices.

The Singh Sabha Movement concerned itself with four main areas-

• Establishment of Sikh schools and colleges
• Organization and management of Sikh Gurdwaras by the congregation
• Re-establishment of the Khalsa codes of conduct and lifestyle, as taught by the Sikh Gurus
• Promotion of the political rights of the individual

Events Associated-

1853- The first incident occurred was the conversation of Maharaja Dalip Singh in 1853. There was conversation of four Sikh pupils of Amritsar Mission School- Aya Singh, Attar Singh, Sadhu Singh and Santokh Singh.

Primary Objectives of the Singh Sabha Movement

• Sikh schools were set up in villages and cities.
• Adults were taught Gurmukhi, to enable them to read the Siri Guru Granth Sahib and other Panjabi literature.
• The Chief Khalsa Diwan, made up of representatives of various Singh Sabha and Diwans (congregations) in the Punjab, was set up in 1883.
• The Khalsa College was built in Amritsar in 1892 and a Sikh established the Khalsa Tract Society to publish books, poems, newspapers and magazines.
• They openly preached against the Brahmanical practices of idol worship, caste prejudice and exclusive food and cooking practices.
• They condemned the use of liquor, intoxicating substances and tobacco, but by this time, different sects of Sikhs had formed, some setting up their own leaders as gurus.
• Before His death, Guru Gobind Singh had passed the Guruship to the Siri Guru Granth Sahib, and placed his authority into the Panj Pyare in every gathering of Sikhs. He declared that after him, there would be no person as Guru.
• Bhai Vir Singh established the Khalsa Samachar, a reformist paper which exposed the pretenders of the various sects which had formed.
• The Gurdwaras of Amritsar, Nankana Sahib and of many other places were controlled by corrupt hereditary mahants (priests), who allowed and even fostered sordid practices within the temples.
• They were supported and protected by the British Government. These priests would not accept Karah Prasad offered by the 'untouchable' castes or by the Sikhs who mingled with them.
• The mahants allowed idol worship and other Hindu practices forbidden by the Gurus to occur in the Gurdwaras.
• After much deliberation, the Gurdwara Act of 1925 was passed, giving control of the Sikh Gurdwaras and community funds to the Sangat along with the lands that had been granted to the individual gurdwaras for their support.
• In 1950, it was written into the Indian constitution that a religious minority has a right to manage its own institutions. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee or SGPC was given authority to oversee proper management and protocol in keeping the Gurdwaras pure as the House of the Guru.
• Sikhs gained political rights after much struggle and sacrifice. The Sikh press exposed the British Government's discrimination against Sikhs in employment, in government and public offices.
• The Singh Sabha Movement fought for the right of Sikhs to use their mother tongue of Panjabi, written in the Gurmukhi script, in all aspects of their daily life.
• They fought for the right to live the Sikh Rehit Maryada which had been established by the Sikh Gurus.
• Long and difficult agitations finally brought the Sikhs their religious right to wear the Kirpan (sword) of any length.

5) Gurudwara Reform Movement (Akali Movement)

• Akali Movement, variously known as Gurdwara Reform Movement or Gurdwara Agitation is how Sikh's long drawn campaign in the early twenties of the twentieth century for the liberation of their gurdwaras or holy shrines is described.
• The campaign which elicited enthusiastic support, especially, from the rural masses, took the form of a peaceful agitation marches, divans or religious gatherings, and demonstrations for Sikhs to assert their right to manage their places of worship.
• In the event, Akalis, as the protesters were known, succeeded in their object and the control of the gurdwaras was vested through legislation in a representative committee of the Sikhs. The State, under Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780-1839), had forborne from interfering with the management of Sikh shrines
• Their central shrine, the Golden Temple at Amritsar, was controlled by the British Deputy Commissioner through a Sikh manager whom he appointed.
• One audible voice of protest was that of Thakur Singh Sandhanvalia, who was a member of the Sri Darbar Sahib Committee in the seventies of the last century.
• The Khalsa Diwan, Lahore, at its session (68 April 1907), proposed that the manager of the Golden Temple appointed by the government be removed and a committee of Sikh chiefs appointed in his place.
• On 12 October 1920, a meeting of Sikh backward castes, sponsored by teachers and students of the Khalsa College was held in Jallianwala Bagh at Amritsar.
• The Sikhs held their scheduled meeting on 15 November and formed a committee of 175, including the thirty-six official nominees, designating it Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.
• The first session of the Committee was held at the Akal Takht on 12 December 1920.
• Sundar Singh Majithia, Harbans Singh of Atari and Bhai Jodh Singh were elected president, vice-president and secretary, respectively.
• The more radical elements organized a semi military corps of volunteers known as the Akali Dal (Army of Immortals).
• The Akali Dal was to raise and train men for 'action' to take over gurdwaras from the recalcitrant mahants. This also signalled the appearance of a Gurmukhi newspaper, also called Akali.
• The formation of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and the Shiromani Akali Dal speeded up the movement for the reformation of Sikh religious institutions and endowments.
• Several gurdwaras had thus come under the reformist control even before the Shiromani Committee and the Akali Dal had been established.

Nankana Sahib Massacre-

Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, was the scene of violence on a much larger scale. The custodian, Narain Das, the wealthiest of mahants, had a most unsavoury reputation, and his stewardship of the Nankana Sahib shrines had started many a scandal. On the morning of 20 February 1921, as a Jatha or band of 150 Akalis came to the Gurdwara, the private army of Narain Das fell upon them, raining bullets all around. The jatha leader, Bhai Lachhman Singh, of Dharoval, was struck down sitting in attendance of the Guru Granth Sahib. Bhai Dalip Singh, a much respected Sikh leader who was well known to the Mahant and who came to intercede with him to stop the carnage, was killed with a shot from his pistol. Many of the jatha fell in the indiscriminate firing by the mahant's men. The news of the massacre caused widespread gloom. Among those who came to Nankana to express their sense of shock were Sir Edward Maclagan, the British Lt. Governor of the Punjab. Mahatma Gandhi came accompanied by Muslim leaders, Shaukat Ali and Muhammad Ali. Narain Das and some of his accomplices were arrested and the possession of the shrine was made over by government to a committee of seven Sikhs headed by Harbans Singh of Atari, vice-president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.

Golden Temple-

Another crisis arose as the Punjab Government seized on 7 November 1921 the keys of the Golden Temple treasury. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee lodged a strong protest and called upon the Sikhs the world over to convene meetings to condemn the government action. Further means of recording resentment included a decision for Sikhs to observe a hartal, i.e. to strike work, on the day the Prince of Wales, who was coming out on a tour, landed on Indian shores. They were also forbidden to participate in any function connected with the Prince's visit. To fill the British jails, volunteers, draped in black and singing hymns from Scripture, marched forth in batches. Ex-servicemen threw up their pensions and joined Akali ranks. Under pressure of the growing agitation, the government gave way, and on 19 January 1922 a court official surrendered the bunch of keys, wrapped in a piece of red cloth, to Kharak Singh, president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. Mahatma Gandhi sent a wire saying, "First decisive battle for India's freedom won."

Guru ka Bagh Morcha-

Guru ka Bagh (Garden of the Guru), 20 km north of Amritsar, a small shrine commemorating Guru Arjan's visit, witnessed a Morcha most typical of the series in the Akali movement. On 9 August 1922, the police arrested on charges of trespass five Sikhs who had gone to gather firewood from the Gurdwaras land for Guru ka Langar, the community kitchen. The following day, the arrested Sikhs were summarily tried and sentenced to six month's rigorous imprisonment. Undeterred, the Sikhs continued coming in batches every day to hew wood from the site and courting arrest and prosecution. After 30 August, police adopted a sterner policy to terrorize the volunteers. Those who came to cut firewood from Guru ka Bagh were beaten up in a merciless manner until they to a man lay senseless on the ground. The Sikhs suffered all this stoically and went day by day in larger numbers to submit themselves to the beating. A committee appointed by the Indian National Congress to visit Amritsar, lauded the Akalis and censured the police for atrocities committed by it. Rev C. F. Andrews, a Christian missionary, came on 12 September 1922, and was deeply moved by the noble "Christ like" behaviour of the Akali passive resisters. At his instance, Sir Edward Maclagan, the Lt. Governor of the Punjab, arrived at Guru ka Bagh (13 September) and ordered the beatings to be stopped. Four days later the police retired from the scene. By then 5,605 Akalis had been arrested, with 936 hospitalized. The Akalis got possession of Gurdwara Guru ka Bagh along with the disputed land. Guru ka Bagh excited religious fervour to a degree un-approached during the 70 years of British rule. The judicial trials of the volunteers were followed with close interest and, when those convicted were being removed to jails to serve their sentences, mammoth crowds greeted them enroute. On 30 October 1922, many men and women laid themselves on the rail track at Panja Sahib in an attempt to stop a train to offer refreshments to Akali prisoners being escorted to Naushehra jail. Two Sikhs, Partap Singh and Karam Singh, were crushed to death before the engine driver could pull up. Not all Sikhs accepted the cult of non-violence to which the Shiromani Committee had committed itself. The Nankana massacre and the behaviour of the police at Guru ka Bagh induced some to organize an underground terrorist movement. These terrorists, who called themselves Babar (Lion) Akalis, were largely drawn from the Ghadar party and army soldiers on leave. Babar violence was, however, of short duration. By the summer of 1923, most of the Babars had been apprehended. The trial conducted in camera began inside Lahore Central Jail on 15 August 1923 and was presided over by an English judge. Of the 91 accused, two died in jail during trial, 34 were acquitted, six including Jathedar Kishan Singh Gargajj, were awarded death penalty, while the remaining 49 were sentenced to varying terms of imprisonment.

Jaito Morcha-

Another Akali Morcha was precipitated by police interrupting an akhand path, i.e. continuous recital of the Guru Granth Sahib, at Gurdwara Gangsar at Jaito, in the Princely state of Nabha, to demonstrate Sikh's solidarity with the cause of Maharaja Ripudaman Singh, the ruler of the state, who had been deposed by the British. Batches of passive resistors began arriving every day at Jaito to assert their right to freedom of worship. The Shiromani Committee and the Akali Dal were declared illegal bodies by government and more prominent of the leaders were arrested. They were charged with conspiracy to wage war against the King and taken to Lahore Fort for trial. The agitation continued and the size of the jathas going to Jaito was in fact increased from 25 each to a hundred, and then from one hundred to five hundred. One such jatha was fired upon on 21 February 1924 by the state police resulting in a number of causalities. With the arrival in May 1924 of Sir Malcolm Hailey as Governor of the Punjab, the government began to relent. Negotiations were opened with the Akali leaders imprisoned in Lahore Fort.

A bill accommodating their demands was moved in the Punjab Legislative Council and passed into law in 1925, under the title the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925.

As this legislation was put on the statute book, almost all historical shrines, numbering 241 as listed in Schedule I of the Act, were declared as Sikh gurdwaras and they were to be under the administrative control of the Central Board, later renamed the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.

Procedure was also laid down in section 7 of the Act for the transfer of any other Gurdwara not listed in Schedules I and II to the administrative control of the Central Board.

With the passage of this Act, the Akali agitation ceased. In the Akali agitation for Gurdwara reform, nearly forty thousand went to jail. Four hundred lost their lives while two thousand suffered injuries. Sums to the tune of sixteen lakhs of rupees were paid by way of fines and forfeitures and about seven hundred Sikh government functionaries in the villages were deprived of their positions.

In addition to this, a ban was placed on civil and military recruitment of Sikhs which, however, was subsequently withdrawn.

6) Babbar Akali Movement

• Radical outgrowth of the Akali movement for the reform of Sikh places of worship during the early 1920's.
• The latter, aiming to have the shrines released from the control of priests who had become lax and effete over the generations, was peaceful in its character and strategy.
• In the course of the prolonged campaign, Akalis true to their vows patiently suffered physical injury and violence at the hands of the priests as well as of government authority.
• The incidents at Tarn Taran (January 1921) and Nankana Sahib (February 1921) in which many Sikhs lost their lives led to the emergence of a group which rejected non-violence and adopted violence as a creed.
• The members of this secret group called themselves Babbar Akalis, Babbar meaning lion. Their targets were the British officers and their Indian informers. They were strongly attached to their Sikh faith and shared an intense patriotic fervour.
• At the time of the Sikh Educational Conference at Hoshiarpur from 1921 March 1921.
• Some radicals led by Master Mota Singh and Kishan Singh Gargajj, a retired havildar major of the Indian army, held a secret meeting and made up a plan to avenge themselves upon those responsible for the killings at Nankana Sahib.
• Among those on their list were J.W. Bowring, the superintendent of police in the Intelligence department and C.M. King, the commissioner. However, those assigned to the task fell into the police net on 23 May 1921.
• Arrest warrants were issued against Master Mota Singh and Kishan Singh as well, but both of them went underground.
• In November 1921, Kishan Singh formed a secret organization called Chakravarti Jatha and started working among the peasantry and soldiers inciting them against the foreign rulers.
• While Kishan Singh and his band carried on their campaign in Jalandhar district with frequent incursions into the villages of Ambala and Kapurthala state, Karam Singh of Daulatpur organized a band of extremist Sikhs in Hoshiarpur on similar lines.
• In some of the villages in the district, divans were convened daily by the sympathizers and helpers of the jatha of Karam Singh, who was under warrants of arrest for delivering seditious speeches.
• Towards the end of August 1922 the two Chakravarti Jathas resolved to merge together and rename their organization Babbar Akali Jatha. A committee was formed to work out a plan of action and collect arms and ammunition.
• The movement was very active from mid 1922 to the end of 1923. Several government officials and supporters were singled out and killed.
• Encounters with the police took place during which some rare feats of daring and self-sacrifice were performed by the Babbar Akalis.
• The government acted with firmness and alacrity.
• In April 1923 the Babbar Akali Jatha was declared an unlawful association under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1908.
• The movement virtually came to an end when Varyam Singh Dhugga was run down by the police in Lyallpur district in June 1924.
• The trial of the arrested Babbar Akalis had already begun inside Lahore Central Jail on 15 August 1923.
• The Naujawan and Kirti Kisan movements in the Punjab owned their militant policy and tactics to the Babbar insurrection.

7) Punjab Ryasti Praja mandal

• Punjab Riyasti Praja Mandal was an organisation for the people of the princely states of Punjab that was established in the year 1928. It was formed to provide and secure civil liberties and political rights to these people.
• During the rule of the British Empire in India, the Indian National Congress had been the representative of the people of these states and had obtained certain privileges and appurtenances of renowned authority, from the British government, through constant agitation and protest.
• In Punjab, the Indian freedom struggle took the shape of forceful agitation against the strictly oppressive Rowlatt Acts that had concluded in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre on 13th April 1919.
• This was followed by the Gurdwara reform movement that aimed at releasing the Sikh shrines from the grasp of dishonest priests who were supported the British authorities, as well as the fierce actions of the Babar Akalis.

Formation of Punjab Riyasti Praja Mandal

• The populace of the other princely states of India was under autocratic and arbitrary reign of the rulers of the princely states. They had no freedom of speech and no reputed institutions like assemblies and legislative councils, were established.
• The All India States People's Conference was also formed on 17th September 1927 to support the rights of the people in around 600 princely states in India.
• The initiative for the institution of the Punjab Riyasti Praja Mandal emerged from the Akali workers who belonged to the princely states in the Punjab region.
• The establishment of the Punjab Riyasti Praja Mandal was officially declared at a public conference that was organised by the workers at Mansa in the state of Patiala on 17 July 1928.
• Seva Singh Thikrivala of Patiala was elected as the President and Bhagvan Singh Laungovalia became the General Secretary.

Development of Punjab Riyasti Praja Mandal

• The extent of the activities of the Punjab Riyasti Praja Mandal was expanded to incorporate all the princely states in the region of Punjab, Shimla and Kashmir.
• The Praja Mandal, being the central organization, was affiliated to the All India States People's Conference and organized and managed the activities of the local units.
• The primary objectives and purpose of the institution were the protection of the rights and liberties of the people, the establishment of representative units in the princely states and the improvement of the state of the subjects and peasants.
• Gradually the Praja Mandal intensified its activities and agitations. The initial regular session of the Punjab Riyasti Praja Mandal was held on 27th December 1929 at Lahore.
• A resolution was adopted that strongly condemned the maladministration of Bhupinder Singh, Maharaja of Patiala. At a later period, the activities of the organisation expanded to other Indian princely states.
• In Kapurthala state, the Punjab Riyasti Praja Mandal demanded the obliteration of repressive taxes and the establishment of a responsible government.
• The third annual conference of the Punjab Riyasti Praja Mandal was held in July 1931 at Shimla. Its primary demand was the deposition of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh.

Culmination of Punjab Riyasti Praja Mandal

• Later in 1931, Patiala the government issued the Hidayat (instruction) of 1988 Bk to counter the Praja Mandal and ban all political activities in the region.
• In January 1933, Seva Singh Thikrivala was arrested under the provisions of the Hidayat. On 20 January 1935, he died in Patiala jail.
• In early 1936, the government of Patiala signed an agreement with Tara Singh, the Akali leader, which resulted in the liberation of the Akali prisoners.
• The Praja Mandal was further weakened by the withdrawal of the Akalis.
• In the year 1945, the Communists were expelled from the Indian National Congress and the all India State People's Conference established a regional council for the Punjab states.
• Brish Bhan was appointed as the Chairman of the council and Harbaris Lal became the General Secretary. Thus the leadership of the Punjab Riyasti Praja Mandal was transferred to the urban Hindus of the Punjab states.
• The struggle for administrative and constitutional reforms of the princely states of India sustained. Most of these states witnessed severe agitations, and the region of Faridkot experienced the brutal agitation in the year 1946. On 27th May 1946, the visit of Jawaharlal Nehru marked the end of the agitation.
• Giani Zail Singh, a local leader and future President of India organized and led the movement.
• After the nation gained independence in the year 1947, PEPSU was formed, which was a union of the states of Kalsia, Nalagarh, Kapurthala, Faridkot, Malerkotla, Jind, Nabha and Patiala; on 15 July 1948 the princely regimes culminated and the Punjab Riyasti Praja Mandal was lapsed.
• The organisation was replaced by the PEPSU Pradesh Congress.

D. Events in Modern History of Punjab

1) Komagata Maru

• The Komagata Maru was a Japanese steamship that sailed from Hong Kong to Vancouver, Canada via Japan in May, 1914.
• It was carrying 376 passengers who were immigrants from Punjab, India. Of these, only 24 were granted admittance in Canada when the ship docked in Vancouver.
• At that time, Canada had laws restricting entry of migrants of Asian origin. Following a two month stalemate, the ship and its 352 passengers were escorted out of the dock by the Canadian military and forced to sail back to India.
• The ship returned to Calcutta on 27 September and was stopped by the British. The passengers were put under guard and the ship was allowed to dock in Budge Budge, Calcutta.
• The British believed that the passengers were law breakers and political agitators. When the police sought to arrest the persons it viewed as leaders of the group, there was resistance and a riot ensued.
• The police fired shots and 19 passengers were killed. Baba Gurdit Singh, who was one of the persons the British wanted to arrest, escaped with some other persons.
• Most of the remaining passengers were either arrested or sent back to Punjab. Baba Gurdit Singh later surrendered to the police.
• In 1951, the Indian government erected a monument at Budge Budge to commemorate the massacre that occurred there.  A host of actions have been taken by the Canadians also to mark the incident.
• The first commemorative coin was issued in 1964 in the memory of India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
• A plaque commemorating the 80th anniversary of the arrival of the Komagata Maru steamship was placed at the Vancouver harbour in 1994.
• A monument in remembrance of the incident was unveiled in 2012 in Vancouver.
• A stamp commemorating the centenary anniversary of the steamship was released by Canada Post in May, 2014.
• In 2008, the Canadian PM, Stephen Harper, officially apologized for the Komagata Maru incident on behalf of the Canadian government. A resolution calling for the same had been earlier passed by the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (the province where Vancouver is situated).
• In 2016, the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau had issued a formal statement of apology for the injustice faced by the victims of Komagata Maru incidence.

Commemorative coins

• The commemorative coins mark the events of historical and social importance as well celebrates achievements of public or private organizations.
• These high quality coins hold great value for collectors and the numismatics.
• The Mumbai mint, a unit of Security Printing & Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL), has been manufacturing these commemorative coins apart from circulation coins.

2) Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

• Punjab was facing from the severe war time depression as the sipahis were returning from Central Asia and Mesopotamia. Then the Ghadar party made Punjab a cradle of revolutionary movements.
• The situation in Amritsar and Lahore was worse and army was called there. The Amritsar was handed to Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer.
• On April 13, 1919 in Amritsar, more than 5,000 people gathered at Jallianwala Bagh.
• The foolish General believed that these Indians are conspiring for a coordinated revolt in the next hot months when the British troops will be withdrawn from the plains and would be deployed in the hills. So, such a conspiracy must not be accepted.
• It was a Baisakhi day and the people were peaceful, unarmed, most of the crowd was villagers and were not aware that the Sarkar has banned the meetings.
• The luckless mob was fired from all sides by the troops of General Dyer and massacred more than 400 people at the place. This stunned the entire country.
• Punjab was placed under martial law. On April 18, 1919, Gandhi withdrew the movement and called it a “Himalayan blunder“.
• On May 30, 1919 Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood. Gandhi returned the Kaiser-i-Hind Gold medal given to him for his work during Boer war.
• A parallel nonofficial enquiry committee was set up by the congress and Government also set up a committee of enquiry with 4 British and 3 Indian members.
• The Indemnity act was also passed. Dyer was removed from the job and sent to London, but he was never charged of any offence.

Impact

• The massacre was worth calling genocide and it stunned the entire country. Whole of Punjab was placed under martial law and within a week on April 18, 1919, Gandhi withdrew the movement and called it a “Himalayan blunder”.
• On May 30, 1919 Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood.
• Gandhi returned the Kaiser-i-Hind Gold medal given to him for his work during Boer war.
• A parallel nonofficial enquiry committee was set up by the congress and Government also set up a committee of enquiry with 4 British and 3 Indian members.
• The Indemnity act was also passed.
• Dyer was removed from the job and sent to London, but he was never charged of any offence.

Hunter Committee Report

• The Jallianwala Bagh massacre was followed by establishment of a non-official enquiry committee was Congress.
• The British Government did not initiate such inquiry till Congress had set up such committee.
• Later, the Government established a committee headed by Lord Hunter a Senator of the “College of justice of Scotland”.
• This committee had 7 members viz. 4 British and 3 Indians.

Disorders Inquiry Committee: Members

• The 7 member Hunter Committee which was set up to investigate the Jallianwala Bagh Tragedy was also known as Disorders Inquiry Committee. The British members were as following:
• Chairman: Lord William Hunter, ex- Solicitor-General and the Senator of the College of Justice in Scotland
• WF Rice, Additional Secretary to the Government of India (Home Department)
• Justice GC Rankin, Judge of the High Court, Calcutta;
• Major General Sir George Barrow, Commandant of the Peshawar Division, a non-official Englishman
• The Indian Members were in this committee included Sir Chimanlal Setalvad, Pandit Jagat Narayan and Sardar Sultan Ahmed Khan.  The secretary of this committee was H G Stokes, secretary to the government of Madras.

Before the committee could publish its own report, Congress put forward its own view. This view criticized Dyer’s act as inhuman and also said that there was no justification in the introduction of the martial law in Punjab. But the Hunter Report, as expected saw the things differently.

Although it condemned most of the decisions taken by General Dyer, it agreed with imposition of the martial law in Punjab. It also criticized the method of Satyagraha adopted by Gandhi and held Gandhi partially responsible for “deteriorated” law and order situation.

The result was the Dyer was sent to England, relived of his command. But rests of the things were the official opinion of the Government. This miffed Gandhi and he returned the Kaisar-I-Hind Gold medal.

3) The Ghadar Movement

• A ship named Komagatamaru, filled with Indian immigrants was turned back from Canada.
• As the ship returned to India several of its passengers were killed or arrested in a clash with the British police. This incident made the Ghadar Party proclaim war and inspired thousands of Indian immigrants to come back and organise an armed rebellion against British imperialism.
• Original name of Ghadar Party was Pacific Coast Hindustan Association. The founding president of Ghadar Party was Sohan Singh Bhakna and Lala Hardyal was the co-founder of this party.
• Headquarters of the movement were set up at Yugantar Ashram in San Francisco.

At the end of the second Anglo-Sikh war in 1849, the Khalsa sovereignty was put to an end, and Punjab was annexed into the territories of East India Company by Lord Dalhousie.

But, one of the important consequences of the Anglo-Sikh wars was that they gave substance to the Sikh valour in the eyes of the British.

• Notwithstanding the initial efforts to disband the Sikh army, the British saw an opportunity in a Sikh soldier who could help them firmly establish the Raj on Indian soils.
• Within a decade happened the Mutiny of 1857
• The Sikhs saw this mutiny nothing more than an attempt by Marathas to bring back the old order of Mughals.
• The Sikhs sided with the British in 1857 and the Sikh princes backed the East India Company by providing soldiers as well as support.

There were four primary reasons to this.

1. Firstly, Sikhs never wanted the Mughals to return to power in Delhi, thanks to the bitter past.
2. Secondly, Sikhs were already anguished against the Indian soldiers (Bengal sepoys / Poorbia sepoys / Rajputs / Marathas etc.) in the British army who had sided with the British during Anglo-Sikh wars and were hunting for chances to take it back on them.
3. Thirdly, the idea of Indian nationalism was not ripe at that time and the early nationalism of the Sikhs was Punjabi and not the Indian. The Sikhs resented the presence of Eastern Troops (Poorbia sepoys) in Punjab and were eager to take a chance of getting their own back on the Bengal sepoy, this time with the British on their side.
4. Fourthly, British won the confidence of the Sikhs by tolerating their religious sentiments and making suitable changes in army recruitment process by allowing the baptized Sikhs to observe Sikh code of conduct and wear the five emblems of Sikhism.

• These steps undertaken by British finally culminated in form of loyalties of the Sikhs in Anglo-Burmese war of 1852 and against the nomad tribe on the North West frontier. They played a role in crushing the 1857 revolt.
• Frederic Cooper, the Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar, Punjab during 1857 also had serious doubts about the Sikh participation in the mutiny.
• He was able to maintain the trust of Sikhs in the British rule throughout the revolt.
• The appreciation of the role of Sikhs was recorded in secret correspondence of the British.
• The Sikhs were duly rewarded by giving special ranks in the newly reformed British army.
• The Sikhs which constituted only 2% population of British India formed over 30% of Indian army. This association was carried on smoothly till the World Wars in which again the Sikh soldiers participated in largest amount.
• The 1890s and the following years saw a massive migration of a huge number of landless peasants, ex-soldiers from Jullundhar and Hoshiarpur districts of Punjab to Hong Kong and further east to Canada and USA.
• While many belonged to land-constrained areas and went in search of better pastures and means of survival; others were the ones who had served in the British Indian Army and had awareness of the abundant opportunities abroad.
• These immigrants mainly indulged in labour work in Canada and some secretly crossed borders to West Coast and made settlements in cities like Portland, San Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles.
• The Punjabis gradually created their own niches and established micro-societies. The promised lands then closed doors to the fresh immigrants.
• The American whites launched agitations against the incoming South Asians calling it the so called “Brown Invasion“.
• The Canadian government which was under British rule responded by harassing the immigrants and further tightened the immigration rules for Indians.
• The Canadian government established a “Continuous Passage Act” to stop the immigrants particularly from India.
• The “Continuous Passage Act” was a bizarre law, which required that the Indians will have to directly come from the country of their birth/citizenship via a continuous journey on tickets purchased before they left their home country.

These included:

1. Fear of familiarity with western cultures
2. Intermingling of cultures will eventual damage British pride
3. Spread of socialist ideas among immigrant Indians
4. Knowledge of revolutions can lead to national agitation

• The Surat split of 1907 followed suppression of the extremists. But at the same in time in London, numerous informal nationalist organizations were working. The most important among them was the India House.
• After 1910, the activities of India House had declined and the cradle of activities shifted from Europe to America.
• Lal Hardyal was In India till 1909, when he moved to Paris and associated himself with a newspaper Vande Mataram over there.

India House

The India House was based in London and was established by Shyamji Krishna Verma to promote the nationalist views among the Indians of Britain. It published a newspaper “The Indian Sociologist” which used its subtitle -An Organ of Freedom, and Political, Social, and Religious Reform. Several revolutionaries got associated with the India house and most important ones are V D Savarkar and Madan Lal Dheengra. Others were V.N. Chatterjee, Lala Har Dayal, V. V. S. Ayyar, M.P.T. Acharya and P.M. Bapat. All of them later laid the foundation of militant nationalism in India. The newspaper was later banned for sedition.

In 1911 he settled in San Francisco and indulged in Industrial Unionism. In 1913, Pacific Coast Hindustan Association was founded by Lala Hardyal with Sohan Singh Bhakna as its president, which was called Ghadar Party.

The members of this party were the immigrant Sikhs of US and Canada. The first issue of The Ghadar was published from San Francisco on November 1, 1913.

Later it got published in Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi and other languages also

The Ghadar

The masthead of the paper carried the inscription in bold letters, “Angrezi Raj ka Dushman” and also had a feature article on the front page of each issue under the title, “Angrezi Raj ka Kacha Chittha” It went far beyond the American borders to reach Indians in Canada, Malay States, Hong Kong, Philippines, Honduras, Singapore, Trinidad and India. It got widespread attention, appreciation and acceptance. People were moved by the views expressed in it and were motivated to join hands with Ghadar leadership for the common cause. The government hostility towards Indians continued unabated. Ghadar party which came into being saw new leadership take charge after Lala Hardyal was arrested for a hate speech he had made against the British rule in India 3 years ago.

Women Activists of the Ghadar Movement

Gulab Kaur

•  Gulab Kaur was a native of Bakshiwala village in Sangrur district of Punjab.
•  Due to economic hardships, Gulab along with her Husband had moved to Phillipines for an onward jounrey to America in 1914.
•  But when a ship, SS Korea, reached Manila for an onward journey to India, Gulab boarded it to work with Ghadarites, including Kartar Singh Sarabha.
•  She left her husband to work with Ghadrites, while her husband refuse to participate in any radical activities.
•  She was arrested from Naudh Singh Wala and tortured at Lahore’s Shahi Quila.
•  She died in 1931.

Bhikaji Cama

• Bhikaji Cama, who is best known for founding the Paris Indian Society; was born in a wealthy Parsi family in Mumbai in 1861.
•  She was named Bhikaji Sorab Patel and became Bhikaji Rustom Cama after her marriage.
•  She not only worked in the slums of Mumbai during outbreak of plague but also left her husband to work selflessly for the poor people afflicted with the disease.
•  She fell sick and was taken to Germany for treatment.
•  Later, she went to England to work with the Indian revolutionaries.
•  On 22 August 1907, Madam Cama had unfurled a self-designed tricolour in Stuttgart town of Germany.
•  This enraged the British. She then later moved to US and worked with the Ghadar activists.

Agnes Smedley

• Agnes Smedley was a journalist and writer, born on February 23, 1892 at Missouri in US, was known more for her autobiographical novel “Daughter of Earth” wherein she described her association with the Indian freedom struggle.
• Despite no similarity in culture and traditions, Agnes came in close contact with Lala Lajpat Rai, M N Roy, Virendranath Chattopadhyay, Shailendranath Ghose, Bhagwan Singh and Taraknath Das in US during World War-I and served as a communication volunteer for Indian revolutionaries and oversaw Ghadar party’s various publications.

Notable Trivia

• The eventual course of action for the Ghadar party in 1914 was moulded by 3 isolated but highly charged incidents viz. Arrest of Lala Hardyal, Komagatamaru incident and First World War.
• After Lala Hardyal was compelled to leave USA, he moved to Germany and set up the Indian Independence Committee at Berlin. The committee had a plan to mobilise Indians living abroad, to help revolutionaries in India and finally through an arms struggle and also may be through an attack, free India from British rule.
• Budge Budge railway station on Kolkata’s outskirts was the place where many Sikhs fell to the bullets of the British after their ship, Komagatamaru, was forced to return to Indian waters from Canada. The Government of India has renamed the railway station as “Komagatamaru Budge Budge station” to salute the martyrs of September 29, 1914.
• Bhagat Singh was deeply impressed by the Ghadar Movement from a tender age and that he regarded Kartar Singh Sarabha as his hero.
• Bandi Jeewan by Sachindranath Sanyal, which included the first historical account of the movement by an insider, was “a basic textbook” which he and his friends at the National School at Lahore read and discussed.
• The Rowlett Committee Report of 1918, containing the British Government’s secret intelligence version of the Ghadar movement, was another.

E. Revolutionaries

1) Shaheed Bhagat Singh

• Born on September 27, 1907, to a Sikh family in Punjab, India (now Pakistan), Bhagat Singh was the second son of Kishan Singh and Vidya Vati. The family was steeped in nationalism and involved in movements for independence. At the time of Bhagat's birth, his father was in jail for political agitation.
• By the time Bhagat Singh was 13, he was well familiar with this family’s revolutionary activities. His father was a supporter of Mahatma Gandhi, and after Gandhi called for boycotting government-aided institutions, Singh left school and enrolled in the National College at Lahore, where he studied European revolutionary movements.
• In time, he would become disenchanted with Gandhi’s non-violent crusade, believing that armed conflict was the only way to political freedom.
• In 1926, Bhagat Singh founded the 'Naujawan Bharat Sabha (Youth Society of India) and joined the Hindustan Republican Association (later known as Hindustan Socialist Republican Association), where he met several prominent revolutionaries.
• In 1928, the British government held the Simon Commission to discuss autonomy for the Indian people.
• In October, Bhagat Singh’s comrade, Lala Lajpat Rai led a march in protest against the Commission. Police attempted to disburse the large crowd, and during the melee, Rai was injured by the superintendent of police, James A. Scott. Rai died of heart complications two weeks later. The British government denied any wrongdoing.
• To avenge his friend’s death, Bhagat Singh and two others plotted to kill the police superintendent, but instead shot and killed police officer John P. Saunders. Singh and his fellow conspirators escaped arrest despite a massive search to apprehend them.
• In April 1929, Bhagat Singh and an associate bombed the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi to protest implementation of the Public Safety Bill. The bombs they carried allegedly were not intended to kill but to scare (no one was killed, though there were some injuries). The bombers planned to get arrested and stand trial so they could further promote their cause.
• Through further investigation, the police discovered the connection between Bhagat Singh and the murder of Officer Saunders and he was rearrested. While awaiting trial, he led a hunger strike in prison. Eventually, Singh and his co-conspirators were tried and sentenced to hang. He was executed on March 23, 1931.

• Profession before joining politics - European revolutionary movements and was attracted to anarchist and Marxist ideologies.
• Associated with- Hindustan Socialist Republican Association
• Political Career- Naujawan Bharat Sabha, Kirti Kisan Party
• Publications and Writings –
• He wrote for and edited Urdu and Punjabi newspapers, published from Amritsar, as well as contributing to low-priced pamphlets published by the Naujawan Bharat Sabha that excoriated the British.
• He also wrote briefly for the Veer Arjun newspaper, published in Delhi, and for Kirti, the journal of the Kirti Kisan Party (“Workers and Peasants Party”).
• He often used pseudonyms, including names such as Balwant, Ranjit and Vidhrohi.

2) Shaheed Sukhdev

• Sukhdev (1907-1931) was a famous Indian revolutionary who played a major role in the India’s struggle for Independence.
• His full name is Sukhdev Thapar and he was born on 15th May, 1907.
• His ancestral house is in Naughara Mohalla of Ludhiana city, Punjab, India.
• Sukhdev Thapar was a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), and organized revolutionary cells in Punjab and other areas of North India.
• A devoted leader, he even went on to educate the youth at the National College in Lahore, greatly inspiring them about India’s glorious past.
• He along with other renowned revolutionaries started the ‘Naujawan Bharat Sabha’ at Lahore that was an organization involved in various activities, mainly gearing the youth for the freedom struggle and putting an end to communalism.
• Sukhdev himself took active part in several revolutionary activities like the ‘Prison hunger strike’ in 1929; however, he would always be remembered in the chronicles of the Indian Freedom Movement for his daring yet courageous attacks in the Lahore Conspiracy Case (18th December, 1928), that shook the very foundation of the British Government.
• Sukhdev was the accomplice of Bhagat Singh and Shivaram Rajguru, who were involved in the assassination of Deputy Superintendent of Police, J.P. Saunders in 1928, thus avenging the death of veteran leader, Lala Lajpat Rai, owing to excessive police beating in the Conspiracy case.
• After the Central Assembly Hall bombings in New Delhi (8th April, 1929), Sukhdev and his accomplices were arrested and convicted of their crime, facing the death sentence as verdict.
• On 23rd March, 1931, the three brave revolutionaries, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru were hanged, whilst their bodies were secretly cremated on the banks of the River Sutlej.

• Organization- Hindustan Socialist Republican Association
• Political Movement- Indian Independence Movement
• Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA)- Sukhdev Thapar was a devoted leader. He became a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. He also worked to eduacte the young minds at the National College, Lahore.
• Lahore Conspiracy Case- He is remembered even today for his remarkable contribution in the Lahore Conspiracy Case of 18 December 1928.
• Letter to Mahatma Gandhi- Some days before Sukhdev was to be executed, he wrote a letter to Gandhi in which he stated, “The three prisoners of the Lahore conspiracy case have been awarded capital punishment”. He also wrote, “[. . . ] the country will not gain as much by the change of their sentences as it would by their being hanged.”
• Special Tribunal- On 7 October 1930, a 300-page judgement was delivered for Saunders’ murder case by the tribunal on the basis of all the evidence and sentenced Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru to death by hanging.

3) Shaheed Rajguru

• Shivaram Rajguru (1908-1931) was a great Indian freedom fighter who played a major role in the India’s struggle for Independence. He is amongst those great Indian revolutionaries who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of country.
• In the days of the Indian Freedom Movement, the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA) was an active force working against the British. Their main motive was to strike fear into the heart of the British regime.
• They simultaneously spread awareness amongst the people. They made them take notice of the growing domestic uprising when they dealt crucial blows with attacks like in the Lahore Conspiracy Case (December 18, 1928) and the bombing of the Central Assembly Hall in New Delhi (April 8, 1929).
• The protest against the Simon Commission in October 1928 saw the British police lathi-charge the protestors, severely injuring veteran leader Lala Lajpat Rai.
• Owing to the excessive beating, Lala succumbed to his injuries, which thus instilled revenge in the hearts of the revolutionaries.
• On December 18, 1928, in Ferozepur, Lahore, a planned retaliation was enforced that led to the assassination of Deputy Superintendent of Police, J.P. Saunders.
• Shivaram Rajguru, along with Sukhdev Thapar, was accomplice of the legendary Bhagat Singh who spearheaded the attack. Rajguru then went into hiding in Nagpur. Whilst taking shelter in the house of an RSS worker, he even met Dr. K. B. Hedgewar.
• On his travel to Pune, however, Shivaram was finally arrested. Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar were then convicted of their crime and sentenced to death.
• On March 23, 1931, the three brave revolutionaries were hanged, whilst their bodies were cremated on the banks of the River Sutlej.

4) Shaheed Udham Singh

• He was born Sher Singh on 26 December 1899, at Sunam, in the then princely state of Patiala. His father, Tahal Singh, was at that time working as a watchman on a railway crossing in the neighbouring village of Upall.
• He was present in the Jallianwala Bag on the fateful Baisakhi day, 13 April 1919, when a peaceful assembly of people was fired upon by General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer, killing over one thousand people.
• The event which Udham Singh used to recall with anger and sorrow turned him to the path of revolution. Soon after, he left India and went to the United States of America. He felt thrilled to learn about the militant activities of the Babar Akalis in the early 1920's, and returned home.
• He had secretly brought with him some revolvers and was arrested by the police in Amritsar, and sentenced to four years imprisonment under the Arms Act.
• On release in 1931, he returned to his native Sunam, but harassed by the local police, he once again returned to Amritsar and opened a shop as a signboard painter, assuming the name of Ram Muhammad Singh Azad.
• This name, which he was to use later in England, was adopted to emphasize the unity of all the religious communities in India in their struggle for political freedom.
• Udham Singh was deeply influenced by the activities of Bhagat Singh and his revolutionary group. In 1935, when he was on a visit to Kashmir, he was found carrying Bhagat Singh's portrait. He invariably referred to him as his guru.
• He loved to sing political songs, and was very fond of Ram Prasad Bismil, who was the leading poet of the revolutionaries. After staying for some months in Kashmir, Udham Singh left India.
• He wandered about the continent for some time, and reached England by the mid-thirties. He was on the lookout for an opportunity to avenge the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy.
• The long-awaited moment at last came on 13 March 1940. On that day, at 4.30 p.m. in the Caxton Hall, London, where a meeting of the East India Association was being held in conjunction with the Royal Central Asian Society, Udham Singh fired five to six shots from his pistol at Sir Michael O'Dwyer, who was governor of the Punjab when the Amritsar massacre had taken place.
• O'Dwyer was hit twice and fell to the ground dead and Lord Zetland, the Secretary of State for India, who was presiding over the meeting, was injured. Udham Singh was overpowered with a smoking revolver.
• He in fact made no attempt to escape and continued saying that he had done his duty by his country.
• 1 April 1940- Udham Singh was formally charged with the murder of Sir Michael O'Dwyer.
• 4^th June 1940- he was committed to trial, at the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, before Justice Atkinson, who sentenced him to death.
• 15^th July 1940- An appeal was filed on his behalf which was dismissed on 15 July 1940.
• 31^st July 1940- Udham Singh was hanged in Bentonville Prison in London.