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Struggle
for Freedom in the Punjab
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| The phrase 'struggle for freedom' has come to be
used for the political struggle of the people of India against its British
rulers. In the minds of many, it gets equated with the constitutional and
agitational struggle of the Indian National Congress ultimately for Independence.
Outside the Congress, however, there were political leaders who advocated
'militant' methods. For many such leaders the armed uprising of 1857-58
became 'the first war of independence'. They have now been recognized as
'national' heroes even by the Congress leadership, and it is academically
respectable to talk of 'militant nationalism'. Resistance to the political
stranglehold of the British and active aspiration to oust them from the
Indian soil through militant as well as constitutional and agitational
means are the criteda used for identifying 'the struggle for freedom'.
Seen in these terms, the contribution of the people of the Punjab to the
struggle for freedom, contrary to the general impression, was as great
as that of any other province of British India.
At a session of the Indian History Congress in the ] 960s, a senior historian from the Punjab was arguing that the Punjab had contributed much to the freedom struggle when an equally senior historian from Uttar Pradesh interrupted him with the rhetorical question 'where were you in t8577' Quite obviously, the historian from Uttar Pradesh was assuming that the uprising of 1857 was a war of independence, and that the people of the Punjab had played a pro-British role in 1857-58. The Punjab historian answered the question with an equal rhetorical quesiion: 'where were you in the 1840?' The import of his question was that the Punjabis fought against the British in the 1840s to resist the penetration of British power in the Punjab, and that the sepoys from Uttar Pradesh were fighting on the side of the British. This amusing incidence carries the implication that the struggle for freedom in the Punjab started before 1857. Indeed, one of the foremost historians of the Punjab traces the origin of the freedom struggle in the Punjab to 1846-48, the phase between the first and the second war of the East Indian Company against the rulers of Lahore. Soon after the first war the British modified the earlier treaty to become the de facto rulers of the Punjab. The people of the Punjab resisted this move under the leadership of Diwan Mul Rd, Chatar Singh Atadwala, Sher Singh Atariwala and Bhai Mahraj Singh. The first three were members of the Punjab ruling class but the fourth was a popular leader. Their revolt was essentially against the British who were ruling over the Punjab in the name of the Regency. Their heroic bid to liberate the Punjab failed. Diwan Mul Raj and the Atariwda Sardars surrendered in 1849 and the Punjab was finally annexed to the British empire. Bhai Maharaj Singh refused to surrender. He was foiled in his attempt to raise a revolt in the name of Maharaja Dalip Singh, and deported to Singapore. Furthermore, both foreign and Indian historians have shown that the people of the Punjab did participate in the uprising of 1857-58. It is relevant to mention that the British had disbanded the army of the former state of Lahore. The populace in general was disarmed. The former members of the ruling class were divested of all administrative positions. Their Jagirs were confiscated or reduced, depending upon the.degree of their participation in the resistance to the British. The supporters and sympathizers of the new rulers were generously patronized and associated with the new administration at its lower levels. Only the 'protected' princes and some of the former Jagirdars of the Punjab were found willing to help the British in 1857. Hardly any section of the people was in a position to rise in revolt. The people of the Punjab had no sympathy with the sepoys who engineered the 'revolt' because they had fought for the British against the Punjab. Nevertheless, signs of disaffection had begun to appear by the time Delhi fell. In a Parliamentary Paper of 1859 the British assessment of the situation was clearly stated: 'Universal revolt in the Punjab would have broken out, if Delhi had not failed into our hands'. On this assumption, at any rate, the British administrator of the Punjab had adopted repressive measures with great vigilance. Yet there were incidences symptomatic of a spirit of revolt. Raja Pratap Chand of Kangra rose in open revolt and he was hanged with five others. The Punjabi Military Police at Siatkot looted the treasury and a twelve-pounder gun after blowing up the magazines. The villagers of the neighbourhood entered the city. Many of them were executed as rebels. Over a lac of the pastoral people in the south of Lahore rose in revolt with the idea of ousting the British. They cut off the lines of communication with Bombay, and their rising affected the entire Multan region. It took more than three weeks to supress this insurgence with the help of 1,500 troops. At Ludhiana people collected arms but only to be seized by the government, Over a score of the insurgents were sentenced to death. A Sikh named Mohar Singh proclaimed Khaisa Raj at Ropar and prohibited cow-slaughter. He was executed with two others. A number of Sikh soldiers and Sadhus were executed for treasonable intent. A Brahman named Radha Kishan was publicly hanged at Amritsar. The events of 1857-58 were forgotten neither by the British nor the Punjabis In 1872 the Deputy Commissioner of Ludhiana blew forty-nine Sikhs from guns at Malerkotla, acting in undue haste to save the empire from what he thought was the beginning of a holocaust like the one of 1857-58. The Commissioner of Ambala put his stamp of approval on this rash action of his subordinate by ordering sixteen more Sikhs to be blown from guns. These Sikhs were followers of Baba Ram Singh, the leader of Namdhari Movement, popularly known as the Kuka Movement. Baba Ram Singh, a, carpenter of Bhaini in Ludhiana district, had served in the army of Lahore till 1845. He was a disciple of Baba Balak Singh, the founder of the 'Namdhari' movement at Hazro near Attock. But he gave a new direction to the movement in 1857 by initiating his followers as Sant Khalsa through baptism of the double -- edged sword. Since the British had imposed ban on carrying arms, including Baba Ram Singh asked his Sant Khalsa to a staff with a small axe or a simple staff. Afraid of his increasing popularity in the countryside of the central districts of the province, the British administrators ordered him not to move out of his village and not to hold any eligious assemblies. Within a few years nevertheless Baba Ram Singh's followers shot up to over a lac. He appointed provincial governors' Subas to manage the affairs of the Sant Khalsa and evolved his own postal system. The more extiable among the Sant Khalsa, called 'Mastanas', took law into their own hands by demolishing Samadhs, tombs and idols. In 1866-67 a number of them were sentenced to imprisonment of three months to two years in the districts of Ludhiana, Ferozepur, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Sialkot and Gujranwala. Baba Ram Singh's resentment against the British over the killing of kine for beef led the irate Kukas to liquidate butchers. They killed seven and wounded twelve in Amritsar and Raikot in Ludhiana district), for which eight Kukas were sentenced to death. The British administrators saw Baba Ram Singh's hand in the killing of butchers. They also thought that his design was to oust the British from the Punjab. They were contemplating his removal from the Punjab when a band of Kukas struck at Malerkotla in January 1872 to obtain arms, killing ten and wounding seventeen persons. This was the band blown from guns. Baba Ram Singh and eleven of his Subas were sent to jails in and outside the subcontinent. Baba Ram Singh died as an exile in Burma in 1885. The letters he secretly sent to his followers indicate, among many other things, that he was convinced of the impending fall of the British through political upheaval in 1877-83. He asked his followers not to join the service of the British, referring to them as tomcats (Billas) persumably because of their light brown eyes. The political relations between the British and the rulers of Afganistan were deteriorating during these years. Expecting British defeat, the Kukas were feared 'to show their teeth'. The expected turmoil did not take place but the Kuka unrest gradually merged into the issue of Maharaja Dalip Singh's return to the Punjab with the support of the Russians. In 1885, the Kukas were eagerly looking forward to the return of Baba Ram Singh to the Punjab as a result of the expected British ouster from India. In their millenarian hopes the Kukas were potentially the most important supporters of Maharaja Dalip Singh. With his failure to stage a return, the Kuka hopes began to fall, and their numbers began to dwindle. In the census of 1891 less than 11,000 persons returned themselves as Namdharis. The Kuka movement was overtaken by other movements of socio-religious reform leading to a different kind of political articulation. But the Kuka martyrs served as a source of inspiration for the Ghadar leaders like Sohan Singh Bhakna, and the Namdharis became staunch supporters of the indian National Congress. The character of freedom struggle in the Punjab, as in the rest ofthe country, began to change in the early twentieth century. Symptomatic of this change was the agitation of 1907. It was launched against the decision of the provincial administrators to curtail -proprietary rights of the settlers in canal colonies and to enhance water rates in the Bari Doab. The Colonization Bill was passed by the Punjab Government in spite of the agitation, giving further impetus to agitation. The foremost leader of this agitation was Lajpat Rai. He had come to Lahore as a pleader fifteen years earlier to become also an active member of the Arya Samaj and to work for its movement for Anglo-Vedic education. In 1905 he was selected by the Indian Association of Lahore to represent the Punjab in a deputation of the Indian National Congress to the British Government in England. From England he had gone to America, and on his return to the Punjab delivered a series of lectures to promote the Swadeshi movement. He became a member of the Servants of Indian Society founded by Gokhale to work for self-government through constitutiona means. Politics for Lajpat Rai signified at this time that, both intellectually and morally, the people should be made aware of their importance. Groups of people inclined to protest against the Punjab ad ministration started inviting him to their meetings, while Lajpat Rai himself was keen to address as many people as possible. It was quite natural for him to take interest in the agrarian unrest of 1907 to promote political consciousness among the peasantry. Lajpat Rai found a staunch supporter in Ajit Singh, a younger Arya Samajist who was also a Jat peasant turned teacher and publicist. Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh were keen to induct supporters in cities and villages, including lawyers, teachers, journalists, and landholders from amongst Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. In March and April of 1907, a number of meetings were held in the cities and districts of Lahore, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur, Sialkot, Lyallpur, Multan and Rawalpindi. The ideas propagated in these meetings related to the political situation in India, its economic exploitation by the colonial rulers, the idea that 'india is ours' (Hindustan Hamara Hal), the Swadeshi movement, the political situation in the Punjab, the Alienation of Land Act of 1900, the Colonization Act, the enhancement of water rate in the Bari Doab, the revenue assessment in Rawalpindi, the strike by railway workers, the case of the Panjabee which had been prosecuted, and unity of Hindus and Muslims in common causes against the British. The most prominent speakers at these meetings were Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh. in the third week of March at Lyallpur, Lajpur Rai addressed a large audience in Punjabi underlining the idea that the land belonged to the Indian people and not to the Britist administrators who, in any case, were not meant to rule over the Indian people but to serve them. The weapon of the British in India was 'divide and rule'. Ajit Singh was more hostile to the government. The Panj Piare (the beloved five) of Guru Gobind Singh had upset the mighty Mughals at one time; millions of Indians now could surely oust the British to take the management of the country in their own hands. Ajit Singh referred to the fate of Bahadur Shah in order to evoke Muslim sympathies, To inspire the Sikhs, he referred to what the Gurus had said: 'under alien rule there is no peace. even in a dream' (Pradhin Supne Sukh Nahin) He taunted the Punjabis for supporting the British in 1857: Do they get positions similar to that of Todar Mai or Birbal under the Mughals! Indians were insulted in foreign countries because of their subjection to foreign rule. 0ur difficulties would not lessen until 'we have a Government of our own'. The British numbered only a lac and a half, while the Indians were thirty crores. A puff of the political wind in India could blow away these 'dishonest cat-eyed men' (Bille Beiman). Ajit Singh exhorted the people not to pay revenues, not to go to for adjudication, not to take service in the army or the police; and he asked them to encourage and promote indigenous manufactures. Colonial rule was oppressiveexploitative and repressive. Indians suffered discrimination in their own country. Ajit was explicit about his political position: 'We extremists and not moderates for there is use in giving petitions'. The progress of a nation in this view, depended on three things : local industries, agriculture and trade. The Colonial rulers were destroying local industries and runing trade; and they gave no help to the farmers. Associated with Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh in the movement were men like Amolak Ram of Rawalpindi, Ghulam Qadir Fasih of Sialkot and Kartar Singh from the countryside of Lahore. Sufi Amba Parshad, a senior revolutionary, joined Ajit Singh in his propaganda campaign, and Ram Lal Falik wielded his pen to promote political awakening. An association known as the Bharat Mata Sabha was formed at Lahore. It was also known as the Anjuman-i Muhibban-i-Watan. The two names were calculated to appeal to both Hindus and Muslims. This association organized public meetings, and published a periodical known as Bharat Mata from Lahore. Lajpat Rai was closely connected with Punjabee who was prosecuted for highlighting the atrocious high-handedness of some Britons in the Punjab. The editor of the Jhang Sial contributed a popular song, known as Pagri Sambhal Jatta, which was meant to inspire the landholders for political mobilization. The Paisa Akhbar supported the movement indirectly, Like the Bharat Mata of Lahore, the Indian of Gujranwala gave wide coverage to the activities of 'the extremists'. Amba Parshad's Inquilab ran for a few months but only to be confiscated by the government. As much in their publications as from Public platforms, the leaders of the movement referred to Indian leaders like Tilak, Gokhale and Banerjee and invoked historical figures like Guru Gobind Singh, Shivaji and Rana Pratap. For the Punjab in particular, the names of Ranjit Singh and Dalip Singh were brought in. Of a score of books and translations regarded as seditious by the government the most offensive were Banda Bant (the monkey's arbitration) and Divide and Conquer. Both of these appeared in the name of Ajit Singh's brother Sawran Singh but were believed to have been written actually by Ajit Singh and Amba Parshad. The translations of Russian books by Ghulam Qadir Fasih were similarly regarded as the most seditious. This was a novel situation for the Punjab administrators whose professed paternalism made them all the more autocratic. By the beginning of May 1907, Denzil Ibbetson, the Lt. Governor of the Province, was asking for deportation of Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh. In his assessment, the political situation in the Punjab was 'exceedingly dangerous'. In reaction to the action taken against the proprietor and the editors of the Punjabee, Europeans were insulted on the Mall of Lahore. Anti-English propaganda was spreading to the villages. The 'extremist' leaders were advocating open sedition. Special attention was being paid to the Sikhs. Police and military personnel were being taunted for their loyalty to the government. A 'new air' was blowing through men's minds. The Punjabis were more difficult to mobilize than the Bengalis, but once mobilized they were also more dangerous: 'if the loyalty of the Jat Sikhs of the Punjab is ever materially shaken the danger will be greater than any which could possibly arise in Bengal. ' The Governor proposed special powers for the Punjab as a long term measure to enable the government to be even more repressive. As an immediate measure he asked for the deportation of the two most dangerous leaders of the movement. On 6 May, the Governor General-in-Council ordered that 'warrants be issued under Regulation III of 1818 for the arrest of Lala Lajpat Raj and Munshi Ajit Singh and their confinement in the jail at Mandlay'. The former was arrested after three days and the latter after three weeks. As anticipated by the government, there was agitation over Lajpat Rai's deportation, leading to violence against the English at a few places. Nearly three scores of persons were tried but only half a dozen could be convicted. In the third week of November, Lajpat Rai and Ajit |