India’s struggle for freedom began in 1857 and it took another 90 years to culminate into India’s independence. Anyone can imagine the kind of sacrifices our ancestors made to make this into a reality. They gave their life and blood for our freedom. We have been taught about our freedom struggle in so many ways and one of them is through the institution of school. From a very early age we have read about Indian National Congress and its contribution to this struggle. Not to mention here the names of Nehru and Gandhi, who are almost inseparable whenever we talk about our freedom struggle? But what about other people who laid down their lives in quest of India’s freedom?
Everyone knows about the contribution of Indian national congress to India’s freedom movement. But how many of us know about the other parties who contributed immensely to this cause. Why our historians have chosen not to write about these parties? Why none of these parties is in public glare. It is simply because we have read or we have been forced to read a very selective history on the instructions of the congress party which ruled India for the majority of last 69 years. The historical facts that are taught in schools and colleges in India is totally distorted, fudged and manipulated to favour a certain section of our political class.
Many of us might argue that considerable light has been shed on the history of nationalist parties like Ghadar Party, Subash Chander bose led INA, All India Muslim league, RSS etc. However there are considerable numbers of parties which don’t find even a mention in India’s history of freedom struggle. Their contribution might have been on the lower side as compared to congress but that does not undermine their impact on the struggle. I bet majority of the people would not even know the names of parties or movements like HSRA, Hindu Mahasabha, Jugantar, Babbar Akali’s, Khaskar tehreek, Khudai khidmatghar movement etc; leave aside the expectation of people being even aware about their contribution to our freedom struggle.
The aim of writing this article is to highlight the history of these little known parties who gave their blood for India’s struggle. If after just 68 years of our Independence people are unaware about these people, Imagine what will happen after 100 years into our Independence. Our posterity which is being raised on a fudged and manipulated history, the names of these people and parties will cease to exist forever. Give it a thought.
I would begin by highlighting the history of Babbar Akali’s based out of Punjab who not only took to Gurdwara reforms but also participated in India’s freedom struggle during a brief period from 1921 to 1925. Babbar Akali movement came into existence when the Akali struggle for Gurdwara Reforms was going through a crucial stage. The most popular Sikh shrines like Nankana Sahib and Taran Taran Sahib were being occupied by Mahants and were trying to convert these into their personal properties. Babbar Akalis were Gur Sikhs and vehemently opposed the Idea of Gandhi’s non violence and non cooperation formula. Majority of the babbar Akalis were returned immigrants from Cannada and some of them had actively participated in the Gadhar movement. They opposed the imperialistic British policies and at the same time they were upset about the Nankana Sahib tragedy in which hundreds of innocent Sikhs were killed. They rejected the idea of peaceful struggle for reformation in the Sikh shrines and decided to carry forward their movement separately without the active involvement and cooperation of Akali leadership.
Since the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh on June 27, 1839, Punjab was under constant attack from British and eventually they lost their sovereignty to them on 29th Mar, 1849. As a result the socio-religious fabric of Punjab received a big jolt. Sikhs lost control and direct vigilance of its sacred shrines. During the next 70 odd years the Sikhism went through a drastic change. Their religious places and Gurudwaras were directly ruled by Mahants and they started to ignore the tenets and practices laid down in the Sikhism. Sikhism came under heavy attack during this time from British missionaries and elitist Brahmans. Undoubtedly the Sikhs were surrounded by forces which threatened their existence and their gradual decline seemed inevitable.
During subsequent years there were lots of organisations which were formed by Sikhs to cater to the ever increasing demand of the public to free its Gurdwaras from British and Mahants. However it was during 1920 that they finally became successful in forming Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Comittee and then subsequently its task force, Akali Dal. Later on SGPC and Akali Dal made all efforts to make their gurdwars free from the clutches of these Mahants.
Later on during one such incident, Guru Ka Bagh Morcha, the back bone of Babbar Akali movement was formed. Though most of the Gurudwars were freed easily by SGPC from Mahants, Guru Ka Bagh, which is about 20 kms away from Amritsar, was never going to be an easy task for SGPC. In 1921, Sunder Das Udasi was the mahant of guru ka Bagh. In an attempt to save the shrine from being occupied by reformist Sikhs, he signed a formal agreement with them on 31 January 1921, promising to reform his ways and make a new start, as well as, agreeing to receive the rites of Khalsa initiation. He even agreed to serve under an eleven member committee appointed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. However, seeing how the government was everywhere supporting the mahants in their efforts to retain the Gurdwaras, he repudiated part of the agreement and said that, though he had surrendered the gurdwara to the Shiromani Committee, the piece of land known as Guru ka Bagh attached to it was still his property. He objected to Sikhs cutting trees from Guru Ka bagh for the common Langar and thus he lodged a comlaint with the police and as a result of that authorities arrested 5 Akali’s on 9th Aug, 1922 on the charges of trespass. It was just a beginning and till 17th November, 1922 the number of Sikhs that were arrested amounted to 5605. This included 35 members of SGPC. The government at that time tried evry leaf in the book to traumatise Sikhs, however that was not to be a case. The violent use of force on Sikhs had a great impact outside and inside Punjab. Large number of Sikhs who took part in Guru Ka Bagh morcha, either joined Babbar Akali Jatha or worked actively to support their cause. When guru ka Bagh morcha was in full swing in 1922, Jathedar Kishan Singh Garja, he later on became a Babbar Akali Stalwart, wrote to then SGPC secretary, and asked him to reconsider the non violent means of fighting the cause and urged him to allow Sikhs to take up the sword. There is no doubt that Babbar Akali movement took its final shape during this morcha. Sikhs who could not digest the discipline of Satyagrah took to dynamite, bomb and pistols and became the Babbar Akali’s. The heaps of atrocities thrown on Sikhs inflamed their passion for revenge and no true discipline of Guru Gobind Singh could remain loyal to the British afterwards. Hence a few Akalis who had participated in the Gurudwara reform movement became Babbar Akali’s. Infact the struggle to liberate Gurudwars from Mahants and government was considered to be the stepping stone to India’s freedom. No wonder it included, ex ghadarites, congress workers and soldiers.
The Babbar Akalis made their first appearance during the Sikh Educational Conference held at Hoshiarpur from March 19th to 21st, 1921. Later on, they organized their own meetings which were attended by renowned personalities like Master Mota Singh, Kishan Singh, Amar Singh, Tota Singh Peshawari, Gurbachan Singh and Buttan Singh and some of the returned emigrants from Canada. The working committee of the Babbar Akalis was elected in 1922 with Sardar Kishan Singh Garja as Jathedar, Dalip Singh Gosal, as Secretary and Baba Santa Singh as Treasurer. To reinforce the propaganda machinery and to promote the cause of the movement, the working committee decided to publish a newspaper called Babbar Akali Doaba Akhbar, with Sardar Karam Singh Daulatpur appointed as Editor. Their main objective was to "eliminate" certain officials and non-officials condemned as enemies of the Khalsa Panth.
They appealed to the Hindus and Muslims through articles, leaflets, Babbar Akali Doaba Akhbar and the religious congregations to join them in their war against the foreigners for freedom. To fulfil their programme Bela Singh and Ganda Singh were sent to Lahore on May 23, 1921 to take care of Mr. J.W. Bowring, considered responsible for Nankana Sahib Massacare. However on their way they got arrested and thus other members of the party like Amar Singh, Tota Singh, Chatar Singh etc landed in the police custody.
Babbar Akalis also aimed to paralyse the supporters of the British Government such as Zaildars, Lambardars, Patwaries, police informers and other stooges by terrorising them through various forms of punishments. According to the plans of the Babbars an attempt was made to kill Arjan Singh Patwari of Haripur who had allegedly helped in the arrest of Master Mota Singh. Somehow the attempt failed. Then, Zaildar Bishan Singh, a retired official of the Canal Department was shot dead on February 10th, 1923.
The continuous "elimination" created panic among the informers, agents and the Government authorities. Numbers of village officials and other loyalists to the Government started expressing fear for their lives and the desire to resign from their posts. The government took stiff measures to meet the Babbar challenge and tried to restore peace and confidence among the loyalists. Special C.I.D. was deputed to assist the police. The police force at Jullundur was increased by adding another fifty men. Above all, a special enrolment of 150 was sanctioned, and an Indian infantry of 250 and a squadron of armoured cars were deputed to assist the police in making the arrests of the Babbars. Leaflets were scattered by airplane over the affected area in order to restore peace, and the Babbars were proclaimed as an unlawful association under the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act of 1908. As a result some important leaders like Kishan Singh Garja, Master Mota Singh and Sunder Singh were arrested.
Undeterred by the arrests and deaths of the important leaders, the Babbars continued their programme of eliminating the agents and the supporters of the Government. Simultaneously, they continued preaching against the British rule. The threats by the Babbars and the continuous elimination of government officials caused considerable anxiety in the official circle in London. Members of the British Parliament raised questions about the deteriorating condition of law and order in the Punjab. The government of the Punjab was criticised, and fears were expressed about the safety of the British officials in India.
On June 4th, 1923, Sir C. Yates drew the attention of the House of Commons to the Babbar programme of murdering officers and the foreigners and wanted the Government to make a statement on the situation in Punjab. The motion was again tabled on June 14th, 1923 in the British Parliament regarding the seriousness of the Babbar Akali Movement. Upon pressure of the British Parliament, London, the government of the Punjab introduced more stringent measures against the Babbars. Hideout places of the Babbars were raided. As a result, 186 arrests were made. By the middle of 1924 all the important Babbars were either killed or arrested. However, the Akali leaders and the Congress leaders like Mahatma Gandhi did not approve of the Babbars' programme of violence. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (S.G.P.C.) issued statement appealing to the Sikhs to disassociate with the activities of the Babbars, writes Mohinder Singh, author of The Akali Movement:
Though the Akali leadership disowned both the Babbars as well as their tactics and went even to the extent of passing formal resolutions against them, the Babbars contribution to the Akali Movement and India’s freedom struggle cannot be ignored. They have and will be the integral part of our history forever. None can undermine their contribution to Sikhism and its resurgence in the early twentieth century.
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