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A Saga of Sacrifice & Struggle |
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. ROLE OF PUNJAB IN INDIA’S FREEDOM STRUGGLE (NINETEENTH CENTURY) Punjab’s struggle for the freedom from the foreign rule began soon after the defeat of the Sikhs in the first Anglo-Sikh War. One of the first indication was the "Cow Row" affair. This incident took place in Lahore on the 24th of April 1846, when under protest the businessmen of Lahore closed their shops against the British guard stationed outside the Masti Gate of the City. When the Britishers sent some officers to explain their position the people of the area pelted stones on them standing on the roof tops of their houses. As a result one man was executed and two were jailed. The houses from which the stones were thrown were razed to the ground. These kind of Crooked dealings of the alien conquerors created hatred among the common people against them and indirectly aroused patriotic sentiments in all the sections of the population of Punjab. Among the principal organisers of the freedom struggle in this province in the 19th century, the outstanding names were those of Bhai Maharaj Singh, Rani Jindan, Sardar Chattar Singh Attariwala, Dewan Mul Raj and Baba Ram Singh Namdhari. FREEDOM STRUGGLE IN THE NINTEENTH CENTUARY Bhai Maharaj Singh was a trusted follower of Bhai Bir Singh, the famous saint of Naurangabad. Maharaj Singh led the anti-British campaign as a matter of religious duty towards his people. After the First Anglo-Sikh War he moved about the Jalandhar Doab, a British territory and aroused the people against the British. He contacted Dewan Mul Raj, the Nazim of Multan to raise a banner of revolt against the British administration of Lahore kingdom. He went to Hazara where Sardar Chattar Singh Attariwala was preparing to rebel. Maharaj Singh’s presence there gave a boost to the cause of rebellion. The Bhai ignited, a yearlong revolt, almost national in intention. He sought to extend it all over northern India by involving in it the Maharaja of Bikaner, Dost Mohammad, the Amir of Afghanistan and Maharaja Gulab Singh of Jammu and Kashmir but could not achieve any success. Then came the Second Anglo-Sikh War which resulted in the annexation of the Punjab by the British on March 29, 1849. The annexation of the Punjab by the British slackened the activities of the freedom fighters in the province for a number of reasons. However Maharaja Singh, did not allow the freedom movement to die out. He chalked out a fresh plan to continue the struggle. He escaped from Rawalpindi to Jammu and from his hide out sent secret emissaries to contact, in particular, the discharged soldiers of the Khalsa Army, the Jagirdars, and chiefs who had been dispossessed of their estates or pensions by the British authorities, and also holders of religious estates, particularly the Gosains in the Kangra hills, who could help him finance the freedom struggle. Maharaja Singh sought help from Dost Mohammad, the Amir of Kabul, in Punjab’s struggle for freedom from foreign rule. He wrote to the Amir and his brother Sultan Muhammad Khan for support. But they refused to render him any help. Bhai Maharaj Singh planned to make guerilla type of attacks on the selected British contonments of Hoshiarpur, Hajipur and possibly Jalandhar. His men looted the Government treasury at Bajwara. The Bhai obtained substantial help from a large number of influential people from all over the north India. On December 29, 1849, Vinsittat, the Deputy Commissioner of Jalandhar arrested him alongwith his followers at Adampur. He was taken to Calcutta and later sent to the dark and dingy cell in the New Jail Singapore. In 1853, he got blind due to the cataract of the eyes. He breathed his last in the jail on July 5, 1856, just a year before the Revolt of 1857. Rani Jind Kaur the mother of Dalip Singh, the ruler of Lahore kingdom, was the brain behind the rising of 1848-49 against the British authorities. She was known for her intelligence and intrepid spirit, Jindan was one of the few persons who was intensely disliked and also feared by the British. Rani Jindan played a conspicuous role in the Punjab politics after her son’s elevation to the throne of Lahore kingdom. The British entered into a treaty known as the treaty of Bhyrowal with the Lahore kingdom in December 1846 which made the British the virtual masters of the Punjab. They had not only excluded the Rani from participating in the negotiations which led to the signing of the treaty but also of all share in the government of the Lahore Kingdom. She was removed from the Regency Council, which was to conduct the administration during the minority of Maharaja Dalip Singh. She hatched a plot to murder the British Resident and the members of the Regency Council who collaborated with the British. Prema, an old retainer of Gulab Singh, along with some other persons were to execute the plan. The plan however failed but the British could not take action against the Rani for lack of evidence. But they wanted to get ride of her and imposed restrictions on her movements. The chiefs of the Lahore Darbar were forbidden to see her. The Queen had become a symbol of national dignity. She continued to urge the freedom fighters back in the Punjab to continue the struggle dauntlessly. Through her trusted band of servants, she continued to send letters and messages to Dewan Mul Raj, Sardar Chattar Singh and Raja Sher Singh, the chiefs of the rebellion. As soon as the British came to know of the secret designs of the Rani, they transferred her to the Chunar fort on 6 April 1849. On the same evening, she escaped from the fort in the guise of her attendant and proceeded towards Nepal. She reached safely in the Nepalese territory on 27 April. The Government of India confiscated all her jewels and other property at Benaras and allowed her to stay in Nepal on a monthly pension of one thousand rupees. In Nepal, Rani Jindan, carried through her secret plans for the expulsion of the British from the Punjab. She wrote letters to influential people both inside and outside Punjab to rise once again against the British. In the rising of 1857, she found a fresh opportunity to stimulate a rising in the Punjab. But her efforts were against rendered futile by the vigilance of the British. Being sadly disillusioned, the Rani ultimately thought to seeing her son Maharaj Dalip Singh, who was then staying in England as a Christian gentleman. Her health was shattered and she became almost blind. The British Government allowed Dalip Singh to come to India and to take his mother along with him to England. Disillusioned, her health shattered and almost blind she went to England to stay with her son Maharaj Dalip Singh. Rani resided in a separate house in England till her death in 1863. As per Rani’s last wishes, Dalip Singh brought her body back for cremation to India, but was disallowed by the Britishers to perform the last rites in Punjab. He therefore cremated her body at Nasik and returned to England. In the post 1857 phase of freedom struggle Namdhari movement occupies a very significant place in the annals of history. It was founded at a time when the socio-religious teachings of the great Gurus were slowly being shadowed by other considerations and the political life was at its lowest ebb. Namdhari movement was an off shoot of Sikhism. The Kuka Movement was launched on the Baisaki day in April 1857 at Bhaini (sahib), in Ludhiana District of Punjab. The leader of the Namdhari movement Baba Ram Singh was inspired by Maharaj Singh’s struggle against aliens and worked for social reforms and gave a call for the political battle against the Britishers. Baba Balak Singh, an Udasi Arora in Hazro, founded Namdhari sect popularly known as Kukas in the district of Rawalpindi in the Year 1847. Ram Singh, a carpenter, became his successor and moved the head quarters to Bhaini (Ludhiana). The Kukas succeeded in keeping their real objective hidden from the Britishers for almost five year. The government however officially came to know of the Kukas in 1863 with the report submitted by the Deputy Commissioner of Sealkot. With a view to impart impetus to the organization, Guru Ram Singh divided the whole country into 22 regions and each region was put under one able and wise person called the Suba or the lieutenant. Women participation was ensured by including Hukmi in the list of Suba’s to give representation to the women folk. Training in weapons began to be imparted and paramilitary was organized. After the Sikhs lost the war against the British forces, the Khalsa army had been disbanded and many patriotic solders were being pursued. With the coming together of the Kukas, these patriotic soldiers grabbed this opportunity to join the Namdhari ( Kuka) movement. Besides the ex-soldiers the Kuka recruits included those who either were related to the ex-soldiers, or those who had turned against the British rule after the revolution of 1857,or even those who had were inspired by the Kukas and had thus resigned from the British service. Guru Ram Singh adopted non-violence and non-cooperation as the two weapons to succeed in his mission. Kukas boycotted the English regime and everything connected with it was shunned. "English education, law courts, mill made cloth and other imported goods were boycotted." The Kukas also avoided the use of Post Offices and depended upon their own postal system, which was remarkably efficient. They adopted their own legal system and rejected the British system as it did not suit the Indian way of living. Guru Ram Singh himself held the courts initially and later on this responsibility was given to his lieutenants. During their brief span, the Kukas had thrice revolted against the British. The first such attempt was made as early as in 1869 when a number of Kuka’s belonging to Ferozepur and Sirsa attacked the Deputy Inspector Dewan Baksh alongwith his constable Soobe Singh, snatched their weapons and wounded them. The second episode occurred when in response to challenge given by the government by way of sacrilege of the Sikh religious places, the Kukas attacked the slaughterhouses at Amritsar and Raikot in June 1871. They freed the cows by murdering the butchers and fled away. The real perpetrators could not be traced and the blame of the act was put on 12 innocent Hindus and Sikhs by forced confessions these confessions were supported by false evidence extracted from these 12 people leading to the capital punishment of the lower court. The Kukas acting on the advice of their Guru surrendered and proved themselves guilty by producing the weapons thus exposing and eroding the faith of many on the British legal system. Four Kuka’s in this case were executed in September 1871 with a Banyan tree at Rambagh hanged and some others were sentenced to long term imprisonment. The treatment meted out to the Kukas by the Government did not subdue them. In spite of the restriction imposed on Guru Ram Singh, Kukas gathered at Bhaini on the Maghi festival in January, 1872. One group decided to attack Malerkotla against the advice of the Guru. 68 Kukas were captured of which 66 were blown after tying them to the cannons. Subsequently another 16 Kukas were blasted at Malerkotla and four were sentenced to life imprisonment. Kukas headquarters at Bhaini was also searched. Nothing much of consequence was found except few kirpans, latchets and some ornamental Khukaris. Guru Ram Singh and eleven of his follower were deported to Rangoon. Ram Singh died in Rangoon in 1885. Even though the number of Kukas were very small, they were little more than ten thousand in 1881, the movement occupies a very important place in the history and this became a source of inspiration for generations to come. Guru Ram Singh and the Kukas also occupy a prominent place in the history for they were amongst the first to initiate non-co-operation and the use of Swadeshi as political weapons. Boycott of British goods, government schools, law courts, even the postal service, use of hand spun cloth were some of the tools used by the Kukas as an expression of resentment against the foreign rule. These were the very things, which were propagated by Gandhiji after he came to the political scene.
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