|
Struggle
for Freedom in the Punjab
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 1960s,
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 t857 ?' 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.
Source:
webpunjab.com
|
