Betrayal of the Sikhs
(1926-1947)
(All this material is copy right of Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer)
Contents
Struggle for Power among the Sikhs
Division among the Akali ranks
Victory of Kharak Singh – Tara Singh group in S.G.P.C.
Death of Teja Singh Samundari in jail
First Election of the Office-Bearers of the Central Board
Shiromani Akali Dal becomes a Political Organization
Simon Commission and the Sikhs
Bardauli Agitation
Sikh elite formed ‘Central Sikh Association’
The Sikhs and the Hindu leadership of Congress
Simon Commission at Lahore
Nehru Report
The first act of betrayal of the Sikhs by the Congress
Civil Non Co-operation Movement
Gandhi Invites Sikhs to get beaten
Civil Non co-operation Movement in the Punjab
Colours of Proposed Flag of Independent India
Murder of Ganga Singh Kamboj & His Family
Master Tara Singh leads jatha to Peshawar
Firing at Gurdwara Sees/Sis Ganj
The Round Table Conferences
The Communal Award (1932) and the Sikhs
The Unity Conferences
Third Round Table Conference
The Sikh-Muslim Relations
Shaheed Ganj Singhanian
Attack on Gurdwara at Kot Bhai Than Singh
Ban on Kirpan
Tribal War among the Sikh Leaders: the Clash of Titans
Nehru Report
Sikh colour in flag
Division in, and death of, the Khalsa Darbar
Formation of New Akali Dals
One group declares Kharak Singh as ‘Dictator’
Mediation by the Gursewak Sabha
Gandhi’s disdain for the Sikhs and Sikhism
Gandhi’s hidden sympathy for the mahants
Gandhi’s utterances against Guru Gobind Singh
Gandhi stops Ambedkar from joining Sikh faith
Gandhi’s hatred for Kirpan
Gandhi condemns Sikh religion
Asses lead Tigers
2nd World War and the Sikhs
Cripps Mission
Another Phase of the Sikh Muslim Alliance
Baldev Singh joins Punjab Cabinet
Pakistan versus Sikh State
Azad Punjab Scheme
Congress supports a book insulting Guru Nanak
Sapru Committee
Ajit Singh Sarhadi joins Muslim League Ministry in N.W.F.P.
Simla Conference (1945)
Unwise statements by the Sikh leadership
Master Tara Singh puts forth analogy of Israel
The English begin talking of freeing the sub-continent
The Hindu leaders again begin wooing the Sikh leaders
The Wavell Plan
Congress Party again plays anti-Akali role
The S.G.P.C. passes resolution for a Sikh State
Meeting between Master Tara Singh and Jinnah
Cabinet Mission
Injustice to the Sikhs by the Congress and the British
Direct Action by the Muslim League
Muslim League boycotts the Constituent Assembly
Master Tara Singh’s fears against Sikh-Muslim Union
Violence in the Punjab
Mountbatten Plan (Division of the Punjab)
Declaration of Partition of Punjab and Bengal
Role of Master Tara Singh
Bibliography
Struggle for Power among the Sikhs
Division among the Akali ranks
After the passing of the Gurdwara Act in 1925, though the Gurdwara Reform Movement came to an end but it had created a great organisation and a big line of leadership; and, though, now, they did not have any immediate agenda hence they put all their energy to take control of the management of the S.G.P.C. During the Gurdwara Reform Movement, all the leaders had been functioning almost like a ‘Sarbat Khalsa’ but now the lust for power turned them hostile towards each other.
As mentioned earlier, by the 26th of January 1926, the 23 leaders of Giani Sher Singh- Mehtab Singh group had been released after acceptance of some conditions; when the news of their release became public, their opponents began poignant attacks on them; they were labelled as cowards and traitors.1 On the other hand, this group, after their release, planned to capture the S.G.P.C.; it called a meeting of the S.G.P.C. and elected Mehtab Singh as its new president; he polled 77 votes against 44 of Bhag Singh Canadian of Kharak Singh- Master Tara Singh group (whose leaders were still in jails). After the election of Mehtab Singh as President the other group walked out and, later, on the 1st of February 1926, it held a meeting which formed ‘Akali Party’2 within the S.G.P.C. (later this Party became Shiromani Akali Dal); Bhag Singh Canadian was selected as the President and Jaswant Singh Jhabal as the General Secretary of the Akali Party; the first task of the newly formed Akali Party was to defame the leaders of the Giani Sher Singh- Mehtab Singh group for accepting conditional release; they alleged that they had accepted release with intention of capturing the S.G.P.C.; and, this yielded results as the public began sympathising with those who had refused to accept conditional release. This scared Mehtab Singh and he announced new elections to the S.G.P.C. on the 11th of April
1926; and for this purpose he formed an ‘Election Sub-Committee’ too; Mangal Singh Gill of Kharak Singh-Master Tara Singh group too was nominated as a member of the Election Sub-Committee; later, in the last week of March 1926, Mehtab Singh cancelled holding of the new elections of the S.G.P.C.; at this Mangal Singh resigned from the Election Sub-Committee; this further lowered the image of Mehtab Singh hence he resigned from the president-ship of the S.G.P.C. and appointed Kartar Singh Diwana as acting president. In the meanwhile some Sikh elite, with an intention of ushering a cordial atmosphere, tried to bring out reconciliation among both the groups; their efforts yielded some results and a meeting of the S.G.P.C. was held on the 28th of March 1926, attended by 196 members; and this meeting made a consensus to allow continuing Mehtab Singh as the President of the S.G.P.C.; it also cancelled holding of elections to the S.G.P.C. in wake of the elections to the Central Board under the Gurdwara Act which were going to be held in June; though Mehtab Singh remained the President but this could not revive his image among the Sikhs especially among the rural sections.
Sarbat Khalsa Conference
On the other hand, most of the activists of the Shiromani Akali Dal also began criticising the cancellation of the elections to the S.G.P.C.; in the meeting of its Executive, held on the 21st of April 1926, the Dal decided to hold a Sarbat Khalsa Conference on the 21st and 22nd of May 1926, to discuss the Panthic situation; Gurdit Singh Kamagatamaru was assigned duty to make arrangements for this Conference. But, before the proposed Sarbat Khalsa Conference could be held, Amar Singh Jhabal, the President of the Shiromani Akali Dal, postponed it; this action was widely criticised by radical Akali activists; as a result of this, Amar Singh Jhabal, the then President of the Dal, had to step down in the meeting of its General House on the 19th of May 1926; Gurdit Singh Kamagatamaru was elected the new President and Dr Thakar Singh Ikolaha became General Secretary. On the 20th of May,
the new leadership announced that if both the Akali groups agree by 27th of May then elections to the S.G.P.C. will be held by the 30th of May 1926; it also resolved to hold the Sarbat Khalsa Conference on the 10th and the 11th of June 1926.3
In between another attempt was made to bring unity among both the groups; on the 16th of May 1926, a ‘Saalsi Board’ (Reconciliation Board) was formed by some Sikh elite like Professor Teja Singh, Narain Singh Vakil, Professor Joginder Singh, Professor Abhey Singh, Principal Ganga Singh, Partap Singh and Giani Gurmukh Singh Musafir etc; both the groups agreed to accept the decision of this Board; it gave its verdict on the 6th of June 1926 which was announced from Akal Takht the following day; it condemned both the groups for their unethical statements against each other and asked them to apologize for their past deeds and work, in future, as a united force; though both the groups did abide by the verdict for some time but it did not last long.
On the other hand, the proposed Sarbat Khalsa Conference was held on the 11th of June 1926 at Amritsar and about 1000 delegates participated in this Conference; but the majority of the delegates were the supporters of Gargajj Akali Diwan and Central Majha Diwan, hence their will prevailed; and, all the resolutions passed by this Conference were against the policy of the Shiromani Akali Dal; This Conference passed 4 resolutions: 1. Gurdwara Act is rejected 2. All the prisoners should be released 3. Maharaja Nabha should be restored to throne 4. A 21 member Committee be formed to take charge from the S.G.P.C.4 Later, Gargajj Akali Diwan tried to occupy Akal Takht too; though this attempt was foiled but it created a lot of ill will among the Sikhs.
Victory of Kharak Singh – Tara Singh group in the S.G.P.C.
First elections to the Central Board (later renamed as the S.G.P.C.) under the Gurdwara Act were held on the 18th of June 1926. At that time all the senior leaders of Kharak Singh – Master Tara Singh group were in jails and they had filed their nomination papers for these elections through the jail
authorities; S.B. Mehtab Singh was an expert of law; he found some minor discrepancies in the nomination papers of Master Tara Singh and Amar Singh Wasu and got these papers rejected; besides he wooed Captain Ram Singh to withdraw from the contest; as a result S.B. Mehtab Singh and Giani Sher Singh were elected unopposed. Likewise the nomination papers of Bhagat Jaswant Singh, Gurdit Singh Behlolpuri and Bakhshish Singh Bhumaddi too were got rejected on some technical points; hence victory from at least five seats was secured for Giani Sher Singh- S.B. Mehtab Singh group. At that time Darbar Sahib and other Gurdwaras also were in the possession of Giani Sher Singh and S.B. Mehtab Singh group hence the Gurdwara platform was also with them; but, when polling for the rest of the seats was held Kharak Singh – Master Tara Singh group achieved remarkable success by capturing 85 out of 120 seats, Giani Sher Singh and S.B. Mehtab Singh group could win only 26 seats (including unopposed won seats); five seats were won by pro-government Hailey Reform Committee and four went to independents.5 Besides these 120 elected members the government appointed several members and some were co-opted as representatives of the Sikh States too, and, all these members were pro-government thus adding to the strength of Giani Sher Singh- Mehtab Singh group.
Death of Teja Singh Samundari in jail
On the 17th of July 1926, Teja Singh Samundari, the leader of the group of the Akali leaders lodged in the Lahore Jail,6 died of heart attack in the Lahore jail. Teja Singh had made remarkable contribution to the Gurdwara Reform Movement hence Shiromani Akali Dal in the meeting of its Executive, on the 1st of August 1926, passed a resolution (no.162) to set up a befitting memorial in his memory; the Executive set up a Sub-Committee comprising of Sardool Singh Kaveeshar, Mangal Singh, Mehtab Singh Kalsia, Amar Singh Jhabal, Gurdit Singh Kamagatamaru, Bhag Singh Canadian, Dr Thakar Singh Ikolaha;7 this Committee considered several proposals and finally it was resolved that
the S.G.P.C. headquarters should be named as ‘Teja Singh Samundari Hall’.
First Election of the Office-Bearers of the Central Board
The first meeting of the elected members of the Central Board (S.G.P.C.) was held on the 4th of September 1926; as per the formal provisions of the Gurdwara Act, it was supervised by the D.C. of Amritsar; 135 members attended it (these included the members nominated by the Government as well) more than a dozen members of Kharak Singh – Tara Singh group, being in jail, could not attend the meeting. In this meeting 14 members were co-opted as per the provisions of the Act; 9 seats were won by Kharak Singh- Tara Singh group and 5 by Giani Sher Singh- Mehtab Singh group (all the Government nominated members sided with Giani Sher Singh- Mehtab Singh group).
This meeting elected Mangal Singh B.A. as the President of the Central Board; he polled 82 votes as against 53 of Joginder Singh Vakil Raipur (he had won as a candidate of Kharak Singh- Tara Singh group but had crossed over to Giani Sher Singh- Mehtab Singh group just to become a candidate for Presidency).
The first regular meeting of the Central Board was held on the 2nd of October 1926; by this time the Government had released the rest of Akali leaders of the Lahore Jail (on the 27th of September 1926). In this meeting Hazara Singh Jamarai (nominated member) resigned and Master Tara Singh was elected in his place; it was followed by re-election of the office-bearers of the Central Board; Kharak Singh and Master Tara Singh were elected President and Vice President respectively, and, as Kharak Singh was in jail Master Tara Singh officiated as President; besides a seven-member Executive was also elected; it comprised of Mangal Singh, Bhag Singh Vakil, Jaswant Singh Danewalia, Man Singh Sargodha, Kundan Singh (all 5 from Kharak Singh- Master Tara Singh group) and Giani Sher Singh and Mohinder Singh Sidhwan (both from Giani Sher Singh- Mehtab Singh group).
This meeting passed a resolution changing the name of the Central Board to Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (S.G.P.C.);8 this meeting also resolved that all the proceedings of the S.G.P.C. will be done in Punjabi language and in Gurmukhi script; it also passed resolutions demanding release of all the prisoners of the Gurdwara Reform Movement and appreciating those who had refused to accept conditional release from jails.
Shiromani Akali Dal becomes a Political Organization
Formation of the Simon Commission and the Sikhs
In March 1927, the Viceroy of India, announced the formation of a Commission, under the provisions of section 84 of the Act of 1919, which was to suggest grant of political rights and other facilities to the citizens of the British India; the Commission was also to decide the proportion of representation for different religions and communities in the legislatures, services and other departments.
Though the decision to form a Commission had been announced in March but it was formed on the 8th of November 1927, this 7-member Commission comprised of representatives of three British political parties; as it was to be headed by Sir John Simon, hence it was known as ‘Simon Commission’; the members of this Commission were British parliamentarians hence there was no Hindu, Muslim or Sikh among them. In December 1927, the annual session of the Congress Party was held at Madras (now Chennai); this session decided to boycott the Simon Commission on the plea that it did not have any Indian member.
By this time there was no proper political platform of the Sikhs. Though the Sikh elite from various sections had formed a political organisation, in the name of Sikh League, in December 1919, and, in its second session, held on the 20th and 21st of October 1920, the radical section, with Kharak Singh as
President, had captured it but it did not play any role. In fact, by this time the Gurdwara Reform Movement had begun and between 1920 and 1925 the Sikh nation remained busy in getting their Gurdwaras freed from the usurper mahants; and, the S.G.P.C. played both, religious and political, roles; the Sikh League did nothing except holding formal sessions.
As mentioned earlier, in 1925 the Gurdwara Act was passed and it also brought a drop scene to the Gurdwara reform Movement but then the struggle to capture the S.G.P.C. created organisational consortium; two major groups emerged, one headed by Giani Sher Singh and Mehtab Singh and the other headed by Kharak Singh and Master Tara Singh. The elections to the Central Board (later renamed as the S.G.P.C.) were held in June 1926 and Kharak Singh and Master Tara Singh group captured it with big majority. Though the Sikh League was still formally functioning but, now, the group controlling the S.G.P.C. was the real leadership of the Sikh nation. Kharak Singh and Master Tara Singh group was also in the control of the Shiromani Akali Dal.9
As the Simon Commission was to deal with communal representation too, the Sikhs too took it seriously. By this time, the Akali Dal, the S.G.P.C. and the Sikh League had been collaborating with the Congress Party on political issues; some over-loyal Sikh activists suggested that the Sikhs should just follow the Congress line but the Sikh intelligentsia supported an independent line because during the 1916 Lucknow Pact between the Hindus and the Muslims the Sikhs had been totally ignored; on the other hand the Hindu leadership asserted that the Sikhs were not an independent religion and they did not need any separate rights; then the Sikhs did not react to it because they were busy in the Gurdwara Reform Movement; now the Sikhs paid complete attention to their political rights and asserted that they themselves would decided their own future; they asserted that the Muslims were represented by the Muslim League, the Hindus were represented by the Congress and the Sikhs would be represented by the Sikh League (in fact Shiromani Akali Dal; it was mainly the Akali Dal which was
controlling the Sikh League). The Executive of the Akali Dal held a meeting on the 16th of January 1928, chaired by its president Udham Singh Nagoke, passed a resolution to boycott the Simon Commission.10
On the 26th of January 1928, a big congregation of all the political parties was held at Jallian Wala Bagh Amritsar; it was addressed by Master Tara Singh, Giani Hira Singh Dard, Dr Saif-ud-Din Kitchlew, Dr Satpal, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan and others; the congregation passed a resolution for complete boycott of the Simon Commission.11
Three days later, on the 29th of January 1928, an All Parties Sikh Conference was held at Amritsar; it was attended by hundreds of Sikh activists including Master Tara Singh, Giani Sher Singh, S.B. Mehtab Singh, Kharak Singh, Ujjal Singh M.L.C., Mangal Singh Gill, Hira Singh Dard, Harbakhsh Singh M.L.C. and about 150 senior leaders of all the organisations of the Sikhs; this congregation too unanimously passed a resolution for boycott of Simon Commission; this gathering also passed a resolution about the Sikh representation in the legislatures; it said: “Elections based on communal representation are harmful for the country but as the Congress and the Muslim League has accepted it so it is the resolve of the Sikhs that they (Sikhs) should be given one third of the seats (of Legislatures) in the Punjab and they should also get a like share in administration. In no situation will the Sikhs accept a government of a single community elected on the basis of communal representation. The rules regarding the common communal issues, as mentioned in the fifth section of the resolution, passed in the Madras Congress about Hindu-Muslim rights, should also be applicable to the Sikhs. Special safeguards should be given to the Sikh minority in the Sind and North West Frontier Province (N.W.F.P.).12
The Simon Commission reached Bombay (now Mumbai) on the 3rd of February 1928. On this day small protest processions were taken out in some parts of India against the arrival of the Commission; even in the Punjab small groups held small rallies. The Punjab Congress had announced
holding of a hartal (close-down strike) for this day, in the whole of the Punjab; though it had partial success in some cities but it did not succeed in the city of Lahore, and the city remained functioning as usual.13
Though the Congress call for a strike did not get good response, the Akali Dal decided to show its strength and it announced taking out a procession at Lahore on the 10th of February 1928. More than thirty thousand people joined this procession out of which more than twenty thousand were blue-turbaned Akalis (this proved that the Punjab was represented by the Akali Dal). This procession began as a rally which was addressed, among others, by Kharak Singh, Amar Singh Jhabal, Sardool Singh Kaveeshar, Dr Satpal, Lala Achint Ram, Abdul Majid and Swami Onkar Nand etc. This procession was can-charged by the police; among the injured by police cane blows included Dr Satpal, Lala Achint Ram, Abdul Majid and Swami Onkar Nand too.14
Bardauli Agitation
During this period the Congress Party started an agitation at Bardauli; Gandhi sent a telegram to the Akali Dal seeking support for this agitation; at this, on the 27th of May 1928, the Akali Dal sent a telegram to Gandhi extending its support for the agitation; the Akali Dal also observed the 12th of June 1928 as Bardauli Day and held a rally in support of the agitation.; further, in its meeting held on the 14th of July 1928, presided by Gopal Singh Qaumi, it passed three resolutions: 1. Appreciation of those who participated in Bardauli Agitation15 2. A Jatha should be sent to participate in the Agitation 3. Simon Commission should be boycotted.
Sikh elite formed ‘Central Sikh Association’
On one hand radical Sikhs had been making protests against the Simon Commission, on the other hand some Sikh elite groups decided to present the Sikh case before the Commission. A meeting of these Sikh groups, on the initiative of Lt. Col. Raghbir Singh, was held at Rajasansi, on the 24th of January 1928; it was attended by, among others, Sir Joginder
Singh (Agriculture Minister Punjab), some members of the Punjab Council as well as the leaders of the Chief Khalsa Diwan. This meeting decided to form ‘Central Sikh Association’; many of these Sikh leaders had been associated with the Central Sikh League but when it was captured by radial groups in October 1920, they had withdrawn. This meeting decided to present the Sikh case before the Commission; it passed a resolution saying: We own a major part of the land of this province and pay more than one third of the revenue to the Government. Our contribution to and record of services in the British Indian army too is unique. Due to our loyalty to the country and our sacrifices our claim to special rights is justified.16 This meeting also passed a resolution seeking Sikh representation in the Central and provincial cabinets as well as the Viceregal Council.17 However, like the Akali Dal, this meeting too regretted that no Indian had been nominated to this Commission.
A deputation of the ‘Central Sikh Organisation’ held a meeting with the Simon Commission on the 13th of March 1928 and presented the Sikh case before it. The Chief Khalsa Diwan, of itself, too held a separate meeting with the Commission; it suggested that the communal representation should be abolished; the Governor should be just a political head of a province though he should have right to veto; and, all the rights regarding finance and administration should be with the Assembly. Thus, even the moderate Sikh elite strongly presented the case of the rights of the Sikhs on line with the radicals; the only difference was that they (moderates) did not want the English regime to consider them rebellious.
The Sikhs and the Hindu leadership of Congress
Though Shiromani Akali Dal had been collaborating with the Congress Party in the ventures against the English regime but most of them, in their mind of minds, did not trust the Congress Party; the moderates were loyal to the British because they too did not trust the Congress Party; Jathedar Kartar Singh Jhabbar and his companions considered the
Congress Party as a pure Hindu organisation with a hidden agenda of communalism (Congress Party was in fact a Brahmin party); from among the Akalis the Jhabal group was blindly committed to the Congress (such naive Sikhs had illusion about Gandhi’s personality; in fact Pandit Moti Lal Nehru, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, Patel and Gandhi etc were equally communal and fanatic Hindus), Master Tara Singh was double-minded (he knew that most of the Congress leaders were fanatic but still he dared not reject them).
The Hindu Congress leadership of the Punjab was more fanatic that the others; its leader Lala Lajpat Rai18 was so aggressive against the Sikhs that he began hating even Punjabi language and Gurmukhi script (by labelling these as Sikhs’ scared script simply because Guru Granth Sahib was written in this script).19 Not only Lajpat Rai but all the Arya Samajists associated with the Congress Party were extremely anti-Sikh and they did not mince words about their this mentality; but, in spite of this, the central leadership of the Congress never reacted against their such utterances against the Sikhs and the Punjabi language, rather the Congress Party always promoted the anti-Sikh section in the Party positions. In this state, blind support of Congress by some Sikh leaders was extremely unwise act
Simon Commission at Lahore
During its tour Simon Commission had planned a visit to Lahore; it was to reach Lahore, by train, on the 30th of October 1928. On the 28th of October 1928, Akali Dal resolved to hold a protest rally on the arrival of Simon Commission. On the 30th of October 1928, about seven thousand people mostly blue-turbaned Sikhs gathered at the Lahore railway station and began raising slogans of ‘Simon go back’; this crowd was led by Master Tara Singh, Mangal Singh, Sardool Singh Kaveeshar, Sohan Singh Josh, Madan Mohan Malvia, Maulavi Abdul Qadar, Raizada Hans Raj, Dr Gopi Chand Bhargo, Dr Sat Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai and several others. When the crowd continued raising slogans for a long time, an English
policeman attacked it with his hunter which hit even the leaders some of whom were wounded too; the wounded included Raizada Hans Raj, Abdul Qadar, Dr Gopi Chand and Dr Satpal; it was followed by cane-charge which further wounded several people (as per the newspaper reporting Lala Lajpat Rai was not among the wounded);20 when Simon Commission members were gone this procession too dispersed.
The same day at about 3 p.m. people again gathered at Delhi Darwaza; soon it turned into a big rally; it was addressed by several leaders; after this the people again took out a procession; fifteen thousand people joined it; Dr Gopi Chand (who had several bandages on his head) and Dr Satpal (who had multiple bandages on his arm) too joined it.21
The Simon Commission held meeting with several groups and persons at Lahore too and submitted its Report to the British regime; it was published in May 1930. This Simon Commission Report accepted the case presented by the Sikh delegates of the ‘Central Sikh Association’ and recommended special safeguards for the Sikhs.
Nehru Report
The first act of betrayal of the Sikhs by the Congress
On the 8th of November 1927, when the British Government had announced formation of Simon Commission, Lord Birkenhead, the Secretary of State had also challenged the Indian politicians that the British Government was interested in offering the Indians share in regime but they should themselves find solution to the problem of communal representation for different communities; hence accepting this challenge the Indian leaders bean holding meeting to find some way-out. This issue came for discussion in the Congress session held at Madras on the 28th of December 1927. In fact, earlier, the Executive of the Congress Party, in its meeting held on the 15th and the 16th of May 1927, at Bombay, had passed a resolution that there should joint elections; and also that seats should be reserved for minorities, as per their population in that province, on the basis of same proportion of representation in those provinces where that majority was a minority; it meant that the Muslims will get representation in the Hindu majority provinces on the basis of their population and in lieu of that they (Muslims) will grant representations to the Hindus in the same proportion in the provinces where the former had majority.
Technically speaking, the resolution of the 15th and the 16th of May 1927 did apply to the Sikhs too but they did not have majority in any province where they could offer reserved seats to the other community; hence the Sikhs resented this resolution passed in Bombay and raised their concern over their plight. Some non-Sikhs expressed sympathy for the Sikh case and, in the Congress session held at Madras, on the 28th of December 1927, when Master Tara Singh presented a resolution saying that when the issue of the representation of communities in the Punjab will be taken up, special attention should be paid to the rights of the Sikhs because they are an important minority. This resolution was unanimously passed
by the Madras Congress.22
On the 29th of January 1928 an all parties Sikh Conference was held at Amritsar; it was attended by almost all the major Sikh leaders and the Sikh elite from all walks of life; this congregation passed a resolution ‘the Sikhs should get one third seats of legislature in the Punjab and an alike share should be given to them even in administration’; this gathering also selected seven members to participate in the meeting of the proposed Committee which was to prepare draft of Swaraj (self rule), these seven were: Kharak Singh, Master Tara Singh, S.B. Mehtab Singh, Mangal Singh, Giani Sher Singh, Amar Singh Jhabal, Sant Singh Vakil.
On the 24th of February 1928 an all parties Conference was held at Delhi; it was attended, among others, by Congress, Muslim League, Central Sikh League23, Liberal Federation, Hindu Maha Sabha as well as the representatives of the Princely States. This Conference passed five resolutions; among these five one was with regard to the Punjab which said that regarding communal representation in the Punjab the Sikhs, being an important community, shall be given special consideration’ but there was a flaw in this resolution that the Sikh representation was to be based on their population in the province; it meant the Sikhs would get just 13% seats whereas they had been demanding one third share (33% seats).
The Sikhs opposed the condition of representation based on the proportion of population; on the 28th of February 1928, the General Secretary of the Akali Dal sent a telegram to Dr. M.A. Ansari, the President of the Congress Party, which said: the Sikhs shall not accept majority of any single community; and, though the Sikhs are in minority but they are ready to sacrifice their interests to abolish communal representation; but, if communal representation has to be maintained then they demand one third share for the Sikhs in the Punjab.24 S.B. Mehtab Singh and Giani Sher Singh too wrote a letter to Dr Ansari expressing the same feeling and expressed their resentment on the formation of the 20 member Committee to discuss and finalise communal representation as
none of these 20 was a Sikh.
The Sikh protests compelled the Congress Party to reconsider the formation of a Committee to deal with the issue of communal representation; it called another All Parties Conference for the 19th of May 1928 at Bombay; from among the Sikhs Master Tara Singh and Mangal Singh attended it. In this meeting Master Tara Singh presented the Sikhs’ stand as had been passed in the meetings of the Central Sikh League, Shiromani Akali Dal and All Parties Sikh Conference. Finally this Conference formed a Committee to find the solution to the issue of communal representation; this Committee comprised of Moti Lal Nehru, Subash Chander Bose, Ali Imam, Mangal Singh, Tej Bahadar Sapru, G.R. Pardhan, M.S. Anay, Sahib Quraishi; as Moti Lal Nehru was the Chairman of this Committee, it, later, came to be known as Moti Lal Nehru Committee (and the report presented it came to be known as Nehru report).
The Nehru Report said that elections should not be held on the basis of communal representation; but, in the provinces where the Muslims are in minority seats should be reserved for them on the basis of their population; similarly seats should be reserved for non-Muslims in Sind and N.W.F.P. provinces; there should be no reservation in the Punjab and Bengal.
On the 10th of August 1928, when the recommendations of the Nehru Report was leaked out, it created great resentment among the Sikhs; the first reaction was from Durlab Singh who called it as ‘the murder of the assurance given by Madras Congress to the Sikhs; he said the Congress had broken its promise’.25
Master Tara Singh protested by sending a telegram to Moti Lal Nehru; on the other hand Moti Lal, instead of being sympathetic, gave a curt and distressing reply to Master Tara Singh; Master Tara Singh was the most ardent supporter of the Congress Party and with this aggressive reaction Moti Lal and the Congress had turned him (Master) as their major critic and opponent. In fact Moti Lal had the vanity and arrogance of being the representative of the majority community and this
behaviour created disillusionment among the Sikhs about the sincerity of the Congress party for the Sikhs. The aggressive reply given by Moti Lal to Master Tara Singh united all the radical Sikhs on this issue and now they were waiting for a suitable situation to exhibit their reactions.
On the other hand, a group of the Sikh leaders which was over-loyal to the Congress, especially Mangal Singh who was a member of the Moti Lal Nehru Committee, defended the Nehru Report; when such opposite statements appeared in the press it was feared that it will divide the Sikh nation into two sections; hence Master Tara Singh called an All Parties Sikh Conference on the 19th of August 1928. This meeting, held at Sikh Missionary College Amritsar, was presided over by Kharak Singh. In this meeting with the exception of Mangal Singh, Amar Singh Jhabal and a couple of their supporters, all the Sikh leaders rejected the Nehru Report; the meeting continued for six hours and finally Gopal Singh Qaumi presented a resolution saying ‘it is wrong that the Sikhs don’t want separate communal representation; the Sikhs want to totally abolish it; but if it has to be granted to the Muslims and the non-Muslims in other provinces then the Sikhs too should be given the same in the Punjab as they (Sikhs) are a special community in the Punjab (and Moti Lal Nehru Committee too has accepted it). This resolution was passed with a majority of 90% support.26 On the other hand, Sarmukh Singh Jhabal, Sardool Singh Kaveeshar, Gurdit Singh Kamagatamaru, Giani Kartar Singh and Hira Singh Dard appreciated the role of Mangal Singh (in signing Nehru Report); in a joint statement they said that Mangal Singh had ‘rendered great service to the Sikh nation’ by signing that report; they further said that an end to communal representation would have been most useful but in the given circumstances there could be no better solution than suggested by the Moti Lal Nehru Committee.27
The criticism of the Nehru Report made Mangal Singh despondent and he resigned as Secretary of the Central Sikh League and he also gave up editorship of daily Akali Urdu) newspaper; Master Tara Singh was appointed to both these
offices. The reaction of Mangal Singh was due to his ego because he was a member of the Nehru Committee; but on the other hand his support by some Akali leaders was just a clash of personalities; it was not based on principles or ideology because, just seven months earlier, in the meeting of the 29th of January, the All Parties Sikh Conference had passed the same resolution as had been now passed on the 19th of August 1928; and Mangal Singh, Hira Singh Dard and Amar Singh Jhabal had supported that resolution. But, as Mangal Singh had signed the Nehru Report, he took egotistic stand and made it an issue of prestige whereas Hira Singh Dard and Amar Singh Jhabal joined him just due to personality clash.28
The Nehru Report was discussed in the All Parties Conference held at Lucknow from the 28th to the 30th of August 1928. This Conference was attended by Mangal Singh, Master Tara Singh, Gopal Singh Qaumi, Giani Sher Singh and other Sikh leaders; all of them, except Mangal Singh, vehemently opposed the Nehru Report. When Tej Bahadur Sapru and Abu Kalam Azad realised that the Sikhs were feeling extremely aggrieved they held a meeting with the Sikh leaders but it did not yield any results. Finally, Sapru and Azad suggested that in the Punjab the elections should be held on the basis of adult franchise without reservations for any community and this formula should be adopted on experimental basis for ten years. Master Tara Singh and Giani Sher Singh rejected this formula by labelling it as another form of Nehru Report. The Sikh representatives asserted that, as they were an important community in the Punjab, they should be given 30% representation in the legislative house in the Punjab. All the Sikh leaders, except Mangal Singh, stood firm on their stand hence this created a dead-lock; on the other hand all the non-Sikh delegates of the Punjab supported this formula and signed it; Mangal Singh too signed it; on the other hand Master Tara Singh and Giani Sher Singh recorded their dissent saying: 1. We can accept Nehru report on the condition that in the Punjab too the elections should be held on the basis of communal representation 2. We agree that adult franchise is
the best system of election in a democracy but in the present circumstances it is not worth adopting.
On one hand Tara Singh, Sher Singh, Mehtab Singh and Gopal Singh Qaumi opposed Nehru Report on the basis of injustice to the Sikhs; on the other hand Kharak Singh opposed Nehru Report because it postponed the issue of ‘swaraj’ (self-rule) and accepted colonial rule of the British.
A couple of months later, on the 24th and 25th of October 1928, annual session of the Central Sikh League was held at Gujranwala; the Hindu leader Madan Mohan Malvia too had come to attend as an observer; in this congregation Kharak Singh made a furious speech against the Nehru Report and suggested to ‘throw it into waste basket’; he even threatened to resign in case his suggestion was rejected. On the first day, the ‘Subject Committee’ of the Central Sikh League discussed the issue of Nehru report; Giani Sher Singh put forth a resolution which said: ‘the Sikhs don’t accept Nehru Report because it establishes permanent majority of the Muslims in the Punjab and it is injustice to the Sikhs; the Sikhs have a special political, historical and economic position; hence 30% seats should be reserved for them in the Punjab’; at this Amar Singh Jhabal proposed an amendment which suggesting ‘acceptance of Nehru Report by amending it (Nehru Report) by permanently abolishing of communal representation as well as acceptance of ‘swaraj’ as goal’. When put to voting Giani Sher Singh’s resolution was accepted and Amar Singh Jhabal’s amendment was rejected. The next day, when the resolution passed by the Subject Committee was presented before the Executive, the supporters of Amar Singh Jhabal created disruption and did not allow presentation of the resolution; at this Kharak Singh, Master Tara Singh, Awtar Singh Barrister, Bhag Singh Canadian and their supporters walked out of the meeting; after their exit only a small number of people were left there making this gathering meaningless.29
Due to the Sikh opposition of the Nehru Report, it seemed that the Sikhs would not only reject the Congress Party forever but will also become its opponents. In this situation an
All Parties Conference was held at Calcutta, from the 28th of December to the 30th of December 1928 and the agenda was ‘giving final touches to the Nehru Report’; it was attended by delegates of the Congress Party from various parts of the sub-continent. Though the Sikhs were agitated over indifference of the Congress towards the Sikh issue, still, due to efforts of Tara Singh more than 30 Sikh leaders and elite had gone to Calcutta with a hope to present the Sikh case before the Conference. Tara Singh talked to more than a dozen Congress leaders and presented the Sikh case; among these Dr Ansari accepted the Sikhs position that they have not been given justice in the Nehru Report; even Moti Lal Nehru agreed that he would have no objection in making amendment in that Report if the Sikhs leaders could get an amendment passed by the Conference.
On the 28th of December 1928, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who had just returned from England, too reached there; he demanded that the Muslims should be given 51% seats in the Punjab and 33% seats in the Centre; this further complicated the issue. Now, a sub-committee was formed to deal with this situation; it comprised of four members from each community: Moti Lal, Malvia, Sapru, Gandhi (Hindus), Barkat Ali, Abdul Qadar, Maulana Abu Kalam Azad, Zafar Ali (Muslims), Master Tara Singh, Giani Sher Singh, Harnam Singh Advocate, Mangal Singh (Sikhs). But, this sub-committee could not resolve anything because Gandhi and Sapru were indifferent to Jinnah’s (Muslim) demand and Jinnah refused to bother for the Sikhs’ case; and, when this meeting was still going on Jinnah left the meeting which was almost a walkout; hence the sub-committee could not reach any agreement.30
The next day, when the Convention began Jinnah made a fine speech and logically presented the case of the Muslims; it was followed by speech of S.B. Mehtab Singh and M.R. Jaikar who refuted all the arguments of Jinnah; though most of the members got convinced but still nothing positive came out. When the Sikh delegates realised that the Hindu leaders had been trying to please the Muslim leaders and were not interested in Sikhs they (Sikhs) held a corner meeting and
decided to take a joint stand; S. B. Mehtab Singh was authorised to present the Sikh case. After this, the Sikhs returned to the meeting hall and submitted an amendment which said ‘communal representation should be totally abolished’; when this amendment was not accepted the Sikh leaders declared with one voice that they fully rejected the Nehru Report; Harnam Singh Advocate read out joint statement on behalf of all the Sikh delegates and all the Sikhs, raising ‘bolay so nihal….’ slogan, walked out of the Convention.31 Before leaving the convention hall, S.B. Mehtab, addressing Gandhi and Jinnah, warned: “if you don’t listen to the Sikhs, future of India shall not be decided in Calcutta with pen, it will be decided by sword.”32
The Sikhs’ walk out created sympathy in the mind of some delegates of the Convention; at this Pandit Dharamvir Sinh of U.P. proposed a resolution that the Sikhs in the Punjab shall get the same rights as the other communities will get in other provinces; Pandit Neki Ram Sharma of Hissar supported it but Dr Mohammed Aalam and Maulana Zafar Ali Khan opposed it. From the attitude of most of the delegates it seemed that this resolution will get through but at this time Moti Lal Nehru made an aggressive speech against the Sikhs (just one day earlier he had told the Sikhs that he won’t mind if such an amendment was passed). When the resolution of Dharamvir Sinh was put to voting it was lost for want of 6 votes.
When the Sikhs came to know about the speech by Moti Lal Nehru they were further aggrieved; Teja Singh Chuharkana became so angry that he used abusive language for Moti Lal Nehru and Dr Ansari; Teja Singh went to Gandhi too but Gandhi was on ‘chup brat’ (literally ‘speech fast’ i.e. no speech day);33 however, on a slip of paper Gandhi wrote: ‘Moti Lal cannot be so unjust; the case of the Sikhs in the Punjab will not be ignored and they will get justice’;34 all this was just eye-wash. Gandhi made such assurances time and again and then showed his back.
The All Parties Convention at Calcutta came to an end with bitterness; the Sikhs broke their relationship with the
Congress; it (Congress) could not please the Muslims and both (Sikhs and Muslims) began condemning Congress as a communal Hindu organisation. On the other hand, the Congress was divided on the issue of ‘swaraj’ and colonization; Subash Chander Bose raised the slogan of ‘swaraj’ and a very big section of the Congress workers joined him; in the Punjab, Kharak Singh and Master Tara Singh were the supporters Subash Bose. Gradually other parties too withdrew their support from Nehru Report; even Hindu Maha Sabha rejected it on the 31st of March 1929; hence this Report remained a still-born baby.
The Sikhs had ‘cremated’ Nehru Report right in the Calcutta Convention; they had not been able to get it amended hence they returned empty-handed; to make their rejection of the Report public, they held out a protest procession at Amritsar on the 7th of April 1929 and also held a protest rally; most of the speakers made furious speeches; some of them pronounced that as the Congress was indifferent to the Sikhs, they too should dump it. Though the Sikhs had rejected Nehru Report but still there were different opinions about having or breaking relations with Congress; Kharak Singh opposed Congress on the issue of communal representation as well as ‘swaraj’; Giani Sher Singh group believed that ‘if the Congress accepts granting 30% seats of the Punjab seats to the Sikhs then it (Congress) should be supported’; the third group, headed by Mangal Singh, was in favour of supporting Congress unconditionally. At that time Master Tara Singh was the president of Central Sikh League; he formed a 14 member Committee to discuss the issue of co-operation with Congress. Master Tara Singh himself was not in favour of complete break with the Congress, nor did he favour unconditional support for it; he said ‘I don’t mind if the Sikhs boycott Congress subject to they would lead the freedom struggle; but it will be a matter of shame if they reject Congress and leave the battlefield; if the supporters of boycott of Congress give some better programme we shall follow them.’35
On the 15th of October 1929, the annual session of the
Central Sikh League was held at Lyallpur (now Faisalabad); during this session, in the meeting of the Subject Committee, there was heated discussion on the issue of relations with the Congress Party; the delegates were divided into three sections: total rejection, unconditional support and conditional co-operation with the Congress; finally it was put to voting in; 96 delegates opposed boycott and 41 supported it; among the supporters of the boycott main leaders were Kharak Singh and Amar Singh Sher-i-Punjab. When the resolution passed by majority of the Subject Committee came up in the open session, the opponents of Congress created commotion leading to chaos and the session came to an end without finalising anything; the supporters of the Congress asserted that in wake of no other resolution rejecting Congress the resolution passed by the Subject Committee should be considered as adopted. On the other hand Kharak Singh became still more aggressive; he issued a statement that ‘the resolution for supporting the Congress had not been passed and even if it is claimed that it has been passed then it is not the voice of the Sikh nation because it (Sikhs) are in favour of a boycott’.36
On the issue of boycott of or support for Congress Party, the Sikhs were now divided in two blocks; some ardent Akali supporters of Congress held a meeting, on the 2nd of November 1929, presided by Gurdit Singh Kamagatamaru; it was attended by many workers from Lyallpur, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Lahore and Ludhiana etc; it decided to form ‘Sikh Nationalist Party’ and selected S.B. Gajjan Singh of Ludhiana as its President.
On the 15th and the 16th of November 1929, celebrations were held at Nanakana Sahib to celebrate the birthday of Guru Nanak; most of the Sikh leaders attended it; here Master Tara Singh again tried to find a solution to the issue of support/rejection of Congress but Kharak Singh refused to budge from his stand; however, Kharak Singh agreed to this extent that Master Tara Singh may attend the forthcoming Congress session as an individual; Kharak Singh also declared that no other Sikh will get this permission.37
Annual Session of the Congress Party was held at Amritsar from the 29th to the 31st of December 1929; with the exception of Master Tara Singh not a single Akali leader attended it. Right during the same days the Akali Dal too had announced holding of a Conference attended by hundreds of thousands of the Sikhs whereas the Congress session was a poor show of a few thousand people; even the ‘Sikh National Party’ of Gurdit Singh could not woo any Sikh to attend the Congress session.
A couple of days before the Congress session, Moti Lal Nehru, accompanied by some senior Congress leaders, had taken a hectic tour of the Punjab and had realised that all the Sikhs were agitated on the issue of Nehru Report and they disliked the Congress Party for this. Moti Lal realised that the Congress won’t be able to win the battle for freedom without the support of the Sikhs; and, now, having observed the Sikhs’ reaction towards the Congress during its annual session the Congress leaders realized that they should concede the Sikhs’ demands; hence, on the 30th of December, 1929, Moti Lal Nehru, Gandhi and Dr Ansari visited the Lahore office of the S.G.P.C. at Chauburji and met Kharak Singh and other Akali leaders. The Congress leaders promised that the Party would pass resolution for ‘swaraj’ and also stand for the rights of the Sikhs; a resolution regarding this was drafted in the presence of Kharak Singh which said: “Sikhs in particular and the Muslims and the other minorities in general have opposed the solution suggested by the Nehru Report; now Congress assures that, while drafting Constitution, Congress shall accept no solution which would not be acceptable to the Sikhs, Muslims and other minorities”;38 and the next day the Congress session even passed the resolution for ‘swaraj’.
On the other hand the Akali Conference passed a resolution which said that the Sikhs should be given 30% seats in the Punjab and their rights should be preserved in other provinces too. This Conference also authorised Kharak Singh to nominate a 7 member Committee to continue dialogue and co-operation with the Congress party.
The Congress and the Akali Conferences were over and the Nehru Report had been thrown in ‘waste basket’; and, gradually Kharak Singh’s opposition to the Congress too came to an end but the central leadership of Congress Party never forgot Kharak Singh’s stubbornness and it secretly planned to make efforts to remove him from the leadership of the Sikhs.
On the 12th of January 1930, a meeting of the Executive of the Akali Dal was held at Amritsar but, in spite of assurances by the Congress, it could not take decision to support the Congress; however, the next week when an All Parties Sikh Conference was held at Amritsar which, having taken into consideration the assurances given by the Congress on the 30th of December 1929, it withdrew its resolution of boycott of Congress; but, this Conference also passed a resolution that the Sikhs should be given 30% share in the Punjab legislature.
The ‘Central Sikh Association’ and the ‘Chief Khalsa Diwan’ too had rejected the Nehru Report; and, they were still opposed to the Congress; similarly several leaders of the Central Sikh League too were opposed to the Congress, especially S.B. Mehtab Singh and Giani Sher Singh were of the opinion that the Congress was a Hindu organisation and the Sikhs should not depend upon and have faith in it. This was the assessment of those Sikh elite who were known as pro-English, but, on the other hand, even the Ghadr leaders were of the opinion that the Congress leadership was communal and it did not like minorities. Bhai Randhir Singh, a Ghadr Party leader, who served jail term for several years for his association with the Ghadr Party, in his book Jail Chithian, have mentioned that even Bhagat Singh (who was hanged for killing Saunders, a police official in 1929) had expressed alike impressions about the Congress when the former (Randhir Singh) met the latter in Lahore Jail; to quote words of Bhagat Singh (as per Bhai Randhir Singh): “I could have kept unshorn hair but then I would not have got the sympathy and friendly fraternity of my companion Bhatukeshvar Dutt, and secondly I would not have achieved such fame as the media is giving me today. I tell you
by my truth that my sacrifice is just petty as compared to the sacrifices of the patriots of 1914-15 (i.e. Ghadr leaders), but in spite of so many sacrifices, the patriots of 1914-15 have not got acclamation from media because the circulation of the Sikh newspapers is not so much, and if some (Sikh papers) did have some (circulation) still they could not enlighten the public about your (Ghadr leaders’) sacrifices because their policy of timid-ness kept them under pressure (fear); on the other hand, whatever (publicity) I have achieved is due to these non-Sikh papers. I tell you truth that had I been considered a Sikh, and there would have been signs of hair and beards, these non-Sikh papers would not have written even a single word in my praise, as they have not done in your (Ghadr leaders’) case… I knew that the Hindu papers keep malevolence while writing about the Sikh patriots and they don’t cherish their admiration. Had I kept unshorn hair, no one would have admired me, rather they would have admonished me, and due to this too I avoided keeping hair”.39
(non-italic for clarification and bold letters for stress are mine – author).
Civil Non Co-operation Movement
On the 31st of December 1929, the annual session of the Congress passed resolution for ‘swaraj’ and also announced launching of struggle to achieve this goal; it decided to launch a Civil Non Co-operation Movement; the first action was to observe the 26th of January 1920 as ‘Independence Day’; on this day rallies and conferences were held at several places. On the 30th of January 1930, Gandhi, in his newspaper Young India, announced 11 point programme; two of these points were demand for abolition of tax on salt and prohibition of alcohol. On the 12th of March 1930, Gandhi wrote a letter to the Viceroy to abolish tax on salt; and, in case it was not done by the 6th of April 1930, he would break Salt Laws and volunteer himself for arrest. As expected the Government did not bother and Gandhi led a band of people to seashore at Dandi village, broke Salt Law and offered his arrest, and, with this began the civil non co-operation movement.
Gandhi Invites Sikhs to get beaten
When the ‘Salt Agitation’ was launched, people would form bands to march towards the sea to collect salt and the police will cane-charge them; the Marhattas, Gujaratis and the Hindustanis would not brave the police canes and run away soon. At this Bombay Congress resolved to sent a request to the Akal Dal to send some Akalis to participate in the agitation;40 Gandhi sent Thamman Singh of Bombay to approach and request the Akalis to send some Sikhs; the Akalis sent a jatha (band), led by Partap Singh, which participated in the agitation; the police gave several blows of canes and bamboo-sticks to the Sikhs but not a single Sikh tried to run away and save himself from beating; at this the Congress requested Akalis to send some more jathas (to get beaten).41
Civil Non co-operation Movement in the Punjab
In the Punjab, a meeting of several political parties was held at Lahore on the 14th of April 1930 and it was resolved that the Civil Non co-operation Movement should be launched in the Punjab too; this meeting was attended by Akali Dal, Congress Party, Muslim organisations, Naujwan Bharat Sabha and some individual elite; this meeting also formed a ‘War Council’ to launch the Movement; among others Master Tara Singh, Kharak Singh, Dr Satpal, Maulana Abdul Qadar, K. Santanam, Chhabil Das were also selected to this War Council. When the names of this War Council were released Kharak Singh refused to join it until the Congress Party accepted inclusion of the Sikh colour in the proposed flag of independent India.
Colours of Proposed Flag of Independent India
During those days a national flag of independent India was being planned; in fact the issue of colours of the flag had not come up in 1930, even in 1920-21 this issue had been debated and it was proposed that the flag should have three colours: green representing Islam, white representing Hinduism and red representing all others; then, the Sikhs had demanded that their colour too should be included in it;
then, the Congress Party had assured the Sikhs that when the proposed national flag is finalised their colour shall also be included in that flag;42 but, in 1930, when the Congress proposed a flag with two colours (white representing Hinduism and green representing Islam) the Sikhs condemned it.
When this Sikhs’ resentment on the issue of flag came to be known to Gandhi, he further infuriated the Sikhs by calling them a part of Hinduism; the Sikh elite issued several statements and wrote several articles against Gandhi and also declared in unequivocal terms that the Sikhs have nothing in common with Hindus and rather 90% of Sikh philosophy was totally opposed to Hinduism; and, if some 10% common points are there between Sikhism and Hinduism then there are many times more similarities in Sikhism and Islam and Christianity;
the Sikh elite declared that Gandhi was no less communal than other fanatic Hindus.
In November 1930, Kharak Singh, in a meeting of the Executive of the Akal Dal proposed a resolution that if the Congress did not add the Sikh colour to the proposed flag, the Sikhs should refuse to participate under the Congress flag; this resolution could not be carried out as 9 of the 16 members voted against this resolution; at this Teja Singh Akarpuri, Bhag Singh Vakil and Waryam Singh resigned from the Akali Dal; hence the Akali Dal had to defer the issue of co-operation with the Congress.
The Sikhs’ opposition on the issue of colours of the flag, at the time of the Movement for Civil Non Co-operation, could have affected its success in the Punjab so the Congress immediately formed a 4 member Committee to propose a new flag for independent India; Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru and Master Tara Singh were also appointed members of this Committee; later, this Committee finalised the new flag and three colours: saffron (Sikhs), white (Hindus) and green (Muslims) were finalised but it was decided that, though those colours represented there religions but it should be propagated that they represented bravery (saffron), peace (white) and prosperity (green).43
As there was no immediate announcement for adding the Sikh colour to the proposed flag, Kharak Singh refused to participate in the Civil non Co-operation Movement. Master Tara Singh supported Kharak Singh’s contention but still decided to participate in the Movement; he (Master) said: Gandhi has not included the Sikh colour in the flag so the Sikhs are in a dilemma, but, if the Sikhs don’t participate in this Movement and the Movement succeeded then they will not get place in the new regime, and, on the other hand, if the Movement failed then they will be held responsible for its failure; he proposed that the Sikhs should participate in the Movement under their owner banner.44 In spite of opposition by Kharak Singh, the Akalis, under the leadership of Master and Nagoke, enrolled 5000 volunteers for the Movement; out
of the total number of 7000 arrested during this Movement 3000 were Akalis; the population of the Sikhs in the Punjab was 13% but their participation in the Movement was 42%.
Murder of Ganga Singh Kamboj & His Family
During the Civil Non Co-operation Movement, people of the N.W.F.P. too participated in the agitation; and, under this Movement it was planned that on the 23rd of April 1930, picketing (gherao/blockade) should be done in front of the alcohol shops at Peshawar; one day earlier, on the 22nd of April, a team of the All India Congress was to reach Peshawar to observe and monitor the arrangements; the police banned entry of this team and stopped it from entering the province; to protest against this ban order a big rally was held at Shahi Bagh Peshawar; it was followed by a procession.
The next day, on the 23rd of April, the police arrested Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Sayyad Lal Badshah, the organisers and the leaders of the protest procession; when the motor carrying these leaders was passing though the bazaar one of its tyres got punctured hence the arrested leaders had to walk to police station; as they were passing through the market hundreds of people followed them and it turned into a very big procession. During this time, an Englishman who had been driving at a high speed struck into the punctured police motor and fell down; the crowd did not notice it and he was trampled; along with him several others too got trampled. This led to commotion and uproar and during this chaos someone set the police motor on fire; at this the English officers ordered firing killing several people; according to the official announcement 30 were killed and 38 were wounded but according to eye witnesses the number of dead was around 200 and an alike number had been wounded.45
On the same day, in the afternoon, a Sikh named Ganga Singh Kamboj, along with his wife and two children (aged 16 and 9), was passing through the bazaar in a tonga (horse-driven cab) when an angry British Lance Corporal fired at them without any cause; killing all of them. The local Pathans,
having got permission from the Deputy Commissioner, were taking their dead bodies towards the cremation ground; on the way the British army stopped them and began firing on them without any reason; the Pathans who were carrying the dead bodies fell down; some more Pathans went forward and carried the corpses of the Ganga Singh Kamboj family; the British military shot them too (the government accepted killing 9 Pathans with 17 rounds of bullets); these killings further aggravated the situation; the press and the leaders called it another act of savagery like that of the 13th of April 1919 killings of Jallian Wala Bagh Amritsar.46
Master Tara Singh leads jatha to Peshawar
When the news of the murder of Ganga Singh Kamboj and his family as well as the Pathans reached Amritsar, the Akal Dal had been making arrangements for sending a jatha to court arrest in connection with the Civil Non co-operation Movement, but this news of murders changed the whole scenario; it not only created sympathy for Ganga Singh’s family but also created feeling of sympathy and gratitude for the Pathans who had been killed while carrying the dead bodies so of the Sikh family for cremation. For more than a century the Sikhs and the Pathans had been known as enemies (first because of persecution of the Sikhs by Ahmed Shah between 1748 and 1765; and, then during the reign of Hari Singh Nalwa in N.W.F.P.; now, as they had made sacrifices shoulder to shoulder with the Sikhs, the Akalis decided to give a warm embrace to the Pathans; Master Tara Singh immediately announced to lead a jatha of 100 Sikhs to offer arrests at Peshawar. While addressing a gathering at Jallian Wala Bagh, Master Tara Singh said, ‘The Sikhs shall spill their blood for the Pathans and will prove that the Sikhs and the Pathans are the sons of the same soil; hence brethren.’47
On the 10th of May 1930, Master Tara Singh, along with 100 Sikhs, left Akal Takht for Peshawar; when the jatha reached Lahore, Tara Singh was arrested but the rest of the jatha continued its march towards Peshawar. When this jatha
reached near the town of Dina (near Jehlum/Jhelum) the police began beating them with canes and bamboo-sticks; they were mercilessly beating and the beating continued till all the members of the jatha fell unconscious. When this news reached Peshawar, the Pathans appreciated the Sikhs’ gesture and it became the beginning of new fraternity between the Sikhs and the Pathans.
Firing at Gurdwara Sees/Sis Ganj
During the Movement for Civil Non co-operation, strike was observed on the 6th of May in several towns across the sub-continent; people took out small as well as big processions, held rallies and even made picketing in front of courts and other government offices. At Delhi too when a procession was passing through a market, an English officer tried to pass through the crowd but when he could not succeed due to big crowd he tried to use reverse gear; and while reversing he did not bother for the people standing on the backside, as a result several persons were run over by his car; at this the police monitoring the procession further aggravated the situation by arresting the person who had been wounded while reversing of the car. When the police escorted the arrested persons towards the Kotwali (police station) at Chandni Chowk (adjacent to Sees/Sis Ganj Gurdwara) a big crowd of people too followed them. When people continued standing outside the Kotwali to watch the fate of the arrested persons, the police began cane-charging them; at this people retreated but they returned when the police had gone; the police came again and cane charged and the people retreated again; this hide-and-seek game was repeated again and again and gradually a big crowd gathered outside the Kotwali; several people climbed even on the roof of the Gurdwara.
At about 3 p.m. two bricks were thrown at the Gurdwara, most probably by angry policemen with a view to frighten the crowd gathered there; at this the manager of the Gurdwara made a complaint to the Deputy Commissioner; the police, instead of apologising alleged that the crowd in the Gurdwara had thrown bricks; this led to strong resentment and
people began pouring into the Gurdwara. Within half an hour three more lorries of the police arrived there and began cane charging the crowd; scared crowd ran towards the Gurdwara and now brick-batting between the crowd and the police began; soon the police began firing at the crowd in the Gurdwara; the firing continued for about 50 minutes) wounding 36 persons (there were 686 signs of bullets on the building of the Gurdwara); the police, led by constable Tara Chand, even entered the langar hall and attacked the people present there; this action was widely condemned by the Sikhs in particular and other leaders in general.
On the 9th of May 1930, an Enquiry Committee was formed to investigate the attack on the Gurdwara; it comprised of Maulana Abdul Qadar Kasuri, K.L. Rulia Ram, Gulab Singh raees M.L.C. and Ruchi Ram Sahni M.L.C. This Committee heard 44 eye witnesses and submitted its Report at Lahore on the 29th of May 1930; the Report said: ‘In spite of the presence of the Magistrate the police started firing without his permission; the firing was an act done with the feeling of revenge; it was unnecessary and excessive use of force.’48
The Round Table Conferences
When the Civil Non co-operation Movement was in full swing, Lord Irvine, the Viceroy of British India decided to hold a Conference of all the political parties to discuss proposed new constitution of the British India; it was to be held at London on the 12th of November 1930; the Congress Party, the Akali Dal and the Central Sikh League and various other parties had decided to boycott; they demanded that all the political prisoners should be released and the political parties should have right to nominate delegates. However 89 delegates attended this Conference; 16 were members of the British Parliament, and out of the remaining 73 representatives from British India 16 were representatives of Princely States and 57 represented different provinces and different sections of society. As all the Sikh parties had boycotted the Conference, the British regime had sent Tara Singh (a namesake of Master Tara Singh), a Judge from Patiala High Court, to represent the Sikhs. Although the Sikh organisations did not accept him (Tara Singh Judge) as the representative of the Sikhs but, throughout the proceedings of the Conference, he supported the stand taken by Tej Bahadur Sapru (known for his national views). In this Conference, which continued up to the 1st of December 1930, the British prime Minister Ramsay McDonald proposed the formation of a ‘Federation’ of the princely states and the provinces in the British India; and in this Federation the Indian legislatures were to have all powers to make laws on all the issues except defence and foreign affairs; and, responsible governments were to be formed in the Centre and in all the provinces; but, as all the political parties had boycotted it this Conference could not achieve anything.
Later, Gandhi and Lord Irvine had a deal which was signed on the 5th of March 1931 under which all the political prisoners were released; and with this the British Government announced holding of another Round Table Conference on the 17th of September 1931. In view of this Conference, a deputation of the representatives of different Sikh parties and
organisation held a meeting with M.K. Gandhi; this deputation comprised of Master Tara Singh, Sir Jogindera Singh, Sunder Singh Majitha, Ujjal Singh, Sampuran Singh M.L.C. etc. This deputation demanded that communal representation should be totally abolished, but, if it has to be accepted then the Sikhs should get 30% share in the Punjab legislature houses or the Punjab should be divided into two zones: Muslim zone and non-Muslim zone; this deputation presented a charter of 17 demands of the Sikhs (later known as ‘Sikh Charter’):
A few days after this, annual session of the Central Sikh League was held on the 8th of April 1931 (by this time Master Tara Singh had been elected the President of the S.G.P.C.).50 The session of the Central Sikh League was attended, among others, by Sunder Singh Majitha, Sir Jogindera Singh, S.B. Mehtab Singh, Mangal Singh and Sardool Singh Kaveeshar as well as non-Sikh observers like M.K. Gandhi, Raja Narinder Nath, Sarojini Naidu, Dr Saif-ud-Din Kitchlew, Ghazi Abdul Rehman and several others. This session passed 22 resolutions; these included all the 17 points of the Sikh Charter (submitted on the 20th of March 1931 by the Sikh deputation to Gandhi for the (Second) Round Table Conference) and the rest five resolutions were:
But, on the 4th of August 1931 when the names of the delegates for the Second Round Table Conference were announced by the British Government, the list included the names of Ujjal Singh and Sampuran Singh as Sikh
representatives; at this the Executive of the Shiromani Akali Dal held a meeting and passed a resolution which said “Ujjal Singh and Sampuran Singh are not the representatives of the Sikh League or the Akali Dal hence the Sikhs shall not be liable to accept the decisions made by them”. On the other hand, Partap Singh Kairon (General Secretary of the Akali Dal) sent a telegram to Gandhi which said that ‘attending Round Table Conference was an act of treason with the Sikh League as the Congress had promised full cooperation with the Sikh League; and, to attend the Round Table Conference without the representative of the Sikh League meant breaking of the promise’.51
The Second Round Table Conference began on the 17th of September 1931; and in this Conference Gandhi was the lone representative of the Congress Party; in this Conference, the British Government formed a sub-committee to finalise the issue of communal representation; during the debate in this sub-committee the Muslims demanded 50%+ seats (complete majority) in the Punjab Legislative house; Sampuran Singh strongly opposed it; he said: ‘The formation of a Muslim-majority Government in the Punjab would lead to civil war, and, with the help of the great power of the British, they (Muslims) would annihilate the Sikhs… I don’t assert that there should not be the majority of any community but, in my views, giving constitutional majority to one community without bothering for the others communities will be basically against the spirit of the Constitution.’ Sampuran Singh’s words greatly perturbed the Muslim delegates; Sir Mohammed Shafi reacting to this assertion said, ‘I have been extremely pained at the words of the Sikh brethren; I had thought that the followers of Guru Nanak, who was universal to all, will rather become source of bringing unity among all the communities.’ Hence, when all the three communities stuck to their stand this Conference did not yield any results; even the suggestion to divide the Punjab into two zones could not succeed.
As, in November 1927, Lord Birkenhead had pronounced that different communities of the British India
cannot find solution to the communal problem, was now finally proved; as a result, the British Government was now fully justified to give its verdict (and it came in the form of the declaration of the Communal Award by Ramsay McDonald on the 17th of August 1932).
From London, Gandhi returned empty-handed; on the other hand, though the Sikhs could not get their demand accepted but they did succeed in blocking a complete Muslim majority in the Punjab. Although Gandhi had become ready to grant Muslims more than they achieved through the ‘Communal Award’ but, after returning to Delhi, he said ‘Had I had the company of the persons like Master Tara Singh I would not have suffered failure on the issue of communal representation.’
On the other hand, though Ujjal Singh and Sampuran Singh had not been accepted as the representatives of the Sikh League or the Akali Dal but they did not betray the League or the Sikhs in any manner; and, they played unique and commendable role.
The Communal Award (1932) and the Sikhs
The Prime Minister Ramsay McDonald announced ‘Communal Award’ on the 17th of August 1932; according to this the 175 seats of the British India’s Punjab Council (Assembly) were divided among different communities almost as before (seats before the ‘Award’ in parenthesis):
Muslims 86 (84)
Sikhs 32 (31)
Hindus 43 (42)
Christians 2 (2)
Europeans 1 (2)
Anglo Indians 1
Special seats 10 (14)
Of the 14 ‘Special Seats’ of the earlier arrangements, the Muslims had two seats, and, the Sikhs and the Hindus had one seat each; in the new ‘Award’ these four had been added to their general quota and the Muslims instead of 84 got 86, the Sikhs got 32 (instead of 31) and the Hindus got 43 seats (instead of 42); thus there was no change. The rest of the 10 ‘Special Seats’ were divided as follows:
Zamindars (landlords) 5
Universities 1
Traders 1
Labour 3
Out of these ‘Special Seats’, the Muslims could easily win 4 or 5 seats, besides the Christians, Europeans and Anglo-Indians were supposed to side with them; hence they had comfortable majority in the Punjab Assembly as they needed just 88 seats to form a majority government in the Punjab; thus this ‘Communal Award’ fulfilled one point of the ‘14 point declaration’ of Jinnah and the Sikhs condemned it as a great injustice to the Sikhs.
Though the ‘Communal Award’ was declared on the 17th of August 1932, its terms had come to be known a month earlier hence the Central Sikh League called an All Parties
Sikh Conference at Lahore for the 24th of July 1932; it was attended by more than 500 leaders, professors, lawyers and other Sikh elite from all walks of life; prominent among the attendants were: Sampuran Singh M.L.C., Sant Singh M.P., S.B. Mehtab Singh, Giani Sher Singh, Amar Singh (editor Sher–Punjab), Bhagat Jaswant Singh, Gurmukh Singh Musafir, Awtar Singh Barrister Gujranwala, Hira Singh Dard, Giani Kartar Singh, Teja Singh Akarpuri, Gopal Singh Qaumi, Bhag Singh Vakil, Kartar Singh Jhabbar, Ujjal Singh etc. Master Tara Singh could not attend this meeting as his entry in the city of Lahore had been banned by the administration; hence he monitored the proceedings from Shahdara (on the other bank of river Raavi).52
This All Parties Conference passed a resolution saying that the Sikhs can’t accept Muslim majority in the Punjab hence they reject the ‘Communal Award’; it was also resolved to launch a major struggle against this ‘Award’ and a 17 member ‘Council of Action’ was formed to launch this struggle; this ‘Council of Action’ had, among others, the following members too: Master Tara Singh, Giani Sher Singh, Bhag Singh Vakil, Awtar Singh Barrister Gujranwala, Sampuran Singh M.L.C., Sant Singh M.P., Giani Kartar Singh, Amar Singh (editor Sher-i-Punjab), Sunder Singh Majitha, S.B. Mehtab Singh, Ujjal Singh, Buta Singh M.L.C. etc.53 A meeting of this ‘Council’ was held on the 29th of July at Shahdara which resolved to form an ‘Akali Shaheedi Fauj’ of one hundred thousand Sikhs.54
During this period, the English Governor of the Punjab was going on a four months leave and a new ad-hoc Governor was to be appointed in his place; Sir Sikander Hayat was eager to have this post; and, for this purpose he tried to present himself as a person acceptable to all the communities; with this in his mind he sought help from some Sikh leaders too; he assured the Sikhs that he would help them on their stand of the ‘Communal Award’. To make a show of his support and strength, Sikander held a gathering of his supporters at Simla on the 4th of August; from among the Sikhs Ujjal Singh,
Sampuran Singh, Giani Kartar Singh and Giani Sher Singh to attended this meeting. On the 14th of August, the Council of Action condemned these four leaders for attending Sikander’s meeting and also declared that they had joined that meeting of their own accord and not as the representatives of the Sikhs.
On the 17th of August 1932, the Communal Award was formally announced; when it was published in the newspapers the Sikhs in particular and the Hindus in general opposed it; the first statements came from Amar Singh (editor Sher-i-Punjab), S.B. Mehtab Singh, Gurmukh Singh Musafir, Giani Sher Singh, Sant Singh M.P., B.R. Puri, Gokal Chand Narang, Rai Bahadur Durga Das, Professor D.C. Sharma; they said: in the Punjab the Muslims have been given everything whereas injustice has been done to the Sikhs and the Hindus; whereas Ahmed Yar Khan Daulatana said ‘injustice has been done to the Muslims; they should have been given complete sure majority.’
On the 20th of August 1932, a meeting of the ‘Council of Action’ was held at Lahore; it resolved that:
As a follow up, Sampuran Singh and Ujjal Singh resigned as delegates of the Third Round Table Conference as well as its ‘Advisory Committee’; the ‘Council of Action’ appreciated their gesture.55 On the 17th of September, the Sikhs observed as ‘Protest Day’ to rejects the ‘Communal Award’ and demanded its withdrawal by the government. On the 24th of September 1932, Sampuran Singh and Ujjal Singh resigned
even from the Punjab Council. During this period the British Government tried to win over Sunder Singh Majitha, Sir Jogindera Singh, Raja Daljit Singh, Buta Singh M.L.C. and some other Sikhs to join the Third Round Table Conference but all of them plainly refused to betray the Sikhs’ unity.56
Another meeting of ‘Council of Action’ was held on the 25th of September 1932 at Lahore in which the formation of ‘Guru Khalsa Darbar’ was finalised; it was to have 250 members: 200 from the Punjab and 50 from other areas; and the elections for these were to be held on the S.G.P.C. pattern. This meeting requested the other Sikh members of the Punjab Council to resign from the Council and send their resignations to the ‘Guru Khalsa Darbar’ to be forwarded to the Government.57
On the 15th of October 1932, a political conference was held under the president-ship of Harnam Singh Advocate; it was attended.; among others, by Bhagat Jaswant Singh, Darshan Singh Pheruman, Udham Singh Nagoke, Sunder Singh Majitha, Giani Kartar Singh etc; the Hindu leader Madan Mohan Malvia also attended it. This Conference too vehemently opposed the ‘Communal Award’ and demanded that it should be withdrawn.
The Sikhs’ opposition to the ‘Communal Award’ was so effective that it was in the air that the British Government would withdraw it; the British had seen the Sikhs’ power of resistance and steadfastness during the Gurdwara Reform Movement and it was widely discussed in London that the Sikhs cannot be frightened or subdued from their resolve; they believed that Gandhi and the Muslims can make compromises but the Sikhs were hard nuts to crack and the ‘Communal Award’ shall have the same fate as it had happened with the ‘Nehru Report’. The British feared that the Sikhs would definitely launch an agitation but, in the meanwhile Sikander Hayat Khan was appointed as ad-hoc Governor of the Punjab and he sent a message to the British regime in London that the Sikhs had agreed to grant the Muslims a majority of one seat; this too gave some relief in the British quarters.
The Unity Conferences
Not only the English regime but even the Muslims and the Hindus were, in their mid of minds, interested in implementing the ‘Communal Award’; the English had formulated it, the Muslims have achieved majority, the Hindus had complete majority in the whole of the British India (except the Punjab and the N.W.F.P.) and they had no hesitation in sacrificing the Sikhs’ interests; yet, as an eye-wash, some Hindu leaders had been formally opposing this ‘Award’; some of them, in the name of preserving unity, announced holding of ‘Unity Conferences’ just to appease the Sikhs as well as the Muslims.
The first such ‘Unity Conference’ was held on the 2nd of November 132 at Allahabad; it was organised by Pandit Madan Mohan Malvia and attended by 63 Hindus, 3 Muslims, 11 Sikhs and 8 Christians. This Conference demanded that: 1. A responsible Government should be established in India. 2. All the religions and cultures should be given protection. 3. There should be at least one representative of each community in the Centre Government. 4. There should be at least one member of each community in the Service Commission. 5. For the next 10 years, in the Punjab, 51% seats should be given to Muslims, 20% to Sikhs, 27% to the Hindus and 2% to the other communities. 6. No law should be enacted and no minister should be appointed who does not have approval of 75% representatives of any of these communities.
On the 15th and the 16th of 1932, another meeting of all the communities was held at Allahabad; from among the Sikhs Giani Sher Singh, Giani Kartar Singh and some representatives of the Chief Khalsa Diwan too attended this meeting; in this meeting there was general consensus that the Muslims should get 51% seats in the Punjab and 30% in the Centre.
During this time, on one hand the ‘Unity Conferences’ were being held and on the other hand the Third Round Table Conference too had been announced; and, during the course of these meetings and conferences, on the 24th of December 1932,
the British Secretary of State for India announced that the Muslims will get 33% seats in the Centre and Sind will become an independent province; this was much more than the ‘Unity Conferences’ had been deliberating for the Muslims; hence with this announcement the ‘Unity Conferences’ became meaningless, at least for the Muslims.
Third Round Table Conference
To solve the communal issue another Round Table Conference was held at London in December 1932; all the Sikh organisations boycotted it; this time too, the British Government found another Tara Singh (an unknown person) to represent the Sikhs; though this Conference too could not usher any agreement but, on the 19th of March 1933, the British Government published a ‘White Paper’ on the issue of communal representation, and, according to this the Muslims were given assured majority in the Punjab; out of the 175 seats the Muslims got 84, the Hindus 34, the Sikhs 31, Christians 2, Backward Classes 8, Anglo-Indians 1, English 1, Zamindars (Landlords) 5, Labour 2, (and among the 5 ‘Special Seats’:) women 1, Traders 1, Universities 1, Industry 1. Under this division, the Muslims would have definitely won between 2 and 3 seats from Zamindars quota, 1 from amongst Labour quota and 1 from amongst the rest 4 ‘Special Seats’; hence 88 out of 175, a clear majority; moreover, 4 members of the Christians, the Anglo-Indians and the English too would have sided with them. All this was almost as before, the only change was that from amongst the Hindu quota, the Backward Classes had been given 8 seats; hence the Backward Classes were given distinct identity.
Similarly, for the Central Assembly, the Punjab had been allotted 30 seats out of which the Muslims got 14, the Hindus 5, the Sikhs 6 (and from among the 5 Special Seats) 1 each to Backward Classes, Anglo-Indians, Zamindars and women category. In the N.W.F.P., out of 50 seats 36 were given to Muslims and 3 seats were given to the Sikhs.
The Sikh-Muslim Relations
Shaheed Ganj Singhanian
Shaheed Ganj Singhanian is a Gurdwara in the present day Jhanda Bazaar area of Lahore city; it had been built in the memory of the Sikh women and children who had suffered atrocities during the eighteenth century especially during the reign of Muin-ud-Din (known by the Sikhs as ‘Mir Mannu’); in fact, this was a jail where Mir Mannu had kept Sikh women and children as prisoners; they were tortured mentally and physically; the women had to manually grind about 40 kg of wheat everyday; they were given a very small quantity of food to eat and water to drink; their small children were snatched from them and tortured and killed before their own eyes; in spite of this not a single Sikh woman consented to renounce her faith; these women included Bibi Basant Kaur (wife of Bhai Mani Singh) who was more than 85 years old. When Bhangi Misl occupied Lahore in 1765, this prison was converted into a Gurdwara in the memory of the martyred Sikh ladies and children.
At the time of Ranjit Singh it was a building of old small bricks; in 1935, when the Sikhs began replacing it with a new wall, some Muslims began saying that there was a mosque there; the Muslims approached the local law court and tried to take possession of the site but the court rejected their claim; the Muslims approached the High Court and appealed against the judgment by the district court and side-by-side they started an agitation too. The High Court refused to issue stay order to stop the Sikhs from demolishing the building; in this situation; taking note of the possibility of an agitation, the British Government in India sought the advice of the Legal Officer; he too accepted the Sikhs’ claim, and, it (Government) immediately sent telegrams to the Deputy Commissioner Lahore, confirming that the Sikhs had complete right to the building; it said that the Court had finally accepted that ‘the place belonged only to the Sikhs and the case does not come in the purview of section 295 of the I.P.C.; hence the Government
will not stop the Sikhs from demolishing and re-constructing the building.58
The demolishing of the dilapidated building began on the 24th of June 1935 but, on the 28th of June when a labour was buried under the debris the work of demolition was suspended; soon the Muslims groups began roaming around the Gurdwaras in an intimidating manner. On the 2nd of July 1935 the Muslims took our provocative processions which led to the closure of the markets of the Shahalmi and Gumti Bazaars. At this the Deputy Commissioner Lahore established a police post outside the Gurdwara premises and also issued warning notices to 60 Muslim leaders; on the 4th of July 1935, some Muslim leaders held a meeting with the Sikh leaders but nothing could come out of this meeting; on the other hand when the news of the Muslim processions at Lahore reached the other parts of the Punjab, several Sikh leaders and other activists too began reaching Lahore.
On the 6th of July, after the jumma namaz (Friday’s Muslim prayer), the Muslims again held out a procession; the police asked them to disperse but, instead, they began brick-batting the police; when some policemen were wounded the police resorted to cane-charge as a result the Muslims ran helter-skelter. After this the police became more vigilant and more policemen were posted in and around that area.
On the 7th of July 1935, the Sikhs held a congregation in the Gurdwara; in the meanwhile, it was either a rumour or truth, the news of the death of a Sikh at the hand of a Muslim crowd aggravated the situation and the Sikhs who had gathered in the Gurdwara immediately began demolishing the building. On the 8th of July 1935, night curfew (8.30 p.m. to 5 a.m.) was imposed in the city; on this night the Muslims killed a Sikh named Arjan Singh and also wounded Harnam Singh and Sadhu Singh, two Sikh policemen (later Harnam Singh succumbed to injuries).59
On the 12th of July 1935, the Muslims held a rally; in this rally Sayyad Ataullah Bukhari told the Muslims, ‘The Muslims have thousands of mosques, we should not lose
temper in the name of a mosque.’ On the 13th of July, the Government prohibited holding all the rallies in the city of Lahore; in spite of this the Muslims held a rally outside the Fort of Lahore; it was addressed by Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, Sayyad Habib and Malik Khan and others; all of them were arrested for defying prohibition orders.60
On the 16th of July, the Muslims performed Namaz at the Shahi Masjid; and after it they began a march; the police cane-charged them and compelled them to disperse. On the 17th of July too, after the performance of namaz, the Muslim activists made provocative speeches; when they came out of the mosque the police arrested 5 of them; when the Muslims threw bricks at the police it had to resort to cane-charge. The same day, in the evening, the Muslims took out processions in the Heera Mandi and Dabbi Bazaar which dispersed when the police cane-charged them. On this day the police arrested two Sikhs because they were wearing kirpans.61
In the evening of the 17th July 1935, the Viceroy called a meeting of the Sikhs and the Muslims but nothing came out of these deliberations.
On the 19th of July 1935 too, the Muslims came out of the Shahi Masjid and took out a procession; the police had to cane-charge this crowd three times. On the 20th of July, several thousand Muslims gathered outside the Delhi Gate and tried to move towards the Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Singhanian but the police thwarted their efforts. The same evening the Muslims threw bricks and stones at the police several times wounding 124 policemen; as a result the police had to open fire for ten times; as per the Government announcement 10 persons were killed; another Muslim crowd, outside the Akbari Gate, when it turned violent, too, had to be cane-charged.
The killing of ten persons frightened people; on the 22nd of July 1935, a congregation was held in the Wazir Khan Mosque to discuss the situation; in this gathering the Ahraris refused to participate in any provocative or aggressive agitation. But, on the 23rd of July one group of Muslims began an agitation; bands comprising 5 each began courting arrests
daily; the Muslim ull’ma (intelligentsia) declared this agitation as meaningless; several Muslim leaders too suggested the agitating activist not to resort to agitation and strikes which would yield nothing but incur just financial losses. The Muslims agitators continued courting arrests on the 24th of July too; but, on the other hand some of the volunteers who had courted arrests submitted apologies and got released; this disheartened the agitators and they stopped courting arrests on the 25th of July. There was lull for two more days; again on the 28th of July, a meeting of the Ahraris and the other Muslims was held in which both the groups blamed each other for the failure of the Muslim agitation; however, they ended by forming a Committee to hold talks with the Sikh leaders; and with this the city turned normal.
On the other hand, the Akali Dal too considered the crisis; Master Tara Singh visited Lahore; on the 21st of July 1935 a meeting of the Sikh leaders was held at Akal Takht; it was attended by several leaders; in this meeting the S.G.P.C. was requested to take up the issue of Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Singhanian in its own hands and a Committee was formed for advising the S.G.P.C.; it comprised of Master Tara Singh, S.B. Mehtab Singh, Giani Sher Singh, Amar Singh Sher-i-Punjab, Bawa Harkishan Singh, Awtar Singh Barrister, Harbans Singh Sistani, Jaswant Singh Jhabal, Ishar Singh Majhail, Teja Singh Mastuana.62
Now the S.G.P.C. took this issue in its hands; on the other hand the Muslims too had stopped agitation after the meeting of the 28th of July. On the 9th of August the Sikhs restarted the construction of the Gurdwara; on the 12th of August the army too was withdrawn; the whole operation was over by the middle of September 1935; on the 18th of September, a congregation was held in the Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Singhanian; it was addressed by Master Tara Singh, Amar Singh Sher-i-Punjab and Harnam Singh Advocate who explained the Sikh case; another Sikh congregation was held on the 20th of September.
It was all peaceful till the Muslims had a congregation in the Shahi Masjid on the 30th of September and reopened the issue of Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Singhanian; in this gathering the Mir (chief) of the mosque suggested enrolling an army of one million Muslims and asked all the Muslim families to join it; Shaukat Ali too made such a speech; however, the gathering ended without announcing any programme.
On the 2nd of October 1935, Shaukat Ali met some Akali leaders but nothing came out of this meeting; on the 23rd of October 1935, fifty thousand Muslims took out a procession; on its route the Muslim crowd killed a Sikh named Bishan Singh and the police had to resort to cane-charge; again there was lull for several weeks; however, on the 1st of December 1935, some Muslims attacked Gurdwara Chumala Sahib at Lahore and harmed its building. On the 15th of December, a joint meeting of the Akali Dal and the S.G.P.C. was held; this meeting requested the Government to take serious note of the activities of the Muslims.
Though, for once, the Muslims stopped aggressive activities but, on the 1st of February 1936, one group of Muslims again announced its intention to launch an agitation; even Jinnah tried to discuss the matter with Master Tara Singh; on the 18th of February 1936, the latter told Jinnah ‘I am not ready to make any compromise on the issue of Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Singhanian.’63 Jinnah met the Akali leaders on the 24th and the 27th of February 1936; from among the Sikhs Master Tara Singh, Harnam Singh Advocate, Sampuran Singh and Bishan Singh (both M.L.C.s) were present in the meeting but these meetings remained inconclusive.64
On the other hand, even the issue of Gurdwara Bhai Taru Singh was decided in favour of the Sikhs; the Muslims had tried to present it as a grave of Kaku Shah but, on the 25th of May 1936, the Session Court declared that that place belonged to the Sikh and that had been in their possession even before 1850.
The issue of Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Singhanian was finally solved when the High Court65, on the 26th of January 1938, decided the case in favour of the Sikhs.66
Attack on Gurdwara at Kot Bhai Than Singh
On the 1st of April 1937, at about 7 p.m., when the Sikhs were performing their evening prayers in the Gurdwara at village Kot Bhai Than Singh (about 40 km from Rawalpindi) some local fanatic Muslims went there and asked the Sikhs to stop keertan (hymn singing); as there was no loud speaker and the Sikhs had been performing their religious services inside their own premises, there was no question of interference by others; hence the Sikhs ignored them and continued keertan. At this these fanatic Muslims entered the Gurdwara and attacked the Sikhs; one Sikh named Nirmal Singh was killed and 13 were injured; the Muslims broke the windows of the Gurdwara and damaged furniture and other articles too. Later the police reached there and shot fires in the air compelling the attackers leave the premises; and, as all the local policemen were Muslims they did not arrest any attacker in spite of their crimes of trespassing, seriously wounding and murder. The following day, on the 2nd of April, some Sikh leaders reached there and compelled the police to arrest the culprits; at this the police arrested 18 persons.
Some days later, a similar incident occurred at village Aahla (district Gujrat); some fanatic Muslims killed Bhai Sunder Singh Ragi.
At that time the Punjab was being ruled by Sikander Hayat Khan (of the Unionist Party) and the Muslims had begun behaving as if they were the ‘masters’ of the Punjab; first attacks on Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Lahore and the Sikhs and even the Sikh policemen of Lahore, and now attack on Gurdwara at Kot Bhai Than Singh shook the Sikh world. It was feared that the fanatic Muslims would begin persecuting the Sikhs and the Hindus in the Muslim majority areas of the Punjab; hence the Akali leaders decided to take it seriously; hence, on the 11th of April 1937, Sikh jathas began pouring
into the village of Kot Bhai Than Singh; Master Tara Singh too reached there; on the 12th of April 1937, a big gathering of the Sikhs was held in the village; it was addressed by Master Tara Singh, Ishar Singh Majhail, Channan Singh Urara and Giani Kartar Singh etc; the congregation demanded the Punjab Government of strict action against the criminals.
Kot Bhai Than Singh village belonged to Mohammed Shah Nawaz Khan and most of the land of the village and around it was his personal property; most of the residents of that area were the Muslims who had been harassing non-Muslims hence all the Hindus and several Sikhs too had moved out from that area; only a few Sikh families continued living there. But, Mohammed Shah Nawaz Khan himself began troubling these Sikhs; he stopped them from using water of the canal. The Akalis moved a resolution in the Punjab Council67 but Sikander Hayat Khan assured the Sikh legislatures that he would use his own efforts to stop injustice as Mohammed Shah Nawaz was a personal friend of his. But, in spite of Sikander’s persuations, Mohammed Shah Nawaz Khan did not budge; as a result the Akali Party in its session of the 24th and the 25th of April 1937 passed a resolution condemning partiality by of the Muslim policemen as well as Muslim Government of the Punjab. In spite of this Mohammed Shah Nawaz Khan did not behave properly hence on the 6th of August 1937, Akali Dal announced launching of an agitation on the issue of banning the Sikhs from using water of canal at Kot Bhai Than Singh; but in the meanwhile a court gave a verdict against Mohammed Shah Nawaz Khan and ordered that the Sikhs shall have right to take water from the canal for three hours every day (Mohammed Shah Nawaz Khan took the matter to the High Court too but it too accepted the Sikhs’ claim); the High Court also ordered transfer of the Muslim Magistrate of Campbellpur who had been helping the fanatic Muslims against the Sikhs.68
In spite of the court order, the Muslims continued troubling the Sikhs at Kot Bhai Than Singh; on the 23rd of August when some Sikh women went to the canal to fetch
water, the Muslim women broke their earthen pitchers and when they approached the police, it refused even to write F.I.R. When such incidents did not stop, on the 24th of February, the Akali members of the Punjab Council tabled a resolution in the House against the role of the police at Kot Bhai Than Singh but for want of support of minimum 30 members it could not succeed; even the members belonging to Chief Khalsa Diwan and Khalsa National Party did not support the resolution. Thus, excesses of the fanatic Muslims, the Muslim policemen and other officers continued; however it confirmed the Sikh fears that a Muslim majority in the Punjab would mean injustice to the non-Muslims.
Ban on Kirpan
When the Muslims had launched an agitation on the issue of Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Singhanian, the Government had promulgated orders under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Court banning assembly of more than four persons; it also banned wearing of big kirpan; some Sikhs having big kirpans had been arrested too; on the 26th of August 1935, the S.G.P.C. and the Shiromani Akali Dal held a joint meeting and demanded the Government to immediately withdraw this ban as it was interference in the religious rights of the Sikhs; the meeting also declared that ban on wearing of two (small) kirpans too interfered in religious rights. Per chance, on the same day, the Government released on personal security all the Sikhs arrested for having kirpans and also suspended their trials; further, on the 25th of September 1935, the Punjab Government declared that the Sikhs were free to wear kirpan and every one could keep it.
On the 30th of November 1935, thousands of Sikhs took out a procession, in the city of Lahore, in connection with the anniversary of the martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur; on this occasion the army patrolled the city, hence, with the exception of a couple of minor incidents of throwing of bricks on the procession by some miscreant Muslims, no major incident took place. The following day, on the 1st of December 1935, a small dispute between the Sikhs and the Muslims in the area of Bhaati Gate in the city of Lahore soon spread into the whole of the city; and during these riots several Sikhs and Muslims were injured, some of them seriously; as a result the Government promulgated orders under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Court banning assembly of more than four persons; on the 2nd of December, the Government banned wearing of kirpan also.
On the 13th of December 1935, a deputation of the Sikhs comprising of S.B. Mehtab Singh, Dr Kartar Singh, Ujjal Singh, Sir Buta Singh, and Sewaram Singh (retired Session Judge) and Dr Randhir Singh met the Governor of the Punjab;
this deputation demanded: 1. Ban of kirpan should be withdrawn. 2. As 75% of the policemen are Muslims and they behave in a partial manner; hence more Sikhs and Hindus should be enrolled in the police making the number of the Muslims and the non-Muslims equal at 50% each. 3. The Muslim Press should be ordered to stop publishing provocative news and article on the issue of Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Singhanian. 4. An enquiry should be set up to investigate murders of the Sikhs. The Governor assured action on all the demands except the issue of kirpan.69
But, as kirpan, was an article of faith, the Sikhs could not have accepted a ban on their faith; hence on the 15th of December, the S.G.P.C. and the Shiromani Akali Dal held a joint meeting and passed a resolution asking the Government to withdraw ban on kirpan within two weeks; when the Government did not bother, the S.G.P.C. in its meeting of the 30th of December announced launching of an agitation from the 1st of January 1936; in this meeting two committee was also formed; the Committee for Shaheed Ganj comprised of Sarmukh Singh Chamak, Harnam Singh Advocate and Gurmukh Singh Musafir; and, the Committee for ‘Kirpan Agitation’ comprised of Master Tara Singh, Giani Sher Singh and Jathedar Teja Singh Akarpuri; this Committee announced that from the 1st of January 1936, regular jathas will begin courting arrests.70
The first jatha to court arrest on the 1st of January was led by Buta Singh M.L.C.71 and the 2nd jatha was led by Master Tara Singh; this agitation continued until on the 31st of January the Government lifted ban on kirpan; 1709 Sikhs had courted arrests during this agitation.
The issue of Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Singhanian had united the whole of the Sikh nation and this created a great enthusiasm among the Sikhs; and, the Sikh elite began a campaign for a permanent national cohesion on the Sikh issues. In this scenario holding of elections to the S.G.P.C., which were due in the forthcoming month were announced; at this all the parties decided that there should be no contest and
for this purpose Wisakha Singh Dadehar and Sohan Singh Bhakna, the Ghadr Party leaders, were accepted as arbitrators; they were given right to nominate candidates. Though this unity could not be preserved for long time but, for the time being, it saved time and energy of the Sikh nation which was sure to be wasted in contesting these elections (see the details of this elections in the next chapter).
During this period, on the 15th of June 1936, the Nihangs and the Muslims too had skirmishes in the city of Amritsar; it began as a small dispute which was followed by a Muslim attack on a Gurdwara in the Ghah Mandi area; the Muslims burnt canopy of the Gurdwara, damaged other articles and even took away the golak (the box in which devotees put their offerings); infuriated Nihangs then fell upon the Muslims and it led to a full-fledged fighting; as the police was pro-Muslim it did not take action on the Muslims and arrested several Nihangs. When the Sikh leaders came to know about the reality, on the 18th of June 1936, the Akali Dal held a congregation and demanded release of the Nihangs;72 on the 7th of July 1936, the executive of the Akali Dal also condemned police entry into the Gurdwara as well as the arrests of the Nihangs and also demanded that the police officials responsible for the sacrilege of the Gurdwara should be punished.73
Tribal War among the Sikh Leaders: the Clash of ‘Titans’
During the Gurdwara reform Movement, all the Sikh leaders participated in the struggle as a one unit; even if persons like Amar Singh Jhabal and Sardool Singh Kaveeshar had more faith in the Hindu leader M.K. Gandhi still there was no clash of titans; and, although persons like Jodh Singh, Harbans Singh Attari and Sunder Singh Majithia had in their mind their political career and their relationship with the English officers but they never exhibited opposition or indulged in combat against the radical Sikh leaders.
But, towards the end of 1925 when the Gurdwara Act had been passed and the elections to the Central Board (the first official name of the new S.G.P.C.) were going to be held in near future; the lust for capturing power played its role and lured some leaders to run after it and indulge in manoeuvrings to achieve this. The British smelled it and to facilitate it the regime declared that it will release those Akali leaders who would accept Gurdwara Act and also assure to support and implement it; in fact it meant that those who would be soft and co-operative, and may possibly collaborate, with the regime. This intention of the regime was smelt by some Sikh leaders who had been interned in the Lahore Fort jail, and, it created two factions among them; one in favour of giving positive response to the regime and the other for totally rejecting it as it would mean a sort of apology. S.B. Mehtab Singh had been a senior attorney as well as Deputy Chairman of the Punjab Council; he had feudal tendencies too; and all this made him presume that meaningless fight against the regime was sheer stubbornness. Giani Sher Singh had a soft corner for Mehtab Singh and several other leaders were under the influence or in friendship with both these leaders. Finally, on the 26th of January 1926, 23 Sikh leaders of this group accepted the
Government’s condition to co-operate on the issue of the Gurdwara Act and they were released from jail.
But, this became the beginning of personality clash, groupism and a sort of tribal fighting among the Sikhs; the Punjabi newspapers, which were mostly controlled by the radicals, vehemently criticized them for accepting conditional release and went even to the extent of calling them coward, chicken-hearted, spineless, lily-livered, pusillanimous and even traitors. They (Mehrab Singh group) too reacted by holding new elections of the office-bearers of the S.G.P.C.; S.B. Mehtab Singh (77 votes) defeated Bhag Singh Canadian (of that group which had refused to accept conditional release) by 33 votes; in fact only 121 of more than 250 members turned up to attend the election meeting because several were still in jails and many other did not get information about the election; and, with this began an open declaration of two parties; Bhag Singh Canadian, Amar Singh Jhabal, Mangal Singh etc formed an ‘Akali Party’ within the S.G.P.C. and on the 1st of February it even selected Bhag Singh Canadian as President and Jaswant Singh Jhabal as its General Secretary; the other group came to be known as Shiromani Committee Group because they were in the control of the S.G.P.C.
The newly formed Akali Party launched a very aggressive campaign against S.B. Mehtab Singh – Giani Sher Singh group by calling them traitors and alleged that they had accepted conditional release with intention of capturing the S.G.P.C. This yielded results as the public began sympathising with those who had refused to accept conditional release. As mentioned earlier, this frightened S.B. Mehtab Singh and he announced new elections to the S.G.P.C. on the 11th of April 1926 which he, later, postponed. This further lowered the image of Mehtab Singh hence he resigned from the president-ship of the S.G.P.C. and appointed Kartar Singh Diwana as acting president. In the meanwhile some Sikh elite, with an intention of ushering a cordial atmosphere, tried to bring out reconciliation among both the groups; their efforts yielded some results but this could not revive image of S.B. Mehtab
Singh among the Sikh masses especially among the rural sections.
On the other hand, most of the activists of the Shiromani Akali Dal also began criticising the cancellation of the elections to the S.G.P.C.; in the meeting of its Executive, on the 21st of April 1926, the Dal decided to hold a Sarbat Khalsa Conference on the 21st and 22nd of May 1926, to discuss the Panthic situation; Gurdit Singh Kamagatamaru was assigned duty to make arrangements for this Conference. But, before this Sarbat Khalsa Conference could be held, Amar Singh Jhabal, the President of the Shiromani Akali Dal, postponed it; this action was widely criticised by some radical activists, and, as a result of this, Amar Singh Jhabal the President of the Dal had to step down on the 19th of May 1926; Gurdit Singh Kamagatamaru was elected the new President and Dr Thakar Singh Ikolaha became the General Secretary. On the 20th of May, the new leadership announced that if both the Akali groups agree by 27th of May to hold joint elections to the S.G.P.C. by the 30th of May 1926; it also resolved to hold the Sarbat Khalsa Conference on the 10th and the 11th of June 1926. The proposed Sarbat Khalsa Conference was held on the 11th of 1926 but, during this Conference the majority of the delegates were the supporters of Gargajj Akali Diwan and Central Majha Diwan hence their will prevailed and all the resolutions passed by this Conference were against the policy of the Shiromani Akali Dal.
Just a week after the Sarbat Khalsa Conference, the first elections to the Central Board (later named as the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee) were held on the 18th of June 1926. At that time all the major leaders of Kharak Singh- Master Tara Singh group were in jails and they had filed their nomination papers for these elections through the jail authorities; S.B. Mehtab Singh was an expert of law; he found some minor discrepancies in the nomination papers of Master Tara Singh and Amar Singh Wasu and got these papers rejected; besides they wooed Captain Ram Singh to withdraw from the contest; as a result S.B. Mehtab Singh and Giani Sher
Singh were elected unopposed. Likewise the nomination papers of Bhagat Jaswant Singh, Gurdit Singh and Bakhshish Singh Bhumaddi too were got rejected on some technical points; hence victory from at least five seats was secured for Giani Sher Singh- S.B. Mehtab Singh group. At that time Darbar Sahib and other Gurdwaras were in the possession of Giani Sher Singh and S.B. Mehtab Singh group hence the Gurdwara platform was also with them; but, when polling took place, to the rest of the seats, Kharak Singh- Master Tara Singh group achieved remarkable success by capturing 70% (85 out of 120 seats), Giani Sher Singh and S.B. Mehtab Singh group could win only 26 seats (including unopposed won seats); five seats were won by pro-government Hailey ‘Reform Committee’ and four went to independents.
Though the election verdict meant rejection of Giani Sher Singh and S.B. Mehtab Singh group but they still continued their struggle to recapture the S.G.P.C. although they could not revive their image but they never turned their back to the Panth and always stood in the forefront of the struggle for the right of the Sikh nation.
Nehru Report: Again, in 1928-29, the issue of Nehru Report further created division among the Akali/Sikh leadership; Mangal Singh Gill who was a signatory to the Nehru Report and supporters of Nehru Report (Giani Hira Singh Dard, Gurdit Singh Kamagatamaru, the three brothers: Amar Singh Jhabal, Jaswant Singh Jhabal, Sarmukh Singh Jhabal), who were known as pro-Gandhi now began behaving as a separate group; and gradually they became more inclined towards Congress Party.
In 1930, Kharak Singh behaved aggressively in opposing the Congress on the issue of Nehru Report as well as on the question of adding the Sikh colour in the proposed flag of Independent India. Further, on the issue of Daska Agitation too relations between Master Tara Singh and Kharak Singh were strained. During this period the elections for the office-bearers of the S.G.P.C. were held on the 12th of October 1930; Master Tara Singh, who was in Gujrat Jail74at that time, was
elected the new President of the S.G.P.C.75
Sikh colour in flag: Kharak Singh was a very stubborn person; in 1929, on the issue of Nehru Report, he became very aggressive against the Congress Party, first on the issue of communal representation for the Sikhs and then on the issue of ‘swaraj’; after this he took up the issue of the inclusion of the Sikh colour in the proposed flag of independent India. On the 30th of December, 1929, when Moti Lal Nehru, M.K. Gandhi and Dr Ansari visited the Lahore office of the S.G.P.C. and met Kharak Singh and other Akali leaders, the Congress leaders had also reconfirmed their promise to add the Sikh colour in the flag. But, again, when the Congress did not move further on the issue of the Sikh colour in flag, Kharak Singh again became inimical to the Congress; so much so that when, on the 3rd of August 1930, a joint meeting of the Central Sikh League and the Shiromani Akali Dal was being held at Lahore, Kharak Singh insisted on attending it; as he was sick and bed-ridden he had to be brought on a hospital stretcher; in this meeting he said that the Congress had assured to include the Sikh colour in the flag but it has not done so, hence the Sikhs should pass a resolution of non co-operation with the Congress Party. He threatened that if the Akali Dal and the Central Sikh League decided in the favour of the Congress then he would resign from both these organisations. Later, when the Congress agreed to include saffron colour, Kharak Singh created a new issue, he asserted that the Sikhs’ flag was ‘blue’ at the time of Gurus; once he insisted on inclusion of black colour too; hence Kharak Singh continued dispute on the issue of the colour of flag for a very long time.
Daska Agitation: After this, Kharak Singh created problem on the issue of agitation for Gurdwara Bhai Waryam Singh at Daska; this issue was not a new one, since long the local Sikhs and Hindus had been disputing over the management of this Gurdwara; the management of the Gurdwara was with the Sikhs and the shops owned by the Gurdwara were in the possession of the Hindus; the local Sikhs
had filed a case in the court of law but the court did not decide in their favour.
When this issue came up in the meeting of the Akali Dal and the S.G.P.C., Kharak Singh insisted that an agitation should be launched for taking the control of the shops, but, Master Tara Singh proposed that first an appeal should be filed in the higher court and if it did not give them relief then they should launch an agitation. Kharak Singh, as he was a man of stubborn nature refused to budge and announced that he would launch an agitation; he refused to obliege even when all the members present there requested him to wait till the decision of the appellate court, and, on the 17th of August 1931, he led a jatha of 25 Sikhs and courted arrest on the issue of Daska Gurdwara. Kharak Singh had not assigned duty to anyone to continue agitation hence no other jatha offered arrests; it was an insult to Kharak Singh as well the Akal Dal and the S.G.P.C. hence Master Tara Singh called a meeting of the Executive of the Akali Dal on the 27th of August 1931 and in this meeting he appealed that Dal should launch an agitation in order to preserve the honour of Kharak Singh. The Daska Agitation began on the 13th of September 1931; Master Tara Singh led the first jatha followed by regular jathas. On the other hand Kharak Singh, who had been given sentence of one month, was released from jail and he again courted arrest; at that time Master Tara Singh was in the Gujrat Jail; Kharak Singh too was imprisoned in the Gujrat Jail. Now, both of them began spending time together and removed their personal differences; and, both promised with each other that in future they won’t get into the trap of those who wanted to create difference between them; and, in case some statement is attributed to anyone of them one should not believe that until he had confirmed the same personally from the other. But, this could not last long; as Master Tara Singh had courted arrest earlier so he was released first and Kharak Singh again fell into the company of the vested interests.
In the meanwhile, under an arbitration, the issue of Daska Gurdwara was solved, and, according to this agreement
the management of the property of the Gurdwara was to be monitored by a Committee of five members; and out of these five three were to be Sikhs and two were to be Hindus for the first three years and the proportion was to be reversed in the next three years; this decision was accepted by everyone.
After his release Kharak Singh, under provocation of anti-Master Tara Singh group, began opposing this decision as well as Master Tara Singh; he made such statements against Master Tara Singh which created great bitterness, and, after this he did not have any meeting with the former; and this breach could never be repaired.
Division in, and death of, the Khalsa Darbar: In 1932 when the ‘Communal Award’ was announced by the British Government an All Parties Sikh Conference had formed a ‘Council of Action’ on the 29th of July 1932; and this ‘Council’, in its meeting on the 20th of August 1932 had resolved to form ‘Guru Khalsa Darbar’ representing all the sections of the Sikhs; inaugural meeting of this ‘Guru Khalsa Darbar’ was held on the 25th of September 1932 in which it was renamed as ‘Khalsa Darbar’ and within some weeks infra structure of this Darbar had been established; but, as majority of the members of this Darbar were associated with Shiromani Akali Dal it was under the domination of Master Tara Singh.
Even otherwise, this ‘Khalsa Darbar’ could not make any performance except issuing a few statements; it was established with the main purpose of forming ‘Akali Shaheedi Fauj’ but even after one year of its establishment it could not even announce enrolment to this ‘Fauj’. On the other hand, soon the difference between Master Tara Singh and Giani Sher Singh came to surface and divided the Council of Action and the Khalsa Darbar into factions, groups and syndicates as a result the enrolment for the proposed ‘Akali Shaheedi Fauj’ could not be started; within a few months Kharak Singh withdrew himself from the ‘Khalsa Darbar’.
On the 21st of September 1933, in a meeting of the Khalsa Darbar, Giani Sher Singh alleged that Master Tara Singh wanted to keep the ‘Khalsa Darbar’ in his own grip
hence he was functioning on party lines; and after making this statement Giani Sher Singh, Amar Singh Sher-i-Punjab and Harbans Singh Sistani walked out of the meeting; thus the ‘Khalsa Darbar’ was now almost ‘dead’ and it was just another name of Akali Dal.76
With the ‘death’ of the ‘Khalsa Darbar’ and the division of the Sikh leadership into factions and groups, the agitation against the Communal Award too came almost to an end; the British Government which had begun thinking of withdrawing or modifying the Communal Award now took a sigh of relief and treated the issue as not existent. Clash of personalities, ego, stubbornness and idiocy of the Sikh leadership blessed them with defeat and demotion… and the Akal leaders repeated this fete time and again.
Formation of New Akali Dals: Though the final blow to the ‘Khalsa Darbar’ came on the 21st of September 1933 but five months before that one faction of the Darbar had already initiated division by forming a new Akali Dal; on the 14th of February 1933 a new Dal in the name of ‘Aazad Akali Dal’ was formed with Jaswant Singh Jhabal as President and Ranjit Singh Tarsika as General Secretary. When Giani Sher Singh said goodbye to the ‘Khalsa Darbar’ on the 21st of September Jaswant Singh Jhabal joined hands with this group and formed a joint organisation in the name of ‘Central Akali Dal’; Kharak Singh too joined them. The Central Akali Dal elected Kharak Singh as President, Jaswant Singh Jhabal and Amar Singh Sher-i-Punjab as Vice Presidents and Ranjit Singh Tarsika as General Secretary.
This group called a meeting of the like-minded Sikh elite on the 27th of September 1933 at Lahore;77 it was attended by 200 leaders and activists including Giani Sher Singh, Kartar Singh Jhabbar, Harbans Singh Sistani and Amar Singh Sher-i-Punjab etc.; this meeting resolved to form ‘Khalsa Assembly’; and declared that the ‘Khalsa Darbar’ did not represent the whole of the Sikh nation.78
One group declares Kharak Singh as ‘Dictator’: In January 1934, Kartar Singh Jhabbar and Harbans Singh Sistani
declared that “Baba Kharak Singh will be the ‘Dictator’ of the Panth”; at first nobody bothered for this and took it as an ordinary statement for the sake of statement and an act of sycophancy, but when, on the 10th of February 1934, they issued statements on behalf of ‘the Dictator of the Sikh Panth’ Master Tara Singh reacted by saying that ‘the leader of a minority group could not be Dictator of a nation’; other Sikh leaders too condemned use of the term ‘Dictator’. Soon, the newly formed ‘Khalsa Assembly’ and the ‘Central Akali Dal’ too could not remain one and both these organisations too were further divided into factions and syndicates because as Kharak Singh had been dominating both these organisations whereas Giani Sher Singh group too wanted to assert its supremacy as it had more public following than the former; hence, within just less than an year they fell apart; on the 1st of December 1934 Kharak Singh withdrew himself from both these organisations.
Mediation by the Gursewak Sabha: By the middle of December 1934, the Sikh nation had been divided into four major groups: Master Tara Singh group, Giani Sher Singh group, Kharak Singh group, Chef Khalsa Diwan (Khalsa Nationalist Party); it did not stop at formation of new organisations and/or issuing statements; it turned into personal attacks, and, it crossed the limits of decency, cordially and sensibility; cheap allegations were levelled and even cheap and dirty language was being used for each other by different groups; and, it seemed that an all-out agitation had been launched to degrade the opponents by hook or crook, by all kinds of fair and foul means; for some time it seemed that the Sikhs had no national issues or problems.
The Sikh intelligentsia was very much perturbed at this sorry state of affairs; in the last days of November 1933, some professors of Khalsa College Amritsar issued a joint statement requesting all the Sikh leaders to avoid mudslinging on and personal opposition of each other; soon some other elite too joined these professors. In early days of December 1933, Bawa Harkishan Singh, Professor Niranjan Singh, Professor Teja Singh, Principal Kashmira Singh, Bhag Singh Vakil, Professor
Narayan Singh, Professor Rajinder Singh, Bishan Singh M.L.C., Hari Singh Jalandhari, Bakhshish Singh Bhumaddi, Gurdit Singh raees Behlolpur, Channan Singh Jethuwala, Amar Singh Khalsa, Gopal Singh Sagri, Sahib Singh Samundari and Maghar Singh Chakk 32 and some others held a meeting and formed an association in the name of ‘Gursewak Sabha’ with a manifesto ‘to live public life as per the teachings of Sikh ideology’. On the 29th of December 1933, the Gursewak Sabha held a big gathering which was attended by a very large number of professors, lawyers and non-political Sikh elite; this gathering resolved that a deputation of intelligentsia should meet the leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Giani Sher Singh and Kharak Singh and request them to stop abusing, mudslinging and levelling false allegations against each other.79 The appeal by the deputation of the Gursewak Sabha did change the scenario for some time but it could not last long, and soon both factions turned to their old petty styles.
However, the constant efforts of the Sikh elite ushered an atmosphere of dialogue which made some leaders of each group realise that unless they get united they won’t be able to make any contribution to the Panth; hence efforts for unity too got impetus; and under-current movement began to bring the leaders of both factions to a united platform. Although the leaders of both the factions agreed principally for unity but it was again blocked when Giani Sher Singh insisted that Master Tara Singh should disband his both organisations (Akali Dal and Khalsa Darbar); at that time Master Tara Singh had gone to Burma for Sikh missionary activity; when contacted to react to Giani Sher Singh’s proposal of disbanding both organisations he agreed to disband Khalsa Darbar but refused to disband Akali Dal; on the other hand Giani Sher Singh refused to budge from his stand hence, for the time being, the efforts of mediation could not succeed.
In spite of their failure the Gursewak Sabha continued its manoeuvrings and finally, on the 10th of April 1935, Giani Sher Singh and Master Tara Singh both gave nod to the efforts
of unity; it was due to revived efforts of the Gursewak Sabha which had realised that the elections to the S.G.P.C. were due in a few months (in February 1936) and it was expected that in such a scenario both the faction were likely to launch aggressive personal attacks on each other hence they (Gursewak Sabha) had vigorously restarted their efforts. Though Master Tara Singh group had always had an upper hand in Gurdwara elections (in 1930 Master Tara Singh group had won 100 of 120 seats and Giani Sher Singh group got just 15 seats whereas 5 had gone to the independents) but still he was interested in unity in Panth; so he agreed that the elections to the S.G.P.C. and Section 85 Gurdwara Committees should be contested in line with the Sikh norms. In April 1935, the Gursewak Sabha succeed in making both groups agree to the mediation of Baba Jawala Singh, a former Ghadr Party leader; and it was agreed that if he (Jawala Singh) asked any member of the S.G.P.C., Section 85 Gurdwara Committees, Shiromani Akali Dal, Central Akali Dal, Sikh National Conference, Khalsa Darbar or district or local Akali Jathas, to resign he would gladly and immediately do so; this agreement was signed on the 10th of April 1935, by Master Tara Singh, Giani Sher Singh, Ishar Singh Majhail, Harbans Singh Sistani and Gopal Singh Qaumi.80
This agreement was ratified by the Executives of the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Central Akali Dal on the 18th of April 1835; but, the Central Akali Dal put three new conditions to it: 1. there should be five mediators; along with Baba Jawala Singh there should be two representatives from each faction. 2. The Central Akali Dal won’t be disbanded. 3. All the five mediators should take a vow at Akal Takht: ‘we shall defend the rights of the Sikhs, and, we reject the ‘Communal Award’ and want that it should be withdrawn’;81 and these new conditioned again blocked the possibility of national unity.
The stand taken by the Central Akali Dal shattered the hopes for Panthic unity, besides, it gave a bad name to this organisation because they had backed out even after signing just eight days earlier, on the 10th of April 1935; moreover, it
was first time in several decades that the Sikhs had agreed to give honour to some neutral personality (Jawala Singh) but the Central Akali Dal had spoiled that atmosphere too. On the other hand Ishar Singh Majhail (of Shiromani Akal Dal) still announced that their organisation would agree even to five mediators subject to the condition that the rest four too shall be appointed by Baba Jawala Singh, but, the Central Akali Dal should give a guarantee that they won’t back out once more; even this offer was not accepted by Giani Sher Singh group.
In May 1935, Giani Sher Singh group floated a new condition that all those who, since 1926, haven been members of the S.G.P.C., Shiromani Akali Dal, Central Akali Dal, Sikh National Conference, Khalsa Darbar or any organisation associated with them or had contested any election, should resign and announce that they won’t contest any election for the next five years. It was a very strange condition that it would have excluded all the Sikhs and there would have remained not a single known Sikh to lead the Sikh nation; it was so silly suggestion that no one even considered this proposal as worth discussing even.
On the 1st of June 1935, Bibi Amrit Kaur announced that she would undertake fast unto death and won’t break it unless the Sikh leaders get united; but several leaders made an appeal to her and she agreed to postpone it for one month. In the first week of June 1935 Giani Sher Singh floated another proposal that both the factions should give a panel of five names each to Madan Mohan Malvia; he should select two names from each list and add fifth of his own and these five mediators should give their verdict; at this Master Tara Singh said that he would not like to involve a non-Sikh to make Panthic decisions. It was during this period that the Muslims had begun agitation on the issue of Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Singhanian hence the unity efforts were enhanced.82
In November 1935, the Government announced that the elections to the S.G.P.C. would be held in February 1936; Giani Sher Singh knew that he won’t be able to win many seats so, now, he was more eager for unity. By this time Wisakha
Singh Dadehar’s name was floated for mediation; on the 24th of November 1935, Shiromani Akali Dal agreed to accept him (Wisakha Singh) as mediator; and, on the 15th of December 1935, the Central Akai Dal too gave its consent; but Wisakha Singh knew that Giani Sher Singh had backed out even after signing a mediation agreement so, on the 3rd of January 1936, he refused to act as a mediator. Now, the activists of the Gursewak Sabha too made their efforts and they convinced Wisakha Singh to act as mediator; finally he agreed on the condition that he and Sohan Singh Bhakna both would be mediators; and now both Akal factions too surrendered. Within a few days both these mediators announced joint candidates for the S.G.P.C. elections; as per this list several leaders of both the factions had been denied tickets; these included:
Master Tara Singh group: Master Tara Singh, Giani Kartar Singh, Mangal Singh, Tara Singh Thethar, Gopal Singh Qaumi, Awtar Singh Barrister, Jaswant Singh Danewalia, Sarmukh Singh Jhabal, Darshan Singh Pheruman, Sohan Singh Jalalusman, Jawahar Singh Burj, Babu Labh Singh, Piara Singh Langeri, Bawa Bachitar Singh and Harnam Singh Kabarvachha.
Giani Sher Singh group: Giani Sher Singh, Amar Singh Jhabal, Jaswant Singh Jhabal, Amar Singh Sher-i-Punjab, Kartar Singh Jhabbar, Harbans Singh Sistani.
Thus, the mediators refused tickets to most of the senior leaders of both the Akali factions; still, some leaders of both the groups were accepted; these included Harnam Singh Advocate, Ishar Singh Majhail, Teja Singh Akarpuri, Gurmukh Singh Musafir, Udham Singh Nagoke (Master Tara Singh group), and, S.B. Mehtab Singh, Man Singh Hambo, Hukam Singh Montgomery, Mehtab Singh Jehlum (Giani Sher Singh group). Though a large number of supporters of Master Tara Singh faction had been denied tickets but they accepted this without any resentment but on the other hand several persons belonging to Giani Sher Singh faction rebelled and contested elections as independent candidates e.g. Amar Singh Jhabal, Ranjodh Singh Tarsika, Santokh Singh Khadur Sahib, S.B.
Hukam Singh, Gurbakhsh Singh (nephew S.B. Mehtab Singh) etc. The mediators, however, granted tickets to some members of Gursewak Sabha too thus establishing them as the third faction. On the 19th of January 1936, the Shiromani Akali Dal passed a resolution condemning those who had rebelled against the verdict of the mediators and had announced to contest independently.83
The results to the elections of the S.G.P.C. were announced on the 28th of February 1936; from amongst the 115 candidates announced by the mediators 82 won elections; on the 25th of April 1936, when the elections for ‘nominated seats’ were held 10 persons belonging to Master Tara Singh faction (Master Tara Singh, Mangal Singh, Jaswant Singh Danewalia, Kartar Singh Diwana, Harnam Singh Advocate etc), 2 belonging to Giani Sher Singh factions (Giani Sher Singh and Amar Singh Sher-i-Punjab) and 2 Gursewak Sabha (Professor Niranjan Singh and S.B. Bhagat Singh Hoshiarpuri) were elected;84 on the 13th of June 1936, Master Tara Singh was elected President of the S.G.P.C.85
Though the Akali leaders had contested elections as per the verdict of the mediators but, in their heart of hearts, they were still opponents of each other; they were factions; they were syndicates; and, this factionalism and division continued till he death of S.B. Mehtab Singh on the 28th of May 1938 and death of Giani Sher Singh on the 7th of October 194486; but after this there arose two new factions: Udham Singh Nagoke versus Giani Kartar Singh. This factionalism harmed the Sikh nation in many ways; but; these leaders realised all this only when they were on death beds.87
Gandhi’s disdain for the Sikhs and Sikhism
Mohan Das Karam Chand (M.K.) Gandhi (known as mahatama by a section of the Hindus) was an ordinary fundamentalist and fanatic Hindu; yet he was not at all a practicing Hindu; he had been drinking and eating beef when he was a student in England; he was also under the spell of cupid and, as per his own words, he was having sexual intercourse when his parents were on their death-bed; what type of son he could be and how much sincere being one could expect in such a person; and, an incident of alleged discrimination in train in 1893, as mentioned by him in his ‘autobiography’ too is just another act of deception.88 Gandhi’s religion was no spirituality but it was just fanaticism; he was not even clear about Hinduism; he did preach so-called ‘Ram Rajya’ and in 1920s, when he promoted the use of takli/charkha (spinning rod/wheel), he used to pronounce that the thread produced by takli/charkha should produce the sound of Rama and Krishna (the heroes of fiction works Ramayana and Mahabharata89 respectively)90; on the other hand he used to call Krishna as a spoiled youth.91
Gandhi’s attitude towards the Sikh nation and religion was not only fanatic but it was full of ill-will; even in the case of the killings of more than 168 Sikhs by the Hindu manager of Nanakana Sahib, his words smelt his indirect sympathy for the inhuman butcher; Gandhi, commenting on the killings of the Sikhs, had said that he did not believe that so many persons had been killed without resorting to violence in reciprocation.92 Gandhi was opposed to the Sikhs’ struggle for freedom of shrines from corrupt occupants; he tried to woo them to work for Congress Party and give up struggle for freedom of Gurdwaras;93 and when he could not succeed in his plan, he fooled the Sikhs by provoking them to declare non co-operation with the regime94 (and through this tactic, Gandhi made Sikhs give up monitoring the case against the butcher of
Nanakana, which resulted in lighter punishment for a killer of more than 168 Sikhs).95 It was, in fact, a part of Gandhi’s hidden agenda to support the mahants.
When the Shaheedi Jatha (literally: martyrs band) was fired at Jaito, on the 21st of February 1924, Gandhi again asked the Sikhs to give up struggle for freedom of Gurdwaras; at this a Punjab newspaper, in its editorial, said ‘Gandhi has run amuck.’96
Gandhi had disdain for the Sikh religion and he did not conceal it; on one hand he, time and again, and in spite of agreeing that he won’t say that again, continued calling the Sikhs as a sect of Hindus. He even attacked Guru Gobind Singh by calling him ‘strayed patriot’97 because he (the Guru) had resorted to arms (Gandhi never called Rana Partap, Shivaji Marhatta or Laxmi Bai of Jhansi as strayed patriots).
Gandhi cheated the Sikhs several times; he betrayed the Sikhs in 1927-28 when Nehru Report was passed by the Congress Party; and then, on the 30th of December 1929, he and the other Congress leaders visited the Sikh leaders at Lahore and assured them that ‘the Congress shall never give consent to any constitution which did not satisfy the Sikhs and the other communities’. Gandhi repeated this ‘vow’ again in Delhi, on the 16th of March 1931, when he said: the Congress shall never betray the Sikhs; and as per Lahore resolution, no law shall be passed which won’t be acceptable to the Sikhs; in case Congress betrays the Sikhs shall be justified in raising sword of rebellion; WahGuru and humanity shall help them. (Later this assurance was repeated by Pandit Nehru too, when, at Calcutta, on the 6th of July 1946, he said: the brave Sikhs of the Punjab deserve special consideration; I don’t find wrong if an area is demarcated in the north of India where the Sikhs too can have glow of warmth of freedom.
When, in 1936, Dr B. R. Ambedkar, leader of the dalits (depressed classes), expressed his intention to embrace Sikhism, Gandhi opposed it tooth and nail as a result Ambedkar did not join Sikh faith; he had bowed to pressures from a Hindu like Gandhi; and he (Ambedkar) left this world
as a despondent person, though before his death he embraced Buddhism).
In August 1940, when Master Tara Singh, in a letter to Abu Kalam Azad, the then President of the Congress Party, explained the Sikh position on their enrolment in the British Army (during the 2nd World War), and also sent a copy of this letter to Gandhi, he (Gandhi) spoke even against kirpan, an article of Sikh faith; Gandhi wrote to Master Tara Singh: You have nothing in Common with Congress… you believe in the rule of sword, the Congress does not…98
When Master Tara Singh received this letter, he released the whole correspondence to the media; and, on the 12th of September 1940, he (Tara Singh) resigned the Congress Party (at that time the Akalis had double membership, of the Dal as well as the Congress; then the Congress did not consider the Dal as a ‘communal’ party), of which he was a delegate in the Punjab and also in the centre. In his resignation letter Master Tara Singh had mentioned his differences with Maulana Azad and Gandhi on the issue of enrolment to the army as well as on the offer made by Rajgopalacharya to the Muslims. On this issue some Hindu newspapers of the Punjab too opposed Gandhi and supported Master Tara Singh.99These newspapers demanded an apology from Maulana Azad (they did not ask Gandhi to apologise; it was Gandhi who had spoken against the Sikh faith and Maulana Azad). On the other hand Master Tara Singh issued a strange statement saying that his resignation was that of an individual (in personal capacity) and the Akali Dal shall continue co-operating with the Congress party; it was strange statement because Gandhi had said nothing against the person of Master Tara Singh rather he (Gandhi) had attacked the Sikh faith; it was an attack on religion and a nation; and the Sikhs as a whole should have reacted by renouncing, rejecting and condemning Gandhi and the Congress Party.
On the 28th of September 1940, the Executive of the Akali Dal condemned Gandhi’s commentary on kirpan and asked Maulana Azad to explain the position of the Congress
Party on this issue. On the 15th of October 1940, Pandit Nehru too asked the Sikh leaders to choose either Congress or ‘co-operation with the British’ (on the issue of enrolment to the Army); though Pandit Nehru had not made any communal commentary but his intention was to stop Sikhs from joining the British Army; not only Gandhi or Nehru not a single Hindu leader ever opposed Muslims’ recruitment to the Army; it was their (Hindus’) double standard; in fact they hated the Sikhs and not the enrolment to the Army.
On the 31st of December 1940, an Akali Conference was held at Fatehgarh Sahib; it was addressed by Giani Kartar Singh, Ishar Singh Majhail, Ajit Singh Ambalvi and others; all of them attacked Gandhi’s commentary on kirpan as well as the its attitude of the Congress Party towards the Sikhs; Ajit Singh went to this extent that he said that the principle of non-violence was against Sikh ideology and the Gurus themselves had resorted to use of arms to defend their principles when they were threatened by tyrants.
Though some such statements had been made by some Akalis against Gandhi but most of them were either mild and indirect or were of such nature that they should not offend Gandhi because they still considered him as their leader; in fact the Sikh leaders were either timid or had toady nature or were imbecile i.e. so feeble-minded that they could not read through the hypocrisy, wickedness, sham and fanatic mentality of Gandhi and Pandit Nehru; and when the latter had been exposed (like in the case of their attitude to Sikh kirpan) they (Sikhs) still did not dare rebuff or reject these fanatics. Most strange was the attitude of people like Udham Singh Nagoke and Amar Singh Jhabal groups who were extremely (and thoughtlessly) loyal to Gandhi in spite of his fanatic utterances; were they idiot or had the mentality of a slave is a moot question; but one thing is sure that their actions severely harmed the Sikh interest at that time and the Sikh nation had to suffer for times to come (and is suffering).
By the way Gandhi did not stop there (in 1940); he attacked kirpan again in the issues dated 5 and 12 July 1942, in his paper Harijan.
The Congress leadership was so fanatic and anti-Sikh that in 1945 it went to this extent that its Chief Whip ordered Mangal Singh M.P. not to ask questions about the Sikhs in the Central Assembly; at this the Akali Dal asked him not to sit in the Congress benches and seek a separate seat in the Assembly and represent the Panth only.
Gandhi did not stop even after the 15th of August 1947; he lived in this world for another five and a half months and he continued his fanatic attacks on the Sikh faith even during that period (read through his mind from his following assertions):
Gandhi made several utterances against the Sikh faith107 and the shameless Sikh leaders would listen to all this; either they were devoid of self respect or were hypocrite and had no faith in Sikhism or were ‘political prostitutes’ who would bargain their self-respect for office or a deal of profit. Udham Singh Nagoke, Partap Singh Kairon, Amar Singh Jhabal, Sardool Singh Kaveeshar, Darshan Singh Pheruman, Ujjal Singh, Zail Singh, Swarn Singh Jalandhar, Gurdial Singh Dhillon, Hira Singh Dard, Darbara Singh Jandiala, all fell prey to the fanatics like Gandhi and Nehru and ‘sold’ themselves.
Maulana Azad, who remained loyal to Gandhi throughout his life, in the 30 pages (which were, as per his will, published 30 years after his death) of in his book ‘India Wins Freedom’ has revealed that Gandhi and Nehru were no less communal persons. The same has been confirmed by Jaswant Sinh, a B.J.P. leader, in his book on Jinnah.108
Asses Lead Tigers
The Communal Award related to the issue of the proportion of different communities in the legislative houses; the Muslim League, the Congress and the Akali Dal manoeuvred for increasing quota for their communities; the Muslim League struggled for the rights of the Muslims and it did not compromise the interests of the Muslims and it did not trust the Congress and unequivocally declared that the Congress was a Hindu party; but, on the other hand the Sikh leaders were either behaving as tribal leaders fighting with each other on non-issues or behaving as naïve or foolish with regard to their Sikh national interests; secondly they did not realize that after the British were gone, in either of the countries, they would have just a small number of votes and their power won’t be of any value even when their religious issues were to be treated while making laws; they wasted all their time in meaningless agitations, negotiations on the issue of number of seats in legislative houses, councils or alike; their foolish aspirations to keep British India as an undivided administrative unit was a childish ambition.
During this period the best solution to the Sikh problem would have been to forget the Communal Award (1932) and begin serious struggle for the division of Punjab with a view of carving out a territory which would be their future independent country; they should have struggled for the division of the Punjab in three groups: (a) Sind to Jehlum/Raavi, (b) Jehlum/Raavi to Yamuna/Ghaggar and (c) Rohtak, Gurgaon and Bangru speaking areas beyond Jind; hence these three would have been Muslim, Sikh and Haryanvi-Hindu zones, and, in situation of the British granting independence to the sub-continent, these there would have become there countries but unwise, emotional and tribal leaders of the Sikh nation behaved as assess and harmed the community of lions to suffer, if not forever, at least for several decades or centuries, as slaves.
From the 17th of August 1932, when the British Government announced the Communal Award, the Sikhs gave it tough opposition at least up to 1934 but due to factional fighting and personality clashes this movement became weak and weak and finally it was forgotten. In October 1934, the annual session of the Congress Party was held at Bombay; to please the Sikhs, Madan Mohan Malvia, on the 27th of October 1934 proposed a resolution for rejection of Communal Award but when it was put to voting it could not succeed for want of just a few votes; at that time Sardool Singh Kaveeshar was a member of the Executive of the Congress Party and Gopal Singh Qaumi was a delegate; after the rejection of the resolution for rejection of Communal Award, Gopal Singh Qaumi walked out of the hall by saying ‘the Congress has disappointed the Sikhs’;109 in spite of this the Hindu leadership of Congress did not bother.
During this period the Sikhs’ attention was diverted to the issue of Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj and this too put the issue of Communal Award to shade; then came the elections to the S.G.P.C. in 1936 which further deviated the attention of the Sikhs away from Communal Award; and in 1937, the elections to the legislative houses were due to be held under the Communal Award; now the Sikh leaders forgot opposition to the Award and began preparation for contesting the elections.
For the Sikh seats three groups fielded their candidates: the Akali Dal, the Congress and the Khalsa Nationalist Party (headed by Sunder Singh Majithia and Sir Jogindera Singh); the Khalsa Nationalist Party had support of the raees (affluent persons), big landlords and big industrialists whereas the Akalis had the backing of small farmers and small businessmen. The Khalsa Nationalist Party issued a manifesto of ‘achieving freedom by lawful means’; it said ‘though there are several shortcomings in it, yet we accept the new Act (of 1935), and we shall endeavour to get it amended so that it should do full justice to the Sikhs’. The Akal Dal decided to contest elections in collaboration with the Khalsa Darbar, and, in a joint meeting of the Executive of both these organizations,
held on the 14th of June 1936, it was resolved that no Honorary Magistrate, feudal, Sardar Bahadur, Sardar Sahib or State-sycophant should be allotted tickets.110 In this meeting, presided over by Mangal Singh and attended by about 100 senior Sikh leaders, majority of the leaders were against holding elections in alliance with the Congress; most of those who opposed Congress had three major objections: 1. The Congress had played no role when the Sikhs struggled for permission to jhatkaaa (Sikh religion prohibits ‘halaal’ meat which is must for a Muslim and the Muslims opposed jhatkaa-meat slaughter houses/shops; though it was a question of genuine religious rights of the Sikhs but the Congress did not help them). 2. The Congress kept mum when the Muslims attacked the Sikhs during their agitation on the issue of Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Singhanian. 3. The Congress did not bother for the Sikhs’ opposition to the Communal Award.
Master Tara Singh too was opposed to an alliance with Congress and when he made his intentions known, Giani Hira Singh Dard, a thoroughly and blindly pro-Gandhi man, called him (Tara Singh) as ‘our Aurangzeb’;111 on one hand this appellation was in no way suitable and an idiotic comparison; on the other hand it was the same Hira Singh Dard who, just four years ago, had written an emotional poem in his own magazine to eulogise Master Tara Singh by calling him ‘Sun of the Sikh Panth’.112
On the 3rd of July 1936, in a statement Master Tara Singh said, ‘I cannot trust Congress because it showed its indifference even on the genuine issues of jhatkaa and Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj; it gives presumption that it (Congress) will remain silent even if the Muslims attack Darbar Sahib and massacre the Sikhs. I am a traitor of that Congress which is under the influence of Muslims and I will continue remaining so till it is free from Muslim influence; but, if Congress launches an agitation for freedom of country I shall be in the forefronts.’
The Akali Dal and the Khalsa Darbar resolved to make an alliance to jointly contest the elections and also resolved not
to have any alliance with the Unionist Party;113 a joint Election Board was selected which issued a 19 point election manifesto:
When Akali Dal and Khalsa Darbar resolved that it would contest elections independently and won’t have alliance
with Congress or any other Party, some leaders resigned from Khalsa Darbar, prominent among them were Mangal Singh (President of Khalsa Darbar) and Harcharan Singh Bajwa (General Secretary of Central Khalsa Youth League); in August 1936, these leaders held a meeting and announced that they would have alliance with the Congress. Fearing division among the Akali circles, Master Tara Singh called an All Sikh Parties Conference on the 3rd of August 1936. In this meeting Gopal Singh Qaumi suggested: ‘if we co-operate with the Congress it will be honourable for us, so we should contest as Congress candidates’; retorting to this Giani Sher Singh said: ‘this meeting is concerned with the Sikhs and not the Congress’. To resolve the situation Master Tara Singh suggested a joint Election Board of the Akali Dal and the Congress.114
But this Conference could not reach any final decision; as a result some despondent leaders formed a new party in the name of Congress Sikh Party on the 16th of August 1936; it was joined by Master Mota Singh, Master Kabal Singh, Sohan Singh Josh, Gopal Singh Qaumi, and Karam Singh Maan etc.115 But this situation did not last long as many leaders of the Akali Dal and the Congress continued manoeuvring and negotiations for an alliance of both the Parties; and, finally on the 14th of November 1936 both the Parties decided to have electoral alliance:116 under this agreement both the Parties agreed to co-operate on 24 seats; out of which the Akali Dal was to field candidates for 14 seats and the Congress was to contest 10 seats;117 from amongst the Akali candidates prominent were Baldev Singh, Swarn Singh, Partap Singh Kairon, Giani Kartar Singh, Kapur Singh (not I.C.S.), Narotam Singh etc.
When the results of the elections were announced 23 of 24 joint candidates won election whereas the Khalsa Nationalist Party had to be content with 3 seats only,118 the rest went to the independents out of which one (Sodhi Harnam Singh) had been supported by the Akali Dal; among the winning Akalis include Baldev Singh, Giani Kartar Singh,
Kapur Singh, Sampuran Singh, Tikka Jagjit Singh, Arur Singh also.119
After the elections, the first joint meeting of all the Sikh groups was held at Amritsar; it was attended by Master Tara Singh, Baba Wisakha Singh Dadehar, Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna, Gopal Singh Qaumi, Ishar Singh Majhail, Sohan Singh Jalalusman, Partap Singh Kairon, Teja Singh Chuharkana, Gurmukh Singh Musafir, and Balwant Singh Dukhia etc; this gathering resolved to observe the 1st of April as Protest Day against the new Act.120
On the other hand, as no single party had won absolute majority, Sikander Hayat Khan of the Unionist Party formed an alliance with the Khalsa Nationalist Party and some independents; hence, on the 17th of February 1937, Governor Emerson invited Sikander Hayat Khan to form Government;121 the Akalis too, much earlier, had expressed their liking for Sikander instead of Fazali Hussain as the Chief Minister.122 The Sikander cabinet included Abdul Haya and Sikander Khijar Tiwana (both Muslims), Sunder Singh Majitha (Sikh); Sir Chhotu Ram and Manohar Lal (Hindus).
Sikander Hayat Khan’s first crisis was the protest strike which was going to be observed on the 1st of April which was being observed against the new Act; the Akal Dal too, in its meeting of the 1st of March 1937, had announced its support for this strike.123 A joint Strike Committee of the Akali Dal, the Congress Party and several small organisations was formed which held a meeting on the 8th of March 1937 in Bradlaugh Hall at Lahore; it was attended by the representatives of Akali Dal, Congress Party, Socialists, Kirti Party, Ithad Millat, Students Union, Punjab Youth League etc.
Two weeks before the proposed strike of the 1st of April, i.e. on the 14th of March 1937, when Sunder Singh Majitha visited Lyallpur first time as a cabinet minister, some workers of the Akali Party led by Giani Kartar Singh, held a demonstration against him124 and raised slogans ‘Accepting Communal Award is treason with the Sikh Panth’; this was the first protest against any member of the Sikander Cabinet.
When the Sikh leaders were engaged in making the strike of the 1st of April a success, some fanatic Muslims attacked the Sikhs in Kot Bhai Than Singh (this incident has been mentioned with detail in an earlier chapter about ‘Muslim excesses on the Sikhs’); hence the Dal had to play its role on two fronts: religious as well as political; there was another front too; although the Akali Dal had contested elections in alliance with the Congress Party yet some of the leaders who were supporters/sympathizers of the ‘Congress Sikh Party’ began playing the role of informers of the Congress Party. In view of this organisational crisis the Akali Dal called the meeting of its General House on the 24th and the 25th of April 1937 at Amritsar; the proceedings of this meeting were kept totally secret and no outsider or special invitee was allowed in this meeting. This meeting, attended by 103 delegates and presided over by Teja Singh Akarpuri, resolved that the Akali Dal should be reorganized, and, an officer-bearer of the Akali Dal should not hold any office in the S.G.P.C.125
On the other hand, the Congress Sikh Party elected Sarmukh Singh Jhabal as its President; its Executive included Gopal Singh Qaumi, Hira Singh Dard, Sohan Singh Bhakna, Sardool Singh Kaveeshar, Teja Singh Chuharkana, Karam Singh Cheema etc. In its meeting held on the 27th of April, it resolved that ‘a member of any religious party won’t be allowed to join their party’;126 but this was an organization of some despondent and disgruntled leaders hence they could not enlist many followers and within a few months it lost even its relevance and finally its existence.
It was a difficult time for the Akali Dal: according to Udham Singh Nagoke: “At one time Giani Kartar Singh had proposed a resolution in a meeting of the Executive of the Akali Dal which (resolution) said that the Dal has lost its relevance and it should be disbanded and a new organization should be set up; retorting to this Babu Labh Singh had said: ‘Gianiji you have disbanded the Akali Dal now you should leave this organization with us we shall resurrect it’; hearing this Giani Kartar Singh withdrew the resolution.”127 Although
Giani Kartar Singh could not disband the Akali Dal but, in the meeting of the Executive of the Dal, held on the 14th of June 1937, he succeeded in getting through resolution of Akali legislatures having joint Akali-Congress seats in the Council and the Assembly as well as joint membership of Akali Dal and Congress Party; and, this meeting elected Darshan Singh Pheruman as President and Ishar Singh Majhail as General Secretary of the Dal (both were pro-Congress activists).128
Along with organisational crisis, the Akali Dal had to deal with the Muslims’ excesses at Kot Bhai Than Singh; the Dal decided to launch an agitation on this issue. The next week another crisis opened another front foe the Alkalis; on the 10th of August 1937, the Chief Khalsa Diwan –Khalsa Nationalist Party (which was a partner of the Punjab Government) dismissed services of Professor Niranjan Singh129, a staunch follower of M.K. Gandhi and 5 other Professors of Khalsa College Amritsar and also issued warning to four others; all these were vocal and active supporters of the Congress Party. On the 12th of October 1937, the Punjab Political Conference condemned the management of the Khalsa College.130
On the 15th of October 1937, annual session of the Muslim League was held at Lucknow; it was attended by Sikander Hayat Khan too; and during this session he held a private meeting with and Mohammed Ali Jinnah in which they agreed to have an alliance between the Muslim League and the Unionist Party; this agreement was, later, known as Sikander-Jinnah Pact; according to this Pact: 1. Sikander Hayat Khan would call a meeting of the Unionist Party and ask his members to become members of the Muslim League too. 2. Both the groups (Muslim League and the Unionist Party) will collaborate with each other in all the elections 3. Those who are elected as the candidates of the Muslim League or accept the membership of the Muslim League they will be considered as ‘Muslim League Party in the Unionist Party’ and they will have independence to form alliances or cabinets.
This Pact brought major change to the Punjab Cabinet; it was no more an alliance of Unionist Party and Khalsa
Nationalist Party but, now, it was a Cabinet of Muslim League, Sikh feudal, Hindu Capitalists and Christians. The Shiromani Akali Dal realized this as a dangerous development and called a joint meeting of the Executive and the Akali M.L.As., on the 28th of October 1937; this meeting opposed the Sikander-Jinnah Pact and resolved that all the Akali M.L.A.s should form a joint group with the Congress M.L.A.s in the Punjab Council.
In January 1938, the Government of the Punjab announced new policy on land revenue; and, it became a reason for reaction from the Sikh farmers; to oppose the revenue policy, a protest meeting was held at Mori Gate Lahore, on the 24th of January 1938 which was attended by about fifty thousand persons followed by a procession raising slogans like ‘Sikander Sarkar Murdabad’ (down with Sikander Government), ‘Inqilab Zindabad’ (long live revolution); in fact this five kilometres long procession was mainly a Sikh-Akali affair.131
During this period the Dal made two very important decisions regarding the Sikh prisoners who had launched armed struggle against the British regime in 1914 (Ghadr Party) and 1922 (Babar Akalis); and as a follow up, on the 11th of March 1938, the Executive of the Shiromani Akali Dal resolved to set up a ‘Sikh Desh Sewak Fund’ to help the families of the Sikh political prisoners;132 and then, on the 31st of May 1938 the general house of the Dal passed a resolution expressing its happiness over the releases of the Babar Akalis (the militants who had been released after serving life terms, i.e. about 14 years, in jails).133
By this time the issue of Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Singhanian again flared up; the Congress party exhibited its indifference on this issue because during that period it (Congress Party) had been negotiating an alliance with the Muslims; reacting to the silence of the Congress Party on this issue, the Executive of the Dal, in its meeting, held on the 16th of May 1938, passed a resolution asking the Congress to fulfil
its assurance of ‘not agreeing to any arrangements with the Muslims that won’t be not acceptable to the Sikhs’.134
On the 20th of July 1938, another demonstration was held at Amritsar to protest against the Irrigation Department; it had been arranged by a Committee headed by Udham Singh Nagoke; about sixty thousand persons joined the protest meeting held at Jallian Wala Bagh; this gathering was cane-charged by the police; several persons including Nagoke were wounded. On the 3rd of August 1938, the Executive of the Dal condemned the police action.135
On the 9th of October 1938, the Dal held a ‘Sikh Nationalist Conference’ attended by the Akalis and all the other Sikh groups (except the Khalsa Nationalist party and the Chief Khalsa Diwan); this Conference condemned the role and performance of the Unionist Party in the recent political developments.136At that time, most of the members of the Executive of the Akali Dal were pro-Congress hence both the Parties acted in collaboration with each other.
On the 26th and the 27th of November 1938, annual session of the Akali Dal was held at Rawalpindi, presided over by Baldev Singh; and attended, among others, by Subash Chander Bose too; on the last day, a mammoth gathering too was held which was attended by more than fifty thousand Sikhs; it condemned: (1) the role of the Unionist party, (2) the new revenue laws as well as (3) the Muslim role on the issue of Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Singhanian;137 this Conference made an appeal to all the Akalis to join the Congress Party too (on the pattern of the Unionists joining the Muslim League); Baldev Singh delivering his ‘presidential lecture’ said: ‘Next to WahGuru and the Gurus I accept the lead of the Congress; and I don’t do this because of any personal reasons but because I feel that this is the only organization representing national honour and dignity.’138
The proceedings of this Conference gave an impression that the Akalis and the Congress Party will ever work together and no situation will be able to separate them from each other; but, in fact, all the reactions of the pro-Congress group were
just sentimental expressions and spontaneous reactions born out of their frustration with the Unionist Party due to latter’s alliance with the Muslim League. It was strange that the Akali leaders were placing the Congress just next to the Gurus, whereas just a few months earlier the same Party had condemned its (Congress) role over Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Singhanian; hence, such emotional outbursts were nothing but foolish expressions which were not to last long because the Arya Samajist and other fanatic mind of the Hindu leadership of the Congress Party had something different in their mind which the naïve and foolishly sentimental Sikh leaders could not read.
In 1939, scenario of the Punjab Congress underwent a change with the election of Saif-ud-Din Kitchlew as the President of the Punjab Congress on the 30th of January 1939; and, on the other hand Subash Chander Bose was elected President of the All India Congress Party, defeating Pattabhai Sitaramaiya (a candidate of Gandhi-Nehru-Patel syndicate);139 and, disregarding sportsman spirit, the defeated candidate as well as Vallabhai Patel, Rajinder Prasad, Maulana Azad, Seth Jamuna Das, Bhulabhai Desai and some others resigned from the Congress Party.
On the religious front the Akalis still reigned supreme; in the elections held to the S.G.P.C., on the 15th of February 1939, they won with thumping majority;140 perturbed over their defeat, Tikka Jagjit Singh M.L.C., a supporter of the defeated group, proposed an amendment to the Gurdwara Bill 1925 proposing appointment of a ‘Control Board’ to monitor the S.G.P.C.;141 the Akali Dal vehemently opposed such an undemocratic move and observed the 19th of March 1939 as ‘Anti Tikka Bill Day’ and held congregations throughout the Punjab to show public support to their opposition to, and rejection of, the proposed amendment.142 On the 27th of March 1939, the Executive of the Dal resolved to form Akal Regiment, a semi-military organisation of the Sikh volunteers (like a martyrs’ army); Master Tara Singh was selected as its first Chief of Army. This meeting also expressed concern that
in Patiala and other Sikh States the Sikhs were being discriminated by non-Sikh officers; they (Sikhs) were not being given Government jobs; it demanded a fair deal with the Sikh in appointment for the Government jobs in the Sikh States.143 In a meeting of its Executive, held on the 16th of May 1939, the Akali Dal, passed a resolution that all the employees of the Gurdwaras and the Akali Dal must be ‘initiated’ Sikhs (who had taken khanday-di-pahul).144 In the meeting of the Executive of the Dal, held on the 27th of June 1939, the Dal expressed concern and anxiety on the news of perpetration of excesses with the Sikhs in the Sikh State of Faridkot.145 On the 1st of October, the Dal demanded recruitment of more Sikhs to the British-Indian Army and more Government jobs for the Sikhs; it also demanded appointment of one Sikh member to the Viceroys’ Council; it also condemned the functioning of the Sikander Government in the Punjab.146
Second World War and the Sikhs
On the 1st of September 1939, Adolf Hitler, the Chancellor of Germany, attacked Poland and two days later, Chamberlain, the Prime Minister of Britain declared war on Germany; and, with this began the 2nd World War and India being a colony of Britain, it too became a party to the war as slaves of the English.
There were different currents of opinion among the political parties of the British India regarding this war; in the Punjab, Sikander Hayat Khan, the chief minister of Punjab, declared unconditional support of the Muslims for the British Government; among the Akalis the leadership was divided on this issue as some leaders were blind supporters of the Congress Party which was opposed to participation in the War, whereas most of the Sikh leaders and Sikh elite wanted to fecilitate and co-operate with the British.
The 2nd World War did not begin spontaneously; Hitler had been making preparations for this war since long and England and its allies (later known as ‘Allies’) were fully aware of it. The British Indian leadership too was conscious about it; hence on the 1st of May 1939, Sikander Hayat Khan had proposed a resolution in the Punjab Council which said that ‘If there is a war between England and Germany, the Punjab will stand by England’; and this resolution was passed unanimously.147 Again, on the 25th of August 1939 Sikander Hayat Khan proposed a like resolution in the Punjab Council extending full support for the British in the War. The War actually broke in September and two months later, in November 1939, Sikander proposed another resolution extending complete support for the Allies; and this resolution was passed with 104 votes in favour and 39 votes against it; a clause of this resolution had asked the British Government to assure that after the War is over, it will grant Dominion Status to the British India and will ensure rights of the minorities’
On the Sikh scenario, the Akali Dal called a meeting of the Sikh elite; on the 1st of October 1939, a big gathering of the
Sikh leaders and elite was held at Amritsar; this gathering discussed the pros and cons of the War; and after deep deliberations, the Akali Dal proposed a resolution: 1. The Sikhs shall support the British in the War 2. The Sikhs should be given more representation in the Army 3. A Sikh representative should be appointed to the Viceregal Council 4. The Sikhs should get suitable representation in the Government jobs.148
A group of the pro-Government activists, called on Maharaja Yadavinder Singh of Patiala, and requested him to lead the Sikh nation for its support to the War; this delegation included Joginder Singh Maan M.L.C., Lt Col. Raghbir Singh, Master Sujan Singh and others. The Akali Dal arranged an ‘All Sikh Parties Conference’ at Lahore on the 20th of January 1940; this Conference resolved to form ‘Khalsa Defence League’. Though the pro-Congress Hindus had been opposing participation in or support for the British during the War, this Sikh Conference motivated them too to show their loyalty to the British regime and this group included Gokul Chand Narang, Raja Narinder Nath, Parma Nand too; several other Hindu elite too extended their full support for the British.
On the 10th and the 11th of February 1940, an Akali Conference was held at Attari (Amritsar); in this Conference, ten thousand recruits of the newly formed ‘Akal Regiment’ showed their militant strength by performing all the military exercises; this Conference passed five resolutions: 1. The Sikhs oppose the demand for Pakistan149 2. Maharaja Nabha should be released 3. British India should be given complete freedom 4. Rights of the minorities should be safeguarded 5. At least one Sikh should be included in the Executive of the Congress Party; and, this Conference did not pass any resolution in support or opposition of participation in the War.150
As there were divided opinions among the Sikhs regarding the support for the War, a confidential meeting of the Executive of the Dal was held on the 5th of July 1940; in this meeting most of the leaders were in favour of extending full support for the War; the Sikh leaders were also concerned
about the recruitment of the Sikhs in the Army; the Sikh leaders wanted to support the British in the War and in return get facilities for the Sikh nation. During this period, Major Short and John Bull were playing very active role and had been mediating on the Sikh-Muslim and Sikh-British issues.151 But the Sikh-Muslim unity was spoiled when, on the 13th of July 1940, some fanatic Muslims stabbed and killed Awtar Singh Barrister Gujranwala, who was a very senior Akali leader.152
On the 17th of July 1940, an Akali Conference was held at Dhardeo; this Conference passed a resolution offering one hundred thousand soldiers in case the British assured complete freedom.153 By this time, the Congress and the Akalis had been fully co-operating with each other. In this scenario Rajgopalacharya issued a statement which meant that ‘the Congress will extend full support for the War if the British announces transfer power to the Indians and the Congress shall accept even a Muslim as Prime Minster’; this statement was, later, known as ‘Rajaji Offer’ and ‘Rajaji Formula’ ; but this Offer said nothing about the Sikhs. To discuss the impact of the ‘Rajaji Offer’, a meeting of the Executive of the Akali Dal was held on the 9th of September 1940; this meeting passed resolution: 1. Rajaji Offer is unjust and it is against the national interests 2. The Congress Party should explain its position on the demand for Pakistan 3. The rights of the Sikh nation should be safeguarded.154
During this period, Master Tara Singh had written a letter to Maulana Azad in which he (Master Tara Singh) had supported the move for recruitment of the Sikhs to the Army; Master had sent a copy of this letter to M.K. Gandhi too; Maulana Azad did not react to this letter but Gandhi gave aggressive reaction to the letter of Master Tara Singh; Gandhi’s letter also said: “You have nothing in common with Congress…you believe in the rule of sword, the Congress does not..”
Gandhi’s letter smelt of his fanaticism and his words on kirpan, a Sikh article of faith, exposed his hatred for Sikhism; when Master Tara Singh received Gandhi’s letter he
was very much perturbed by the uncalled for comments and unreasonable attack of Gandhi on Sikhism; at that time he (Master) was a delegate of the Congress for the Punjab as well as the Centre, he resigned both these positions and also released Gandhi’s hate letter to the media.155 However, on the 18th of September 1940, Master Tara Singh issued a strange statement saying that his resignation from the Congress was in his individual capacity and the Akali Dal shall continue its co-operation with the Congress Party;156 this statement was an unwise act by Master Tara Singh because Gandhi had not attacked or criticized Master Tara Singh but had attacked fundamental principles of Sikhism.
On the 28th of September 1940, a meeting of the Executive of the Akali Dal condemned Gandhi’s comments about Sikhism and asked Congress to explain its position about the statement of Maulana Azad. This meeting also condemned Rajaji Offer and reminded the Congress of its 1929 assurance of safeguard for minorities.157
Not only Gandhi but even Pandit Nehru, in a statement issued on the 15th of October 1940, asked the Sikh leaders to choose between the cooperation with the English in the War and an alliance with the Congress Party.158 But, in spite of this the Akali Party, under the President-ship of Teja Singh Akarpuri, sailed in two boats; it continued its support for the British in the War and also passed a resolution supporting Civil Disobedience Movement of the Congress Party.
On the 31st of December 1940, annual session and a Conference of the Akali Dal was held at Fatehgarh Sahib; in this meeting several Sikh leaders, including Giani Kartar Singh and Ishar Singh Majhail criticized Gandhi and the Congress; Master Ajit Singh Ambalvi, the Secretary of the Akali Dal went to the extent of saying the principle of non-violence was against the Sikh principles as even the Gurus themselves had resorted to violence to defend their religion and to fight against the tyrants.159
Gandhi had made clear statement against the Sikh fundamentals and he never withdrew his words nor did he say
sorry nor did Congress Party tried to clarify its position; and several Sikh leaders issued statements against Gandhi’s hate-statement;160 but, in spite of this over loyal followers of Gandhi continued their unconditional support of Gandhi as if they were not concerned with their religion or they were so foolish that they were not able to read the mind of a hypocrite, dishonest and wicked person like Gandhi; in other words they were not capable to recognize and identify their esoteric and cryptic enemy; such naïve persons included Udham Singh Nagoke, Amar Singh Jhabal and his brothers, Mangal Singh, Hira Singh Dard etc. One can’t say whether it was this the state of mind of these leaders, or their intentional treason with their religion or their greed for some short termed benefits.161
In January 1941, the Punjab Government declared that Urdu will be the medium of instruction in the province; on the 14th of January 1941, the Akali Dal vehemently opposed it and demanded that Punjabi should be the medium of instruction.162 The Akali opposition on the issue of medium of instruction compelled the Government of the Punjab to declare that it will maintain status quo and it (Government) issued a statement to this regard on the 20th of January, thus avoiding an agitation by the Akali Dal on this issue as it had been planned.
On the 15th of February 1942, an Akali Conference was held at Rurka Kalan (district Jalandhar); this Conference passed resolutions: 1. A ‘national Government’ should be formed 2. The demand for Pakistan should be rejected 3. The Unionist Government in the Punjab should resign. This Conference also demanded permission for jhatkaa (non-halaal) meat, teaching of Gurmukhi in the schools, exemption to religious places from all types of taxes;163 a day later, the Akali Dal demanded equal treatment with the backward sections of society.164 On the 22nd of February 1941, the S.G.P.C. actually issued an ultimatum to the Unionist Government on the issues of for jhatkaa (non-halaal) meat, teaching of Gurmukhi in the schools and exemption of religious places from all types of taxes.
On the 21st of July 1941, the Viceroy added some members to his Council but none of them was a Sikh; the Sikhs strongly reacted to this; at this the Akal Dal called an All Parties Sikh Conference on the 10th of August 1941, at Teja Singh Samundari Hall, Darbar Sahib, Amritsar; a very large number of Sikh leaders, elite and activists attended this Conference. Presided over by Baldev Singh, it was attended among others by Master Tara Singh, Sir Jogindera Singh, Sant Singh M.P., Ujjal Singh, Sodhi Harnam Singh, Dasaundha Singh minister Punjab, Sampuran Singh M.L.A., Joginder Singh Maan M.L.A., Pritam Singh Sidhu and Dr Randhir Singh. This meeting demanded appointment of a Sikh member to the Viceregal Council and permission for jhatkaa in the Punjab; it also passed resolution for no confidence in the Unionist Government in the Punjab; when the last resolution was passed Dasaundha Singh (who was a minister in that Government) walked out of the meeting; however it was supported by Rai Bahadur Wisakha Singh (President of Chief Khalsa Diwan), Santokh Singh (leader of opposition in the Council) and Lt. Col. Raghbir Singh Rajasansi.165
On the 10th of August 1941, Ujjal Singh resigned from the office of Parliamentary Secretary as a protest on the issue of non inclusion of a Sikh in the Viceregal Council.166
On the 2nd of September 1941, a 15 member Executive of the All Parties Sikh Conference was selected; Master Tara Singh was to act as Patron; Baldev Singh and Ujjal Singh became President and Secretary respectively; the other members included: Sir Jogindera Singh, Lt Col. Raghbir Singh, Rai Bahadur Wisakha Singh, Udham Singh Nagoke, Giani Kartar Singh, Ishar Singh Majhail, Teja Singh Akarpuri, Santokh Singh M.L.C., Sant Singh M.P., Harnam Singh Advocate, Principal Niranjan Singh, Babu Labh Singh.167
In September 1941, bye-election was held for the Batala seat which had fallen vacant due to the death of Sunder Singh Majithia; the Akali candidate Gurbakhsh Singh Advocate defeated Kirpal Singh (son of Sunder Singh Majithia) and established the supremacy of the Akali Dal;
during this election Sir Chhotu Ram used all his efforts, energy and sources to create division among the ranks of the Sikh Panth by raising the issue of Jatt and non-Jatt (Majithia was a Jatt and Gurbakhsh Singh was a non-Jatt) but the Sikhs rebuffed him by not voting on the basis of caste168 (however, later, in 1960s, Partap Singh Kairon, succeeded in dividing the Sikh nation on the basis of caste, area and other distinctions; which harmed the Sikhs very heavily, and is still harming them).
During this period, the demand of Pakistan was gaining momentum; though more than 90% Muslims were in favour of Pakistan still some Muslim leaders were trying (some sincerely and some just for eye-wash) to oppose this demand; and, a group of such Muslims as well as some Hindus and Sikhs held some Conferences in the name of ‘Unity Conference’; the first of such Conferences was held at Ludhiana on the 2nd of November 1941; and in this Conference the leaders, including Master Tara Singh and K.M. Munshi, took vows to preserve unity of (the British) India;169 the second such conference, was held at Lahore on the 30th of November 1941; and the third such Conference was also held at Lahore on the 15th of December 1941. In between a Hindu-Sikh Unity Conference was also held at Amritsar on the 7th of December 1941. These Conferences could achieve nothing except raising slogans of preservation of the unity and opposition to the demand of Pakistan; however these gatherings diverted the Sikhs’ attention from the demand of an independent Sikh State.
Year 1941 however came as a blessing in disguise for the Akali Party when, on the 16th of November 1941, after a separation of 15 years, Master Tara Singh and Giani Sher Singh, declared that they have decided to forget and forgive everything, and, in future both shall be ‘one voice’.170
Cripps Mission
Earlier, on the 23rd of March 1940, the Muslim League had passed a resolution for the creation of Pakistan and the Sikhs had vehemently opposed it. By this time the World War II too had entered a new phase; Japan had occupied Pearl Harbour on the 7th of December 1941; on the 15th February 1942 the British had lost Singapore and on the 7th of March 1942, Rangoon, the capital of Burma (Myanmar) too had been captured by Japan; and, with the help of Indian National Army, the Japanese were heading towards the Eastern zone of British India. The Indians were angry with the British and had been struggling for freedom from the British; and, a large section of Indians in the Eastern Zone of the British India were the supporters of Subash Chander Bose who had joined hands with Germany and Japan; besides the British Indian soldiers had formed the Indian National Army and were now fighting against the British Army on the Indo-Burmese borders; at one juncture it seemed that Japan may push the British out of India.
In this scenario, on the 11th of March 1942, Sir Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of England, announced the formation of a Commission to grant political rights to the Indians; this Commission comprised of three M.Ps one each from all the three main political parties in England; it was headed by Sir Stafford Cripps hence it came to be known as Cripps Mission; the Cripps Mission reached Karachi by ship on the 22nd of March 1942, and on the 23rd of March, it offered ‘Dominion Status’ to the Indians. The offer of Dominion Status granted several rights to the Hindus and the Muslims but it had offered no rights or safeguards to the Sikhs and the other minorities; hence the Sikhs were perturbed over this. After this, the Cripps Mission held talks with several leaders of different political parties of India between the 24th and 29th of March 1942.
During this period an Akali Conference was going to be held at Vahila Kalan and it had to be postponed due to
arrival of the Cripps Mission. The Akali leaders too held talks with Sir Stafford Cripps; and on the 31st of March 31, 1942, they submitted a memorandum on the Sikh situation and the Sikh demands; it said that the Cripps’ offer of Dominion Status divided British India into provinces and helped in the creation of Pakistan; and, the Sikhs had been badly ignored; whereas the Sikhs had always made great contribution during both the World Wars. The memorandum further said that why should a particular community be granted all the rights and why a minority, which does not want to remain under the subjugation of majority, should not be given a separate independent province of their own. It also said that the real Punjab was up to Jehlum River; Jhang and Multan, the Muslim majority area, had been added to the Punjab by the English for the purpose of joint administration; in the real Punjab, the Muslims are not in majority. As per this memorandum, in the two eastern Divisions of Ambala and Jalandhar and three central districts of Lahore, Amritsar and Gurdaspur, the non-Muslim population would be 63% as against 37% of the Muslims (though the Sikhs were not going to be majority in this area, they could hold the balance of power; however, the otherwise could also happen if the Muslims and the Hindus make an alliance against the Sikhs – though it could be a remote probability); the following were the figures of population as per the census of 1931:
Muslims 45,05000
Sikhs and other non Muslims 76,46000
Muslims 82,88000
Sikhs and other non-Muslims 93,48000
Besides, in the Sikh States of Patiala, Nabha, Jind, Faridkot and Kapurthala the number of the Muslims was just 20% of the total population of about 26 lakhs. The Sikh memorandum said that they (Sikhs) were the rulers of the Punjab up to 1849; and, they would oppose a decision to
separate their province from the rest of British India; it further stated that though the Sikhs are 37,50,000 in number which was just 13½% of population but they paid 25% share of tax and 40% share of the land revenue of the total income of the Punjab; besides they (Sikhs) managed 4 colleges and 400 schools with their own money; further, the Sikhs had their religious shrines throughout this zone.
The Sikh memorandum also reminded Cripps Mission that Montford Report (in para 163) had agreed that it is not wrong to deny the same rights to the Sikhs which are being demanded for the Muslims of the Punjab; it further added that even the Simon Commission had appreciated that a small nation like the Sikhs offered eighty thousand soldiers for the First World War which was higher than all the communities in British India at that time (at that time the total number of the Sikhs in the British Indian Army was 1,21,500); the memorandum said that the Communal Award of 1932 had done grave injustice to the Sikhs of the Punjab by granting just 18.8% seats to them against a population of 13.5% in the province whereas 30% seats had been granted to the Muslims in the Uttra Pradesh where they were 14.8% of the population of that province. It demanded that the Sikhs must have 33% share and in no way it should be less than 25%. The Sikh memorandum demanded:
On the 2nd of April 1942, the Central Akali Dal, under the president-ship of Kharak Singh, demanded total rejection of the Cripps’ offer as with regard to the Sikhs’ position that was not acceptable because that would permanently subjugate the Sikhs under the rule of a majority community.172
On the 4th of April 1942, an All Parties Sikh Conference was held at Amritsar; it was attended by, among others, Master Tara Singh, Giani Sher Singh, Babu Labh Singh, Giani Kartar Singh, Darshan Singh Pheruman, Harcharan Singh Hudiara, Channan Singh Urara and others; this Conference resolved that “the Cripps Scheme is incomplete and wrong because it will be dangerous to give right of separation to any province simply on the basis of majority of population; it clearly meant creation of Pakistan and it also meant running over the rights of minorities like the Sikhs in the Punjab; the Conference asserted that it would oppose creation of Pakistan”.173
Not only the Sikhs but other communities too rejected the Cripps Mission’s offer; hence, on the 11th of April 1942, the British Government withdrew this offer. But, one of the main outcomes of the Cripps Mission was that the British had indirectly conceded Pakistan to the Muslims.
Another Phase of the Sikh-Muslim Alliance
The Akali Conference, which was to be held in March 1942 at Vahila Kalan and had to be postponed due to arrival of
the Cripps Mission, was held there on the 24th of July 1942; this Conference demanded that the Punjab should be divided into two zones: Muslim and non-Muslim.
On the other hand, the Congress Party began ‘Quit India’ Movement on the 8th of August 1942; and, with this all the senior Congress leaders were arrested and sent to different jails. On this issue the Sikh leadership was divided; Master Tara Singh was not in favour of participating in this Movement because, in case of success of this Movement, the Hindus and the Muslims would have been benefitted but the Sikhs would have had no future hence he (Master) kept aloof; but the other group headed by Gurmukh Singh Musafir, Kairon, Darshan Singh Pheruman and Udham Singh Nagoke courted arrests.
On the 26th of September 1942, an Akali Conference was held at Lyallpur; speaking in this Conference, Master Tara Singh ridiculed Gandhi’s ideology of non-violence and cautioned the Sikh to be careful about the Sikh national interests; he also warned the pro-Gandhians not to be emotional as it could be harmful for the nation.
The Muslim ladders tried to cash the Akali Congress differences and in such a scenario Giani Kartar Singh held several meetings with the Muslim leaders and discuss a Sikh-Muslim union; but, Jinnah was not ready to give right of independence to the Sikhs in the situation of failure of the Sikh-Muslim Union. It was common belief that the Muslims leaders were communal but the Hindu-Congress too was trying to please the Muslims of the Punjab at the cost of the Sikhs.174
Baldev Singh joins Punjab Cabinet
Since the Communal Award (1932) the Sikhs and the Muslims had been behaving almost as aliens; both stuck to their stand of share of power in the Punjab; and, during this period, majority of the Akalis supported an alliance with the Congress Party but on the other hand the Chief Khalsa Diwan and the Khalsa Nationalist Party had an alliance with the Unionist Party of the Muslims of the Punjab.
During this period, England was at war with Germany and the British Indian Army went to the Europe and Far East to fight for the English and the Allies; thousands of new recruits joined the Indian British Army most of them were Sikhs; the Congress Party was opposed to it and it led to almost a split in Sikh-Congress relations, but, it benefitted the Sikhs as their number in the Army rose very high which was useful for them in many a way. In this scenario, Major Short tried to create congenial atmosphere between the Sikhs and the British regime; in March 1942 the Governor of the Punjab visited Khalsa College Amritsar to preside over a function; during this visit he had a meeting with Master Tara Singh and both agreed to improve Sikh-English relations; during this meeting, the Governor also suggested the Akalis to join hands with the Unionists or at least join the Unionist-led government in the Punjab. By that time Sunder Singh Majithia was dead (and his son Kirpal Singh had been defeated by an Akali candidate) and the Unionist Party had appointed Dasaundha Singh in his place who was an inept and weak personality whereas Sunder Singh Majitha had a charismatic personality (the Unionist Party had rejected Ujjal Singh of the Khalsa Nationalist Party because he was a non-Jatt and Dasaundha Singh was a Jatt). When the Unionist Party came to know about the new development, it immediately supported the idea of Akali-Unionist co-operation with a view that after this the Akalis won’t be aggressive on the issue of Pakistan, or, at least, being a part of the Government, they won’t be in the forefront of every agitation against the regime as, earlier, the Sikhs had been contributing most in all the agitations.
On the other hand the Nationalist Party too had had a split because rejection of Ujjal Singh as a minister for being a non-Jatt had created a rift among its rank and file and now it were Jatt and a non-Jatt, two undeclared groups in the Party (by then, Chhotu Ram’s mischief of ‘Jatt’ and ‘non-Jatt’ had begun playing its role).
But, at this juncture, the Akalis played a wise role; they did not enter a direct alliance with the Unionist Party; Baldev
Singh, son of a rich industrial tycoon of the day, formed a new group by wooing some members of the Khalsa Nationalist Party, and by attracting some independent and some Akali M.L.Cs. During this period Major Short played the role of a mediator between Sikander Hayat Khan of the Unionist party and Baldev Singh (who had the blessings of Master Tara Singh); on the 15th of June 1942 Sikander Hayat Khan and Baldev Singh held a formal meeting and both discussed several issues and made agreement on crucial Sikh demands; it, later, came to be known as ‘Sikander-Baldev Singh pact’; ten days later, on the 26th of June Baldev Singh was sworn as minister in the Punjab replacing Dasaundha Singh. According to the Sikander–Baldev Singh Pact the Government had agreed to grant the Sikhs permission for jhatkaa meat, teaching of Gurmukhi script as well as supremacy of the Sikhs while framing laws involving Sikh religion, representation of the Sikhs in Centre and quota for the Sikhs in services.
When Sikander-Baldev Singh negotiations were going on and the terms of the proposed agreement came into light, the Sikhs from all walks of life appreciated it but on the other hand the Congress Party received a bog jolt; the perturbed Congress and Hindu leaders reacted to Baldev Singh’s joining ministry by calling it ‘embarking a sinking boat’; the communal Arya Samajist Hindu leaders called it ‘a very weak support for the waning regime’;175 When Baldev Singh was sworn in, the Communists called it ‘an agreement of imperialist forces to put more burden of taxes on the poor;’176even the opponents of Master Tara Singh criticized this agreement; so much so that Kharak Singh’s party the Central Akali Dal, in its meeting of the 7th of February 1943, labelled Master Tara Singh and Mohammed Ali Jinnah as agents of Sir John Cripps and the puppets of the imperialist forces. Master Tara Singh tried to present this agreement as an alliance of Sikander and Baldev Singh, two individual personalities and not that of the Akalis and the Unionists; but it was just an excuse because had the Dal been opposed to it, it
(Dal) would/could have issued notice to its M.L.C.s which it did not; however, it could be called an ‘unofficial’ agreement.
From point of Sikh-English relations too this agreement benefitted the Sikhs; within a few weeks the Viceroy added one Sikh to his Executive; with the appointment of Sir Jogindera Singh the Viceregal Council had now 9 in place of 8 members; Jogindera Singh was given charge of health, education and land affairs. Since long, the Sikhs had been passing resolutions and holding demonstrations to have a Sikh member in Viceregal Council but had not been successful and this ‘agreement’ fulfilled their this demand too; in fact the Sikhs could have accomplished several such achievements through negotiations but the Congress and its agents in the Akali Dal always provoked the Party to chose path of confrontation and non co-operation; simple Sikh leaders could not smell the role of the agents of the anti-Sikh forces who wanted that the Sikhs should always remain at the mercy of the Hindu Congress; and this element always succeeded in fooling the over enthusiastic, foolishly emotional Sikhs in the name of nationalism and other fake slogans; so much so that these Sikhs used to forget even their Sikh national agenda and the welfare of their nation whereas the Muslims would not be wooed by cunning Congress leadership; for them their national interest was first and foremost.
After Baldev Singh’s joining the Sikander Government the Sikhs were allowed jhatkaa meat; 20% seats in Government jobs were reserved for the Sikhs; and they had now complete freedom for wearing or carrying kirpan and regarding other religious matters. In spite of this some Gandhi devotee Sikhs tried to get this agreement broken/rescinded but they could not succeed. On the other hand, within a short period the rest of the M.L.Cs of the Khalsa Nationalist Party too joined hands with Baldev Singh with a view to reap the benefits of power; and soon there was only Akali Party which represented the Sikhs in the Punjab Council.
Pakistan versus Sikh State
When, on the 23rd of March 1940, the Muslim League had passed the resolution for the creation of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the chief of the Muslim League, had said that ‘the Muslims can’t survive from the nation led by Gandhi who had vice in his mind (for the Muslims); hence it (Pakistan) was a must.’ But, this demand had not come up suddenly with this statement by Jinnah, Sir Mohammed Iqbal was perhaps the first person to raise this demand in 1929 when he was addressing a Muslim Conference; in his speech he had advocated exclusion of the Ambala division from the Punjab;177 exclusion of the Ambala division would have increased the Muslim population in the Punjab to more than 63%. The same idea had been advocated even by Geoffrey Corbett178during the Round Table Conference; he had opined that the Ambala division had no relation with the Punjab and it had been included in the Punjab with a view to punish it for its participation in the mutiny of 1857. Even in 1935, Rehmat Ali, a student of Cambridge University in England, too had published a pamphlet ‘Now or Never’ in which he had advocated the idea of an independent Muslim nation, and, at that time even Jinnah had laughed at this idea.
On the 23rd of March 1940, when the Muslim League passed the resolution for the creation of Pakistan, at first it was not taken much seriously but when several Muslim organizations began supporting it and its creation looked like a reality the Sikh leaders got scared, Akali Dal was the first to react followed by the resolution by the Khalsa Nationalist party (on the 29th of March) and resolution by a Conference of Kharak Singh’s Central Akali Dal (in June 1940).
On the 19th of May 1940, about 125 Sikh leaders belonging to various organization, held a meeting at Amritsar and demanded that ‘the territory from Jamraud to Jammu had been taken over by the English from Daleep Singh as Trustees; hence it should be returned to the Sikh nation; to establish this
‘Guru Khalsa Raj’ a Committee of 21 members was elected in this meeting.179
In this scenario, on the 23rd of August 1940, Rajgopalacharya made an offer (later known as Rajaji offer) to the Muslims which said that in case they (Muslims) gave up the idea of creation of Pakistan they (Muslims) would head a national government; though Rajgopalacharya had made this offer simply to wean Muslims against the demand of Pakistan but it was vehemently opposed by the Sikhs.
On the 1st of December 1940, a huge conference was held at Lahore, it was attended, among others, by Master Tara Singh, Giani Kartar Singh, Mahasha Krishan, Raja Narinder Nath, Professor Abdul Majeed Khan, Dr M.S. Annay, Jalal-ud-Din Ambar etc; this Conference passed a resolution condemning the demand for the creation of Pakistan.180
Almost during the same time Dr Vir Singh Bhatti of Ludhiana published a pamphlet in the name of ‘Khalistan’ and presented the demand of a Sikh State in reply to the demand of Pakistan; in fact Dr Vir Singh had not opposed Pakistan but had advocated the creation of a Sikh country as a buffer state between the proposed Pakistan and Hindustan. Dr Bhatti had suggested a country which should include the Sikh States of Patiala, Nabha, Jind, Kapurthala, Faridkot, Kalsia, as well as the of districts of Simla, Ambala, Karnal, Hissar, Rohtak, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Firozpur, Amritsar, Lahore, Lyallpur, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Montgomery. Dr Bhatti had suggested that this state should be headed by Maharaja of Patiala and the Government should include representatives from all the communities.181
Azad Punjab Scheme: Dr Vir Singh Bhatti’s proposal did not attract attention of many leaders but, after the failure of the Cripps Mission in April 1942, the issue of Pakistan again got momentum. In between came up the Sikander–Baldev Singh Pact. But having seen the possibility of creation of Pakistan as a reality, the Sikh leaders too began thinking of another alternative; on the 24th of July 1942, the Akali
Conference at Vahila Kalan had demanded the division of the Punjab into Muslim and non-Muslim zones. In May 1943, the Akali Dal had put forth the demand for Azad Punjab; it proposed of division of the Punjab into three zones: Muslim (from border of Afghanistan up to Jehlum river), multi faith (Jehlum to Yamuna river) and Hindu (beyond Yamuna river) zones; in the multi-faith zone none of the communities would have absolute majority (Muslims 40%, Hindus 40% and Sikhs 20%) and there should be a joint/coalition government in that zone; in furtherance of this demand, on the 7th of June 1943, the Akali Dal passed a resolution182 for carving out ‘Azad Punjab’ (name given to the multi-faith zone) from out of the existing Punjab as an administrative and political unit; this resolution changed the whole scenario as well the atmosphere of the Punjab; it did affect Sikander – Baldev Singh Pact too.
On the 26th of December 1943 Sikander Hayat Khan the Chief Minister of the Punjab died; this led to almost chaotic political situation in the Punjab; and, after this the Punjab became a ground for the movements for the demand for Azad Punjab, Sikh State and Khalistan on one hand and Pakistan on the other hand. By this time, the Sikh College (Sikh National College) at Lahore too had come up with open support for ‘Azad Punjab’; it actually published its ‘manifesto’ demanding the re-division of the Punjab into three zones (Muslim, Hindu and multi-faith); it meant the creation of a neutral or non-communal zone in the middle of the then territory of the Punjab in such a manner that there should not be absolute majority of any community.
It is very interesting to note that the scheme proposed by Akali Dal in the name of ‘Azad Punjab’ and supported by Sikh College at Lahore was not opposed much by the Muslims; rather it were the Hindus who opposed it most, and, some personal opponents of Master Tara Singh too joined them; at this Master Tara Singh challenged the Hindus to prove if there was even any minor harm for the Hindus in the scheme of ‘Azad Punjab’; he declared that he would immediately
withdraw this proposal if it is proved that it was against the interests of the Hindus of the Punjab.
The opposition to the scheme of Azad Punjab by some Sikh leaders was unprincipled and it was merely clash of personalities; the opponents of Master Tara Singh, especially Kharak Singh and his cronies, did not want him to get credit of this ‘scheme’; they went to this extent that they began propagating against the person of Master Tara Singh and they even provoked the Sikhs living in the area, especially Rawalpindi and Multan, which were left out of the proposed territory of the ‘Azad Punjab’; so much so that the local unit of the Akali Dal of Jehlum passed a resolution against this ‘scheme’ and the high command of the Akali Dal had to disband this unit.
In this scenario, the Central Sikh League was revived on the 5th of July 1943; more than 130 Sikh elite from the various walks of life attended this meeting; Harnam Singh Advocate was elected the president, Swarn Singh Jalandhar and Hukam Singh were elected vice presidents, and, Gurbakhsh Singh Advocate was elected general secretary; a sub-committee comprising of Master Tara Singh, Giani Sher Singh, Harnam Singh Advocate and Giani Kartar Singh was also formed to chalk out further strategy. Bhagat Jaswant Singh, Teja Singh Akarpuri, Gian Singh Vohra, Ajit Singh Ambalvi, Amar Singh Dosanjh too had attended this meeting and all of them supported the scheme of ‘Azad Punjab’.183
On the 14th and the 15th of August 1943 a Sikh Political Conference was held at Gurdwara Punja Sahib (Hassan Abdal, Rawalpindi district); it was attended by Giani Sher Singh, Master Tara Singh, Bakhshi Gurcharan Singh and other leaders; this Conference too passed a resolution in favour of ‘Azad Punjab’ scheme.184
In spite of this, disgruntled Sikh leaders continued propaganda against the ‘Azad Punjab’ Scheme; on the 8th of August 1943, Sant Singh M.P. (Central) too issued a statement against ‘Azad Punjab’ scheme;185 reacting to this Master Tara Singh reminded him that he (Sant Singh) was one of those who
had drafted the 17 point Charter (submitted to Gandhi on the 20th of March 1931)186 and the clause 4 of that Charter was nothing but the ‘Azad Punjab’ proposal.187
On the 23rd of January 1944, an Akali Conference was held at Delhi; this gathering also supported the demand for Azad Punjab; besides statements in favour of Azad Punjab were issued by Pritam Singh Gojran, Principal Ganga Singh and Swarn Singh Jalandhar and several others too. On the other hand, on the 17th of January 1944, Central Akali Dal again opposed the demand for the ‘Azad Punjab’; especially Kharak Singh and Jhabal brothers were very vocal against this demand. In the last week of February 1944, when mid-term election to the seat of Peshawar was being held, Kharak Singh and Jhabal brothers delivered aggressive speeches against the scheme of Azad Punjab which turned the people of Peshawar against the Akali Dal and due to this Akali Dal’s Balwant Singh lost this seat to Saran Singh of Congress by 81 votes;188 this defeat shocked the whole of the Sikh Panth as Peshawar had always returned Akali candidate with thumping majority. Master Tara Singh was so much dismayed that on the 4th of March 1944, he resigned from the president-ship of the Akali Dal and the S.G.P.C.;189 and, on the 6th of March he left Amritsar for an undisclosed place for self-imposed exile.190 When this news reached the Sikh elite they were very much distressed; so much so that Harcharan Singh Bajwa called it as ‘a dark day for the Sikh nation.’191
On the 9th of March 1944, election for the president-ship of the S.G.P.C, was held; Master Tara Singh’s Akali Dal had more than 75% majority but still Kharak Singh group contested; however Partap Singh Shankar (of Master Tara Singh party) secured 111 of the 119 polled votes, thus more than 92% votes; it was a shameful defeat of anti Azad Punjab group; this session of the S.G.P.C. also passed a resolution asking Master Tara Singh to end his self-imposed exile and return home to serve the Panth.192
On the 16th of April 1944, the Sikh Educational Conference was held at Sargodha; it demanded establishment
of Sikh University in the Punjab (on the pattern of Banaras Hindu University and Aligarh Muslim University).
By this time there were rumours of Muslim League forming government in the Punjab because after the death of Sikander Hayat Khan the Unionist Party had disintegrated and many of its members had joined hand with the Muslim League; on the 19th of April 1944, several Sikh leaders met at Lahore and issued a joint statement rejecting the idea of Muslim League’s government in the Punjab; they also appealed the Sikh members of the Punjab Council not to join such a Government.193 Again, on the 23rd of April 1944, an All Parties Sikh Conference was held at Lahore; it resolved to give tough resistance to the formation of a Muslim League government in the Punjab;194 this Conference appealed the Sikh members of the Punjab Council not to join such a Government; Baldev Singh immediately responded by stating that he won’t join the Muslim League government; on the 2nd of May 1944, the leaders of the All parties Sikh Conference appreciated Baldev Singh’s gesture.195
On the 13th of May 1944 an Akali Conference was held at Amritsar; it was addressed by Giani Sher Singh, Giani Kartar Singh, Amar Singh Dosanjh, Principal Ganga Singh, Master Ajit Singh Ambalvi; it passed a resolution in favour of Azad Punjab; it also demanded establishment of Sikh University, release of political prisoners. This Conference also passed a resolution condemning Arya Samajist leader Daya Nand’s book ‘Satyarath Parkash’ and demanded exclusion of four chapters of the controversial book in which the author had made derogatory remarks about Guru Nanak Sahib and other non-Hindu personalities.196
On the 8th of June 1944, a meeting of the Executive of the Akali Dal was held at Amritsar; it demanded 1. Faridkot State should give jobs to the Sikhs too. 2. 60% jobs in Patiala State should be given to the Sikhs197 3. Punjabi should be made state language in the whole of the Punjab 4. The Sikhs should be given quota in jobs in the Central regime 5. Punjab should act upon Sikander–Baldev Singh Pact 6. Mian Abdul Majid,
the prime minister of Kapurthala State was an anti-Sikh person hence he should be removed from this office.198
On the 27th of June 1944 the Dal observed the birthday of Master Tara Singh on Party leveland requested him to return home and lead the Panth.199
Rajaji Formula and Its Opposition by the Sikhs
In the meantime another development created great disturbance in the Sikh circles; on the 16th of July 1944, Rajgopalacharya suggested a new formula to solve the communal problem; this ‘Formula’ (then known as Rajaji Formula) conceded Pakistan to the Muslims in the form of two separate entities under one central regime but it did not say a word about the plight of the Sikhs; under this ‘Formula’ 17 districts of the Sikh population were expected to be a part of the Muslim zone and 12 districts were to be a part of the Hindu zone; hence, the Sikhs rejected this formula with one voice.200 Even Hindu leader like S. P. Mukerjee condemned this ‘Formula’.201
To discuss the situation arising out of Rajaji Formula, an All Parties Sikh Conference was called at Lahore; on the 1st of August 1944, Sikh leaders from all the organizations, except the Central Akali Dal of Kharak Singh, attended this Conference; this Conference passed resolutions: 1. Rajaji Formula should be rejected 2. Master Tara Singh should come back from exile and take over the command of the Panth 3. The Sikhs should get 20% share in the Central regime 4. A deputation should meet Gandhi and ask him to reject Rajaji Formula. On the same day the Executive of the Akali Dal was held at Lahore; it decided to hold protest rallies and congregations to observe anti- Rajaji Formula Day.202
In between, on the 28th of July 1944, Mangal Singh Gill M.P. had made another strange statement which said that “the demand of Azad Punjab has been raised in the situation of creation of Pakistan, and, if Pakistan is not going to be carved out then we don’t have any such demand; then Azad Punjab
will be a part of India; it is different from the demand of Pakistan and not on the lines of Pakistan”.203
On the 5th August Muslim leader Mohammed Ali Jinnah issued a statement: ‘The Sikhs are a separate nation; I assure that the Muslim League shall do justice with the Sikhs; the Sikh leaders should submit their demands to me; the Sikhs have their interest mainly in the Punjab whereas Muslim League aims at defending the rights of all the minorities, they may be in Hind or Pakistan; the Sikhs should not come under the influence of the others.’204
Gandhi, on the 6th of August 1944 issued a statement justifying Rajaji Formula by saying that ‘Rajaji Formula is a right step for a compromise (between Hindus and Muslim); the anxiety in the Punjab is unjustified.’205
On the 16th of August 1944, an Akali Conference was held at Srinagar; this Conference passed a resolution rejecting Rajaji Formula and resolved that ‘the interests of the Sikh Panth were first and foremost for us’.
By this time Master Tara Singh had returned to the Punjab from self-imposed exile of five months and had rejoined active politics again; after his return he called an All Parties Sikh Conference on the 20th of August 1944 at Amritsar; this Conference ‘ordered’ (not requested) Master Tara Singh to launch an agitation against the Rajaji Formula; it also resolved: 1 Rajaji Formula should be rejected 2. A Sikh State should be created. Later, Mangal Singh suggested an amendment on the issue of Sikh State and proposed that the Sikh State should be such a territory where no community should have absolute majority; Mangal Singh’s proposal was left to be discussed by a Sub-Committee which was to be formed by Master Tara Singh.206
This was a real representative gathering of the representatives of the Sikhs; invitations had been sent to 714 Sikh leaders and other elite, and out of this 561 responded to the call; only Kharak Singh-Amar Singh Sher-i-Punjab group boycotted it; when Master Tara Singh personally visited Amar Singh to request him to attend even then he bluntly refused;
those attended included Master Tara Singh, Giani Sher Singh, Baldev Singh, Mangal Singh, Basant Singh Moga, Ujjal Singh, Jathedar Mohan Singh Nagoke, Ajit Singh Sarhadi, Giani Kartar Singh, Master Ajit Singh, Rai Bahadur Wisakha Singh and Hazura Singh (respectively president and secretary of Chief Khalsa Diwan) as well as several other representatives of Singh Sabhas and several Sikh organisations; the Communist had not been invited; Kharak Singh’s Central Akali Dal boycotted it; and, some representatives of Rawalpindi Singh Sabha walked out of the gathering on the plea that the meeting was not being held at Akal Takht and Kharak Singh was not present in the meeting.207Harbans Singh Sistani, Hazura Singh, Awtar Singh Azad, Master Daler Singh (almost non entities) said that this Conference did not represent the Sikhs as many leaders had not attended it (in fact only Kharak Singh, Amar Singh of Sher-i-Punjab and their group had not attended this meeting).208
On the same day Gandhi issued another alluring statement to silence the Sikhs which said: ‘the Sikhs shall be consulted before final agreement is made.’209
On the 31st of August 1944, a meeting of the Executive of the Akali Dal resolved that: “the Congress had assured the Sikhs that it won’t agree to any solution that did not satisfy the Sikhs; there are 700 Gurdwaras of the Sikhs in the whole of the Punjab for which thousands of the Sikhs had spilled their blood; Gandhi and Jinnah are negotiating dividing territories between them at the cost of the rights of the Sikhs;” the Dal asked the Sikhs to observe the 3rd of September as a protest day in the name of ‘Anti Rajaji Formula Day’ and resolutions be passed condemning and rejecting Rajaji Formula; the Akalis asked the Sikhs to send such resolutions to Sir Jogindera Singh, the Sikh minister to be forwarded to the British regime.210
As announced, the 3rd of September was observed as ‘Anti Rajaji Formula Day’ throughout the Punjab; on this day an Akali Conference was also held at Delhi; this Conference passed a resolution in favour of the formation of the Azad
Punjab; speaking in this Conference Amar Singh Dosanjh said: ‘Jinnah’s Pakistan has boundary up to Ambala and Rajaji Formula established Pakistan up to Phagwara; for the Sikhs both are wrong. Sir Sobha Singh, while addressing this Conference, said: ‘the English had taken over the Punjab from the Sikhs and they had a duty to return the same to them.’211
On the 5th of September 1944, Master Tara Singh demanded the creation of a Sikh State; he said that the Sikhs contributed 26% of the total revenue of the Punjab and one third of the land of the Punjab was owned by the Sikhs.212 On the 13th of September 1944, an Akali Conference was held at Lyallpur; it resolved to send a deputation to London to oppose Rajaji Formula. On the 22nd of September an Akali Conference held at Bundala (Jalandhar) too passed a resolution against Rajaji Formula.
Though the Sikhs had been vehemently opposing the Rajaji Formula but the Muslims and the Congress were secretly planning to implement it without bothering for the Sikhs; so much so that Gandhi and Jinnah held a meeting at the former’s residence in Delhi; and, when the Sikhs received information about this meeting some of them went to the venue of the meeting for making protest against it; the police arrested all of them;213 however, Gandhi-Jinnah talks failed and an announcement to this regard was made public on the 28th of September 1944.
On the 2nd of October 1944, a Conference, in the name of Guru Singh Sangat Sabha was held at Amritsar; in this Conference Giani Sher Singh declared that ‘now the Sikhs shall have to demand Sikh State’ (it meant that the Sikhs don’t need sovereignty and the demand of Sikh State was just a reaction to the creation of Pakistan). Giani Kartar Singh made another foolish speech saying that ‘to get reward of their sacrifices for the English, the Sikhs shall have to side openly with the English’214; Master Tara Singh said that Gandhi and Jinnah both had ignored the Sikh interests.215
On the other hand some Hindu leaders were still trying to woo the Sikhs making the latter to take confused stands; on
the 8th of October 1944, a Conference in the name of Akhand Bharat Conference (literally: United India Conference) was held at Delhi; however, in this Conference Master Tara Singh said: “the Sikhs are the defenders of the state of India; the Punjab belongs to us; this is a Sikh State; Gandhi can’t exile out the Sikhs from India; even if the majority of the Hindus accepts Pakistan, it has no right to force it on the Sikhs.”216 On the 11th of October 1944, Mangal Singh, while addressing an Akali Conference at Lyallpur, said, “Don’t push us into Pakistan against our will.”
On the 14th of October 1944, an Akali Conference was held at Lahore; on one of its gates, named after Giani Sher Singh (who had died on the 7th of October 1944), one could read a slogan ‘beware of the Russian agents’; while unfurling flag during this Conference, Master Tara Singh declared that the Sikhs were facing three dangers: 1. The Communists 2. The English and 3. Gandhi and Jinnah; the English have given nothing to the Sikhs, Communists are enemies of religion, and, Gandhi and Jinnah are harming the Sikh nation by usurping, and dividing among themselves, the Sikhs’ Homeland.217 This Conference rejected Rajaji Formula by dubbing it as a ‘sin’ and passed a resolution saying that ‘we are not passing resolution for creation of Sikh State; we have still left our doors open for negotiations.’218
On the 24th of November 1944, when some Sikh leaders met Jinnah; he told them: “You may accept it or not but Pakistan will be created; no power on this earth would be able to stop it; but, why don’t the Sikhs demand Sikhstan instead of opposing Pakistan?”219
On the 25th of November 1944, the Akali Silver Jubilee Conference was held at Jandiala (Jalandhar); this mammoth Conference was attended by more than two hundred thousand Sikhs; it adopted resolutions for the release of all the political prisoners and resolved that ‘the Sikh shall not remain under the subjugation of any single majority’;220 in this Conference all the speakers opposed the creation of Pakistan but they did not present forth the demand for carving out of a Sikh State. On
the 30th of December 1944, a gathering of the Sikh elite in the name of Servants of the Sikh Society; attended by more than fifty elite Sikhs including Justice Teja Singh, Bhagat Jaswant Singh, Headmaster Mehtab Singh, Pritam Singh Safeer, Gurmukh Nihal Singh requested the British regime to find solution to the Sikh problem.221
Congress Party supports Satyarath Parkash, a book insulting Guru Nanak
During all this time, the naive Sikh leaders had been opposing Pakistan on one hand and talking of a ‘united India’ on the other hand; but, at the same time the Congress had been exhibiting not only its indifference to the future of the Sikhs but also behaving as an anti-Sikh Party and the Hindu members of the Punjab Congress went to the extent of representing the Arya Samaj; so much so that it (Congress), in a gathering held in the name of the Punjab Congress Workers Conference, held at Ludhiana, passed a resolution222 condemning the Akali opposition to the Arya Samaj founder Daya Nand’s book Satyarath Parkash in which derogatory remarks had been written against Guru Nanak Sahib and other non-Hindus (but, there were some stupid Sikhs like Sampuran Singh M.P. who, in one function, accepted a gift of Satyarath Parkash and appreciated its author).223 When the Hindu activists of the Punjab Congress passed a resolution on the issue of the Satyarath Parkash, an Akali Conference held at Fatehgarh on the 26th and the 27th of December 1944, on the eve of the martyrdom day of the two Sahibzadas and Mata Gujri, strongly condemned the resolution of the Congress workers passed on the 17th of December at Ludhiana; again, on the 8th of January 1945, the Executive of the Akali Dal also passed a resolution condemning the Congress gathering at Ludhiana.224 The Ludhiana Congress’s anti-Sikh resolution was an eye opener and the stupid Akali leaders were still expecting justice from such a Congress which not only vigorously and ardently supported but also passed a resolution condemning opposition to a book which insulted
Guru Nanak. Further, the Congress Party leadership had gone to this extent that its Chief Whip in the Central Assembly ordered Mangal Singh M.P. (who had been elected as an Akali M.P. but had been sitting on the Congress Benches due to alliance of both the Parties) not to ask questions on the Sikh issues in the Central Assembly; at this the Akali Dal told him to ask the Speaker to allot him an independant seat as an Akali M.P.225 It was in this scenario that imbecile leaders of the Akali Party were still having faith in the (Hindu) Congress and were interested in a ‘united India’.
Sapru Committee
During this period, some individuals had been making attempts to find some solution to the problems of the most critical issues like that of communal problem in the Punjab and Bengal; Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru was the main person behind this move; with the help of some other elite he formed a Committee and made attempts to find some solution to the communal problem; as Sapru was the main leader of this movement, this Committee came to be known as Sapru Committee; this Committee held a few meetings in which representatives of all the three major communities presented their view points.
On the 2nd of February 1945, a meeting of the Sikh leaders was held at Lahore; it discussed the draft of the Sikh memorandum to be presented before the Sapru Committee; those who attended the meeting included Master Tara Singh, Jodh Singh, Ujjal Singh, Ishar Singh Majhail, Kartar Singh Kaimbalpuri, Surjeet Singh Majithia etc; this memorandum was presented before Sapru Committee on the 22nd of February 1945; those who signed this memorandum included those who had passed it as well as R. B. Wisakha Singh, Saran Singh M.L.A. and Sampuran Singh M.L.A.; in all 18 M.L.As signed this memorandum.226 According to this memorandum, the Sikhs had demanded that the Muslims should not be given absolute majority in the Punjab because Punjab is the Homeland of the Sikhs and not the Muslims. The Hindu
memorandum had demanded freedom and equality for all the communities.
On the 2nd of April 1945, Jinnah told the Sapru Committee: ‘there is no question of a united India; Pakistan is the first and the foremost question.’227 After this declaration by Jinnah it was clear that the Sapru Committee won’t be able to play any role; however it submitted its ‘Report’ on the 8th of April 1945; according to this ‘Report’: 1. Fundamental rights should be declared 2. Pakistan should not be created 3. A Minority Commission should be formed which should carefully and minutely study the case of the Sikhs, Hindus and Indian Christians in the Punjab and present its findings before the Constituent Assembly. 4. The Constituent Assembly should have 51 Hindus, 51 Muslims, 8 Sikhs, 7 Indian Christians, 2 Anglo Indians, 1 European, 3 backward class and 20 backward classes representative; besides 16 representatives from ‘special categories (Commerce, Industry, Universities, Labour, Women). It also recommended that the Sikhs should get 3.5% share of the 8.3% quota of jobs reserved for minorities (Sikhs, Indian Christians, Parsis, and Anglo-Indians).228 The ‘Report’ also recommended election of one representative after each one million population. K.M. Munshi appreciated this ‘report’ and Rajagopalachari made an appeal to all the communities to accept it. But, on the 16th of April Master Tara Singh demanded of the Sapru Committee to do away with absolute majority for the Muslims in the Punjab as ‘the Punjab is our body, soul and life’;229 he also demanded complete freedom for jhatkaa meat, right to kirpan, mother tongue as medium of instruction as well as using of Punjabi as the official language;230 but Sapru committee did not answer these issues.
In this scenario, a meeting of prominent Sikh leaders was held at the residence of Baldev Singh, in Lahore on the 26th of April 1945; it was attended by Master Tara Singh, Giani Kartar Singh, Joginder Singh Maan, Basant Singh Moga, Ujjal Singh, Lal Singh M.L.A., Kartar Singh Campbellpuri, Sarup Singh (president Sikh Students Federation), Ishar Singh Majhail, Harcharn Singh Bajwa, Amar Singh Dosanjh, Master
Ajit Singh etc; this meeting resolved that the Sapru Committee recommendations were not acceptable to the Sikhs as those suggested no solution to the Sikhs and the Punjab problem.231
On the 29th of April 1945, a Conference in the name of U.P. Sikh Conference was held at Kanpur; addressing the audience, Master Tara Singh said: “The Sikhs shall preserve their independent identity; the Muslims don’t accept Indian nationalism because, in reality, it is just the ‘Hindu Raj’, similarly the Sikhs won’t accept a Muslim majority rule in the Punjab. The Sapru Committee should have clearly explained the Muslim position in the Punjab; if the Hindu majority has to be ended in the Centre then why should the Muslim majority not be ended in the Punjab; hence the Sapru Committee recommendations are nothing but a farce.”232
On the 5th of May 1945, while addressing the Frontier Akali Conference at Peshawar, Mangal Singh said: “There should be equal representation to all the religions in the Punjab; the Sapru Committee recommendations are acceptable in the case of the Centre but not in the Punjab; the British government should also make a promise that it won’t create Pakistan.”233
Hence, none of the major three communities supported the recommendations made by the Sapru Committee; neither the Hindus were happy nor the Muslims or the Sikhs; it could not satisfy anyone; and thus, this non-official Committee met an unsung death. After this the slogans of Pakistan, Sikh State, and Azad Punjab again came forth; but, in June 1945, when Lord Wavell announced holding of a Conference at Simla and the attention of everybody turned towards that Conference.
Ajit Singh Sarhadi joins Muslim League Ministry in N.W.F.P.
In the N.W.F.P. Assembly, there were 2 Sikh M.L.As; one of them belonged to the Congress and the other one, Ajit Singh Sarhadi, was an Akali. In May 1944, in the N.W.F.P., relations between the Sikhs and the Muslims became cordial; Giani Sher Singh had played major role in this development;
especially after three meetings held between Aurangzeb Khan of the Muslim League and Ajit Singh Sarhadi M.L.A. at Peshawar, Amritsar and Delhi, both developed friendly relations; finally, in May 1944, the Muslim League and the Akali Dal reached an agreement; it was like the Sikander–Baldev Singh Pact of 1942; and, on the 13th of May 1944 Ajit Singh Sarhadi was sworn as a minister in the N.W.F.P.
Ajit Singh’s joining the N.W.F.P. Government was negatively reacted by the Hindus; whereas the fundamentalist Hindu leader Vir Savarkar was of the opinion that where Muslim League is sure to form Government, the Hindus and the Sikhs should not hesitate from joining it; in spite of this fanatic Hindus and some Sikh activists who were over-loyal to Hindu Congress were angry and they condemned it; at this Master Tara Singh used the old tactic and declared that the Aurangzeb–Ajit Singh Sarhadi agreement was between two individuals and was not an official (Akali Dal’s) decision. Though Master Tara Singh had issued this statement but the truth is that He (Master) and Giani Sher Singh were of the opinion that where there was no possibility of coming into power, it is better to share power with others; especially in that particular situation of the N.W.F.P. where the Congress had refused to commit a Sikh minister in case it formed ministry in that province. In such a situation, the Akalis’ joining the Muslim League ministry was a wise step; because if the Congress was concerned primarily in the interests of the Hindus and the Muslim League had only Muslim interests on its agenda, the Akali Dal was fully justified in taking steps for the welfare of the Sikhs only.
Simla Conference (1945)
When the 2nd World War ended the British regime decided to grant more rights and facilities to the people of the British India; in this regard, Lord Wavell, the British Viceroy, made an announcement in Delhi, on the 14th of June 1945; it said: 1. A new Executive Council will be set up in which the Governor General will not have much control 2. Home and finance ministries will be with the Indians 3. This will be an all Indian Council and the only non-Indian members will be the Viceroy and the Commander-in-chief of the British Indian Army 4. This ‘Council’ was to function till the passing of the new constitution which was to be framed by the Constituent Assembly (which was to be duly elected by Indian people by direct voting) 5. In the provinces coalition governments were to take charge.234
This announcement granted a lot to the people of the British India although the Governor General still had right to veto but it had been assured that this power won’t be misused. In furtherance of this plan, the Viceroy called a meeting of the representatives of all the major Parties of India at Simla; from among the Sikhs Master Tara Singh was to participate in this meeting; in this situation Tara Singh requested Baldev Singh, Giani Kartar Singh and Udham Singh Nagoke to accompany him to Simla so that he may get their advice if it was needed. Though formal meeting was to be held on the 29th of June the delegates reached Simla on the 25th of June and began corner meetings; on the 27th of June Tara Singh held a meeting with Bhula Bhai Desai; the same day Baldev Singh too held a meeting with the Viceroy; Master Tara Singh and Mohammed Ali Jinnah too had separate meetings with the Viceroy.235
Though the formal meeting was to be held on the 29th of June it had to be postponed to 14th of July; on the 6th of July, the Viceroy asked the Parties to nominate their representatives for appointment to the Executive Council; the Congress was told to propose 8 to 12 names; the Muslim League to propose 4 names, the Unionists (in the Punjab) were to give 3 names, the
backward classes 4 names, and, the Sikhs and the Christians were to propose 3 persons each so that the Viceroy may select members of the Executive from that list; the Viceroy also declared that he was not bound to nominate Muslim members of the Council only from the Muslim League list.236
The Akalis were happy with this announcement because the Sikhs had been accepted as an independent party for the first time and had been given separate quota; and, the Akali Dal had been given right to nominate its own ministers for the Central Cabinet (members of the Executive Council). Master Tara Singh was especially concerned with the position of the Sikhs in the Army; so he was interested in taking up this question in the meeting to be held on the 14th of July.
On the 6th of July 1945, the Akalis held a private meeting to select three names to be submitted before the Viceroy; finally the names of Master Tara Singh, Giani Kartar Singh and Kairon were agreed upon.237 Here too over-loyal followers of Gandhi and Congress fell prey to the Congress manoeuvring to submit a joint list of the Congress Party and Akali Dal; in a way it meant ending separate quota for the Sikhs; Mangal Singh Gill met Gandhi and Maulana Azad and finalised a joint list of 15 persons; from amongst the Sikhs the name of Master Tara Singh alone238 was included.
On this day, the Muslim League took a rigid stand; it demanded an assurance that all Muslim representative shall definitely be from the Muslim League list; on the 8th of July 1945, the Muslim League handed over representation to Lord Wavell to assert this point; this created a position of dead-lock. To bring a possible solution, on the 11th of July 1945, Gandhi went to Jinnah to negotiate on this point but the later refused to budge; Jinnah was so stubborn that he won’t allow a Muslim name even from the list of the Muslim dominated Unionist Party of Punjab. On the other hand, the Congress too took a stand that at least one Muslim should be nominated to the Executive Council from the Congress list. Master Tara Singh suggested that as it was just an interim government, this issue
should not be made a matter of prestige and it should be left to mediation.
When both, the Muslim League and the Congress, stuck to their stands, on the 14th of July 1945, Lord Wavell announced an end to the Simla Conference; he said that he himself owned the responsibility for the failure of the Conference though stubbornness of Jinnah too was responsible for this.239 Reacting to this Jinnah said that as the Congress had wooed the other minorities, it was necessary to defend the interest of the Muslims. Master Tara Singh reacting to the failure of the Conference said: “It was the failure of great men on a small issue; and it was likely to spread wave of gloom and pessimism.”240
Unwise statements by the Sikh leadership
After the failure of the Simla Conference, Master Tara Singh, while addressing the media at Simla, said, “I shall oppose Pakistan even if I shall have to face civil war; if Jinnah wants Pakistan then he shall have to accept the Sikh demand for Khalistan; Punjab is the ‘homeland of the Sikhs’; had the Simla Conference succeeded, and I or some other Sikh member of the Executive Council would invariably have supported the Congress Party.”241 But, such statements neither pleased the English nor the Muslims; on the other hand, in spite of such statements, the Congress Party was still indifferent to the Sikhs interests; rather, it (Congress) was ever ready to sacrifice the Sikhs intersest to please the Muslims.242
Master Tara Singh puts forth analogy of Israel
When Master Tara Singh was free from the impact of pro-Gandhi or pro-Congress elements, he would behave very intelligently; once, while rebutting the point that the Sikhs were not in majority in any district of the Punjab, he presented the analogy of Israel (Jews versus Palestinians) and said, “This logic is wrong that the Sikhs are not in majority in any area; if Israel can be created in the Palestine zone for the Jews who are just 10% of the population then why can’t Khalistan be
carved out;”243 Master Tara Singh further said that “Sikh Homeland should be carved out by placing the cities of Lahore and Amritsar in the centre in such a plan that the major Sikh cities should be included in this zone; the major important Sikh religious places must be a part of this zone.” 244
The English begin talking of transferring power
In the last week of July 1945, Labour Party captured power in England and Lord Atlee became the Prime Minister; and, within a few weeks the new Labour Government declared that it wanted to transfer power to the Indian leaders.
The Hindu leaders again begin wooing the Sikh leaders
When the new Labour Government expressed its intention to transfer power, the Hindu leaders again began wooing the Sikh leaders with big promises (which were never to be fulfilled); on the 24th of August 1945, Vallabh Bhai Patel issued a statement saying, “The promise made with the Sikhs in 1929 can’t be ignored by Congress.” Reacting to this Master Tara Singh warned the Sikhs not to trust these false promises and said, “It is wrong to trust the Congress; it had broken the promise of 1929 in 1930 at the time of the Round Table Conference; its (Congress’s) leader Rajaji gave ‘blank cheque to the Muslims’ and broke the promise of 1929; it kept silent over the Sikh issue when the Cripps Mission came to India; it opposed the demand of Azad Punjab simply because it made the Sikhs the deciding power.”245
The Wavell Plan
Even after the failure of the Simla Conference, meetings were still being held for negotiation about power sharing between the Congress and the Muslim League; in September 1945, Lord Wavell announced a new plan which came to be known as ‘Wavell Plan’; according to this three new points had been added to the already going on political set up regarding communal representation; the new points were: 1 To call a meeting of the Constituent Assembly after the
elections to the provincial and Central Assemblies 2. Invite the representatives of the states ruled by the Indian Rajas 3. To set up an Executive Council that should be acceptable to all the sections. But, for the Sikhs there was nothing different from the Cripps Scheme; hence the Akali Dal rejected this plan and announced that it will oppose its implementation.
On the 29th of September 1945, the Sixth Akali Conference was held at Gujranwala; it was attended by Ujjal Singh and some other Sikh M.L.As as well as the Executive members of the Punjab Congress; this Conference passed a resolution rejecting the Wavell Plan on the plea that the new plan was not different from the Cripps Plan; and, it is against the interests of the Sikhs. This Conference also resolved: 1 to contest the elections to the provincial and Central Assemblies; it was also resolved that the elections should be contested on the symbols of the Akali Dal because these were crucial elections which were to decide the future of the Sikh nation 2. The interests of the Panth were the first and foremost for the Dal 3. All the soldiers of the Indian National Army should be released 4. Pakistan should not be created 5. Panth should be saved from the Communists 6. Only Akali Dal can save the Panth as the Congress has always betrayed the Sikhs during Hindu-Muslim negotiations. Among these the first, second and the fourth resolutions were presented by Master Tara Singh, the third was presented by Udham Singh Nagoke and Ishar Singh Majhail and, the sixth was presented by Ujjal Singh. The Conference also resolved that the elections should be contested on Akali symbols and no patit (apostate) should be given Party nominations.246 The next day, the Executive of the Central Akali Dal passed two resolutions for (a) to continue co–operation with the Congress Party (b) opposition to the demand of Pakistan.247
Congress Party again plays anti-Akali/Sikh role
When the proceedings of the Gujranwala Conference were published, the Congress Party threatened to suspend 14 of its Sikh Executive members who had attended the Akali
Conference at Gujranwala; at this 11 of them withdrew their support from the resolution of contesting as Akali nominees but three (Babu Labh Singh, Basant Singh Moga and Waryam Singh) refused to do so hence they were.248
In December 1945 the elections to the Central Assemblies were held; the Akalis and the Congress candidates contested against each other; both Akali candidates Sampuran Singh and Mangal Singh were elected by defeating the Congress nominees; as a result the Congress Party started negotiations with the Akalis for the Punjab Council elections which were due in February 1946; Maulana Azad, the President of the Congress Party, appointed Gopi Chand Bhargava and Partap Singh Kairon (who had recently crossed over to the Congress) to negotiate with the Akalis who finally succeeded in ushering an agreement between the Akalis and the Congress Party but only on four seats which were considered as the stronghold of the Punjab Communists;249 as per the alliance both the Parties were to contest two seats each; of the rest 29 seats; the Akalis had offered 9 seats to the Congress but the Congress did not accept this offer hence both the Parties contested these seats against each other.250 During the election campaign, Kharak Singh, Amar Singh Sher-i-Punjab and other (so-called) nationalists (in fact blind Gandhi-followers) addressed from the Congress platforms and made speeches against the Akalis; so much so that in one of his anti-Akali election speeches Kharak Singh gave a call to forcibly take possession of the Gurdwaras from the Akalis, and, when he said so the audience objected to his pronouncement and the function had to be discontinued.251
During these elections, the Akali Dal had issued its ‘manifesto’ which was similar to the Congress ‘manifesto’, the only difference was the Akali stand on the Sikh issues.252 On the 23rd of January 1946, while addressing a election rally at Peshawar, Master Tara Singh said, “We want freedom and identity; the Hindus want to subjugate the Sikhs and the Muslims both; on the other hand when there is a question of Hindu-Sikh alliance there too the Hindus want to treat the
Sikhs as slaves; so it is Akali Dal which can defend the rights of the Sikhs.”253
The results to the Punjab elections were finally announced by the last week of February 1946; of the 175 seats the Muslim League had won 74 seats and the Unionists got 21 seats; the League needed 14 more members to form government but the Unionist Party, which had some Hindu members too, won’t join an alliance with the League. On the other hand, the Congress had won 51 seats (40 Hindu seats, 10 Sikh seats and 1 Muslim seat), the Akalis had 23 seats; and the total number of the Congress and Akalis jointly too was 74 as that of the Muslim League; and in case both agreed for a coalition government they too were short of 14 members; hence it was the Unionist Party which was the deciding factor. In order to form a coalition government with the Akalis, the Muslim League began contacting the Akali leaders; the Nawab of Mamdot held a meeting with Giani Kartar Singh; but the question of Pakistan became an obstacle to their agreement; and the dialogue came to a close when, in one of his press statement, the Muslim League chief Nawab of Mamdot declared: “I can sacrifice thousands of Governments for Pakistan.”
On the other hand the Congress activists like Udham Singh Nagoke and Partap Singh Kairon tried to usher an alliance between the Akalis and the Congress; as a result of their efforts, a meeting was held between the Congress and the Akali leaders too; it was attended by Baldev Singh of the Akali Dal and Maulana Azad and Bhim Sen Sachar of the Congress; but, both these groups still depended on the Unionist support; during this period the Muslim League even tried for a coalition with the Congress; and soon the Akalis also joined these negotiations and it turned into a three party dialogue. During the three party negotiations it was agreed that the number of the ministers of the Muslim League will be equal to the number of the Congress and the Akalis (as both had equal number of legislatures); it was also agreed that the coalition Government not raise the issue of Pakistan;254 besides the
Akali Dal put forth two Sikh conditions: 1. Teaching of Punjabi language and Gurmukhi script in the schools 2. Right of veto to the Sikh members on the Sikh issues in the Punjab and the Sikh position in the Centre; the Nawab of Mamdot agreed to all this but when he sought approval of Jinnah, the latter did not give his consent; as a result the tri-party coalition could not be formed.255
After this an alliance between the Akalis and the Muslim League was also discussed; the Akalis put forth the condition of right to veto on Sikh issues and carving out of a Sikh State; Nawab of Mamdot agreed to the first demand but refused to accept the demand for a Sikh State; later, issuing a statement on the failure of agreement Nawab of Mamdot said that the Sikhs’ right to veto on Sikh issues was acceptable but the issue of the Sikh State was within purview of the high command (i.e. Jinnah).256
In between, negotiations began between the Congress, Unionist Party and the Akali Dal also had been going on; finally, on the 4th of March 1946, these three parties reached an agreement and on the 5th of March a Unionist-Congress-Akali cabinet was formed in the Punjab with Khijar Hayat Khan as the chief minister; of the six ministers three belonged to the Unionist Party, two were Congress men and one was Akali. This coalition had a strength of 98 members (51 Congress, 23 Akalis and 24 Unionists) but on the first day of the session of the Council three Unionists M.L.C.s joined the Muslim League thus reducing the strength of the alliance to 95 (but, the Muslim League, with 77 members, was still 11 short to absolute majority).
Baldev Singh had joined the Punjab cabinet as an Akali minister, on the 5th of March; the same day the Akali Dal formed a three member Committee to advice Baldev Singh on Sikhs’ standing, Babu Labh Singh and Basant Singh Moga;257 the three Party coalition Government had a good beginning; they agreed that (1) in case of a vacancy by death or resignation or removal, right to nomination of the minister will lie with the Party to which he belonged (2) All the election
petitions filed against each other by the partners will be withdrawn (3) When there is a bye election all the three Parties will help the candidate of the partner Party; however, some bitterness occurred when, on the 12th of March 1946, Maulana Azad made a statement that the Parliamentary Secretary of the Sikh quota will be from amongst Congressite Sikhs; Master Tara Singh immediately rebutted this claim. It is interesting to note that Kharak Singh, though he had generally supported the Congress, opposed the Congress-Akali-Unionists’ coalition government in the Punjab.258
The S.G.P.C. passes resolution for a Sikh State
By this time it was in the air that the creation of Pakistan was inevitable; hence the Sikhs too had begun talking more of a Sikh State; on the 10th of March 1946, the S.G.P.C. held a meeting of its General House, it was attended by 80 members of the S.G.P.C.; several resolution on various issues were passed but the most crucial was the resolution number 18, demanding formation of Sikh State.259
Basant Singh of village Kukkarpind proposed the following resolution:
“The present political state of affairs in the country holds out ominous portents for all nations, including the Sikhs. In view of the revolutionary changes which are occurring in the country and realising the need to protect Sikh identity:
Therefore this house appeals to the Sikh people to endeavour to achieve the goal of a Sikh state.”
The aforesaid resolution was seconded by Amar Singh Dosanjh; he said: ‘Under the present circumstances, the establishment of a Sikh state is necessary for the protection and propagation of the Sikh religion’; he further said that ‘the Sikhs are a nation and possess all the attributes of nationhood’; he emphatically stated that ‘any attempt to dub the Sikhs as a branch of a Hindu tree is an attempt to denigrate our separate identity and a ploy to assimilate us into the vastness of Hinduism. The Sikhs cannot progress and prosper as slaves of another nation. Our numerical minority cannot be hindrance to the formation of a separate Sikhs state. We are entitled to the same share as that of the majority community’.
Gurdit Singh of Jhang Maghiana said that the resolution with the approval of the Sikh sangat should be put forward in the next meeting. Gurdial Singh Rajoana extended his support to the resolution. Sohan Singh Jalalusman, Wazir Singh Montgomery and Santa Singh Bhangali said that this important resolution must be put forward only with the approval of the Sikh Sangat.
Speaking in favour of the resolution, Giani Kartar Singh said that: ‘Soon discussions and deliberations are to take place regarding the new political status of Hindustan and therefore such an important issue must not be postponed; the considered opinion of the S.G.P.C. must be formulated and circulated among the Sikh national leadership; our idea and conception of the Sikh state is clear and unhindered. The Sikhs are a nation; the Sikhs have unique identity due to their hair; and as such there are only two nations i.e. the Sikh people and the clean-shaven with shorn hair; it is crucial to have a territory wherein Sikhs can live freely and be masters of their own destiny’. The resolution was put to voice-vote and was unanimously passed by show of raised hands.
Akali Dal too passes resolution for Sikh State
On the 15th of March 1946, Lord Atlee, the Prime Minister of England, while commenting on the situation of Punjab and the Sikhs, stated that ‘the minorities cannot be
given veto right’; Akali Dal protested against this statement. On the 21st of March 1946, a meeting of the Executive of the Akal Dal was held in the Chamber of the Punjab Assembly at Lahore; it was attended by Master Tara Singh and Baldev Singh too; this meeting passed a resolution for the creation of a Sikh State.260
On the 25th of March 1946, a meeting of the Sikh Nationalist Party passed resolution against the demand for a Sikh State.261 This organisation held another meeting on the 27th of March which was attended by its president Sardool Singh Kaveeshar, general secretary Partap Singh Kairon, Gopal Singh Qaumi, Gurmukh Singh Musafir, Nidhan Singh Aalam and several others; this too passed a resolution against the demand for a Sikh State.262 However Central Akali Dal did indirectly support demand for a Sikh State; on the 1st of April 1946, the Central Akali Dal held a meeting presided over by Kharak Singh; it passed a resolution: “if India has to be divided then the Punjab should be given to the Sikhs; Punjab is the Homeland of the Sikhs.”263
Meeting between Master Tara Singh and Jinnah
During this time effort were also made for a Sikh-Muslim union so that the Punjab may remain united; with the efforts of the mediators, a meeting was held between Master Tara Singh and Mohammed Ali Jinnah; both met on the 4th of April 1946 at the Delhi residence of Malik Teja Singh; Maharaja Yadavinder Singh of Patiala was also present in this meeting; in this meeting pros and cons of Sikh-Muslim union were discussed but when Master Tara Singh asked Jinnah: “In case the union between both the communities comes to a crisis, will the Sikh Homeland be allowed to cede?”, to this Jinnah said: “No, but we assure you that the Muslim League will do justice to the Sikhs”; at this Master Tara Singh asked him: “What is the legal guarantee for that?”, Jinnah said, “We cannot give you any legal guarantee” and with this the meeting ended after 90 minutes.264
Just a day before, on the 3rd of April 1946, Master Tara Singh had held a meeting with Vallabh Bhai Patel; and the later had promised that “after the transfer of power we shall discuss the issue of Sikhstan in the meeting of Constituent Assembly”; at this Master Tara Singh had issued a statement that “the Sikhs shall oppose inclusion of the Punjab in Pakistan; we shall be satisfied with union with India but if Pakistan is to be created then Khalistan too should be carved out”; commenting on Jinnah’s suggestion that the Sikhs should go for Khalistan, Master said that he was ready to talk to Jinnah if he (Jinnah) would like to discuss about Khalistan (but in the following day’s meeting Jinnah expressed that in case of the Sikh-Muslim union, the Sikh Homeland won’t have right to cede).
By this time, the British Government had announced the formation of Cabinet Mission. During this the Sikhs did not take any step towards carving out of a Sikh State; with the exception of a couple of statements in favour of Khalistan (and that even ‘if Pakistan is to be created Khalistan too should be created), there was no major gathering, no All Parties Sikh Conference, no negotiations with the British regime; and, moreover, some blind followers of Gandhi and Congress were still issuing statements even against the demand of a Sikh State.
Cabinet Mission
As mentioned earlier, Lord Atlee, the new Prime Minister of England, soon after coming into power, announced on the 19th of February 1946, the formation of a Commission of three ministers to observe the political situation of the British India and make suggestions about the transfer of power. This Commission comprised of Lord Pethick Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps and A. V. Alexander, all the three were cabinet ministers hence it was known as the Cabinet Mission. Though Lord Pethick Lawrence was head of this Commission but one of its members, Sir Stafford Cripps, had already headed such a Commission in 1942 also, hence it was feared by the Sikhs that this time too, the Commission’s final report about the Sikhs will be almost the same.265
The Cabinet Mission reached Delhi on the 24th of March 1946; during the next three months it held about 200 meetings attended by about 500 representatives of different political parties and organisations of the Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Backward Classes as well as individual elite; it discussed formation of a Constituent Assembly to draft a constitution of the British India to be implemented after the transfer of power by the British.
The Sikh delegation comprising of Master Tara Singh, Harnam Singh Advocate, Giani Kartar Singh and Baldev Singh held a meeting with the Cabinet Mission on the 5th of April 1946; during this meeting the Mission did not talk of a Sikh State but put forth a question that in case of transfer of power, and the division of the British India into India and Pakistan, with whom would they like to side with. All the four Sikh representatives had different answers to this question; in fact they had gone there with Khalistan in their mind but when they were asked to give their option for joining India or Pakistan they were embarrassed hence different views on the new question.266
Master Tara Singh was in favour of an undivided country but he was of the opinion that if Pakistan is to be
created then the Sikhs too should have their independent State and they should have a right to join union with anyone; Harnam Singh Advocate was against division of the country (according to Ajit Singh Sarhadi, Harnam Singh Advocate had been won over by Pandit Nehru)267; Giani Kartar Singh stated that the interests of the Sikhs won’t be safe both in India or Pakistan; they should have their own State and it should comprise of Jalandhar and Lahore Divisions as well as the districts of Lyallpur, Montgomery, Hissar, Karnal, Ambala and Simla; Baldev Singh, who also held a separate meeting with the Mission, demanded the creation of Khalistan; he suggested separation of the Rawalpindi and Multan Division from the Punjab and the rest to form Khalistan; as a second option he supported a united country with special safeguards for the minorities as well as reservations in the legislative houses.268
During their meeting with the Cabinet Mission the Sikh leaders presented their case that ‘in case Pakistan is created Sikh State also should be conceded’ but they did not press that ‘there may or may not be Pakistan but a Sikh State must be carved out’; thus they still presented their negative demand. This time they were independent of the influence of the Congress agents like Udham Singh Nagoke or Partap Singh Kairon etc hence they had no pressures but, if we accept the plea of Ajit Singh Sarhadi – Harnam Singh Advocate had been won over by Nehru (if it is not due to Sarhadi’s personal rivalry with Harnam Singh) and Baldev Singh presented a confused stand; then it proves that Master Tara Singh and Giani Kartar Singh did take Panthic stand.
On the 15th of April 1946, Master Tara Singh issued a statement: “the Sikhs shall not accept the slavery of the Muslims or the Hindus; we can’t remain under the subjugation of any other community; Cabinet Mission while dealing about the Punjab should consider it as a ‘Sikh issue’; the Sikhs are in favour of a united country but then Pakistan is to be created Khalistan should also be carved out.”269
The Sikhs also submitted a memorandum to the Cabinet Mission; it said:
“Since the arrival of the Cripps Mission in March 1942 the position of the minorities have undergone further change; as Lord Atlee has already said that in case of transfer of power no outside power can be given power to grant safeguards to the minorities from the majority community; hence it becomes necessary that in the future set up the safety of the Sikhs should be assured in the Constitution; in the declaration of Cabinet Mission the three groups have been given right to decided whether they want to remain as a unit or not; the Sikhs want to make it clear that they are against such a division of India; the Sikhs are a community of six million people and the Punjab is not only their Homeland but also their place of worship; the Sikhs were the rulers of the Punjab before its annexation by the English and were sovereign to take political and economic decisions.”
The Sikhs demanded that in the Punjab the Muslim majority should be done away with and the Sikhs should be given more representation so that they may have effective voice in the future regime of India; for this purpose a province should be carved out of the present Punjab and the new province should comprise of the area covering all the major Sikh shrines and main pockets of the Sikh population; the Sikh Memorandum said that the Cabinet Mission had been giving serious thought to the Muslims’ demand of Pakistan; but, before deciding that issue it should also take into consideration that the Sikhs too have right to Khalistan, so, before conceding Pakistan Khalistan too should be carved out; the Sikh Memorandum asserted that the Sikhs were in favour of one common Constituent Assembly but if the Cabinet Mission wished to form two Constituent Assemblies then it should form the third one too (for the Sikhs).
Though the Sikhs had submitted their memorandum for carving of a Sikh State, some Sikh leaders were still making incongruous and imprudent statements by giving unconditional support to the Congress where as the Congress was not even slightly concerned about the plight of the Sikhs.
In the meanwhile the Muslim League leaders again began approaching some Sikh leaders; at this Mangal Singh Gill M.P. issued a statement on the 24th of April 1946, asking the Sikh leaders to beware of Muslim League as behind their offers there was a hidden agenda. On the 6th of May 1946, Swarn Singh said: ‘It is the resolve of the Sikhs that they won’t consent to be ruled by the Muslims.’270
On the 30th of April 1946, pro-Congress Sikhs held a Conference at Rawalpindi; it was addressed by Gopal Singh Qaumi, Durlab Singh, Labh Singh Narang, Ranjit Singh Mastana and others; this Conference opposed the stand taken by Master Tara Singh and declared its total support for the Congress Party.271 On the 8th of May, a Ramgarhia Conference too passed a resolution against Sikh State and also declared unconditional and complete support for the Congress Party.272
On the 8th of May 1946, Baldev Singh issued a foolish statement for the formation of a Jatt-stan (land of the Jatt community) from River Raavi to Merrut, which should include Jalandhar, Ambala, Merrut and Agra Divisions.273 Such unwise statements further weakened the Sikh case; and, it is possible that such incongruous statements might have influenced the Cabinet Mission in the case of the Sikhs.
On the 16th of May, 1946, the Commission announced its proposals which are known as the ‘Cabinet Mission Plan’; the short-term arrangement envisaged the formation of an interim government consisting of all the political parties. It was to have equal members of the Congress and the Muslim League, and other minorities like Sikhs, Christians, etc., were to be separately represented; according to the long term arrangements, the Constituent Assembly was to be established with the following compulsory grouping for making constitution of free country:
Section ‘A’: Madras, Bombay, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, the Central Provinces and Orissa.
Section ‘B’: Punjab, the North Western Frontier Provinces, Sind and British Baluchistan.
Section ‘C’: Bengal and Assam.
The section ‘B’, being a Muslim majority area, was in fact Pakistan; in this zone the Muslim population was 16.217242 million (One crore 62 lacs, seventeen thousand and two hundred and forty-two) and the non-Muslim population was 12.21577 (one crore 22 lacs, one thousand and five hundred seventy seven); and, the representation in this area for the Muslims was 22, the Hindus 9 and the Sikhs 4 only; hence about 2/3 majority for the Muslims.
Though Pakistan had not expressedly been created but the division of the British India into three groups/sections was, in a way, the declaration of Pakistan. The Cabinet Mission had ‘assured’ in this Report that the balance will be in the hands of the Sikhs as the League will always give special consideration to the Sikhs;274 this ‘assurance’ was just speculation and there was no constitutional guarantee or safeguard; hence the Sikhs vigorously protested against the Cabinet Mission Plan and rejected it. The proposals of the Cabinet Mission were criticized by the Congress and the Muslim League, although for different reasons.
On the 18th of May 1946, the Executive of the Akali Dal strongly condemned Cabinet Mission Plan and announced launching of an agitation to stop Pakistan; this was a secret meeting and only the members were allowed to join; after this meeting Babu Labh Singh sent telegrams to the Congress leaders demanding that they should fulfil the 1929 assurances and fulfil the Sikhs’ demands.275
On the 19th of May 1946, Mangal Singh M.P. issued a statement condemning the Cabinet Mission report; he said ‘Cabinet Mission has left us at the mercy of the Muslims; Congress is doing nothing for the Sikhs’;276 it is the same Mangal Singh who was one of the most loyal to the Congress. Master Tara Singh was very much in a despondent mood; he said that the Cabinet Plan had spread wave of pessimism, despondency, resentment and anger; Sikhs have been left at the mercy of the Muslims.277 Master even threatened a rebellion against the British; Master said that the Sikhs shall have to fight against the Congress, the Muslim League and the British;
he also declared that the Sikhs shall not join the Interim Government. Gurmukh Singh Musafir said that the Sikhs had been totally ignored.278 On the 23rd of May, a meeting of Sikh M.L.As asked Baldev Singh to resign from government.279
On the other hand, Gandhi, who had been time and again assuring and alluring the Sikhs, said in a statement that ‘Cabinet Mission Plan was the best step that the English could have taken.’280 In fact Gandhi, the Congress and the other Hindu leaders had been waiting for the transfer of power to them by the English281 hence that they were ready to sacrifice anything and any community for this.
Now, as the Congress was sure of creation of Pakistan; in fact the Congress itself was interested in the division of the British- India into two nations; even a person like H.M. Seervai believes that Jinnah was not interested in the division of land; he was interested in equal rights and share in power in the centre; it was Gandhi and Nehru who wanted division because they wanted to have sole power in the Centre.282 With this intention the Congress Party, announced acceptance of this Plan; on the 6th of June 1946, the Muslim League too accepted this Plan with 300 votes in favour and 13 against it.
On the 6th of June, Master Tara Singh and Baldev Singh met the Viceroy and the Cabinet Mission members at Delhi and when this meeting could not bear any fruit they announced launching of an agitation; and with this they announced holding of an All Parties Sikh Conference. On the 9th and the 10th of June 1946 this gathering, held at Amritsar, was attended by about 800 prominent Sikhs representing all the political, religious, professional and other walks of life including Nihangs, ex-servicemen, Indian National Army (of the Second World War), Sikh Students Federation, Sikh Youth League, Singh Sabhas and Chief Khalsa Diwan etc.283
On the 9th of June, on the first day of the Convention, most of the speakers gave angry reactions to the Cabinet Mission Plan and made emotional and even inflammatory speeches; Ishar Singh Majhail, with tears falling from his eyes, said: “The Cabinet Mission has lowered the head of a brave
and honourable nation like the Sikhs”; Babu Labh Singh said: “the Sikhs shall have to shed their blood to safeguard their interests”. Master Tara Singh, trembling in a state of anger, rage and emotions, said: “it is not a time for opposition and group-ism and when we pass through sorrowful moments we don’t need invitation letters;284 the British should understand that if the Sikhs are enraged they can be more aggressive than the Muslims”. Udham Singh Nagoke said: “If we had sent two hundred thousand soldiers to save the English, we can do the same for our agitation too; in 1849 the English had captured the Sikh territory with treacherous means and now in 1949 we shall bring an end to the British Raj with our sacrifices”. Niranjan Singh Gill of the Indian National Army said: ‘The days of 1942 have come again; I and General Mohan Singh shall repeat out vows again.’
On the first day, the Conference passed a unanimous resolution rejecting the Cabinet Mission Plan and it was decided that a ‘Panthic Pratinidhi Board’ be formed to launch an agitation against this Plan and for the safeguards of the Sikhs; it was also resolved that: 1. A ‘Council of Action’ should be formed with one representative from each group; Udham Singh Nagoke will be its President/Dictator. 2. An army of two hundred thousand Sikhs should be enrolled to participate in agitation (this number was equal to the Sikhs who had enrolled themselves in the British Indian Army during the Second World War). 3. All the Sikh employees of the Government and other concerns should contribute one month’s salary to the Action Committee for this agitation. 4. Volunteers participating in the agitation will take an oath at Akal Takht Sahib that they won’t hesitate from making any sacrifices.
The next day, on the 10th of June, the Congressite Sikhs too attended the Conference; prominent among them were Darshan Singh Pheruman and Gurmukh Singh Musafir and extended full support to this Conference; on this day, the main resolution of the Conference was adopted; it was proposed and seconded by Ujjal Singh and Giani Kartar Singh respectively; it said: “This gathering of the Sikhs, having considerd the
Cabinet Mission Plan, has come to the conclusion that this Plan, instead of giving freedom, rather further adds to our slavery; hence these are unjust for the Sikhs; we resolve that the creation of Pakistan will be very harmful for the Sikhs. 2. The danger that the Muslims feared in a Hindu India will be the same to the Sikhs in Muslim Pakistan. 3. Even after acknowledging that the ‘Punjab is the Homeland of the Sikhs’ the Cabinet Mission has made the Sikhs inferior in their own Homeland. 4. The ‘Advisory Committee’ suggested in para 20 of the Cabinet Mission Plan does not offer any safeguards to the Sikhs. 5. Though the Cabinet Mission has made recommendations for the Hindus and the Muslims on some communal issues, it has done nothing for the Sikhs; hence the Conference resolved that the recommendations of the Cabinet Mission are not at all acceptable to the Sikhs and no constitution will be acceptable to the Sikhs that won’t concede just demands of the Sikhs.
Through second resolution a ‘Council of Action’ was formed; Colonel Niranjan Singh Gill was appointed ‘Dictator’ of this Council; he was given authority to select six more names for this Council. Through third resolution a ‘Panthic Pratinidhi Board’ was formed; Master Tara Singh, Niranjan Singh Gill, Professor Jodh Singh, Baldev Singh, Udham Singh Nagoke, Sarmukh Singh Chamak, Bawa Harkishan Singh, Babu Labh Singh, Gurmukh Singh Musafir, Basant Singh Moga, Lt. Col. Raghbir Singh etc were selected as members of this ‘Board’; and it was resolved that a few more representatives, one each from amongst Nihangs, Chief Khasla Diwan etc would be co-opted to this ‘Board’ in order to make it all representative Sikh Board. It was also decided that the 23rd of June should be observed as ‘National Protest Day’ to register Sikhs’ rejection of the Cabinet Mission Plan.
In spite of the Sikhs’ reaction and threats the British regime did not bother; and, on the 16th of June 1946, the Mission and the Viceroy, announced formation of Interim Government (which would take reigns of British India after the transfer of power); this ‘Interim Government’ was to comprise
of 6 Congress, 5 Muslim League, 1 Sikh, 1 Parsi and 1 Indian-Christian ministers; from among the Sikhs Baldev Singh had been given invitation to join the Government.285 On the 22nd of June 1946, a meeting of the ‘Panthic Pratinidhi Board’ resolved that ‘as the Cabinet Mission Plan is unjust and against the interest of the Sikhs in view of this the ‘Board’ can’t allow any Sikh to join the Interim Government.’286
At this Baldev Singh wrote a personal letter to the Viceroy asking his to undo the injustice done to the Sikhs as the Cabinet Mission itself has accepted that it has not done justice to the minorities in the provinces falling in the B group; the Sikhs shall never accept subjugation of the Muslims; provisions have been made for the Hindus and the Muslims in the Constituent Assembly but the interests of the Sikhs who are the third nation, have been totally ignored. Baldev Singh demanded that the provisions made for the Hindus and the Muslims in the Constituent Assembly should be applied to the Sikhs too.287
Replying to Baldev Singh’s letter, Lord Attlee said that the recommendations of the Cabinet Mission cannot be altered as per the wishes of the Sikhs. He regretted that the Sikhs have refused to send their representative for the Interim Government and the Constituent Assembly; but, it won’t affect drafting of Constitution rather it would lead to several other problems.288
As this letter did not change anything the Sikhs decided not to send their representative for the Interim Government and also resolved to boycott the elections to the Constituent Assembly. Not only the Akalis but even the Congressite Sikhs decided not to file nominations for the elections to the Constituent Assembly. The Sikhs’ decision was seriously considered by the British regime; they feared that if the Sikhs were not treated justly they could go to the extent of civil war leading to mass blood-shed. Landen Sarasfield believes that the Cabinet Mission had committed grave mistake by treating the Sikhs at par with the Parsis, the Anglo-Christians and the backward classes where as they were the third nation.289
The Sikh boycott compelled the Congress party to boycott joining of the Interim Government and on the 24th of June 1946 it made a public declaration to this decision; hence on the 26th of June, the Viceroy and the Cabinet Mission gave up the idea of the Interim Government; on the 29th of June the Cabinet Mission left Delhi for London thus dropping the final curtain to the Cabinet Mission and its Plan.
Injustice to the Sikhs by the Congress and the British
After the drop-scene of the Cabinet Mission, the Congress Party again began wooing the Sikhs by making promises, giving allurements, assurances and sweet talks. On the 6th of July 1946, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, while speaking at Calcutta said, “The brave Sikhs of Punjab are entitled to special consideration. I see nothing wrong in an area and a (political) set up in the North wherein the Sikhs can also experience the glow of freedom.”290 By this time, Nehru had already made personal contact with Partap Singh Kairon and the latter had promised to co-operate with him; after this Nehru sent a telegram to Partap Singh Kairon and Colonel Niranjan Singh Gill (not to Master Tara Singh) which said that the boycott of the Constituent Assembly could lead to serious repercussions hence this decision should be reviewed; Nehru had suggested that even after the elections, the Constituent Assembly could be boycotted.291 After this Kairon held separate talks with Baldev Singh and Niranjan Singh Gill; the latter consulted Master Tara Singh and Babu Labh Singh (president of the Akali Dal) and after this he asked the Sikh candidates to file nominations for elections to the Constituent Assembly. For the four seats of the Constituent Assembly, Baldev Singh, Ujjal Singh, Bawa Harkishan Singh and Narotam Singh filed papers as Akali candidates, and, Partap Singh Kairon, Kapur Singh (not I.C.S.), Babu Bachan Singh and Shiv Singh filed papers as Congress nominees.292 But, in the meeting of the Panthic Pratinidhi Board held on the 14th of July 1946, it was resolved that the nominations should be withdrawn and the boycott of the elections to the Constituent Assembly should be continued; at this all the eight Sikh candidates withdrew their nomination papers.293
In wake of the new situation the Congress leaders again began contacting the leaders of the Panthic Pratinidhi Board; they were able to win over the pro-Congress members of the
Board e.g. Kairon, Udham Singh Nagoke, Sarmukh Singh Chamak, Sampuran Singh etc; besides they (Congress leaders) had also contacted Niranjan Singh Gill, Giani Kartar Singh, Master Mota Singh, Baldev Singh; and, through their cronies the Congress manoeuvred to get the Board members to change its decision; as a result, on the 14th of August the Board allowed the Sikhs to file nominations for election to the Constituent Assembly (before taking this decision they did not consult Master Tara Singh or Babu Labh Singh who was the president of the Akali Dal).294
This weakened the Sikh position; had they launched an agitation instead of participating in elections, the English would have been compelled to consider their demand for a Sikh State; but, he behaved in a confused manner which gave impression that some of them could be impressed upon easily and it was not difficult to create division among their leadership by sweet-talks, flattery, allurements and other methods of lobbying and manoeuvring.295
Here, at this juncture, Partap Singh Kairon and Udham Singh Nagoke had played the major role, the former due to ulterior motives and the latter due to his naive mind and blind pro-Congress and pro-Gandhi devotion.
Master Tara Singh was unhappy at this decision; he believed that the decision to contest elections would not be beneficial to the Sikhs and will affect their future besides he believed that trusting the Congress Party was a blunder as it had been deceiving the Sikhs time and again; so, he announced that he would launch an agitation against the Congress and the British regime; at this Niranjan Singh Gill resigned from the Panthic Pratinidhi Board; after this the Akali Dal took reigns of the Panthic Pratinidhi Board but soon the Congressites began withdrawing from the Board; even Baldev Singh began behaving differently as he had been offered berth in the Central cabinet; hence soon the Board lost its unity and became just another unit of the Akali Dal.
Direct Action by the Muslim League
On one hand, the Muslim League had been fighting constitutional battle on the other hand, in order to press its demand for Pakistan it decided to use the means of agitation too; and this time it turned into a sort of terrorising approach; the 16th of August 1946 was observed as ‘Direct Action Day’; as there was rule of the Muslim League in Bengal it declared it as an official holiday. On this day, rallies and demonstrations were held in favour of Pakistan and with this began an era of violence, riots and killings; just in one week more than six thousand people were killed, about one thousand acts of arson took place; Tripura and Noakhali were the most affected areas. On the 11th of September, Jinnah asked the Hindus to choose between ‘Pakistan and civil war’; and he gave a wise advice to the Hindu leaders to chalk out a programme for transfer of population and properties;296 but nobody bothered for this advise as no Hindu leaders had any sympathy for the Punjabis) or Bengalis (Congress leadership belonged mostly to the U.P., Gujarat and the South; hence they were not affected by the violence, riots and killings). Besides, Nehru, Patel, Rajinder Prasad and Gandhi, all hated Bengalis because once Subash Chander Bose, a Bengali, had defeated them in presidential elections of Congress Party; similarly they hated Punjabis too; not only the Sikhs (they abhorred the Sikhs’ turban, hair and beard) but they disliked even Hindu Punjabis.
In the meanwhile there was complete lull in the Punjab but the Hindu press had been provoking anti-Muslim propaganda in such a manner that the Punjab could also have become a scene of disturbances like that of Bengal; to quote the Punjab Governor Jenkins’s letter to Lord Wavell (the Viceroy) dated 31st of August 1946: “The Congress pact with the Sikhs is welcomed as ensuring protection for the Hindus, especially in the central Punjab. The Hindu newspapers are arrogant & most bitterly communal. Underneath the bluster there is (as always with the urban Hindu) an undercurrent of fear; nothing is more likely to bring about a physical conflict than this pitiful combination of arrogance and timidity.
The Sikhs attitude is still uncertain-the community is divided into at least three groups and although it is now officially linked with the congress. Some influential Sikhs would be reluctant to break finally with the Muslims.
The chances are, however, that in any serious disturbance the Sikhs would side with the Hindus. The tone of the Sikh-press and of Sikh speakers is anti-British and anti-Muslim and Sikh speakers are among the most violent in the Punjab.”
Muslim League boycotts the Constituent Assembly
Though the Congress had, earlier, rejected the Cabinet Mission Plan but, with the greed of getting the reigns of a country Nehru, Gandhi and their associates decided to accept it; and, the violence of the ‘Direct Action Day’ became the immediate cause for this step; they thought of becoming rulers, and then to crush the Muslims (and the Sikhs) with the force of the army; so transfer of power was their main aim.
On the 9th of December 1946, the Constituent Assembly began its work to draft Constitution for India; on the very first day, the Congress revealed its intention to decide everything by way of majority decisions implying that the Muslims and the other minorities won’t have any say and the will of majority, i.e. the Hindus, will prevail; as a result they (Muslim League) announced their boycott of the proceedings of the Constituent Assembly;297 they declared that they won’t be safe in a country and regime which will be a fanatic Hindu rule in the name of rule of majority.
The Sikhs had already rejected the structure of the division of the British India into 3 Groups as the Sikhs had been pushed into the Muslim majority Group against their will and had been denied right to choose or decide their future. Now, with the exit of the Muslims from the Constituent Assembly, there were two options for the Sikhs either to become a helpless minority (in fact ‘slaves’) of a Muslim nation or struggle for getting their own country carved out. But, here too, the Hindu Congress Party again manoeuvred to
use its cronies to mislead and confuse the Sikhs; they allured the Sikhs to plead for division of the Punjab with Chenab or Raavi River as the border-line between the Muslim and non-Muslim zones;298 and the Sikh zone (non-Muslim zone) to have a union with the Hindu India.
Master Tara Singh’s fears against Sikh-Muslim Union
During this period, some British officials tried to convince Master Tara Singh to have union with the Muslims; they assured him some safeguards for the Sikhs in the constitution of Pakistan; Master Tara Singh was sceptical due to his experience of the past; referring to this, Mr Henderson, who had a meeting with Master Tara Singh in Government House at Lahore, on the 19th of January 1947, recorded: “Master Tara Singh stated that the Sikhs had strong fears of Muslim domination. They desired some safeguards in Section B such as had been provided at the Centre in respect of major communal differences. Sikhs would then willingly co-operate in the work of the section. I asked him if no such safeguard was given whether they would refuse to enter into the Section; he said that it was doubtful that they would, although they might take a decision to enter the Section in order to state their case reserving their freedom to leave subsequently. He (Master) stated that if British bayonets were not here, the Sikhs would revolt and seek to prevent Muslim domination by seeking control of the Province themselves. They might, as an alternative, by the use of force agree to the division of the Province, but only as a last solution. Provided there was no risk of Muslim domination they preferred to keep the Province as at present constituted, but this (was) dependent, as he had already stated, upon the provision of adequate safeguards, and required inter-communal co-operation. If the safeguard for which they asked were given, they would willingly co-operate with the other communities in running the Provincial administration.”299 But, the British had nothing to offer to the Sikhs except verbal assurances.
Violence in the Punjab
In January 1947, Punjab also became a scene of riots between the Muslims and the non-Muslims; the Muslim rioting was being monitored by the Muslim National Guards and the non-Muslims riots had been carried out by the Rashtariya Swayam Sewak Sangh (R.S.S.); on the 24th of January 1947, the Government banned the Muslim National Guards and the R.S.S.; the police raided several places belonging to the activists of these two organisations and captured a large number of pistols, swords and daggers. Nawab of Mamdot, Firoz Noon Khan, Mumtaz Multana, Shaukat Hayat Khan and some others condemned the Government for raids and arrests; all those who had sympathised with the Muslim National Guards too were arrested.300 On the 26th of January, 16 M.L.As of the Muslim League courted arrests demanding the restoration of civil rights; and with this rioting erupted in various parts of the Punjab; in fact it was mainly Muslim groups who had been creating disturbances; in Gujranwala and Ludhiana even the railway trains were derailed.
Reacting to this, Master Tara Singh said in a statement that “the Sikhs are in grave danger and must revive their “Army” immediately.”301
At that time there was Unionist-Akali-Congress coalition in the Punjab led by Khijar Hayat Khan; the Dal asked the Government to strictly deal with the rioters; it also requested the Muslim League not to disturb the peace of the province.
Having realized that the British regime won’t be able to control the riots and the civil war, Lord Atlee announced that the British will complete the transfer of power by June 1948. On the 26th of January 1947, the orders banning the Muslim National Guards and the R.S.S. was revoked and about fifteen hundred Muslim youth and others were released; the League stopped its agitation but also declared observing 2nd of March as ‘Victory day’; on this day rallies were held all over the Punjab; it was presented as ‘the first victory towards the creation of Pakistan’. On the same day, Khijar Hayat Khan,
chief minister of the Unionist-Akali-Congress coalition, under pressures from the Muslim League, resigned from the Chief minister-ship and declared that only Muslim League could form a stable government in the Punjab; he also declared his Party’s help to the Muslim League; now, as League and the Unionist combine had absolute majority, they had full legal right to form ministry in the Punjab.302
On the 3rd of March, the Governor of the Punjab invited the Muslim League to form government in the Punjab and the Nawab of Mamdot accepted the invitation. To stop this, a meeting of the M.L.As belonging to the Akali Dal and the Congress met in the noon hours of the 3rd of March in the Chamber of the Lahore Assembly building with Master Tara Singh in the chair; when the meeting was discussing the future course, a very large crowd of the Muslims gathered outside the Assembly building and began chanting ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans. Due to the loud voice of slogans nothing could be properly heard or communicated hence the proceedings of the meeting had to be suspended and with this all the M.L.As led by Master Tara Singh, came out of the meeting room; seeing the Sikh leaders there, the crowd increased the speed and the sound of slogans ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ (literally: Long Live Pakistan) and ‘Lay kay rahengay Pakistan’ (literally: we shall definitely have Pakistan); at this an enraged Master Tara Singh took his sword out of its sheath and roared ‘Kaat kay dayngay apni jaan, magar na dayngay Pakistan’ (literally: we will accept to get our bodies cut {into pieces} but won’t concede Pakistan); and with this the Akali and the Congress M.L.As too raised ‘Pakistan Murdabad’ slogans;303 had there not been a big contingent of the police, who forcibly dispersed the Muslim crowd, the Muslims would have attacked and killed Master Tara Singh and others (and with this spread the rumour that ‘Master Tara Singh had cut off the flag of Pakistan’).
On the same evening a rally of the Sikhs and the Hindus was held at Lahore in which the Akali and the Congress leaders gave speeches; Master Tara Singh and Giani Kartar Singh made angry, emotional and inflammatory
speeches; Master Tara Singh said: ‘the Muslims had captured the country from the Hindus and the Sikhs freed it from the Muslims; in 1849, the English occupied it and now it is our turn to take the reins; and he appealed the Sikhs to make sacrifices like Japanese and the Germans’; Giani Kartar Singh said: ‘the blue flag of the Sikhs had been flowing on the Lahore Fort and it will flow again.’
On the 4th of March 1947, the Sikh and the Hindu students of Lahore took out a procession to protest against the formation of the Muslim League ministry in the Punjab; the Muslims threw stones at the processionists and the police fired at them killing thirteen persons and wounding one hundred and three; it was the beginning of killings in the province.304
Having realised that the formation of Muslim League ministry in the province will lead to civil war, the Governor withdrew invitation given to the League and under section 95 of the Government of India Act 1935 took over the reins of the administration of the province.
It was further followed by attacks by the Muslim League activists; thousands of acts of arson, thefts, dacoities, murders, kidnapping, rape were committed mainly in Multan, Jehlum, Rawalpindi, Lahore and other areas of Muslim majority; and, most of these incidents took place because the majority of the policemen in those areas were Muslims and they fully collaborated with the killer and criminal gangs.305 Among the casualties was Babu Labh Singh, the president of the Akali Dal, who had been murdered on the 9th of March 1947, at Jalandhar while having a tour of the city to request people to observe peace.306
To protest against the murder of Babu Labh Singh Master Tara Singh declared that the Sikhs will observe the 11th of March as ‘Anti Pakistan Day’. On the 10th of March, two police officials visited Master Tara Singh and suggested that the Sikhs and the Muslims should have a tour of the city to make an appeal to the people to stop rioting; Master Tara Singh refused to join such a tour; he (Master) rather told them that ‘civil war’ has already begun as several Sikhs have fallen
victim to Muslim gangs; as per the Jenkins, “officers who saw Tara Singh at Amritsar today say that he is extremely excited; asserts that ‘Civil War’ has already begun and threatens attacks on police stations and a mass Sikh rising. Murder of Labh Singh a former President for S.G.P.C.307 in Jalandhar recently is probably main cause of his resentment. We are doing what we can to get him off the boil. Anti-Pakistan Day tomorrow may give some trouble but I hope not.’308
The killings of innocent Sikhs and Hindus, rape and arson and other crimes signalled to the future of the non-Muslims in the Muslim majority areas; in this scenario a Sikh congregation was held on the 3rd of April 1947; it was attended by Master Tara Singh, Bawa Harkishan Singh as well as several Sikh M.L.As and other leaders; this Conference passed a resolution demanding the division of the Punjab into Muslim and non-Muslim zones; it is noteworthy that Tara Singh and his supporters had been demanding this indirectly since 1931 and openly since 1943 (in the demand for Azad Punjab).309
On the 8th of April the Congress Party passed the same resolution. On the 17th of April the Executive of the Akali Dal too passed a resolution for the division of the Punjab; on the 18th of April, Master Tara Singh Giani Kartar Singh and Baldev Singh met the Governor of the Punjab and told him that communal riots could be stopped only if division of the Punjab is announced by the British regime. On the 21st Apr
il, Swarn Singh and Bhim Sen Sachar demanded division of the Punjab into three zones: West Punjab, East Punjab and Haryana.310
On the 2nd of May a meeting of all the Sikh and Hindu M.L.As of the Punjab and the members of the Constituent Assembly held a meeting chaired by Chowdhry Lehri Sinh and demanded division of the Punjab; they demanded that Jhanan (Chenab) River should be accepted as boundary line and the divisions of Ambala, Jalandhar, Lahore as well as Lyallpur and Montgomery districts should be separated from the Muslim Punjab.311
Mountbatten Plan (Division of the Punjab)
In the meanwhile, the British Government had decided to replace Lord Wavell with Lord Mountbatten as the Viceroy of the British India; on the 24th of March 1947 the new incumbent took reigns of the regime. Though Mountbatten was new to the Indian situation and especially the Sikhs’ position, still, due to precarious situation in this zone, he paid more attention to the Punjab. By this time Master Tara Singh had sent a message to the British regime that if it wanted to avoid further killings in the Punjab, it should be bifurcated into Muslim and non-Muslim zones. Having analysed the gravity of the situation and the future of the zone, on the 10th of April 1947, he (Mountbatten) decided in favour of the partition of the Punjab and Bengal into Muslim and non-Muslim zones. Mountbatten held talks with Muslim, Hindu and Sikh leaders to decide the boundaries of the new zones. On the 18th of April he held talks with Master Tara Singh, Giani Kartar Singh and Baldev Singh; Mountbatten had recorded this meeting in his notes (on the 24th of April):
“I had my interview last Friday with the Sikhs represented by Master Tara Singh, Gyani Kartar Singh and Sardar Baldev Singh; any hopes that I still entertained of being able to avoid the partition of the Punjab were shattered at this meeting; all three Sikhs made it quite clear that ‘if Pakistan is forced on us, if we are put under Muslim domination, we would fight to the last man’. They considered that the Cabinet Mission had let them down badly, and presented me with a book called ‘The Betrayal of the Sikhs’ on this subject, written by Landen Sarasfield.”
After this, Mountbatten held talks with Jinnah also and told him about his meeting with the Sikhs (in his own words):
“I (Mountbatten) told him (Jinnah) that after my talk with Tara Singh and Kartar Singh; I had become convinced that any attempt to impose a mainly one-community government on the Sikhs would produce immediate armed retaliation which might end in civil war.
I told him that the Sikhs felt so bitter about the Muslim atrocities that they were only waiting for an excuse for their revenge; and I said that it would be criminal folly to let this occur just before the official discussions and decision on the transfer of power. I pointed out that he knew as well as I did the line that these discussions were likely to take, and the great probability that Pakistan would emerge with a partition of the Punjab. In the light of this, what could be the point of having a brief period of Muslim League Government in the Punjab which only would bring about bloodshed and greatly increase the difficulty of negotiating the boundaries in the process of partition; I told Mr. Jinnah that nothing would induce me to change my mind and that I was proposing to instruct the Governor accordingly.”
Though Mountbatten had decided in favour of the partition of the Punjab and Bengal, he had not yet made any announcement; to further stress the necessity of division. Baldev Singh wrote a letter to Mountbatten which said: “The Muslim League has made no secret of its plan of the Pakistan State. It will be based on Muslim law. The manner in which they have treated non-Muslims even while the authority of British Government still remained clearly shows that later on there will be no room whatever for non-Muslims in the Muslim State. In any event the life and property of Hindus and Sikhs will be wholly insecure. Therefore in order to free the non-Muslims from the fear of an aggressive Muslim domination and to provide adequate protection for them, the Hindus and Sikhs have finally and unalterably come to the conclusion that the only solution is the immediate division of the Punjab. And the Sikhs particularly expect this division will be so devised as to fill the solemn promises given to them by the highest British authorities to fully secure Sikh interests in the scheme of political settlement now underway. These promises were given to us when Master Tara Singh and I met the British Cabinet Mission and your predecessor. We were then assured that Sikh interests will in no circumstances be ignored and I hope now Your Excellency will keep these assurances in view when
making your final proposals in regard to the division of the Punjab.”
Baldev Singh wrote a further letter to the Viceroy stressing the inclusion of the Sikh areas in the non-Muslim zone; the letter said: “I would reiterate with all the emphasis I command that as the division of India is being planned at Mr. Jinnah’s insistence, he cannot be allowed to impose his will of the minorities. The partition of the Punjab is necessitated by Sikh case. The Sikhs cannot and will not be dominated by Muslims and no partition will meet the ends of justice if it does not exclude from Muslim area as large a percentage of Sikh population as possible. I have in my last letter shown how best this can be done.”
In the meanwhile the Muslim extremists hatched a planning to eliminate Master Tara Singh; they began collecting information about his activities and movements; even the Muslim employees of the Telephone and the Post and Telegraph office were spying on Master Tara Singh; the latter reported this to Mr. Abbot (Secretary to the Government of Punjab) on the night of the 13th of May 1947:
“Dear Mr. Abbot. Thanks for your letter of to-day received just now (at 8-00 P.M.) I am sorry I am engaged for tomorrow and must leave for Delhi early in the morning in order to be in time to keep my programme of important business.
I am sorry I am missing this opportunity of placing before His Excellency personally my view point and expressing my feelings. I may mention here that in these days I keep my programme secret for I know that Muslim League is keenly watching my movements evidently for some mischievous object. They are controlling telephone system of Amritsar and Lahore- if not of other stations also and the telephone operators immediately phone to the Muslim League office the time and direction of my going out as soon as they learn. So as a precautionary measure, I try to keep the time and direction of my going out secret. So when I return from Delhi, I shall suddenly (quietly) come to Lahore and take any chance of
seeing His Excellency. But it is risky for me to give out time of my coming to Lahore previously (in advance).
I may say also that I shall not be a party to any hypocritical statement like that issued recently by Mahatma Gandhi and Mr. Jinnah with the bitter result known to the world. I do not like to see a single innocent person murdered and shall do my utmost to prevent such murders whenever I find the Sikhs as aggressors. But so far the Sikhs have been aggressors nowhere. As regards the renewal of the trouble at Amritsar, I may say that I received information beforehand that the Muslim League had decided to intimidate the Sikhs at Amritsar and had decided upon a certain plan. How can I sit down round a table with the persons who are not sincere now even? None of the Muslim League Leaders unequivocally condemned the unprecedented atrocities, barbarities and murders committed by their followers in the Western Punjab. I hold them responsible for the butchery and heinous atrocities committed upon my innocent sisters, brothers and children. They are even now helping, encouraging and defending the arrested ruffians in the Western Punjab. I do not believe in their sincerity. So I shall not lick the hand besmeared with the blood of my innocent children, sisters and brothers.
The peace of Amritsar is in the hands of the Muslim Leaguers and the Government officials. The Muslim Leaguers have planned to intimidate us and have attacked us. The Government has given the control of the situation in the hands of the Muslim officials. The European Officers are only misled by the Muslim officials who alone are near to them. I believe the Government can control the situation without the cooperation of the Muslim League or anybody else. But if the Government continues its present policy towards the Muslims of Amritsar nobody else will be able to do anything.”
[Non Italic text (in parenthesis) is mine for clarification – author].
In May 1947, there was communal disturbance in the city of Amritsar. When the Government officials asked Master Tara Singh to lead a peace march in the city of Amritsar; the latter refused because he had received information that Muslim
extremists had planned to kill him (Master Tara Singh actually referred to the fate of Babu Labh Singh when the latter was killed by the Muslim extremists, on the 9th of March 1947, while leading such a peace march at Jalandhar); on the 17th of May Mountbatten reported about Master Tara Singh’s letter to Abbot (dated 13th of May 1947) to Jenkins (the Punjab Governor).
Declaration of Partition of Punjab and Bengal
Having considered the whole situation, the Viceroy finally called a confidential meeting of the leaders of all the communities at the residence of the Viceroy at Delhi at 10 a.m. on the 2nd of June 1947; it was attended by Rear-Admiral Viscount Mountbatten of Burma, Pandit Nehru, Vallabh Bhai Patel, Kriplani, Jinnah, Liaqat Ali Khan, Nishtar, Baldev Singh, Lord Ismay, Sir E. Melville; Lieutenant-Colonel Erskine Crum (Secretariat).312 In this meeting it was decided that Punjab and Bengal should be divided into Muslim and non-Muslim zones; the census of 1941 was to be taken as basis of demarcation of zones; for this purpose meetings of the legislatures of Punjab and Bengal will be called; the Muslim and the non-Muslim legislatures will hold separate meetings and vote for or against the partition; and, if the majority favoured the idea of partition a Boundary Commission will be appointed by the Governor General to demarcate the territory for the Muslim and non-Muslim zones; in the evening, this decision was announced to the media and the public.
After this meeting, Baldev Singh wrote a letter to Mountbatten, the Viceroy, expressing dissatisfaction of the Sikhs for having population as basis of partition of the Punjab; the letter said: “I must say that judged by this simple test the plan as it stands is far from satisfactory. My Sikh friends and I, however, do appreciate that the principle of the partition of the Punjab has been accepted and the anxiety you have expressed to help the community.
I should like to bring to your notice that though assurances have been given to us that we shall have equal
rights with the two other major communities for the safeguard of our communal rights and privileges, nothing tangible has so far been done to give effect to these assurances. Our community is now in danger of being riven in two. We have so far not been assured equal rights with others in either the existing or the proposed new Constituent Assembly. We request you to see that this is done.”313
The decision for partition of Punjab and Bengal was approved by the Muslim League in its meeting of the 9th of June 1947; the Congress Party too accepted it in its meeting of the 14th and the 15th of June 1947. Akali Dal and the Panthic Pratinidhi Board held a joint meeting on the 14th of June 1947 and passed a resolution which said: ‘unless steps are taken for transfer of population and properties, there is no meaning of partition of the Punjab.’
On the 10th of July 1947, Giani Kartar Singh held a meeting with E. Jenkins, the Punjab Governor, and opposed population as criteria to demarcate boundaries; he also demanded protection of minorities in the Muslim areas; (as per Jenkins):
“I (Jenkins) replied that I realized that the Sikhs were dissatisfied, but when independence came to any country some classes, who had formerly regarded themselves as protected, inevitably suffered. At the same time, I thought that the Sikhs had only themselves to blame for their present position. The Gianni himself had insisted on partition and Baldev Singh had accepted the Plan…”
‘Gianni314 then said neither had viewed partition as being based on population alone. The Sikhs were entitled to their own land just as much as the Hindus or the Muslims. They must have their shrine at Nanakana Sahib, at least one canal system, and finally arrangements must be made so as to bring at least three-quarters of the Sikh population from West to East Punjab. Property must be taken into account as well as population in the exchange, as the Sikhs on the whole were better off than the Muslims.
Gianni said that unless it was recognized by His Majesty’s Government, the Viceroy and the Party leaders that the fate of the Sikhs was a vital issue, there would be trouble… they would be obliged to fight… that the Sikhs realized that they would be in a bad position, but would have to fight on revolutionary lines by murdering officials, cutting railway lines, destroying canal headworks and so on.
I (Jenkins) reiterated that this would be a very foolish policy, to which Gianni replied that if Britain were invaded, no doubt my feelings would be much the same as his… The Muslims were now putting out some conciliatory propaganda about their attitude towards the Sikhs in their midst, but their intention was that of a sportsman who is careful not to disturb the birds he means to shoot. He believed the Muslims would try to make the Sikhs of West Punjab feel secure and then set about them in earnest.”
Jenkins reported this to the Viceroy and made his own notes about this meeting: “Finally, the Gianni appealed to me to do all I could to help the Sikhs during a period of great trial. He said I surely could not wish to abandon the Punjab to tears and bloodshed. There would be tears and bloodshed here if the boundary problem was not suitably solved. The Gianni was matter of fact and quiet throughout our conversation but wept when he made his final appeal.”
(non-italic words in parenthesis are mine for explanation – author).
On the 16th of July 1947, Giani Kartar Singh said that the Sikhs shall not be satisfied unless they get area covering 85% of their population and for the rest 15% arrangements are made for the transfer of population. Though the Sikhs were not satisfied with the criteria of partition still they felt a bit relieved because, at that time, they realized that instead of falling prey to Muslim subjugation, it was better to have union with India; but still there was a major problem of repatriation of about two million Sikhs who were residents of the Muslim majority area of the west Punjab.
In spite of official announcement for partition, efforts were still being made by some Sikh and Muslim leaders for
keeping the Punjab united, especially Sant Singh M.L.A. (Central) and Mushtaq Ahmed Gurmani etc had been trying for a ‘Khalistan within Pakistan’ but the Muslim League was not ready for carving out specific territory of a Sikh State; the League offered just promise of good treatment with the Sikhs without right to cessation in case of failure of union between the Sikhs and Muslims.315 In fact Jinnah did not know about the state of the Punjab or the Sikhs and about the relationship between the two; according to Penderal Moon, ‘Jinnah knew as much about Punjab as Chamberlain knew about Czechoslovakia.’316It was this reason that a Sikh-Muslim union could not materialize.
Finally the legislatures of the Punjab and Bengal Assemblies held meetings; the non-Muslim M.L.As of the Punjab voted 50 for and 22 against partition and in the Muslim majority area317 69 votes were for and 27 against partition; a joint session of the 168 M.L.As also voted for a separate Constituent Assembly for drafting of constitution for Pakistan with all the 91 Muslim and other non Hindu-Sikh votes for it and all the 77 Sikh and Hindus votes against it. After this, the British Government formed a Commission to make final decision about the boundary between India and Pakistan; this Boundary Commission was headed by Cyril Radcliffe; on the 30th of June, Justice Teja Singh, Justice Mohammed Munir, Mehar Chand Mahajan etc. had been appointed as members of this Commission.
Cyril Radcliffe reached Delhi on the 8th of July 1947; its first meeting was held on the 14th of July and on this day it asked all the parties to submit their memorandums; then from the 21st to the 31st of July it held several meetings and heard the views of different lawyers and leaders of different Parties; prominent among them were Seetalwad (on behalf of the Hindus), Harnam Singh (on behalf of the Sikhs), Mohammed Zafar Ullah (on behalf of the Muslims); Dr O.H.K. Spat appeared on behalf of the Ahmedia community.
The Muslims demanded (Muslim population in the parenthesis): Multan (78%), Gujranwala (70%), Montgomery
(69%), Sheikhupura (63%), Lyallpur (62%), Sialkot (62%), Lahore (60.6%) as well as the following tehsils: Firozpur (55%), Zira (65%), Nakodar (59%), Ajnala (59%), Jalandhar (51%), Batala (55%), Shakargarh (51%), Gurdaspur 51%); among these Jalandhar, Zira, Ajnala, Batala etc were far from the west Punjab hence it meant creating several Pakistans. The Hindus suggested Raavi River as the border; the Sikhs demanded River Jhanan (Chenab) as border on the plea that most of the land of the districts of Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Montgomery and Lyallpur belonged to the Sikhs and Nanakana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak Sahib, was also a part of that zone.
Radcliffe had prepared the Award before the 14th of August but released it on the 17th August 1947; it divided the Punjab as it had been suggested by Cabinet Mission; the only changes were Gurdaspur district was placed in the East Punjab with Shakargarh tehsil going to the West Punjab and four police stations (Patti, Khem Karan, Bhikhiwind, Khalra) were given to the East Punjab; at one time it was under consideration to grant Firozpur, Zira, Makhu and Gurdaspur to the west Punjab; but Radcliffe favoured keeping rivers Raavi and Satluj as border between the East and the West Punjab and the debated over just those places where there was no river as boundary.
After the ‘Award’ was announced millions of people repatriated from east to west and vice versa; about two million Sikhs became homeless, about a quarter of a million of them were killed; thousands of Sikh women were kidnapped and raped and even forcibly married by the Muslims (and vice versa happened with some Muslim women the East Punjab too); hundreds of thousands of houses were torched; properly worth billions of rupees was looted or burnt; the Sikhs lost right to worship at 125 historical and more than one thousand other Gurdwaras; they lost their precious lands and mansions; there was arson, loot and carnage between Peshawar and Delhi (and vice versa happened with many Muslims and their properties in the East Punjab too).
The Sikhs (and even Hindus and Muslims) became victims of callousness of the Hindu Congress, the fanatic Muslim leaders, visionless Sikh leaders (who regarded Gandhi as their god)318, and cruel British rulers who did neither foresee the repercussions of migration of millions of people nor did they try to protect innocent people, and, nor did they feel any sympathy for the people.
After the 15th of August when the Hindus became rulers of India, the Sikhs had to face another calamity; they were homeless, poor and jobless, and, they had to face not only indifference but also hatred, discrimination and callousness at the hands of the fanatic Hindu rulers. They had been deceived by the Congress with false assurances (never to be fulfilled); the British had abandoned them at the mercy of the Muslims and the Hindus; the Sikh leadership too was responsible for this calamity because some traitors created obstacles in launching struggle for an independent country; they had been wooed by the Hindu Congress with sweet words, allurements, personal benefits; and some of them behaved as foolish, emotional and stupid people with ignorance, wavering minds and hasty decisions; some played treason too and that even for their petty benefits and other ulterior motives; ‘clash of Titans’ too was responsible for the crisis of the Sikh nation. Master Tara Singh had realized the future of the Sikhs right in 1942 and had put forth the demand for Azad Punjab but some leaders opposed him just out of jealousy; many of these leaders, when they were in death-beds, confessed having harmed the Sikh Panth due to one or another reason but there repentance came too late when the nation had been thrown in a century (? centuries) long night of subjugation, decimation and hatred of the fanatic Hindus; and, when the Sikhs raised their heads to get justice they faced prisons, atrocities, bullets and executions and humiliations at every step; and from 1982 to 1995 the Sikhs had to face several phases of pogrom in which more than two hundred thousand Sikhs were butchered to death.
Role of Master Tara Singh
Sirdar Kapur Singh, a disgruntled I.C.S. officer, in his book Saachi Saakhi has tried to put all the blame for not having achieved an independent Sikh State on Master Tara Singh and Baldev Singh but it is untrue and grave injustice atleast to a person like Master Tara Singh who spent whole of his life for the welfare of the Sikh Panth. The readers must have assessed, by a reading of the previous chapter and having gone through the development of the events and the role of Master Tara Singh (and even Baldev Singh), that he was the most sincere leader who wanted creation of a Sikh State whereas the pro-Congress group always put obstacles on his path and collaborated with the anti-Sikh communal Hindu leadership of the Congress Party.319 One can see that the Congress was constantly cheating the Sikhs; the British had never bothered for the safeguards or the future of the Sikhs – what to talk of offering a Sikh State, they did not, even once, offer even minor concessions to the Sikhs. The propaganda that in the last days of 1946 (or in the first half of 1947), when the British had invited the leaders of all the three communities to London, and after the meeting was over, the former suggested Baldev Singh to stay back so that arrangement may be made for a Sikh State is simply a gossip concocted just to defame Baldev Singh; there was no such situation that the British were ever interested in offering the Sikhs anything; it is blatant lie and rape of history. The truth is that the five leaders Nehru, Patel, Jinnah, Liaqat Ali and Baldev Singh) had been invited to London to discuss the Cabinet Mission Plan but these talks failed and all of them returned empty-handed. There was no ‘special request or suggestion’ to Baldev Singh to stay back at that juncture; and, the English were not even ready to talk about a Sikh State and whenever the Sikhs put forth this demand they were told that they (Sikhs) did not have majority in any district except in two tehsils (Moga and Tarn Taran).
Hence the story that Baldev Singh was asked to stay back, and, he shared this with Nehru who wooed him (Baldev) and convinced him to accompany him (Nehru) back to India without talking to the English Prime Minister. This concocted gossip story is injustice even to Baldev Singh who continued his efforts even when Mountbatten became the Viceroy in 1947 (and Master Tara Singh figures nowhere in this propaganda story too).
Later, in 1986, Ram Singh, an unknown man (who was neither a scholar nor a politician) but was a personal enemy of Master Tara Singh, too wrote a ‘book’ to defame Master Tara Singh (and there is nothing in this book that establishes even a grain of the fact that Master Tara Singh did anything wrong); one can understand the intention of this Ram Singh, when he wrote a letter to the Director of the British Library on the 17th of June 1986, he said (his own words without correcting language, grammar etc):
“Soon after the transfer of power to Pakistan and India the Akali leader Master Tara Singh in his several speeches created the misapprehension among the Sikhs that Lord Mountbatten was responsible for the destruction of Sikhs and thus deceived and betrayed the Sikhs. After careful and thorough studies of the records at your office I have been left in no doubt that this is not the case. It is evident from the records that Lord Mountbatten tried his best to help the Sikh cause. But it was the treacherous role of Akali leader Master Tara Singh who did not listen to the good and sincere advice of Lord Mountbatten. It is evidently clear that it was Akali leader who betrayed the Sikhs. In view of this I feel it my solemn duty to bring the true facts before the Sikhs that it was not Lord Mountbatten who was responsible for our present plight but it was our Akali leader Master Tara Singh who was and is responsible for our present plight. Secondly, I wish to restore the good name of Lord Mountbatten and British people among the Sikhs throughout the world, so that his name will command a great respect among the Sikhs.”
Besides Ram Singh, Jaswant Singh Kanwal, a mediocre novelist, too committed rape of history in his book ‘Punjabio Jeena Hai kay Marna’; this book is based solely on the books by Ram Singh or Kapur Singh; Kanwal is not a student of history and he has not read even complete history of the Sikhs, but, he has tried to become a historian and that even after reading just one book and that even just a hate-propaganda book by a personal enemy of Master Tara Singh.320
Another point stressed by Kapur Singh that the Sikhs would have been better in Pakistan too is ridiculous and against the facts of the past and the present history. To say that ‘if all the Hindus of Sind and Punjab would have become Sikhs and with their votes the Sikhs would have achieved absolute majority’ is a poor joke; even if all the Hindus would have embraced Sikhism, their number in Pakistan would not have been more than 10% and as the Muslims believe in producing several children simply to increase their population, the proportion of the Sikhs would still have been much less than even 10%. Secondly, one can observe the fate of the Ahmedia (Qadiani) community in Pakistan; they have been badly crushed and are being treated as third rate citizens; had the Sikhs cried foul and launched any struggle for their rights they would have got the same treatment or even worst.
Kapur Singh seems to have been angry with Master Tara Singh for some reason and due to this personal resentment he did grave injustice to Master Tara Singh; it is crystal clear that it was Udham Singh Nagoke, Partap Singh Kairon, Darshan Singh Pheruman, Gopal Singh Qaumi, Amar Singh (of Sher-i-Punjab), Amar Singh Jhabal and his brothers, Sardool Singh Kaveehsar, Kharak Singh, Gurmukh Singh Musafir, Mangal Singh and their supporters, some of who were either blind followers of Gandhi and Congress and/or were personal opponents of Master Tara Singh and/or were of extremely low understanding that they could not read the minds of the Hindu leaders, and, it was their opposition to the
demand of a Sikh State which was the third321 major factor of the Sikhs’ failure to achieve Sikh State in 1947.
Master Tara Singh spent whole of his life for the welfare of the Sikh nation; he did not even bother for his family which lived the life of poor people; his sons (Jaswant Singh and Mohan Singh) could not have any career nor property (they lived in a house at Amritsar that was just a poor small building even at the time of the death of Master Tara Singh in 1967); had Master Tara Singh been a collaborator of the Hindus (as alleged by his mean opponents as well as Kapur Singh and an unknown writer Ram Singh), he would have had a big fortune and his sons would have had high position in political, economic and/or business spheres; further, Nehru322 and other anti-Sikh fanatic Hindu-Congressmen even opposed placing Master Tara Singh’s picture in the Parliament House (Kharak Singh’s picture was already there); Had Master Tara Singh been (secret) friend of the Hindu leaders (as it is propagated by Master’s mean opponents) they would have constructed memorials in his name (at least after his death) which they rather opposed because Master Tara Singh was always disliked by the fanatic Hindus simply because he always fought for the rights of the Sikhs. Banda Singh Bahadur and Master Tara Singh are the two great Sikh leaders who have been victims of such heinous propaganda because both made great sacrifices and did never enjoy benefits of power (Banda Singh Bahadur never treated himself as a ruler; and, Master Tara Singh never contested election even for Punjab Assembly)’; this is a distortion of history and such a rape of history is unknown even to history. Master Tara Singh might have been an emotional person; he might have, sometimes, behaved as a confused person (all of us might have done so at times); he might have been deceived by flattery on occassions; he might have committed mistakes; he might not have been a very intelligent or far-sighted person; he might be a weak person; whatever!, but, to brand him as traitor is ungratefulness, and to quote William Shakespeare (from the play King Lear):
Blow blow thou winter wind.
You are not so unkind.
As man’s ingratitude!
And also:
Sharper than serpent’s tooth
Is the ingratitude of one’s child.
(here child can be replaced with brotherhood/nation)
Famous Sikh poet Bhai Gurdas also says the same:
The greatest weight (burden) on this earth is the ungrateful people.
They are the worst of the worst.
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NEWSPAPERS AND JOURNALS
English
Khalsa Advocate weekly, Amritsar
Sikhs: Past and Present, Oslo (Norway), Edmonton (Canada)
Sikh Review, Calcutta
The Tribune, (formerly from Lahore and Ambala) Chandigarh.
Punjabi
Akali (formerly from Lahore), Jalandhar
Akali Patrika daily, (formerly from Lahore) Jalandhar
Akali Te Pardesi daily, Lahore
Babar Sher weekly, Lahore
Gurdwara Gazette, Amritsar
Gurmat Parkash, Amritsar
Jathedar, Jalandhar.
Khalsa Akhbar weekly, Lahore
Nayak weekly, Lahore
Panch weekly, Amritsar
Phulwari monthly, Lahore
Punjab Darpan weekly, Lahore
Qaumi Ekta, Delhi
Sant Sewak weekly, Lahore (paper of mahants)
Sikh Sipahi weekly, Firozpur
Singh Sabha Patrika quarterly, Delhi.
1 Babar Sher dated 3.2.1926
2Giani Sher Singh- S.B. Mehtab Singh group was also known as ‘Shiromani Committee group’ because they were in control of the S.G.P.C.
3 Akali Te Pardesi dated 24.4.1926
4 Akali Te Pardesi dated 13.6.1926
5 Babar Sher, dated 19.7.1926 has published all these 120 names; also see Shamsher Singh Ashok’s book Shiromani Committee Da Panjah Sala Ithas.
6 After this, the remaining Akalis in the Lahore Jail elected Master Tara Singh as their new leader.
7 Akali Te Pardesi dated 5.8.1926
8 On the 17th of January 1927, the Government accepted the change of the name.
9 Though Shiromani Akali Dal had been formed, on the 14th of December 1920, in order to assist the S.G.P.C. in taking control of the Gurdwaras or for reform in the Gurdwara functioning, but, in January 1926, when Giani Sher Singh – S.B. Mehtab Singh group established itself as a ‘syndicate’ and captured the S.G.P.C., the Kharak Singh and Master Tara Singh group formed an ‘Akali Party’ within the S.G.P.C.; and, as it was in the control of the organisation of the Shiromani Akali Dal gradually it began using this platform, first as their ‘syndicate’ and then organisation; hence, soon, the role of the Shiromani Akali Dal, from a wing of the S.G.P.C. turned into an independent body, and finally into a full-fledged religio-political organisation.
10 Akali Te Pardesi, dated 18.1.1928 and 22.1.1928.
11 Though it was an all parties conference but it had been organized by Akali Dal.
12 Akali Te Pardesi, dated 31.1.1928
13 Akali Te Pardesi, dated 4.2.1928
14 Akali Te Pardesi, dated 14.2.1928
15 Bardauli Agitation ended on the 6th of August 1928
16 Daily Tribune, dated 25.1.1928
17 Daily Akali Patrika, dated 27.1.1928
18 Lala Lajpat Rai (an Aggarwal bania of Dhudike village) was born in a Hindu family but due to his mother Gulab Devi’s devotion to Sikhism he too had been living almost like a Sikh; he had grown full beard and hair and had been tying turban like a practicing Sikh till 1907, but, after submitting a sort of apology to seek release from Mandla (Burma) exile, he joined Arya Samaj and also shaved himself (this shocked his mother so much that she fell it and was permanently confined to bed).
Lala Lajpat Rai was corrupt too; he had collected fifty thousand
FOOT NOTES
rupees in the name of helping the families of the Ghadr Party leaders (of 1914-18) serving prison terms in different cases; instead he embezzled this amount. Master Tara Singh raised his voice against this fraud but it did not yield results. Lajpat Rai even accepted bribe from mahant Narain Das, the butcher of Nanakana, and supported his cause; he played anti-Sikh role even during the Jaito Agitation; his organisation ‘Servants of the People Society’ was known for its anti-Sikh propaganda; Sohan Lal, one of its leaders of this ‘Society’ had made several low-level attacks on Guru Gobind Singh and the Sikhs (Akali Te Pardesi, dated 3.6.1927, Jaswant Singh’s Jeewan Master Tara Singh, p. 108).
19 Harjinder Singh Dilgeer (ed.), Master Tara Singh De Lekh, volume I.
20 The Tribune dated 31.1.1928 and daily Akali Te Pardesi dated 2.11.1928.
21 Later, Lala Lajpat Rai died of heart attack on the 17th of November 1928 (The Tribune, dated 18.11.1928) and later, on the provocation by the wife of C.R. Dass, the Arya Samajists tried to associate his death with cane-charge, whereas, as per the newspapers of the 31st of October, the 1st and the 2nd of November 1928, the Lala had not suffered any blow and did not have even minor scratch on his body (later fake documents were created to prove the Lala as victim of cane-charge by the police).
22 Akali Te Pardesi dated 30.12.1927. (This Congress session had passed resolution for boycott of Simon Commission; and, perhaps it was due to this that Master Tara Singh’s resolution was not opposed (the Congress expected the Sikhs to play leading role in opposing the Simon Commission).
23 At that time Shiromani Akali Dal, S.G.P.C. and the Central Sikh League had almost the same leadership.
24 The Tribune, dated 29.2.1928
25 Durlab Singh, The Valiant Fighter, pp 89-91.
26 The Tribune, dated 22.8.1928, Akali Te Pardesi, dated 23.8.1928.
27 The Tribune, dated 22.8.1928.
28 Later, in 1981, when Mangal Singh was living a retired life, and had been staying with his daughter, in a house at Chandigarh, while talking to this author, confessed that he took stand just due to his prestige; he also proclaimed that Moti Lal was an arrogant and was also a fanatic Hindu).
29 The Tribune, dated 26.10.1928
30 Akali Te Pardesi, dated 30.12.1928
31 Akali Te Pardesi, dated 31.12.1928
32 Ibid.
33 Gandhi was a cunning person; whenever there was a critical situation, he would use the weapon of ‘speech fast’; in fact he used this tool to avoid comments on difficult/critical issues.
34 Durlab Singh, The Valiant Fighter, p. 97
35 The Tribune, dated 16.10.1292
36 The Tribune, dated 16.10.1929
37 The Tribune, dated 26.11.1929
38 Congress Bulletin, dated 9.1.1930.
39 Randhir Singh, Jail Chithian, pp. 592-93.
40 The Congress leaders had known the Sikhs’ courage in braving the police canes during Guru-da-Bagh Agitation in August-September 122.
41 Jaswant Singh, Master Tara Singh: Jeewan te Rachna, p. 117.
42 Daily Akali, dated 24.4.1921, Nayak dated 2.4.1921.
43 The Tribune, dated 2.11.1930.
44 The Tribune, dated 15.4.1930
45 Durlab Singh, The Valiant Fighter, pp. 110-112.
46 Ibid.
47 Ibid.
48 Gurdwara Sees Ganj Firing Enquiry Committee Report 1930.
49 The Tribune, dated 27.3.1931.
50 The Congress Party had maneuvered to replace Kharak Singh as he was almost inimical to Congress; he considered Congress as an enemy of the Sikhs and used to call it kutti Congress (literally: bitch Congress).
51 Akali Te Pardesi, dated 6.8.1931.
52 Akali Te Pardesi, dated 26.7.1932
53 Later, on the 29th of July 1932, Sewa Singh Thikriwala was added as the 18th member.
54 Akali Te Pardesi, dated 31.7.1932
55 Akali Te Pardesi, dated 2.9.1932.
56 Akali Te Pardesi, dated 26.9.1932.
57 Akali Te Pardesi, dated 27.9.1932.
58 Daily Milap, dated 25.5.1936; Giani Khazan Singh, Itihas Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Lahore, p. 56.
59 Akali Patrika, dated 9.7.1935.
60 Akali Patrika, dated 14.7.1935.
61 Akali Patrika, dated 19.7.1935.
62 Akali Patrika, dated 23.7.1935.
63 Akali Patrika, dated 20.2.1936.
64 Later, on the 26th of February 1938, Barkat Ali, a Muslim League Councillor tabled a Bill in the Punjab Council on the issue of Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Singhanian; discussion was held on this Bill on the 16th of March; on the 4th of April Sikander Hayat Khan formed a Committee comprising of Dasaundha Singh, Ujjal Singh, Gopi Chand Bhargo, Diwan Chaman Lal, Sheikh Karamat Ali, Pir Makbool Mehmood and Khalid Latif Gauba; but, on the 19th of April 1938, Master Tara Singh declared that he won’t negotiate on the issue of Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Singhanian; hence this Committee remained a still-born child; the issue of Gurdwara Shaheed
Ganj Singhanian was finally decided by the Courts (it went in favour of the Sikhs).
65 The High Court Bench comprised of Chief Justice Douglas Young, Justice Bhidde and Justice Din Mohammed.
66 Later the Muslims made an appeal to the Privy Council; which too accepted the Sikhs’ claim; finally, in 1988, the Islamic Court too gave its verdict in favour of the Sikhs.
67 Durlab Singh, The Valiant Fighter, p. 125.
68 Akali Patrika, dated 21.8.1937.
69 Akali Patrika, dated 15.12.1935.
70 Akali Patrika, dated 1.1.1936.
71 Buta Singh had participated in the Round table Conference in spite of its boycott by the Sikhs; but, on the 15th of December 1935, he appeared at Akal Takht and submitted an unconditional apology; as a tankhah (penance) he was asked to lead the first jatha.
72 Akali Patrika, dated 20.6.1936.
73 Akali Patrika, dated 9.7.1936.
74 He had been arrested in May 1930 for leading a jatha to Peshawar.
75 Earlier, Kharak Singh had been the President of the S.G.P.C. and this meant change in the leadership of the Akal Dal (which ruled the S.G.P.C.); it is worth mentioning that even the Congress Party impressed upon its supporters in the Akali Dal to remove Kharak Singh as the latter had been very aggressive against the Congress (Durlab Singh, The Valiant Fighter, p. 115).
76 Akali Te Pardesi, dated 23.9.1933.
77 They had announced holding of a meeting in the building of the ‘Samadh of Ranjit Singh’ but, as Master Tara Singh group was in the control of the S.G.P.C. it did not allow holding of a meeting there on the pretext that the group had not sought prior permission to hold a meeting; hence they had to shift the venue to Braudlaugh Hall.
78 Akali Te Pardesi, dated 29.9.1933.
79 Akali Te Pardesi, dated 31.12.1933.
80 Akali Patrika, dated 12.4.1935.
81 Akali Patrika, dated 20.4.1935, The Tribune, dated 19.4.1935.
82 Details of the Muslim agitation regarding Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Singhanian agitation have been given in the previous chapter.
83 Akali Patrika, dated 21.1.1936.
84 Akali Patrika, dated 27.4.1936.
85 Akali Patrika, dated 15.6.1936.
86A few months before his death Giani Sher Singh had merged his faction in the Shiromani Akali Dal and had accepted the lead of Master Tara Singh.
87 Before leaving this world Udham Singh Nagoke acknowledged that he had harmed the Panth due to his factional approach; Akali Mangal Singh
accepted that he had done wrong by accepting Nehru and Gandhi as neutral leaders; Baldev Singh accepted his guilt and so did many others; but their ‘dying confessions’ were of no avail to the Panth or to themselves.
88 G. B. Singh & Tim Watson, Gandhi under Cross-Examination (2nd edition 2009, published by Sovereign Star Publishing Inc, Lathorp, CA, U.S.A.) has given a detailed chapter regarding this incident. This book presents evidence that Gandhi was an employed ‘tout’ of the English forces even during his stay n the South Africa; his duty was to spy the Blacks.
89 Gandhi, however, considered Mahabharata as myth and he refused to accept it as ‘history’; he had said that if it is proved that Mahabharata was history I will refuse to accept Krishna as prophet (Qaumi Dard, dated 8.10.1925).
90 Indu Lal K. Yajnik, Gandhi: As I knew Him, p. 302; also see: G.D. Tendulkar, Mahatama: Life of Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi).
91 Qaumi Dard, dated 8.10.1925.
92 Gandhi, Collected Works, vol. 19, p. 401.
93 Ibid; also Navjiwan, dated 13.3.1921.
94 Gandhi’s letter dated 5.3.1921; and the S.G.P.C. passed a resolution for non co-operation; also see Gandhi’s Secretary K. Santanam’s letter dated 10.3.1921 (which refers to Akalis’ passing of resolution for non co-operation); also see: Punjab Darpan, dated 16.3.1921.
95 The killer mahant was given death sentence which was changed to life imprisonment by High Court and this killer was released after serving less than ten years in prison (and that even as a privileged prisoner in the Delhi jail, in the ward specially reserved for White prisoners).
96 Babar Sher, dated 4.3.1925.
97 Young India, dated 9.4.1925; also see: Qaumi Dard, dated 8.10.1925
98 Gandhi never opposed Muslims joining the British Army; he wanted that the Sikhs should not join (meaning that the Sikhs’ proportion in the Army should not be high).
99 Daily Partap dated 15.9.1940; daily Milap dated 15.9.1940; daily Veer Bharat dated 15.9.1940.
100 Gandhi, Collected Works, vol. 88, pp. 4-5.
101 Ibid, vol. 89, p. 284.
102 Ibid.
103 Ibid, vol. 89, p. 274.
104 Ibid, vol. 90, pp. 72-73.
105 Ibid, vol. 90, p. 177.
106 Ibid, vol. 90, p. 470.
107 I have quoted just a few, there are several such utterances in Gandhi’s own works.
108 Jaswant Sinh, Jinnah (India, Partition, Independence), Delhi, 2009, especially pages 502-525.
109 Akali Patrika, dated 29.10.1934.
110 Akali Patrika, dated 16.6.1936.
111 Akali Patrika, dated 20.6.1934.
112 Phulwari, 1932. In this poem has had called Master Tara Singh ‘humble, selfless, truthful, ever-ready to make sacrifice for the Panth’.
113 Akali Patrika, dated 20.6.1934.
114 Akali Patrika, dated 5.8.1934
115 Akali Patrika, dated 18.8.1934.
116 Akali Patrika, dated 18.11.1934.
117 The Tribune, dated 20.11.1936
118 Sunder Singh Majithia, Joginder Singh Maan (father of Simranjeet Singh Maan) and Jagjit Singh Maan.
119 Akali Patrika, dated 9.2.1937.
120 Akali Patrika, dated 16.2.1937.
121 Akali Patrika, dated 19.2.1937.
122 Akali Patrika, dated 31.3.1936.
123 Akali Patrika, dated 7.3.1937
124 Akali Patrika, dated 16.3.1937
125 Akali Patrika, dated 27.4.1937
126 Akali Patrika, dated 29.4.1937
127 Udham Singh Nagoke, Sikh Dharam Te Maujuda Rajniti, p. 32.
128 Akali Patrika, dated 18.6.1937
129 He was the brother of Akali leader Master Tara Singh.
130 Later, the Akali Dal resolved to establish a new college at Lahore (which was named Sikh National College); Inder Singh, father of Baldev Singh M.L.A. and a big industrialist, donated one hundred thousand rupees for the establishment of this College; when he visited Lahore he was given an arousing welcome attended by thousands of Akalis.
131 Akali Patrika, dated 26.1.1938.
132 Akali Patrika, dated 13.3.1938.
133 Akali Patrika, dated 18.5.1938.
134 Ibid.
135 Akali Patrika, dated 5.8.1938
136 Akali Patrika, dated 11.10.1938
137 Akali Patrika, dated 29.11.1938
138 Udham Singh Nagoke, Sikh Dharam tay Majuda Rajniti, p. 34.
139 From amongst the delegates of the Congress Party, Subash Chander Bose received votes of 1495 delegates as against 1286 of Gandhi’s candidate; thus a difference of 209 votes (Akali Patrika, dated 2.2.1938).
140 Akali Patrika, dated 17.2.1939.
141 According to this Bill, the proposed Board was to comprise of one member each from Chief Khalsa Diwan, the Sikh Legislatures, the Sikh States, Singh Sabhas, Gurdwara Committees and the Government; and this
Board was to monitor the activities of the S.G.P.C.; hence it would have meant that the democratic elections to the S.G.P.C. were meaningless. (The Tribune, dated 15.1.1941).
142 Akali Patrika, dated 21.2.1939.
143 Akali Patrika, dated 29.3.1939.
144 Akali Patrika, dated 18.5.1939.
145 Akali Patrika, dated 29.6.1939.
146 Akali Patrika, dated 3.10.1939.
147 R. Coupland, Indian Politics 1936-42, p. 43.
148 Akali Patrika, dated 2.10.1939
149 Though the resolution for creation of Pakistan was passed by the Muslim League on the 23rd of March 1940 but the demand of a separate Muslim country was already in the air since long.
150 Akali Patrika, dated 13.2.140
151 Akali Patrika, dated 6.7.1940
152 Akali Patrika, dated 15.7.1940
153 Akali Patrika, dated 18.7.1940
154 The Tribune, dated 11.9.1940
155 The Tribune, dated 14.9.1940
156 The Tribune, dated 20.9.1940
157 Daily Akali, dated 30.9.1940
158 Daily Akali, dated 16.10.1940
159 The Tribune, dated 1.1.1941
160 Gandhi had not made only this single statement exhibiting his hatred for Sikhism; he had been doing it since 1920 and continued it throughout his life; his last such hate-statement dates a few days before his murder (see the previous chapter, pp 89-95 of this book, ‘Gandhi’s disdain for the Sikhs and Sikhism’ in which some of his several such statements have been quoted).
161 Udham Singh Nagoke and Mangal Singh, when they were on their death-beds confessed before this author that they realized much later that they had committed treason with the Sikh nation; but Mangal Singh’s and Nagoke’s acts were like that of a killer who, after having committed the murder, repented for his sin at his death-bed.
162 The Tribune, dated 15.1.1941
163 Daily Akali, dated 16.2.1941
164 The Tribune, dated 18.2.1941
165 The Tribune, dated 11.8.1941
166 The Tribune, dated 12.8.1941
167 The Tribune, dated 4.9.1941
168 The Tribune, dated 29.9.1941
169 The Tribune, dated 3.11.1941
170 The Tribune, dated 18.11.1941
171 The Tribune, dated 1.4.1942.
172 The Tribune, dated 3.4.1942.
173 The Tribune, dated 9.4.1942.
174 Gurbachan Singh and Lal Singh, The Idea of a Sikh State (1946), p.9.
175 The Tribune, dated 14.6.1942.
176 The Tribune, dated 1.7.1942.
177 Shamloo, Speeches and Statements of Dr Iqbal, p. 13.
178 Sir Geoffrey Corbet, The Communal Problem in Punjab, pp. 431-32.
179 The Tribune, dated 29.5.1940.
180 The Tribune, dated 2.12.1940.
181 Rajinder Prasad, India Divided p. 254.
182 Daily Akali, dated 8.6.1943, The Tribune, dated 8.6.1943, Gurbachan Singh and Lal Singh, The Idea of a Sikh State, p. 10.
183 Daily Akali, dated 6.7.1943.
184 Daily Akali, dated 16.8.1943.
185 The Tribune, dated 9.8.1943.
186 For a reading of this ‘Charter’ see pp. 48-49 of this book.
187 Daily Akali, dated 22.8.1943.
188 Balwant Singh polled 1838 votes against 1919 of Saran Singh.
189 Daily Akali, dated 5.3.1944.
190 During this period even the family of Master Tara Singh did not know about his whereabouts; he has narrated his venture in his travelogue written by him during this period.
191 Daily Akali, dated 7.3.1944.
192 Daily Akali, dated 10.4.1944
193 Daily Akali, dated 20.4.1944
194 The Tribune, dated 24.4.1944
195 Daily Akali, dated 3.5.1944
196 Daily Akali, dated 14.5.1944, The Tribune, dated 14.5.1944.
197It implies that Sikhs were being discriminated while giving government jobs even in the Sikh States of Faridkot, Patiala and Kapurthala.
198 It means that the non-Sikh officials even in the Sikh States were communal and anti-Sikh; and, the Sikh king was either unaware or was indifferent to this.
199 On the 6th of March 1944, Master Tara Singh had gone to some undisclosed place for self-imposed exile.
200 The Tribune, dated 25.7.1944.
201 The Tribune, dated 27.7.1944.
202 Daily Akali, dated 2.8.1944 and 3.8.1944.
203 The Tribune, dated 7.8.1944
204 Daily Akali, dated 29.7.1944.
205 The Tribune, dated 7.8.1944
206 The Tribune, dated 21.8.1944.
207 The Tribune, dated 23.8.1944.
208 The Tribune, dated 23.8.1944.
209 The Tribune, dated 21.8.1944.
210 The Tribune, dated 21.8.1944.
211 The Tribune, dated 4.9.1944.
212 Daily Akali, dated 6.9.1944.
213 The Tribune, dated 25.9.1944.
214 Whereas the English never bothered for the Sikhs.
215 The Tribune, dated 3.10.1944.
216 The Tribune, dated 9.10.1944.
217 The Tribune, dated 15.10.1944; Daily Akali, dated 15.10.1944.
218 It was foolish on the part of the Sikh leaders to present the demand for a Sikh State in opposition to the creation of Pakistan; and by doing so they were playing a negative game as their demand was to stop Pakistan; and this weakened the demand for a Sikh State; whereas Pakistan was a reality and the Sikhs could have successfully struggled for a Sikh State even if it might have been smaller in territory.
219 The Tribune, dated 25.11.1944.
220 The Tribune, dated 26.11.1944; Daily Akali, dated 27.11.1944.
221 Daily Akali, dated 31.12.1944
222 The Tribune, dated 18.12.1944
223 Daily Akali, dated 21.11.1944.
224 Daily Akali, dated 10.1.1945.
225 The Tribune, dated 13.1.1945
226 The Tribune, dated 23.2.1945.
227 The Tribune, dated 3.4.1945.
228 The Tribune, dated 9.4.1945
229 The Tribune, dated 17.4.1945; Daily Akali, dated 17.4.1945
230 The Tribune, dated 17.4.1945.
231 Daily Akali, dated 27.4.1945
232 The Tribune, dated 30.4.1945
233 The Tribune, dated 6.5.1945
234 The Tribune, dated 15.6.1945.
235 The Tribune, dated 28.6.1945.
236 The Tribune, dated 30.6.1945.
237 The Tribune, dated 8.7.1945.
238 The Congress Party submitted a list of 15 persons for the proposed Executive Counci; these were: (Congress, Muslim): Maulana Azad, Asaf Ali; (Congress Hindu): Nehru, Patel, Rajinder Prasad; (Muslim League): Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Mohammed Ismail Khan of Nawab of Mamdot, Liaqat Ali Khan; (Hindu maha Sabha): S.P. Mookerjee. OTHERS: (Hindu) Gagan Vihari Mehta; (Women, Indian Christians): Rajkumari Amrit Kaur; (Scheduled Castes): Muniswami Pillay, Radha Nath Das; (Parsi): Ardeshir Dalai; (Sikh): Master Tara Singh.
239 The Tribune, dated 15.7.1945.
240 The Tribune, dated 16.7.1945.
241 The Tribune, dated 16.7.1945.
242 It was the best time to launch movement for a Sikh State but ‘asses leading the nation of tigers’ always fell prey to flattery by the Hindu leaders and the unwise and emotional Sikh leaders generally surrendered their interests. Though there were strayed statements demanding Azad Punjab, Sikh State, Khalistan, Sikh Homeland etc but all these were being presented as negative demands and/or as a sequel to or to block the creation of Pakistan; the responsibility for this unreasonable and foolish behaviour lied with both types of Sikh leaders: those who were extremely and blindly loyal to Gandhi and Congress and behaved as idiots in trusting the Hindu leadership; and, those who surrendered to their (Gandhi’s blind followers) pressure too were liable for such confused behaviour.
243 In 1945, when Israel was created there were just 46 thousand Jews and 686 thousand Muslims in the area of Palestine.
244 This was the best stand the Sikhs could have taken but just statement was not enough, the Sikhs should have launched a campaign and agitation on this stand; and, it was possible to achieve it but…
245 The Tribune, dated 25.8.1945.
246 Daily Akali, dated 1.10.1945, The Tribune, dated 1.10.1945.
247 Daily Akali, dated 1.10.1945, The Tribune, dated 1.10.1945.
248 The Tribune, dated 5.10.1945.
249 Daily Akali, dated 19.12.1945.
250 When the results were announced the Congress won 10 Sikh seats (including 2 where the Akalis and the Congress had an alliance), of the rest the Akalis had offered the Congress 9 seats but after contesting against the Akalis it won 8 seats, thus a loss of one seat to Congress and benefit to the Akalis who would have got 20 seats as per their offer to the Congress but having contested independently they won 21 seats.; had Kharak Singh faction not favoured the Congress candidates probably all the 33 Sikh seats would have been won by the Akali Dal; and that would have benefitted the Sikhs in negotiations with the British.
251 The Tribune, dated 4.1.1946.
252 The Tribune, dated 14.1.1946.
253 The Tribune, dated 24.1.1946.
254 The Tribune, dated 6.3.1946.
255 Ibid.
256 The Tribune, dated 9.3.1946.
257 The Tribune, dated 6.3.1946.
258 The Tribune, dated 13.3.1946.
259 The Tribune, dated 11.3.1946.
260 The Tribune, dated 2.3.1946.
261 The Tribune, dated 27.3.1946.
262 The Tribune, dated 30.3.1946.
263 The Tribune, dated 2.4.1946
264 The Tribune, dated 5.4.1946
265 Campbell, Mission With Mountbatten, p. 13 (1951 edition); Penderal Moon, Divide and Quit, p. 43 (1946 edition).
266 The Tribune, dated 6.4.1946, V.P. Menon, Transfer of Power in India, pp. 244-45 (1968 edition).
267 Ajit Singh Sarhadi, Punjabi Suba: The Story of Struggle, pp. 87-88.
268 V.P. Menon, Transfer of Power in India, pp. 244-45 (1968 edition).
269 The Tribune, dated 16.4.1946.
270 Ganda Singh, A Diary of Partition Days, published in Punjab: Past and Present, October 1978, p. 448.
271 The Tribune, dated 1.5.1946.
272 The Tribune, dated 9.5.1946.
273 Ibid.
274 Landen Sarasfiled, Betrayal of the Sikhs, pp. 102-118.
275 The Tribune, dated 19.5.1946.
276 The Tribune, dated 20.5.1946.
277Paper related to Cabinet Mission Plan in India, p. 61; Kirpal Singh, Punjab Da Batwara, p. 23.
278 The Tribune, dated 22.5.1946.
279 The Tribune, dated 24.5.1946.
280 The Tribune, dated 27.5.1946.
281 Jaswant Sinh, Jinnah (India- Partition- indepencdece), pp 502-25.
282 H.M.Seervai, Partition of India: Legend and Reality, p. 123.
283 Landen Sarasfiled, Betrayal of the Sikhs, pp. 119-123.
284 The Congressite Sikhs had not attended the Conference on that day; he was pointing out to them.
285 The Tribune, dated 17.6.1946.
286 The Tribune, dated 23.6.1946.
287 V. P. Menon, Transfer of Power in India, p. 294 (1968 edition).
288 Ibid.
289 Landen Sarasfiled, Betrayal of the Sikhs, pp. 130-31..
290 The Congress had assured the Sikh in December 1929 also but it had not kept its promise; again, in the issue of his paper ‘Young India’ in the issue dated 19th of March 1931 too M.K. Gandhi had assured the Sikhs that the Congress shall not betray them; but, it broke its solemn assurances and promises whenever a situation arose; the Congress sold the Sikh interest in order to please the Muslims.
291 The Tribune, dated 11.7.1946.
292 The Tribune, dated 12.7.1946.
293 The Tribune, dated 15.7.1946; daily Akali, dated 16.7.1946.
294 Daily Akali, dated 16.7.1946.
295 This had happened time and again; the cunning Brahmins and fundamentalist Hindus like Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, Patel and others easily won Partap Singh Kairon (and later, after 1947, Giani Kartar Singh and Gian Singh Rarewala) by offering him share in power; they won Udham Singh Nagoke, Gurdit Singh Kamagatamaru by flattering them (and after 1960 the Congress fooled several activists by creating caste differences) and by many other means; and, many Sikh leaders behaved as naïve, stupid, plain idiots, greedy, mean and even traitors.
296 The Tribune, dated 12.9.1946.
297 The Tribune, dated 10.12.1946.
298 The Tribune, dated .1.1947.
299 L/PO/12, Henderson papers. (Non-italic words in parenthesis are mine for clarification – author).
300 Daily Akali, dated 26.1.1947.
301 Note by Sir E. Jenkins (Punjab) to Field Marshal Viscount Wavell, dated 12.2.1947.
302 The Tribune, dated 3.3.1947.
303 Daily Akali, 4.3.1947.
304 Daily Akali, 5.3.1947.
305 Part responsibility of these murders also lied with those who had opposed the demand of ‘Azad Punjab’ or the division of the Punjab into Muslim and non-Muslim zones; had that been achieved this would not have happened; and, even if Jinnah’s suggestion of transfer of population and property (The Tribune, dated 12.9.1946) had been accepted this would have been avoided. Between the demand of Azad Punjab (1943) and 1947, the blind pro-Congress Sikh activists were either behaving foolishly or had trusted the Hindu-Congress blindly or were more concerned about their own vested interests, and, did not bother their brethren in the Muslim majority area; the Hindu-Congress leaders had never bothered for the Punjabis’ interests and welfare; and by doing this they played treason not only with the Sikhs but also with the Hindus of the Punjab.
306 On the 19th of March 1947, Mr McDonald, the Home Secretary of the Punjab, stated that within fifteen days 2049 Sikhs and Hindus had been killed or seriously wounded; according to non-official sources the figure was many times more than that.
307 Jenkins wrongly mentioned Babu Labh Singh as a ‘former president of the S.G.P.C.’; in fact He (Labh Singh) was President of Shiromani Akali Dal when he was murdered on the 9th of March 1947.
308 Note of Sir E. Jenkins (Punjab) to Field Marshal Viscount Wavell.
309 Daily Akali, dated 5.4.1947.
310 Durga Das, Sardar Patel’s Correspondence, vol. 5, pp. 1292-93.
311 Daily Akali, dated 4.5.1947; A.N. Bali, Now It Can be Told, pp. 54-55.
312 Minutes of the meeting of the Viceroy with the Indian Leaders, First Day L/P&J/10/81, folios 401-9; telegrams to H.M.G. by Lord Mount-Batten.
313 L/P+J/10/81, dated 3 June 1947.
314 Mis-spelling Giani as Gianni is not mine act – author.
315 Stephen Ian, Pakistan, p. 40 (1963 edition).
316 Penderal Moon, Divide and Quit, p. 37 (1961 edition).
317 1. Lahore Division: Lahore, Gujranwala, Gurdaspur, Sheikhupura, Sialkot districts 2. Rawalpindi Division: Rawalpindi, Attock, Gujrat, Jehlum, Mianwali, Shahpur 3. Multan Division: Multan, Dear Ghazi Khan, Hang, Muzzafargarh, Lyallpur and Montgomery.
318 Partap Singh Kairon, Udham Singh Nagoke, Darshan Singh Pheruman, Gurmukh Singh Musafir, Amar Singh Jhabal, Sardool Singh Kaveeshar, Amar Singh Sher-i-Punjab etc. who opposed Sikh State tooth and nail.
319 The unfounded allegations made by Sirdar Kapur Singh can well be defined as ungratefulness by a man whom Master Tara Singh brought out from isolation, nothingness and misery; and got him elected as M.P. and always promoted him; and stood for him in thick and thin.
320 This author told him not to spread such lies when Kanwal was addressing the students of Gurmat Gian Missionary College in 2007; either Kanwal is too obstinate or he had been either poisoned or fooled or bribed by some person or group or agency or undeserving fame has gone into his head.
321 Two other factors were callousness of the British and betrayal of the Sikhs by the Congress.
322 Nehru put Master Tara Singh in jail several times simply because the latter raised voice for the rights of the Sikhs.