Ghadarites at home, abroad for freedom
Although many unsung heroes had laid down their lives in the freedom struggle during the Ghadar Movement that went on from 1857 to 1940 in the country, the history records only five death sentences from the Jalandhar district. Last week, the Jalandhar Tribune carried the life struggles of Ghadarites Banta Singh Sanghwal and Bishan Singh Gakhal. Today, we bring to you the life of Ghadarites from village Khurdpur: Balwant Singh, Ranga Singh and Arur Singh.
Rachna Khaira
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, May 7
Bibi Kartar Kaur, wife of Ghadarite Balwant Singh, sat worried at her home in Khurdpur village. Her husband had asked her to accompany him along with their two daughters, four-year-old Udham Kaur and a-year-old Niranjan Kaur, to Canada. It was 1911 and the Canadian government had imposed a ban on the immigration of Indian families. Bibi ji was told to be ready for imprisonment if the immigration authorities refused them entry into the country.
Later, accompanied by another Ghadarite Bhai Bhag Singh’s family, Balwant Singh and his family boarded a ship from Calcutta to Hong Kong. The families tried to get tickets for Vancouver from Calcutta, Rangoon and even from Hong Kong, but were refused by the travel companies there. After much struggle, the families bought tickets for the ship that was to travel from Hong Kong to San Francisco in America via Vancouver. However, this time too, they were not allowed to get down at Vancouver and were forced to travel to San Francisco, but there too they were not allowed to get down. Harassed badly, the families returned to Hong Kong. It was only after months of struggle and hardships, the families managed to buy tickets to Vancouver and after travelling for 11 months, finally landed there.
The Canadian immigration authorities refused entry to them. The families were arrested, but were later released on bond money worth 200 Canadian Dollars. With this, these women of Khurdpur village, Jalandhar, became the first Indian women to have landed in Canada. Later, Balwant Singh’s son Hardyal Singh was also born there.
According to historian Sita Ram Bansal, it was Balwant Singh who challenged the Canadian immigration rules and paved way for the entry of Indians in Canada by bringing his family to the country in 1911. “The Canadian authorities were aware and scared about the Indian Ghadarites and did not want them to settle there permanently. They wanted them to earn and go back home. Although they had allowed Chinese and Japanese immigrants families to settle there, it was a complete ban for Indian families. This had caused huge resentment amongst Indians in Canada which further blew up the Ghadar Movement there,” said Bansal.
Balwant Singh had played an important role in establishing the first Sikh temple of North America in Canada in 1908 and was appointed its first priest. He had also played a significant role in creating awareness amongst Indians back home about the atrocities being faced by Indian immigrants in Canada.
A three-member delegation led by Balwant Singh travelled from Canada to various parts of the world, including Britain, France and Afghanistan, but it was not promised any support by the authorities there to fight against stern immigration policies of the Canadian government. However, by holding public meetings in these areas, the delegation got success in making the Indians living in these countries aware of the Canadian atrocities. Later, the delegation also travelled to Lahore, Ambala and also to Punjab where they met Punjab Lt Governor Michael O’Dwyer. According to the Governor’s autobiography, he had confessed that he seemed to be ‘a little scared’ of Balwant Singh and had asked his Viceroy to be alert of him.
Balwant Singh had also fought the legal battle for four of the Komagata Maru passengers and even went to jail when he was caught buying weapons, including pistols for the passengers. On returning home during the First World War, he became very active in various revolutionary activities and was finally arrested in 1913. Later, his name was included in the second supplementary case in the Lahore Conspiracy Case and was finally hanged on March 29, 1917.
Bhai Ranga Singh: Chief of Jalandhar Ghadar Party
It was 1914 and Bhai Ranga Singh, with over 200 Ghadarites disguised as a ‘religious jatha’, was waiting anxiously at a ground in Ferozepur for Kartar Singh Sarabha who had gone to get the ground report of the Ferozepur Fort which housed the cantonment. They were reciting bhajans and were dancing to the tunes of religious hymns at the ground. Although the time of attack was 12 noon, but it was already 1 pm and there was no information on the whereabouts of Sarabha. He came around 1:30 pm and asked all of them to scatter immediately and to rush to safe places as the information about their attack had been leaked to the British army and they were coming to arrest them.
This was not the first time that Ranga Singh and his fellow Ghadarites had to cancel their plan. However, repeated failures could not hamper the indomitable spirit of freedom and patriotism in these young men. After getting another jolt by cancellation of the Mian Meer Cantonment attack, Bhai Ranga Singh along with his fellow party men planned to loot the ammunition depot at Kapurthala, but for this they needed ample ammunition to carry out the attack. For this, Bhai Ranga Singh planned to attack soldiers deployed on the Walla Bridge police post. Even though they were successful in snatching the arms from the policemen there, they could not loot the ammunition depot as other fellow men, including Bhai Arur Singh and Bhai Bachan Singh were caught by the police.
Bhai Ranga Singh played a very crucial role in the freedom struggle and was instrumental in taking the revolutionary literature into the remote areas of Punjab. He was only 25 when he left the army and went to America. He became quite active in various revolutionary activities that had gripped every Indian during that time. Later, on getting a call from the Ghadar party here, Ranga Singh returned home in 1914. He was made the in-charge of Jalandhar Ghadar Party. He used to himself distribute copies of revolutionary literature to people on roads, in villages, schools and even openly in various public places.
At the time of his arrest in 1915, the police recovered a printing machine from his possession which he had hidden near a road side in Sanghwal village. This machine was one amongst the six machines which were used for printing the revolutionary literature by the Ghadarites.
He was hanged to death along with Bir Singh Bahowal, Eesar Singh Dhudike and others on June 18, 1916.
Arur Singh Khurdpur: The bomb expert
Popularly known as Doctor Rur Singh, he was described as the ‘dangerous man’ of Sanghwal village. Although he worked as an assistant at a veterinary hospital in Jalandhar, he along with Banta Singh of his own village carried out many revolutionary activities in Jalandhar and nearby areas. In collaboration with Banta Singh, he tampered with railway lines and cut telephone wires near Suranasi railway station.
Arur Singh soon became a bomb making expert after learning the technique from Javand Singh of Nangal Kalan village. Soon, the British government issued his arrest warrants and he went underground for two years. Meanwhile, his ideal revolutionary Banta Singh was arrested after his relative Pratap Singh informed the police about his whereabouts in the village. Pratap Singh was awarded two Murabbas of land and Rs 5,000 for his ‘loyalty’ towards the British government. Arur Singh along with his fellowmen killed and buried Pratap Singh’s son in the same land awarded to him by the British government.
During this period, he also killed one government informer and seven policemen. On November 2, 1916, he went to meet a friend in Lahore Jail where he was immediately recognised and arrested. Tried in the Lahore Conspiracy Case III (1916), he was sentenced to death on January 4, 1917. His property was forfeited and he was hanged shortly thereafter. During his trial, he refused to defend himself and openly confessed to his revolutionary activities
