Kartar Singh Sarabha

Kartar Singh Sarabha (24 May 1896 – 16 November 1915) was an Sikh revolutionary who was amongst the most famous accused in the Lahore conspiracy trial. A leading luminary of the Ghadar Party, Kartar Singh was executed at Lahore in November 1915 for his role in the Ghadar Conspiracy in February 1915.

Early life

Kartar Singh Sarabha was born into a Sikh family at village Sarabha in the district ofLudhiana, Punjab in British India,on 24 May 1896. His father's name was Sardar Mangal Singh.His mother's name was sahib kaur. He was still very young when his father died.His grandfather brought him up with great care.After receiving initial education in his own village, Kartar Singh entered the Malwa Khalsa High school at Ludhiana for his matriculation. He was in tenth class when he went to live with his uncle in Orissa where, after finishing high school, he joined college. When he was fifteen, his parents put him on board a ship for America to work there. The ship landed at the American port of San Francisco in January 1912. The American Immigration officer put Indians through rigorous questioning while people of other countries were allowed to pass after slight checks. Kartar Singh asked one of the passengers about this type of behaviour. He told him, "Indians are the citizens of a slave country. As such, they are treated badly." This incident had a great effect on Sarabha.

In 1914, Indians worked in foreign countries either as indentured labourers or soldiers fighting for the consolidation of British rule or extending the boundaries of the British Empire. Kartar enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley (UCB), for a degree in chemistry. and also took up the work of picking fruit in orchards. He frequently talked to other Indians about getting his country freed.

The Ghadar Party and Newspaper

On 21 April 1913, the Indians of California assembled and formed the Ghadar Party (Revolution Party). The aim of the Ghadar Party was to get rid of the slavery of the British by means of an armed struggle and set up a national democratic government. Their slogan was "Put at stake everything for the freedom of the country." On 1 November 1913, the Ghadar Party started printing a paper named Ghadar, which was published in the Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati and Pushto languages. Kartar Singh did all the work for that paper.

This paper was sent to Indians living in all countries throughout the world. The purpose of the paper was to unmask the truth about British rule to Indians, impart military training, and explain in details the methods of making and using weapons and explosives.

Within a short time, the Ghadar Party became very famous through its organ: 'The Ghadar". It drew Indians from all walks of life.

He was a very brave person and Bhagat Singh was inspired by him.

Revolt in the Punjab

With the start of World War I in 1914, the British became thoroughly engrossed in the war effort. Thinking it to be a good opportunity, the leaders of the Ghadar Party published the "Decision of Declaration of War" against the British in issue of 'The Ghadar' dated 5 August 1914. Thousands of copies of the paper were distributed among army cantonments, villages and cities. Kartar Singh reached Calcutta via Colombo on board SS Salamin in November 1914: he accompanied two other Gadhar leaders, Satyen Sen and Vishnu Ganesh Pingle, along with a large number of Gadhar freedom fighters. With a letter of introduction from Jatin Mukherjee, the Jugantar leader, Kartar Singh and Pingle met Rash Behari Bose at Benares to inform him that twenty thousand more Gadhar members were expected very soon.[2] A large number of leaders of the Ghadar Party were arrested by the Government at the ports. In spite of these arrests, a meeting was held by members of the Ghadar Party at Ladhouwal near Ludhiana in which it was decided to commit robberies in the houses of the rich to meet requirements of finance for armed action. Two Ghadris, Waryam Singh and Bhai Ram Rakha were killed in a bomb blast in one such raid.

After the arrival of Rash Behari Bose at Amritsar on 25 January 1915, it was decided on a meeting on 12 February that the uprising should be started on 21 February. It was planned that after capturing the cantonments of Mian Mir and Ferozepur, mutiny was to be engineered near Ambala and Delhi.

Betrayal

Kirpal Singh, a police informer ('mole') in the ranks of the Ghadar Party had a large number of members arrested on February 19 and informed the Government of the planned revolt. The Government disarmed the native soldiers due to which the revolt failed.

After the failure of the revolution-, the members who had escaped arrest decided to leave India . Kartar Singh, Harnam Singh Tundilat, Jagat Singh etc. were asked to go to Afghanistan and they did make a move towards that area. But his conscience did not permit him to run away when all his comrades had been held. On 2 March 1915, He came back with two friends and went over to Chak No. 5 in Sargodha where there was a military stud and started propagating rebellion amongst the armymen. Risaldar Ganda Singh had Kartar Singh, Harnam Singh Tundilat, and Jagit Singh, arrested from Chak No. 5, district Lyallpur.

Verdict and execution

He soon became the symbol of martyrdom and many were influenced from his bravery and sacrifice. Bhagat Singh, another great revolutionary of Indian freedom, regarded Kartar Singh as his guru, friend and brother. A statue of him was erected in Ludhiana, andPunjabi novelist Nanak Singh wrote a novel called Ikk Mian Do Talwaran based on his life. The judges during his trial were impressed by his intellectual skills, but nevertheless he was sentenced to death by hanging. He wrote a popular song which he would sing and it is said that he died singing it:

"ਸੇਵਾ ਦੇਸ਼ ਦੀ ਜਿੰਦੜੀਅੇ ਬੜੀ ਔਖੀ,

ਗੱਲਾਂ ਕਰਨੀਆਂ ਢੇਰ ਸੁਖੱਲੀਆਂ ਨੇ,

ਜਿੰਨੇ ਦੇਸ਼ ਦੀ ਸੇਵਾ ਚ ਪੈਰ ਪਾਇਆ,

ਓਹਨਾ ਲੱਖ ਮੁਸੀਬਤਾਂ ਝੱਲੀਆਂ ਨੇ."

Serving ones country is very difficult

It is so easy to talk

Anyone who walked on that path

Must endure millions of calamities.

The judgement in respect of 63 arrested Gadharites was pronounced on 13 September 1915, at the Central Jail, Lahore. In this first conspiracy case of 1914–15, 24 Gadarites were sentenced to death. Kartar Singh was one of them.

The court observed that Kartar Singh was the most dangerous of all the rebels. "He is very proud of the crimes committed by him. He does not deserve mercy and should be sentenced to death". Kartar Singh was hanged in the Central Jail of Lahore on 16 November 1915, aged 19.

Bhagat Singh's Original Photographs

Bhagat Singh's Original Photographs
At the age of 21+ years 1929	At the age of 20 years first police arrest 1927
At the Age of 17 years	At the age of 11 years

Unknown Facts about Shaheed Bhagat Singh

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Who is a leader? He is that fool who dares to go beyond the obvious, he is that person who turns left when everyone is going right, he is that person who raise the voice when all the others are deeply lost in slumber, he is that person who does not stand behind the line but stands somewhere where no one has ever stood before. That fool becomes the leader when other people join him. A person alone cannot do anything, a person alone is powerless, individually he is helpless unless others join him and he is the most powerful when he has numbers.

Shaheed bhaghat Singh is one of those people who had the courage of going beyond the obvious, who did something no one ever did before, that young man at the age of 23 choose death. The sky still remembers the smile, the joy and the composure on the faces of those three friends, few moments before being hanged to death they were frolicking & frisking as were they were going for an adventure. When death was few moments away, they were not scared; they were content as if they were lined up for the distribution of the gold medal they have earned. Few seconds before begin hanged to death, they were not thinking about saving their lives or dying but they were arguing with each other about who shall be hanged first.

Bhagat Singh was born on 28 September 1907 in Faisalabad, India to a Sikh family, to a family who was already involved in the fight for independence. He along with his two friends; sukhdevand raj guru was handed to death on 23 march 1931. They were imprisoned for the charge of the killing of a police man, when they went to jail and saw the situations of the prisoners and just couldn’t endure it. He knew he is going to die, but he was not sad, he was happy; he wanted to die because he knew that his death would bring the change he couldn’t bring in his life and his death did bring a very massive refinement. His death created a very big chaos not only in India but globally. Shaheed bhagat Singh’s life was a very short lived one but during this brief period he did such big things that today after so many years he is recognized as the symbol of martyrdom, but bhagat Singh was a human, he was a son, a boy, a human, a friend, he had life like all of us, he also had likes and dislikes which we do not know about, so the top ten thing you do not know about bhagat Singh are:

10. He studied at the national college Lahore:

Like all the children he was born into a loving and caring family, he did become a leader later but in the beginning he was a normal child who received normal education.  Bhaghat Singh’s family enrolled him at the Dayanand Anglo Vedic High school and after completing his schooling he got admitted at the national college Lahore.

9. He was fluent in 5 languages:

Bhagat was a highly intelligent person; he had a very sharp brain. At an early age he learned multiple languages and became fluent in them. He learns English, Arabic, Polish, French and Swedish.

8. His childhood dream was the independence of India:

Bhagat Singh like all the other children of his age did not dream about getting a good life for him, he dreamed of something else, he wanted to bring peace and independence in India; he wanted to create a better life not for himself but for other people. And in the end he did that, he gave up his life for the sake of his country.

7. He ran from his house:

Bhagat Singh at an early age made his mind about what he wanted from life, at a quite early age he entered the spiritual world, now for him this material world was nothing, the lust couldn’t lure him. His parents wanted to get him married and he didn’t want to get married. He didn’t want a bride, he wanted martyrdom therefore he ran from his house leaving behind a letter which explained his family his motives.

6. He coined inquilab zindabad:

Yes the most famous slogan at the time of independence, the slogan which was the foundation of the Indian independent movement, the slogan which till today is widely used was coined by bhagat Singh. He after throwing the bomb in the central assembly ran from there, and he was chanting he slogan of inquilab zindabad.

5. He was a writer:

Bhagat Singh was a great write, he wrote for several news papers after he got released from the jail. But when he was imprisoned for the second time, he went on a protest, he knew he was going to die, he was to be hanged. So he started writing a dairy, in that dairy he poured out his heart. He also wrote an article named as “why am I atheist?” which gave a comprehension of why he lost believe in God.  His work was later published after his execution.

4. He was an actor:

Most of the people do not know that bhagat Singh is an ancestor of the bollywood star aamir khan, aamir khan’s family has been in acting for a long time but have you ever though from where did his acting talent came. It came from bhagat Singh, bhagat was a brilliant actor and he appeared in various plays in his college as Rana Pratap, Samrat Chandragupta, and Bharata durdesha.

3. He didn’t agree with Gandhi:

Although Mahatma Gandhi and bhagat Singh both wanted the independence of India but their ways where different and their ideologies were poles apart. Gandhi strongly opposed bhagat’s act of violence and bhagat on the other hand did not agree with Gandhi’s peaceful way. Bhagat said that a man like Gandhi who himself has never indulges in the middles class people can never understand the pain of poor people.

2. He was an atheist:

Bhagat Singh was born to a Sikh family and was raised as a Sikh, since his childhood he was taught to pray regularly and he knew all the versus by heart which he used to recite the entire day. It was after reading the work of Marx, Lenin and Trotsky that his religious belief started to limp; his belief in God vanished after he understood the reality of this world.  When in jail, he left praying and started to address himself as an atheist.

1. He was non-violent:

Bhagat singh was not a violent man, it was the circumstances which had compelled him to act in such a way, the last thing he wanted was violence but he had no choice. He never meant harm to any human, the bombs which he along with his friends threw at the central Assembly were not severe, and they material they used were a very low grade explosive.  The murder of Saunderwas too a case of mistaken identity.

Udham Singh’s Grandson Jeet Singh Is A Lowly Labourer ????

मेरा भारत महान ????????????

Udham Singh’s Grandson Jeet Singh Is A Lowly Labourer

Shaheed Udham Singh’s grandson “Jeet Singh” works as a laborer in Punjab.  The family has never received any compensation or support from the government.  How ironic that a man can give his life for his country and the country in return gives him nothing.  He could have “sold out” at any time to the British and lived a life of luxury.  Financial stability would have also been secured for many generations of his family.  Instead they are working in demeaning conditions.  Many political leaders have made promises including the last President Zail Singh but none has come through.  Jeet Singh lives in Sangrur village of Punjab with his two sons.

Shivnath Jha and Neena Jha, the husband and wife journalist team from Delhi published the book  “Heroes & Martyrs:  Their Neglected Descendants 1857-1947”.  They cover the stories of 22 families of freedom fighters’ descendents.  “We have come a long way since India became independent on 15th August 1947. But it is ironical that the present generation of India does not even know how many young people and freedom fighters laid down their lives for the sake of the country. Even more ironical is the fact that not even five percent population of this huge nation actually remembers those who died during the freedom struggle”.