Sardar Ajit Singh (23 February 1881 — 15 August 1947) was a revolutionary, an Indian dissident, and a nationalist during the time of British rule in India. With compatriots, he organised agitation by Punjabi peasants against anti-farmer laws known as the Punjab Colonisation Act (Amendment) 1906 and administrative orders increasing water rate charges. He was an early protester in the Punjab region of India who challenged British rule, and openly criticized the Indian colonial government. In May 1907, With Lala Lajpat Rai, he was exiled to Mandalay in Burma. Due to great public pressure and apprehension of unrest in the Indian Army, the bills of exile were withdrawn and both men were released in October 1907.
With his brothers Kishan Singh (1878 — 5 July 1951) and Swaran Singh (1887 — 20 July 1910), and Sufi Amba Parshad, he continued publishing political literature about how the British Government of India was planning to arrest them and put them in prison long-term. Along with Sufi Amba Parshad, he escaped to Iran in 1909, remaining in exile for 38 years. He returned to India in March 1947, breathing his last on the morning of 15 August 1947 at Dalhousie, East Punjab the very day India was declared independent of British rule.
Sardar Ajit Singh was an inspiration for his nephew Bhagat Singh (Kishan Singh's son). He established Bharatmata society, and published a journal "Bharat Mata", which was later compiled into a book with the same name. In 1907, he started the Pagri Sambhal Jatta Movement.
Sardar Ajit Singh Sandhu was born into a Jat Sikh [1] family from Punjab in India. He was born on 23 February 1881 at Khatkar Kalan village in Jullundur district (now in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar). He studied up to metric at Saindas Anglo Sanskrit School Jalandhar, and later joined Law College, Bareilly (UP). During this period he became intensely involved in the Indian freedom movement and left his law studies. Singh and his family were influenced by the Arya Samaj philosophy, this philosophy especially influenced his nephew, Bhagat Singh. [2]
In 1907, he was deported to Mandalay Jail in Burma along with Lala Lajpat Rai. After his release, he fled to Iran, rapidly developed as a centre for revolutionary activities by groups led by Sardar Ajit Singh and Sufi Amba Prasad who had worked there since 1909. The recruits to these groups included young nationalists of the likes of Rhishikesh Letha, Zia-ul-Haq, Thakur Das Dhuri. By 1910, the activities of these groups and their publication, the Hayat, had been noticed by the British intelligence. [3] Reports as early as 1910 indicated German efforts to unite Turkey and Persia and proceed to Afghanistan to threaten British India. [3] However, Ajit Singh's departure in 1911 brought the Indian revolutionary activities to a grinding halt, while British representations to Persia successfully curbed whatever activity that remained in the country. [3] From there, he traveled to Rome, Geneva, Paris, and Rio de Janeiro.
In 1918, he came in close contact with the Ghadar Party in San Francisco. In 1939, he returned to Europe and later on helped Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in his mission in Italy. In 1946, he came back to India at the invitation of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. After spending some time in Delhi, he went to Dalhousie.
Singh died on 15 August 1947. A samadhi in his memory is at Panjpula, a popular and scenic picnic spot in Dalhousie.
Bhagat Singh was an Indian anti-colonial revolutionary, who participated in the mistaken murder of a junior British police officer in December 1928 in what was to be retaliation for the death of an Indian nationalist. He later took part in a largely symbolic bombing of the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi and a hunger strike in jail, which—on the back of sympathetic coverage in Indian-owned newspapers—turned him into a household name in the Punjab region, and after his execution at age 23 into a martyr and folk hero in Northern India. Borrowing ideas from Bolshevism and anarchism, the charismatic Singh electrified a growing militancy in India in the 1930s, and prompted urgent introspection within the Indian National Congress's nonviolent but eventually successful campaign for India's independence.
Lala Lajpat Rai was an Indian revolutionary, politician, and author, popularly known as Punjab Kesari. He was one of the three members of the Lal Bal Pal trio. He died of severe head trauma injuries sustained 18 days earlier during a baton charge by police in Lahore, when he led a peaceful protest march against the British Simon Commission Indian constitutional reforms.
Sukhdev Thapar was an Indian freedom fighter who fought against the British government for the freedom of India. He was a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA). He was executed along with Shivaram Rajguru and Bhagat Singh on 23 March 1931.
The Revolutionary movement for Indian Independence was part of the Indian independence movement comprising the actions of violent underground revolutionary factions. Groups believing in armed revolution against the ruling British fall into this category, as opposed to the generally peaceful civil disobedience movement spearheaded by Mahatma Gandhi.
Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district is one of twenty-three districts of state of Punjab, India. It is located in Doaba region. It consists of three subdivisions, Nawanshahr, Banga, and Balachaur. There are three legislative seats in the district, Nawanshahr, Balachaur and Banga. They fall under the Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha Constituency. Nawanshahr, the district headquarters is about 92 kilometres (57 mi) from Chandigarh, the state's capital.
Majha is a region located in the central parts of the historical Punjab region, currently split between the republics of India and Pakistan. It extends north from the right banks of the river Beas, and reaches as far north as the river Jhelum. People of the Majha region are given the demonym "Mājhī" or "Majhail". Most inhabitants of the region speak the Majhi dialect, which is the basis of the standard register of the Punjabi language. The most populous city in the area is Lahore on the Pakistani side, and Amritsar on the Indian side of the border.
Kartar Singh Sarabha was an Indian revolutionary. He was 15-years old when he became a member of the Ghadar Party; he then became a leading luminary member and started fighting for the independence movement. He was one of the most active members of the movement. In November 1915 at Central Jail, Lahore, he was executed for his role in the movement. He was 19 years old.
Mahilpur is a city and a Nagar Panchayat in Hoshiarpur district in the Indian state Punjab. It is situated on Hoshiarpur to Garhshankar stretch of State Highway 24. It is famous for the game of football in the region. Mahilpur is connected by road to nearby districts, states and towns such as Jaijon, Jalandhar, Pathankot, Mohali, Chandigarh. Mahilpur is a development block. Mahilpur block has 140 villages in it. It as also known as the soccer-town of India given the craze of football among the people of Mahilpur town and its surrounding villages. It belongs to the Kandi area in the Doaba region of Punjab.Mahilpur had its first bank as Punjab National Bank in 1946 which operates two branches in the city. Mahilpur is famous for mangoes in the region.
23rd March 1931: Shaheed is a 2002 Indian Hindi-language historical biographical film about Bhagat Singh, directed by Guddu Dhanoa which depicts the events leading up to the hanging of Singh and his companions Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar on 23 March 1931. The film stars Bobby Deol as Singh, his elder brother Sunny Deol as Chandra Shekhar Azad and Amrita Singh in her comeback role as Vidyavati Kaur.
Shaheed (transl. Martyr) is a 1965 patriotic film directed by S. Ram Sharma, produced by Kewal Kashyap and starring Manoj Kumar, Kamini Kaushal and Pran in lead roles. Iftekhar, Nirupa Roy, Prem Chopra, Madan Puri and Anwar Hussain star in supporting roles. It is based on the life of Bhagat Singh. The music was composed by Prem Dhawan, with several songs being penned by freedom fighter Ram Prasad Bismil. Shaheed was the first of Manoj Kumar's series of patriotic films, followed by the likes of Upkar (1967), Purab Aur Paschim (1970), and Kranti (1981).
Punjabi literature, specifically literary works written in the Punjabi language, is characteristic of the historical Punjab of present-day Pakistan and India and the Punjabi diaspora. The Punjabi language is written in several scripts, of which the Shahmukhi and Gurmukhī scripts are the most commonly used in Western Punjab and Eastern Punjab, respectively.
Amba Prasad also known as Sufi Amba Prasad, was an Indian nationalist and pan-Islamist leader notable for his involvement in the agrarian unrest in Punjab in 1907 and subsequently in the Revolutionary movement for Indian independence. Prasad was born in 1858 in the north Indian city of Moradabad, then in the United Provinces. Prasad was born without his right hand. He later worked as a journalist in Moradabad when he became involved in the emerging nationalist movement. He was at this time the editor of the Peshwa. His editorials were noted for sarcastic and unsparing criticisms of the Punjab government policies. He was incarcerated twice in 1897.
The 1907 Punjab unrests were a period of unrest in the British Indian province of Punjab, principally around the Colonisation bill that was implemented in the province in 1906. This timeline has often been called the beginning of the freedom movement in Punjab. Important leaders of this movement include Ajit Singh, Het Thakkar, among others.
Shaheed Uddham Singh is a 1999 Indian Punjabi-language biographical film based on the life of Udham Singh, an Indian revolutionary who had witnessed the 1919 Amritsar massacre and wanted to avenge the mass killing of his countrymen. He was desperate to punish Michael O'Dwyer, the Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab for his involvement with the massacre. The film was theatrically released in India on 24 December 1999, just two days before Singh's birth centenary. The film was screened retrospective on 13 August 2016 at the Independence Day Film Festival jointly presented by the Indian Directorate of Film Festivals and Ministry of Defense, commemorating 70th Indian Independence Day.
Dhudike is a village in Moga Tehsil in Moga district of Punjab state, India. It is located 17 km east from city of Moga, the district headquarter. Freedom fighters like Baba Ishar Singh, Baba Pala Singh Jathedar, Baba Pakhar Singh are a few of the Gadaree from Dhudike who participated in the Gadar Movement during the struggle for independence. Dhudike is the birthplace of the famous revolutionary Lala Lajpat Rai.
Kapurthala State, was a kingdom and later Princely state of the Punjab Province of India. Ruled by Ahluwalia Sikh rulers, spread across 510 square miles (1,300 km2). According to the 1901 census the state had a population of 314,341 and contained two towns and 167 villages. In 1930, Kapurthala became part of the Punjab States Agency and acceded to the Union of India in 1947.
Pandit Neki Ram was an Indian politician. He was a Member of Parliament, representing Haryana in the Rajya Sabha the upper house of India's Parliament as a member of the Indian National Congress.
Lala Ram Saran Das (1888–1963) was a Ghadar Party revolutionary involved in the Ghadar Mutiny.