In a strange coincidence in 2020, 113 years after the historic Pagdi Sambhal Jatta farmers’ movement in pre-partition Punjab, three laws, which were considered anti-farmer by the peasantry, were introduced by the central government. Sardar Ajit Singh, founder of the movement, was remembered as an icon and a powerful inspiration for the farmers’ movement in the Delhi borders and all over India.
Three black laws were brought by the British colonial government against the farmers of Punjab in 1907. The Punjab Land Colonisation Bill of 1906 introduced inheritance by primogeniture, threatening that the lands of farmers would be snatched. The Bari Doab Canal Act increased water rates and revenue rates by 25%.
Between March and May 1907, a number of meetings were held in different cities of Punjab to oppose the three laws, described as ‘black laws’ by farmers. On March 22 of that year, Lala Banke Dayal, editor of Jhang Syal, recited his now-classic poem, ‘Pagdi Sambhal Jatta’ at one of the largest meetings held at Lyallpur.
Afterwards, this agitation was called the ‘Pagdi Sambhal Jatta’ movement.
Lord Morley, Secretary of State for India, told the British Parliament that out of all the 33 meetings held in Punjab, Singh addressed 19 meetings as the main speaker.
Singh was a powerful speaker. One of most effective speeches, which he delivered on April 21 at Rawalpindi, was described as ‘highly seditious’ by the British officials, and a case under Section 124-A of sedition was registered against him.
In May 1907, the three laws were cancelled. However, Lala Lajpat Rai, who was also a speaker at a few of these meetings, was arrested on May 9, along with Singh, who was arrested on June 2.
Both of them were deported to the Mandalay prison in Burma for six months under regulation-III of 1818. They were released on November 11, 1907.
Who was Ajit Singh, the main organiser and hero of the Pagdi Sambhal Jatta movement?
Ajit Singh, who was the uncle of Bhagat Singh, was born on February 23, 1881, at Khatkar Kalan village in then Jalandhar district of pre-partition Punjab. This was the month and year when The Tribune also came into existence in Lahore.
The three brothers – Arjan Singh, the father of Kishan Singh (who was the father of Bhagat Singh), Ajit Singh, and Swarn Singh – were staunch nationalists. Surjan Singh, an uncle, was known to be a British supporter, which provoked sharp reactions from Ajit Singh. All three brothers graduated from Sain Das Anglo Sanskrit School in Jalandhar.
Later, Ajit Singh pursued his law education from Bareilly college. During his college days in Bareilly, in 1903, Ajit Singh, with his elder brother Kishan Singh, had gone to Delhi to meet Indian princes, attending Delhi Durbar called by Viceroy Lord Curzon. They tried to impress upon princes to fight against British rulers. As per Ajit Singh’s autobiography, Buried Alive, they were in close touch with Motilal Ghosh, proprietor of Amrit Bazar Patrika from Calcutta and Kali Purson Chatterjee editor of The Tribune at that time. In 1903, Ajit Singh was married to Harnam Kaur, adopted daughter of Dhanpat Rai of Kasur of Sufi faith.
Later, Ajit Singh pursued his legal education at Bareilly College. During his college days in Bareilly, in 1903, Ajit Singh, along with his elder brother Kishan Singh, traveled to Delhi to meet Indian princes attending the Delhi Durbar called by Viceroy Lord Curzon. They attempted to persuade the princes to fight against British rulers. According to Ajit Singh’s autobiography, Buried Alive, they were in touch with Motilal Ghosh, the proprietor of Amrit Bazar Patrika from Calcutta, and Kali Purson Chatterjee, the editor of The Tribune at that time. In 1903, Ajit Singh married Harnam Kaur, the adopted daughter of Dhanpat Rai of Kasur, who followed the Sufi faith.
This was the beginning of revolutionary activities of Ajit Singh. Both brothers attended the 1906 Congress session at Calcutta, which was presided over by Dada Bhai Naroji. They sided with Bal Gangadhar Tilak in Congress. While returning to Punjab, they formed the Bharat Mata society, which was called Anjuman-i-Mohabban-e-Watan in Urdu. The society published several anti-British pamphlets in Urdu. Other members of the society were Sufi Amba Prasad, Ghasita Ram, poet Lal Chand Falak, Nand Kishore Mehta, Lala Ramsaran Dass, Dhanpat Rai, Pindi Das, Jaswant Rai, Zia Ullah etc.
Bhagat Singh was born on September 28, 1907. In December 1907, Ajit Singh and Sufi Amba Prasad attended the Congress session at Surat, where B.G. Tilak presented Ajit Singh with a “Taj-Crown as king of Panjab peasantry”.
As Ajit Singh could be arrested in some false case, he along with Sufi Ambaprasad left for Iran from Karachi by ship. He took the name Mirza Hassan Khan. Till 1914, he stayed in Iran, Turkey, Paris, and Switzerland. He even reached Brazil, where he spent 18 years of his life from 1914 to 1932. From 1932 to 1938, he remained in Europe, mostly in Switzerland. He taught Oriental languages to foreigners for a living. He could speak around 40 languages.
His family received the first news of him in 1912 and then not again until 1928, when Agnes Smedley, an American sympathiser of Indian and Chinese revolutionaries, wrote to B.S. Sandhu (Bhagat Singh) on March 17, 1928, care of A.C. Bali in Lahore, informing him of Ajit Singh’s address in Rio de Janeiro. A.C. Bali, who was part of the Bhagat Singh movement in Lahore, later became a senior journalist at The Tribune. He described this incident in his article on Ajit Singh in a collection. According to Bali, Bhagat Singh’s last wish before being executed was that his uncle not be allowed to die in a foreign country. Bhagat Singh had been trying to ascertain his uncle’s whereabouts through his friends, especially Amar Chand, who had gone to the US for higher studies. Ajit Singh also attempted to help Bhagat Singh leave India to save him from the gallows.
There is a long and torturous story of Ajit Singh’s life in exile. In Italy, he even created the Azad Hind Lashkar with 11,000 army men and met Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. In Switzerland, he met Lala Hardyal and Champak Raman Pillai, as well as Lenin, Trotsky, and Mussolini.
Finally, due to the intervention of Jawaharlal Nehru, who had become the interim Prime Minister of India, Ajit Singh was released from a prison in Germany. He returned to India via London on March 7, 1947, spending two months in London with Indian nationalists to recuperate from ill health.
In Delhi, he was a guest of Pandit Nehru. After returning to Lahore on April 9, he received a tumultuous welcome.
To recuperate further, he went to Dalhousie in July 1947, intending to return by September. However, on the midnight of August 14-15, 1947, after listening to Pandit Nehru’s ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech, he felt overwhelmed and, by saying ‘Jai Hind,’ he breathed his last at about 3:30 a.m. in free India.
His memorial at Panjpola in Dalhousie is now a place for paying tribute to the great revolutionary freedom fighter and leader of the Indian farmers’ struggle for justice.
Chaman Lal is a retired JNU professor and an honorary advisor at Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, New Delhi.
