Journey to Andaman and Hunger StrikeExtract from the Jeevani of Sardar Kartar Singh JhabbarIt gives us a slight insight of the difficult struggle Sikhs faced in the dark dungeons of British India.
The convicts remained at Calcutta for 10 days. Next day they were taken to the Ali Pur Ghat. They were made to stand in a line. Each one was called by name and informed that they were no longer citizens of India. In the evening a vessel of Raja Company took them on way to Andaman. It had gone about five miles when Mohammad Din of Amritsar began reciting verses from the Punjabi folk tale “Heer”.
No one can alter the course of fate,
When Moses had crossed the sea
The fate drowned the chasing Pharaoh and his hordes
The free birds have been caged
None can predict what fate might bring about.
On hearing this soul stirring song in a melodious voice the passengers were in ecstasy,
for, it depicted their own condition.Evening meals were served to the convicts. Muslims were provided with rice and pulse which they relished. The Hindus and Sikhs were given parched gram and sugar which they declined. The matter was reported to the Captain of the ship. He came to the convict’s apartment and explained his inability to meet their demand, for, he had been given such provisions for them. Out of the 125 passengers, 80 were Hindus and Sikhs. Martial law passengers decided to go on strike till they reached Andaman, for such rations were intended to starve them. For one meal all the Hindus and Sikhs observed hunger strike. Next day there was a violent storm in the sea and the ship could not go further. It took the steamer six days to reach port Blair. The Police took them to jail. Master Chattar Singh, a life convict, was standing on the 2nd floor of the jail. He was convicted for his murderous assault on a British professor which he mistook for the principal of Khalsa College, Amritsar. Earlier, he was a teacher in the Sangla Hill School. He recognized Jhabbar and said “Jhabbar ji you too have arrived!” Jhabbar replied that they had come to take him back home.
The convicts were kept for a fortnight in the wooden barracks. The eight Martial law convicts were still on hunger strike. On the seventh day, they were produced before the Commissioner. They repeated their demand for change of rations which was accepted. Thereupon the convicts gave up the hunger strike.
On the 16th day their shoes were removed and sent to the cells where manually operated oil crushing machines were installed. The convicts were required to extract oil by crushing sixty pounds of coconut. Earlier, Sikh convicts of 1915 conspiracy cases had warned the newly arrived convicts not to do that hard labour. On the third day, a white man came and made these convicts stand in a line. He gave each of the convicts two pounds of coconut strands to twist into ropes.
Jhabbar was included among the previous political convicts. He was pleased to meet the old associates. He was transferred to apartment no 6. Master Kirpa Ram of Gujrat, a conspiracy convict of 1915, and another convict Hirde Ram of Hoshiarpur, were also there. The latter was well-versed in English and was conversant with political thoughts. For one month he daily explained to Jhabbar political theories as contained in a book Science of State. Also, among them was Bhai Kapur Singh of Ludhiana. He had returned from USA leaving immense property behind to take part in the freedom movement and was convicted in the Burma case. Jhabbar was briefed by them in politics. In return, Jhabbar imparted to them basic Gurmat knowledge.
During these days Bhai Parma Nand used to be in the hospital. His duty was to check temperatures of the sick and to distribute milk among them. If the political prisoners wanted to see each other, they would go to the hospital. One day Jhabbar received a message from a previous convict, Bhai Udham Singh,5 to come to the hospital. Both were highly pleased to meet each other. The latter guided Jhabbar regarding the whole gamut of a convict’s life in Andaman.
Likewise, Bhai Parma Nand also expressed regards for Jhabbar. Another old convict of Burma case told Jhabbar that he had been to this jail thrice. During his first term, a Namdhari Saint lived for 2 years in Jhabbar’s cell. Then caps were given to the convicts as head gear. The saint did not wear the cap and was given a sheet of cloth a yard and a half in length. Then it became a precedent for all future Sikh convicts.
On the night of June 27-28, Jhabbar woke up at 2 a.m. and heard some convicts in the front barracks reciting Sukhmani Sahib. From another cell he heard Sri Japjee Sahib being recited. He imagined this place to be a village of Gursikhs rather than a jail. He peeped through a ventilator towards another side and heard Asa Di Var being read. Jhabbar realized that actually he was in Sach Khand. But when he looked towards the door, he noticed the usual iron gate and the same dark dungeon. In the adjoinging cell was a Muslim convict, Jhallah by name, from Jhelam District. Jhabbar enquired of him about those reciting prayers. Jallah replied they are Bhai Jees. “Who Bhai Jees?,” Jabbar asked. “Baj Baj Wala Bhai Jees,” he replied. Hearing this reply, Jhabbar greatly regretted the historic blunder of Sarbrah Aroor Singh who had issued a distorted edict from Sri Akal Takht Shib that they were not Gursikhs who had bravely faced the British and police brutalities at Baj Baj Ghat.
There was a library of convicts’ own books at a lower floor of the jail central tower. Bhai Kapur Singh brought a book for Jhabbar by Lala Hardial “Our Mother Tongue”. Jhabbar had already read his “National Education”. Jhabbar noticed that the author had strongly pleaded for adoption of Hindi as the National language. After finding fault with all other regional languages, ie: Bengali, Mahrati, Sindhi, Punjabi, etc., he had described ‘Punjabi’ as undeveloped. Sri Guru Teg Bahadurs jees name in Persian words was described rather sarcastically. Jhabbar threw away the book in anger resulting in its being torn. Bhai Kapur Singh used to speak high of Lala Hardial. Jhabbar exclaimed, “You deem this idiot your leader who does not understand that martyrdom of Sri Guru Teg Bahadur jee remains engraved in millions of Hindus hearts. How does he dare disrespect the Guru in the name of Punjabi language being undeveloped? Thousand pities on such a leader and his attainments.” After discussion, Kapur Singh agreed with Jhabbar’s views. This became a subject matter of talk among all political prisoners.
After 5 months Jhabbar was transferred to number 4 barrack There he met Bhai Hardit Singh Lame wala and other Gursikhs from the Malwa region. After two months, he was sent to Barrack number 3. There he met Baba Nidhan Singh of Chugha. He was very old, yet he would wash with a mug of water at 9 p.m. and begin reciting Gurbani till 8 A.M. of the following morning. He would not speak to any one until he had performed his prayers.
After six months, entries on the martial law convicts cards were changed from life imprisonment to “seven years imprisonment”. They learned that this had been done through the efforts of Lokmanya Tilak in England. The Hunter Commission had arrived in Punjab. After scrutiny of all the cases, the Commission had identified 86 leaders, including Lala Hakrishan Lal, Gokal Chand Narang, and others, who had delivered speeches during the martial law days. Life sentences were then changed into seven years imprisonment
ਸਤਿਗੁਰਬਚਨਕਮਾਵਣੇਸਚਾਏਹੁਵੀਚਾਰੁ॥