Ghadri Babay kaun sun (Who were the Ghadri Babay)?
Sardar Ajmer Singh has written an excellent book on the subject of Ghadr of 1915. For long time, the communist minded, leftist scholars have been propagating that the Ghadr movement was started by communists under the influence of communism whereas the truth of the matter is that this movement was started and led by pious and devoted Sikhs. More than 95% of it’s participants were practicing Sikhs, and included such saintly Sikhs as Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee, Bhai Nidhan Singh Chugha, Baba Vasakha Singh Dadehar and Bhai Vasava Singh Hoshiarpur.
Sardar Ajmer Singh has very diligently refuted the claim by leftist writers as well as some Hindu nationalists who have been claiming this movement to be run by leftists and Hindus respectively. The Ghadr movement ended in 1915 whereas the Bolshevik movement of Soviet Union occurred around 1919; so it’s hard to understand how Ghadr movement was influenced by the Bolsheviks or communists. Similarly, giving credit of entire Ghadr movement to Lala Hardyal who remained in the party for only 5 months and later on fled to Switzerland is not fair. The truth is that the soul of this movement was the legendary Sardar Kartar Singh Sarabha, who has no parallel in the entire freedom struggle against the British Raj. No one comes even close to him as far as freedom fighters are concerned. Sardar Bhagat Singh recognized this and his hero was Sarabha, whose picture he always kept with him. Sarabha was such a great leader that when he was hardly 17-18 years old, all senior leaders accepted his leadership. Such Mahapurakhs like Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee, Bhai Nidhan Singh Chugha etc. accepted his leadership. He was hanged when he was 19, at Lahore.
One nationalist Hindu - Parmanand - has claimed that there were only 2 traitors from Hindu background whereas there were 11 or 12 Sikh traitors. Ajmer Singh has given a very good rebuttal to this claim and explained everything very convincingly.
Another accusation of the anti-Sikh people and leftist writers has been that the Ghadris were excommunicated from Siri Akal Takhat Sahib. Sardar Ajmer Singh has explained that first of all it was not a Hukamnama because proper procedure was not followed and secondly Siri Akal Takhat Sahib at that time was under the control of Mahants and that the Sikh masses never accepted this resolution. Many such misunderstandings have been cleared by Sardar jee.
Sardar Ajmer Singh has given due recognition to Bhai Sahib and his Jatha that took part in the Ghadr movement. All leftist authors have totally ignored that Bhai Sahib was the only Indian leader who supported the Ghadris. All other Ghadris were from Canada and America. In one place, Ajmer Singh expresses surprise as to how could any serious historian ignore such firsthand information on Ghadris as Jail Chithiaan by Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee.
Many not-heard facts about Gursikhs who participated in this movement have been disclosed by Sardar Ajmer Singh. Here one example of this is given: Master Mota Singh, a great freedom fighter, addressed a huge rally in 1920 and informed people about the hardships that Sikh prisoners were facing. He became very sentimental when he spoke of hardships Bhai Sahib faced in jail and his wife faced outside. His exact wordings were:
ਮਾਸਟਰ ਮੋਤਾ ਸਿੰਘ ਨੇ ਸਟੇਜ ਤੇ ਆ ਕੇ ਜੁਤੀ ਲਾਹ ਦਿਤੀ ਤੇ ਆਖਿਆ ਭਾਵੇਂ ਤੁਸੀਂ ਆਖੋ ਕਿ ਮੈਂ ਪਖੰਡ ਕਰਨ ਲਗਾ ਹਾਂ ਪਰ ਮੈਥੋਂ ਹੁਣ ਰਿਹਾ ਨਹੀਂ ਜਾਂਦਾ। ਭਾਈ ਰਣਧੀਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਜੀ ਦੀ ਸੁਪਤਨੀ ਦੀ ਚਿਠੀ ਮੇਰੇ ਹਥ ਵਿਚ ਹੈ ਜੋ ਮੈਂ ਸੁਣਾਵਾਂਗਾ। "ਏਤੀ ਮਾਰ ਪਈ ਕਰਲਾਣੇ ਤੈਂ ਕੀ ਦਰਦੁ ਨ ਆਇਆ॥" ਦੁਖ ਇਤਨਾ ਵਧ ਗਿਆ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਮੈਂ ਜੁਤੀ ਲਾਹ ਦਿਤੀ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਉਦੋਂ ਤਕ ਨਹੀਂ ਪਾਵਾਂਗਾ ਜਦ ਤਕ ਮੇਰੇ ਭਰਾ ਬਾਹਰ ਨਾ ਆ ਜਾਣਗੇ। ਮੈਂ ਰੋਟੀ ਵੀ ਇਕ ਡੰਗ ਖਾਵਾਂਗਾ। ਮੈਂ ਕਪੜੇ ਵੀ ਲਾਹ ਦਿੰਦਾ ਪਰ ਕਹਿੰਦੇ ਹਨ ਕਿ ਇਹ ਸਿਖੀ ਦੇ ਉਲਟ ਹੈ।
ਭਾਈ ਰਣਧੀਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਕੇਵਲ ਮਾਲਵੇ ਦਾ ਸ਼ੇਰ ਹੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਸੀ, ਪੰਜਾਬ ਅਤੇ ਹਿੰਦ ਦਾ ਹੀ ਬੀਰ ਨਹੀਂ ਸੀ, ਉਹ ਅਸੂਲ ਉਤੇ ਜਾਨ ਦੇਣ ਵਾਲਾ ਬੱਬਰ ਸ਼ੇਰ ਸੀ। ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਦੀ ਸਿੰਘਣੀ ਤੇ ਬੜੇ ਕਸ਼ਟ ਆਏ ਪਰ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਆਖਿਆ ਕਿ ਭਾਈ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਦੀ ਗ਼ੈਰਤ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਪ੍ਰਗਟ ਕਰਨ ਦੀ ਆਗਿਆ ਨਹੀਂ ਦਿੰਦੀ। ਪਰ ਹੁਣ ਤਾਂ ਹੱਦ ਹੋ ਗਈ ਹੈ... ਰੱਬਾ ਤੂੰ ਅੰਗਰੇਜ਼ੀ ਕਾਨੂੰਨ ਕੈਸਾ ਬਣਾ ਦਿਤਾ ਜਿਸ ਵਿਚ ਅਸੀਂ ਤੇਰੇ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਦੀ ਸ਼ਕਤੀ ਵੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਵਿਖਾ ਸਕਦੇ...ਹੋਰ ਕੀ ਦੱਸਾਂ? ਭਾਈ ਕਰਤਾਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਤੇ ਰੂੜ ਸਿੰਘ ਨੂੰ ਜੇਲ ਵਿਚ ਇਸ ਵਾਸਤੇ ਬੈਂਤ ਮਾਰ ਮਾਰ ਕੇ ਮਾਰ ਦਿਤਾ ਕਿ ਉਹ ਬਹੁਤੀ ਬਾਣੀ ਪੜਦੇ ਤੇ ਨਾਮ ਜਪਦੇ ਸਨ।As written above in Punjabi, Master Mota Singh jee declared from stage that he would not wear his shoes till his brothers get released from jail. He also said that he would only eat once a day and that he would have removed his clothes as well if it was allowed in Sikhi. What a great sacrifice by Singhs of that time, for their brothers and what a remarkable expression of love for brothers in distress.
This book is probably a third or fourth from the pen of Sardar Ajmer Singh and is a must read for all Panthic Gursikhs, who want to know about their history and get inspired to do more Seva and Bhagti. Will try to post more information, if I get inspired to write.
Kulbir Singh
ਸਤਿਗੁਰਬਚਨਕਮਾਵਣੇਸਚਾਏਹੁਵੀਚਾਰੁ॥