Sardar Ajit Singh, uncle of more famous Indian hero Bhagat Singh was born on 23rd February 1881 at Khatkar Kalan village in then Jalandhar district of pre-partition Punjab, the month and year in which The Tribune also came into existence in Lahore. The ancestors of Ajit Singh had come over to village Garh Kalan, as it was named earlier, from Narli village in Amritsar district, in a marriage contract with the local feudal lord, and the fort home of the owner was given as Khat (Dowry). The village came to be known as Khatkar Kalan later. During Ranjit Singh regime, a Sikh national flag used to be unfurled in the family yard, and so the place was called Jhandaji. The ancestors took part in Anglo Sikh wars against Britishers in 1845-46, for which they lost some jagirs. Grandfather of Ajit Singh was Fateh Singh, who used to narrate that how he was approached to cooperate with Britishers to recover jagirs, but he bluntly refused to cooperate with them, even if it meant loss of more jagirs. Ajit Singh had two brothers, Kishan Singh (father of Bhagat Singh) and Swaran Singh. Their father, Arjan Singh, was a staunch nationalist, while an uncle, Surjan Singh was a British toady. All three brothers had their Matriculation from Sain Das Anglo Sanskrit school in Jalandhar, which still exists. Later Ajit Singh had his law education from Bareilly college. During his college days in Bareilly in 1903, Ajit Singh with elder brother Kishan Singh had gone to Delhi to meet Indian princes, who had come to attend Delhi Durbar called by Viceroy Lord Curzon. They tried to impress upon the princes to fight against British rulers. They were in close touch with Motilal Ghosh, proprietor of Amrit Bazar Patrika from Calcutta and Kali Purson Chatterjee, editor of The Tribune in those days. In 1903, Ajit Singh was married to Harnam Kaur, adopted daughter of Dhanpat Rai of Kasur of Sufi faith.

This was beginning of revolutionary activities of Ajit Singh, who was 22 at that time. Both brothers attended the 1906 Congress session at Calcutta, which was presided over by Dadabhai Naoroji. They sided with Bal Gangadhar Tilak faction of the Congress party. Returning to Punjab, they formed Bharat Mata society, which was called Anjuman-i-Mohabban-e-Watan in Urdu and started holding its meetings in their office called Bharat Mata Mandir. The society published many strong anti-British pamphlets in Urdu, sold from Bharat Mata Book Centre. Other members of society were Sufi Amba Prasad, Ghasita Ram, poet Lal Chand Falak, Nand Kishore Mehta, Lala Ramsaran Dass, Dhanpat Rai, Pindi Das, Jaswant Rai, proprietor of The Panjabee, Zia Ullah etc.

1907 was the fiftieth anniversary year of 1857 war of independence against British rulers. That year, a mass movement built up in Punjab against three black laws brought in by the British affecting the farmers of Punjab: the Punjab Land Colonisation Bill of 1906, which provided for transfer of property of a person after his death to the government if he had no heirs; the Bari Doab Canal Act by which rates of water were increased; and 25% increase in revenue rates.

Between March and May a number of meetings were held in different cities of Punjab to oppose the three laws, described as black laws by farmers. On 22nd March 1907, at one of the largest meetings held at Lyallpur, Lala Banke Dayal, editor Jhang Syal recited his now classic poem – Pagdi Sambhal Jatta; and afterwards the movement of the peasantry got the name of Pagdi Sambhal Jatta movement. Lord Morley, Secretary of State for India told British Parliament that in all 33 meetings were held in Punjab, out of which Ajit Singh had addressed 19 meetings as main speaker. Ajit Singh was a powerful speaker and the audience remained spell bound. One of most effective speeches that he delivered was on 21st April at Rawalpindi, which was described highly seditious by British officials and a case under 124-A of sedition was registered against him. Lord Kitchener, Commander-in-chief of British forces in India was so terrified by the rebellion of the farmers that he reported that the military and police were no more reliable, since most jawans in these forces came from peasant homes. Ultimately the three laws were cancelled in May 1907, but Lala Lajpat Rai was arrested on 9th May and Ajit Singh on 2nd June 1907. Both were deported to Mandalay prison in Burma for six months. Lala Lajpat Rai had petitioned British officials about his unjust detention, but Ajit Singh did not petition. Both were released on 11th November 1907.

Meanwhile, Bhagat Singh was born on 28th September 1907, and Swaran Singh and Kishan Singh, who also were jailed during farmers movement, were also released from prison around the same time, because of which Bhagat Singh called Bhaganwala (child of God).

In December 1907, Ajit Singh and Sufi Amba Prasad attended the Congress session at Surat, where Tilak honoured him as king of peasantry by presenting him with a Taj (crown), which is still preserved. After return from Surat, they set up Tilak Ashram in Lahore to propagate Tilak’s ideas.

As British officials were getting very hostile and Ajit Singh could be arrested and even executed in some case, he along with Sufi Ambaprasad and a few others left for Iran from Karachi by ship. Thus began his life as a globe trotter, very much like Udham Singh and Netaji Subhash Bose. He took the name of Mirza Hassan Khan and stayed till 1914 in Iran, Turkey, Paris and Switzerland. He then went to Brazil, where he spent 18 years, from 1914 to 1932. From 1932 to 1938, he remained in Europe – in Switzerland mostly. Everywhere he was teaching oriental languages to foreigners for a living, and in the process he learnt forty languages. His family got the first news of him from his letter to his father-in-law Dhanpat Rai in 1912. After that, again there was a long gap, and then, in 1928, they received a communication from Agnes Smedley, an American sympathiser and biographer of Indian and Chinese revolutionaries. She wrote to B.S. Sandhu (Bhagat Singh) on 17th March 1928 in a letter posted to Avinash Chander Bali at Lahore, informing him of Ajit Singh’s address in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Bali, who was part of Bhagat Singh’s movement in Lahore, was first puzzled, and then later opened the letter. Bali, who subsequently was a senior journalist with The Tribune, later wrote about it in an article on Ajit Singh. According to Bali, Bhagat Singh’s last wish before being executed was that ‘his uncle may not be allowed to die in foreign country’. Bhagat Singh had been trying to get his uncle’s whereabouts through his friends, especially Amar Chand, who had gone to the US for higher studies. Ajit Singh also tried to get Bhagat Singh out of India to save him from the gallows.

Ajit Singh’s life in exile was long, torturous and very eventful. In Italy, he even created the Azad Hind Lashkar of 11,000 army men. He also met Netaji Subhas Bose in Italy, and in Switzerland, he met Lala Hardyal and Champak Raman Pillai. He also met Lenin and Trotsky, and also Mussolini. Finally, due to intervention of Jawaharlal Nehru, who had become interim Prime Minister of India, Ajit Singh was released from a prison in Germany and returned to India via London on 7th March 1947, spending two months in London with Indian nationalists to recuperate from ill health. In Delhi, he was the guest of Pandit Nehru. On his return to Lahore on 9th April, he was given a tumultuous welcome. He then went to Dalhousie in July 1947 to recuperate, and was to return in September, but on the midnight of 14-15th August 1947, after listening to Pandit Nehru’s ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech, he was so overwhelmed that he breathed his last at about 3.30 am. His last words were, Jai Hind. The next morning, he was scheduled to address a public meeting to celebrate India’s freedom. Now his memorial at Panjpola in Dalhousie is a place for paying tributes to the great revolutionary freedom fighter and leader of Indian farmers’ struggle for justice!

(Chaman Lal is a retired Professor from JNU and Honorary advisor, Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, New Delhi. Article courtesy: Countercurrents.org.)