Kartar Singh Sarabha: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Indian revolutionary}}

| name               = Kartar Singh Sarabha

| image             =  

| caption           =  

| birth_date         = 24 May 1896

| birth_place       = [[Ludhiana district|Sarabha]], [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab Province]], [[British Raj|British India]] (present-day [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], [[India]])

| death_date         = 16 November 1915 (aged 19)

| death_place       = [[Lahore]], Lahore Central Jail, Punjab Province, British India (<small>present-day [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]], [[Pakistan]]</small>)

| death_cause       = Execution

| organization       = [[Ghadar Party]]

| known_for         = Most active member [[Ghadar Party]]

| movement           = [[Indian independence movement]]

'''Kartar Singh Sarabha''' (24 May 1896 – 16 November 1915)<ref name="nbt"/> was an Indian revolutionary. He was 15-years-old when he became a member of [[Ghadar Party]]; he then became a leading luminary member and started fighting for the [[Indian independence movement]]. He was one of the most active members of the movement. In November 1915 at [[Lahore]], he was executed for his role in the movement when he was 19 years old.<ref>{{cite web|author=[[Chaman Lal]]|date=2018|pages=1–2|title=Gadar Party Nayak: Kartar Singh Sarabha|url=http://www.nbtindia.gov.in/books_detail__9__national-biography__323__gadar-party-nayak-kartar-singh-sarabha-hindi-.nbt}}</ref>

Kartar Singh Sarabha was born in Sarabha village to a [[Grewal]] [[Jat]] family. His father was Mangal Singh and his mother was Sahib Kaur. He was very young when his father died and his grandfather brought him up. After receiving his initial education in his village, Singh entered the Malwa Khalsa high school in Ludhiana; he studied there until 8th standard. Then he went to his uncle (father's brother) in [[Odisha|Orissa]] and stayed there for over a year.<ref name="nbt">{{Cite web|title=Ghadar Party Hero Kartar Singh Sarabha|url=https://www.nbtindia.gov.in/books_detail__9__national-biography__1203__ghadar-party-hero-kartar-singh-sarabha.nbt|access-date=2020-09-12|website=[[National Book Trust]]}}</ref>

After coming back to his grandfather, his family decided to board him to the [[United States]] for higher education. He sailed to [[San Francisco]] in July 1912. He was supposed to get enrolled in [[University of Berkeley]] but the evidence that he did study there varies. A historical note by Baba Jwala Singh mentions that when he went to [[Astoria, Oregon]] in December 1912, he found Kartar Singh working in a mill factory. Some say that he studied in the Berkeley, but the college did not find any record of enrollment with his name.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-05-24|title=शहीद करतार सिंह सराभा की जयंती पर विशेष लेख|url=https://www.punjabkesari.in/aapki-kalam-se/news/special-article-on-the-birth-anniversary-of-shaheed-kartar-singh-sarabha-1171976|access-date=2020-09-12|website=[[Punjab Kesari]]}}</ref>

With the start of [[World War I]] in 1914, the British became thoroughly engrossed in the war effort. Thinking it to be a good opportunity, the leaders of the Ghadar Party published the "Decision of Declaration of War" against the British in issue of 'The Ghadar' dated 5 August 1914. Thousands of copies of the paper were distributed among army cantonments, villages and cities. Singh reached Calcutta via [[Colombo]] on board SS Salamin in October 1914: he accompanied two other Gadhar leaders, [[Satyen Sen]] and [[Vishnu Ganesh Pingle]], along with a large number of Gadhar freedom fighters. With a letter of introduction from [[Jatin Mukherjee]], the [[Jugantar]] leader, Singh and Pingle met [[Rash Behari Bose]] at [[Banaras]] to inform him that 20,000 more Gadhar members were expected very soon.<ref>''Militant Nationalism in India'', Bimanbehari Majumdar (p. 167); ''Sadhak biplabi jatindranath'', [[Prithwindra Mukherjee]] pp. 283-284.</ref>  A large number of leaders of the Ghadar Party were arrested by the government at the ports. In spite of these arrests, a meeting was held by members of the Ghadar Party at Ladhouwal near Ludhiana in which it was decided to commit robberies in the houses of the rich to meet requirements of finance for armed action. Two Ghadris, Waryam Singh and Bhai Ram Rakha, were killed in a bomb blast in one such raid.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Sharma|first=Ritwik|date=2018-09-07|title=Relevance of Kartar Singh Sarabha, a revolutionary of the Ghadar movement|work=[[Business Standard India]]|url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/relevance-of-kartar-singh-sarabha-a-revolutionary-of-the-ghadar-movement-118090701179_1.html|access-date=2020-09-12}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|first=Sally|last=Dugman|date=2018-05-25|title=Kartar Singh Sarabha - A Hero Who Inspired Bhagat Singh|url=https://countercurrents.org/2018/05/kartar-singh-sarabha-a-hero-who-inspired-bhagat-singh/|access-date=2020-09-12|website=[[Countercurrents.org|Countercurrents]]|language=en-US}}</ref>

After the failure of the revolution, the members who had escaped arrest decided to leave India. Kartar Singh, Harnam Singh Tundilat, Jagat Singh, and others were asked to go to Afghanistan and made a move towards that area. But Kartar's conscience did not permit him to run away when his comrades had been held. On 2 March 1915, he came back with two friends and went over to Chak No. 5 in Sargodha where there was a military stud and started propagating rebellion amongst the army men. Risaldar Ganda Singh had Kartar Singh, Harnam Singh Tundilat, and Jagat Singh arrested from Chak No. 5, district [[Faisalabad|Lyallpur]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chopra|first=Pran Nath|url=http://archive.org/details/whoswhoofindianm01chop|title=Who's Who of Indian Martyrs, Vol. 1|date=2013|publisher=Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India|others=Public Resource|isbn=978-81-230-1757-0}}</ref>  

All of these accussed in the Conspiracy Case, for India's freedom who had worked long years and suffered privations and sacrificed everything that man runs after, were executed in the Lahore Central Jail on November 17, 1915. In the Court room as also standing before the gallows the condemned men refused to accept their endeavour to be termed a 'conspiracy'. They contended that it was an open challenge to the foreigners who charged the patriots, those who were sacrificing everything for the freedom of their Motherland with the offence of sedition, of waging war against the King. Kartar Singh was not at all sorry for what he had done; rather he felt proud for enjoying the privilege of throwing out the challenge at the face of a lot of usurpers. He was really sorry over the outcome of their efforts. He averred that every slave had a right to revolt and it could never be a crime to rise in defence of the primary rights of the sons of the very soil. When he was being tried on the charge of sedition, he took the entire blame upon himself. The Judge was astounded to see such a young boy behaving in such a non-chalant manner. In view of his tender age he advised the young revolutionary to modify his statement, but the result was the very opposite of what was desired by him.  When asked to appeal he retorted, "Why should I? If I had more lives than one, it would have been a great honour to me to sacrifice each of them for my country." He was later sentenced to death and hanged in 1916. During the period of his detention in Lahore Central jail, Kartar Singh managed to get hold of some instruments. With their help he wanted to cut the iron-bars of his window and escape in company with some other revolutionarie. The authorities who learnt about his designs well in time and seized the instruments from underneath an earthen pitcher in his room, But the plan was rendered abortive by the jail authorities. At the time of his execution Kartar Singh was hardly nineteen years old. But such was his courage that in the course of his detention he gained 14 pounds of fresh weight.