| UNSUNG HEROES OF INDIAN SOCIAL RESURGENT MOVEMENTS |
BABA RAM SINGH NAMDHARI
AN OBC FOUNDER OF SWADESHI,
NON CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT !
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Guru Ram Singh Ji Namdhari ( February 3, 1816 – 29 November 1885) was an OBC ( Carpenter / blacksmith / Ramgarhia ) freedom fighter , philosopher and social reformer. He was the son of S. Jassa Singh Ji and mother Mrs. Sada Kaur Ji village Raian which is now known as Bhaini Saheb on Ludhiana - Chandigarh road in district Ludhiana ( Punjab) on the banks of the Satluj river .He had one brother S. Budh Singh and two sisters Bibi Maan Kaur and Bibi Uttam Kaur Ji . He was engaged to Bibi Jassan d/o S. Saheb Singh of village Dharorh at the age of five and married after two years. He was sent to study at a saint’s Dera at village BILGA in district Jalandhar.
Baba Ram Singh’s brother-in-law, S. Kabul Singh was a gunner in the artillery of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. In 1837 A.D., He took Baba Ram Singh with him to Lahore and got him recruited in the regiment of Kanwar Naunihal Singh grandson of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. This year Kanwar Naunihal Singh married and and Governor General of rest of India Lord Auckland and Sir Charles Metcalf governor of Agra attended. On 18th December, 1845 A.D. the Sikh army suffered a defeat in the battle of Mudki district Ferozepur due to mean settlement of Dogra Generals Lal Singh, Dhian Singh (forefathers of Dr. Karan Singh former cabinet minister of India and ex president of the Vishav Hindu Parishad!) and a Brahmin General of U.P. state Teja Singh (MISHRA) of Sikh army with British. Baba Ram Singh could not bear the defeat of the Sikh army in this manner. He left the service of the army.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh’skingdom was not based on Sikh Gurus teachings. The SCs / OBCs were humiliated every where. The untouchables were not allowed to enter the Golden Temple in the morning and evening times as their shadows polluted the other people. Baba Ram Singh Ji was against it. That is why the priests and casteist Sikh and non-Sikh people hated him .He preached "Worship of eternal Being, giving up worship of the dead, keeping off the intoxicants, giving up meat of cow ( beef ) , minimum expenditure on marriages and widow remarriage etc."
He used to visit on the occasion of Diwali or Vaisakhi fairs, he used to go to the Golden Temple, Amritsar ( Punjab) and put his views before the Sikh Sangat (congregation). His audience increased day by day upto twenty thousands. He started a movement in 1848 A.D. to force the British to leave India. He was the first Indian to call upon his followers to boycott foreign goods and Government departments, govt services, boycott British run educational institutions due to which people stopped buying imported cloth, gave up taking their disputes to courts and started deciding these in villages. His followers were called Namdharis (Kuka). He revolt against the British on 12th April 1857 by hoisting a white flag of freedom and announced a programme of far reaching significance. Baba Ji was originator of the nonviolent and civil disobedience movement in Punjab in 1872 AD. Mr. M.K. Gandhi (Born 2nd October, 1869) was just a child at that time. Mr. Gandhi Ji himself admitted," Satguru Ram Singh Ji was a true fore-runner and torch bearer of freedom movement. Mahatma Gandhi later used the concept of non-co-operation and civil disobedience movement propounded by him as political weapons against the British. Satguru Ram Singh Ji's monumental achievement and the sacrifices of innumerable Namdhari Sikhs in the freedom movement are yet to be fully evaluated and given due recognition." (Ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Singh ) .Dr. Rajinder Parshad first President of India also acknowledged Baba Ji `s contributions," In fact it is a historical truth that the non-co-operation and Swadeshi movement started by Satguru Ram Singh Ji shook the very foundations of the British rule in India. Satguru Ram Singh considered political freedom a part of religion. The principles of boycott and non-co-operation Mahatma Gandhi was taught by Satguru Ram Singh Ji in the art of non-violence and boycott introduced so vigorously in our freedom movement were expounded by Satguru Ram Singh Ji for the Namdharis. “(Ref.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Singh ). Mr. M.K. Gandhi Rashtarpita ( father of the manuwadis`nation ) imitated Guru Ram Singh Ji against the British imperialism to establish the manuwadi " Ram Rajya " in which an innocent and pious Shudra saint Shambuk was beheaded by king Rama of Ayodya ( ref. Uttar Kand/Chapter of Valmiki Ramayna ) at the Shambuk Tek Hills 64 kms far away from Nagpur ( Maharashtra ) . (Ref. Nagpur District Gazetteer and the Temples of Maharashtra both published by the Maharashtra government! I (C. L. Chumber) located the place on 16th March ,1995 on the spot when I returned back from Saheb Kanshi Ram `s birth day celebrations at Marine Beach ground , Chennai , Tamil Nadu i.e. . The Holi Day! )
The boycott movement of Baba Ram Singh had great effect on the work of the Government. In 1863 A.D., the Government setup a police post at his village Bhaini Saheb in district Ludhiana ( Punjab ). Maharaja Ranjit Singh announced capital punishment only for Cow Slaughter during the manuwadi Sikh rule. Maharaja’s official language was Persian not Punjabi. Whether he belonged to a Sansi Caste (SC in Punjab list) but he assimilated himself to the manuwadi-secular system. He donated Gold to the Kangra (Himachal Pardesh) and Kashi Hindu temples against which manuwadis Sikh Gurus and Sikhs sacrificed! When he died, his four queens and seven were burnt alive with him.
On the 14th June, 1870 A.D. , a group of Namdharis beheaded four butchers at Amritsar . Four Namdharis were hanged and two were imprisoned for life for that crime. On the 15th July, 1872 A.D. , some Namdharis had quarrel with the butchers of Malaud (district Ludhiana , Punjab ) and Malerkotla (now in district Sangrur, Punjab ) over cow-slaughter in which ten people were killed and seventeen were injured. , Mr. Crownt, who was deputy commissioner of Ludhiana pronounced death sentence on sixty-eight Namdharis. Forty-nine of them were blown by cannon fire and nineteen were hanged. The pro-Britishers Sikh rulers of Patiala , Nabha , Kapurthala , Faridkot ( all in present Punjab ) and Jind ( now in Haryana ) states tried their best to crush this revolutionary movement . Baba Ram Singh was exiled to Rangoon , Burma.He was kept in the same DAK BANGLA where the last Mughal ruler Bahadur Shah Zafar was kept in exile. Bahadur Shah Zafar died in Rangoon .
He went to his heavenly abode on the 29th November, 1885 A.D. in jail of Margee Island which was two hours distance by ship from the Rangoon . Although the Government crushed the Namdhari movement, yet they could not extinguish the light of freedom lit by Baba Ram Singh Namdhari They are still big political powers in the Punjab . There is a research chair on Guru Ram Singh Namdhari in the Guru Nanak Dev University , Amritsar . We pay homage to Baba Ram Singh Namdhari and his followers who sacrificed theirs lives, properties and peace of minds. We will not let them die in our memories because they died for good cause!!!!!
Recently, the Indian government recognized the Namdhari Movement and the Jallianwala Bagh martyrs as the parts of the National freedom movement on 27th January, 2009 . The both movements will be entitled for the Grants and freedom fighters honour scheme-1980 AD. Professor Malvinder Singh a prominent historian filed a public interest litigation petition in the Punjab & Haryana High Court, Chandigarh to declare these movements as part of the National freedom movement. Baba Mangu Ram Muggowalia was awarded by Mrs. Indira Gandhi then Prime Minister of India as freedom fighter of the Gadhar Party, USA but he was never honoured as the founder of the social resurgent movement the Adi-Dharam Mandal Punjab. Why not the Indian government and state governments declare these social resurgent movements i.e. Adi-Dharam Mandal of North India , Adi-Dravida of Tamilnadu , Namo-Shudra of Bengal , Adi-Andhra of Andhra Pardesh , Adi-Karnatka of Karnatka , Mahar Movement of Maharashtra , Satya Shodak Samaj of Pune , Adi-Hindu Maha Sabha of U.P , Scheduled Castes Federation , Baba Ayyan Kali and Narayana Guru of Kerala`s movements , revered Periyar’s self respect and many more which fought against the Aryan imperialism’s Varna / caste system slavery . Our Indian constitution accepted these movements ` aims and objects but did not recognized as freedom movements! Why? What is the definition of the freedom adopted by the present “sawdesi rulers “????? The Indian citizens must dare to assert to theirs legitimate as well human rights to dynamite the manuwadi spirit forever to establish the Indian constitution drafted by under the chairmanship of revered Baba Sahib Dr. Ambedkar. This constitution was passed by the constituent assembly elected by the then India voters as well as Indian government! LONG LIVE THE SPIRIT OF EQUALITY, EQUITY, QUALITY, LIBERTY , FRATERNITY AND JUSTICE TO ALL!!!!!
Posted on February 2, 2009 |
.JPG)
