When five men turned the tables on the British establishment

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, November 2

At the main stage of the 29th Mela Gadri Babeyan Da on Sunday, a huge picture (right) depicted five turbaned men; in kurtas, kachehras and clapped in irons, staring into the camera on a morning of 1938 at the Amritsar railway station — it invoked the sacrifices made by Ghadarites during the pre-Independence era.

These are the faces of iconic peasant movement leaders. Ghadarites Baba Santa Singh Gandhiwind, Darshan Singh Ferumaan, Fauja Singh Bhullar, Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna and Baba Karam Singh Cheema, who were arrested for organising the groundbreaking Amritsar Kisan Morcha in 1938 (total 145 arrests were made). Copped at the Bhandari bridge while on way to the courts at Amritsar, they had recently been beaten up by burly policemen.

Going by the current snowballing farmer protests, very few know that the present-day struggle is strikingly similar to the pre-Independence campaign of the Ghadarites. Hardened with the blood, sweat and tears of these men, who fought to get the Mandi Board, farmers tasted emancipation for first time in late 1930s.

They were among leaders, who, guided by senior Gadarites mobilised, held meets, fought for peasantry and went to jails to get farmers their rights. The late 1930s were very busy years owing to repeated meetings and farm congregations across Doaba and the state. While Kirti Kisan Party (established in 1928) had been exhorting the state’s peasantry through its mouthpiece the “Kirti” in the 1930-38 upsurge, farmers found a voice and movement the numbers which shook the British establishment.

Chiranji Lal Kangniwal, Ghadar historian and member of the Desh Bhagat Yadgar Committee, recounts, “Each of these men made substantial contribution. They were mobilised by stalwarts like Baba Jwala Singh Thatthiyan and others who left farms in US and Canada to whip up peasantry. They mobilised Kisan Bandhobast by Punjab Kisan Sabha in 1938 and were punished for it. Their non-violent stirs and patience in the face of lathi charge or other government provocation raised questions on the Unionist government’s pro-farmer image.”

Why is it contextual to present-day stir?

The Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act, which came into being in 1939, was a sweetened fruit of these men’s moiling. Also called the Mandi Act, it is this very historic legislation farmers are now fighting for. The Act passed by Sir Chotu Ram freed farmers from decades of exploitation and earned him titles from both Hindu and Muslim peasants — ‘Deen-bandhu and Rehbar-e-Azam’.

Farmers revere Gadarite leaders. The systematic preparations for the farmers’ agitation today remind historians of the Gadarite penchant for farmer mobilisation. At a conference held at Cheema Kalan in June 1936, a huge pandal with four gates titled Marx, Lenin, Ramkishan and Kissan Nagar were made. The latest stirs also employ Gadarite and Marxist imagery to make its points – witnessed at the Mela as well.

Kangniwal says, “A huge mobilisation took place. It was through the uprisings of Nili Bar and Ganji Bar in Lyallpur (present-day Pakistan) and Muzara movements that the very first foundations of the bristling peasant movements and subsequent kisan morchas were laid. Jwala Singh began mobilising farmers in 1934-35. Under pressure from peasants led by him, Union government’s Agricultural Minister Sir Chotu Ram and Agricultural Department secretary ML Darling had to relent. The unionist party had to bow to the huge surge in farmers’ emancipation and enlightenment.”

Devinder Sharma, agricultural analyst and economist, shares, “People are oblivious to the contribution of many unsung heroes. Partap Singh Kairon and later Lachman Singh Gill, who stayed state CM for six months, earmarked funds for roads to the mandis on advice of MS Randhwa. The mandis have protected farmers for ages. The US and the West open markets is a flawed model and emulating them would doom farmers here. It’s important we learn from history and mistakes of other countries and listen to the farmers.”