Freedom Movement — PPSC previous year questions

The Ghadar Party was formed in 1913 by Punjabi immigrants in North America, and its headquarters, called Yugantar Ashram, was at San Francisco in the USA, from where the weekly paper 'Ghadar' was published.

Lala Lajpat Rai (1865–1928), the Arya Samaj leader and Extremist member of the Lal-Bal-Pal trio, was called 'Punjab Kesari' (Lion of Punjab). He founded the Servants of the People Society, led the protest against the Simon Commission at Lahore in 1928 and died of the lathi blows he received there. Ranjit Singh is remembered by the different title 'Sher-e-Punjab', which also means Lion of Punjab and is the main distractor.

The Hunter Committee (1919), officially the Disorders Inquiry Committee, was set up by the British government under Lord William Hunter to inquire into the Punjab disturbances and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The Muddiman Committee (1924) reviewed dyarchy, the Sargent plan (1944) dealt with education, and the Motilal Nehru Committee (1928) drafted a constitution for India.

The Punjab Riyasati Praja Mandal was founded in July 1928 at Mansa. It fought for civil rights in the princely states of Punjab. Sewa Singh Thikriwala was elected its president. He died in Patiala jail in January 1935 after a hunger strike. He is remembered as a martyr of the Praja Mandal movement. Master Tara Singh led the Shiromani Akali Dal. Sohan Singh Bhakna was the founding president of the Ghadar Party. Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala was the ruler the Praja Mandal opposed.

Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna (1870–1968) was the founder president of the Ghadar Party. It was formed in 1913 among Indian immigrants in the USA. It began as the Pacific Coast Hindustan Association at Astoria, Oregon. Lala Har Dayal was its general secretary and Pandit Kanshi Ram its treasurer. Bhakna returned to India in 1914. He was sentenced in the Lahore Conspiracy Case and spent years in the Andamans. Ajit Singh led the 1907 Pagri Sambhal Jatta agitation. Baba Kharak Singh was an Akali leader.

Banke Dayal composed 'Pagri Sambhal Jatta' in 1907. He edited the Jhang Sayal newspaper. The song became the anthem of the peasant agitation against the Punjab Colonisation Bill. Sardar Ajit Singh (Bhagat Singh's uncle) and Lala Lajpat Rai led that agitation.

Lala Har Dayal was the chief organiser and ideologue of the Ghadar Party, set up in 1913 by Punjabi immigrants in the USA with its headquarters at San Francisco; he was its general secretary and edited the paper Ghadar. Sohan Singh Bhakna was the party's first president. Lala Lajpat Rai led the Punjab Congress; Bhagat Singh and Udham Singh were revolutionaries of the 1920s and 1930s.

On 8 April 1929 Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw two harmless bombs and leaflets into the Central Legislative Assembly at Delhi as it was passing the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill, both of which curbed civil liberties and workers' rights. The aim was 'to make the deaf hear'; they shouted 'Inquilab Zindabad' and courted arrest.

The last and longest morcha of the Gurdwara Reform (Akali) movement was the Jaito Morcha (1923–1925), launched against the deposing of Maharaja Ripudaman Singh of Nabha and to resume the Akhand Path stopped at Gangsar Gurdwara, Jaito. Under the movement's pressure the Sikh Gurdwaras Act was passed in 1925 and the movement closed. Earlier morchas included Nankana Sahib (1921) and Guru ka Bagh (1922).

The Kuka (Namdhari) movement was led by Baba Ram Singh, who founded the Namdhari sect at Bhaini Sahib (Ludhiana) on Baisakhi 1857. Beginning as religious reform, it turned into non-cooperation with British rule — boycott of government services, courts, and foreign goods. After Kukas attacked butchers at Malerkotla in January 1872, 66 Kukas were blown from cannons; Baba Ram Singh was deported to Burma (Rangoon, later Mergui), where he died in 1885. Ajit Singh (Bhagat Singh's uncle) led the later 'Pagri Sambhal Jatta' agitation (1907).