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 Baba Kharak Singh Ahluwalia

'Baba Kharak Singh Kalal Kharak Singh Ahluwalia (6 June 1868 - 6 October 1963) was born in "Sikh Kalal" family at Sialkot (now in Pakistan). He was a Sikh political leader and virtually the first president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. Baba ji was among the first batch of students who graduated (1889) from Punjab University, Lahore. His father, Rai Bahadur Sardar Hari Singh Ahluwalia, was a wealthy contractor and industrialist.

Early life Kharak Singh, having passed his matriculation examination from Mission High School and intermediate from Murray College, both at Sialkot, after graduating from Punjab University, (Lahore) he joined the Law College at Allahabad, but the death of his father and elder brother in quick succession, interrupted his studies as he had to return to Sialkot to manage the family property.He started his public life in 1912 as chairman of the reception committee of the 5th session of the Sikh Educational Conference held at Sialkot.Three years later in 1915, as president of the 8th session of the Conference held at Tarn Taran, he surprised everyone by walking to the site of the conference, breaking the stately custom of arriving in a carriage pulled by six horses. He also refused permission for a proposed resolution to be moved at the conference wishing victory to the British in World War I. The Jallianvala Bagh massacre of 1919 galvanised Kharak Singh as the virtual core of Sikh politics.

Political life Kharak Singh presided over the historic session of the Central Sikh League held in Lahore in 1920 where under his direction the Sikhs took part in the non-co-operation movement. Mahatma Gandhi, the Ali Brothers and Dr. Kitchlew also attended the event and advised the Sikhs to throw in their lot with the Congress Party. In 1921 he helped found the S.G.P.C. and was unanimously elected its President. Afterwards, too, he held that exalted office on several occasions. In 1921-22 he successfully led the first Morcha (agitation) against the British government (November, 1921), which is popularly known as the Keys Morcha. This was a Sikh protest requiring the return of the keys of the Toshakhana (treasury) of the Golden Temple, which had been seized by the British Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar. Kharak Singh was among the first to be arrested and this was the first of his numerous jail terms under the British. His arrest led to a vigorous storm of protest against the Government.

Arrest and prison He was jailed on 26 November 1921 for making an anti government speech, he was sentenced to six months imprisonment on 2 December 1921, but was released on 17 January 1922 when the keys of the toshakhana were also surrendered to him. In the same year he was elected President of Punjab Provincial Congress Committee. Baba ji was, however, rearrested soon and, on 4 April 1922, he was awarded one year in jail for running a factory that manufactured kirpans (one of the religious symbols of the Sikhs): to which another three years were added, on charges of making seditious speeches. He was sent to jail in distant Dera Gazi Khan (now a volatile area in Pakistan), where in protest against the forced removal of the turbans of Sikh and the 'Gandhi caps' of non-Sikh political prisoners, he discarded all his clothes except his kachahira (underpants), another of the religious symbols of the Sikhs. Despite the extreme weather conditions of the place, he remained bare-backed until he was released after his full term (twice extended for non-obedience of orders) on 4 June 1927.

Unity and speech in Lahore While jailed he was unanimously elected 'president in absence' of the Gurdwara Central Board (which was later designated as the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee) constituted under the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925. He was selected to this high office again after fresh elections in 1930. However, he resigned soon after, but he continued to work for both India's national independence and, as ever he kept an eye out for the protection of Sikh interests.In one of his most stirring lectures, given at Lahore Baba Kharak Singh stated: "In the fight for India's freedom, if you find a bullet in my back, do not count me as one amongst the 'Sikhs of the Gurus' and do not cremate my dead body according to the Sikh rites. A disciple of the Great Gurus is an ideal saint-soldier and it supposed to fight in the vanguard and face bullets in the chest — not in the back; we Sikhs shall never allow any foreigner to rule over the Motherland and we shall brook no injustice."

Demonstrations against British Rule He organized a mammoth demonstration in 1928 when the Simon Commission visited Lahore. Also during 1928-29, he vehemently opposed the Nehru Committee Report until the Congress Party shelved it and took action to secure the Sikhs' concurrence in the framing of constitutional proposals in the future. He was again sent to jail in 1931 but was released after six months. He was re-arrested in 1932 and served another 19 months in prison. He spoke out in opposition to the Communal Award‎, which gave a statutory majority to Muslims in the Punjab, and was in and out of jail on several occasions for making speeches that the British government held to be seditious. In 1935 he was, once again, taken into custody for his scathing criticism of the Communal Award. In 1940 Babaji was again sent to the jail for participating in the Satyagrah movement, but in spite of his old age, Babaji did not stop his activities.

Demonstrations against British Rule He organized a mammoth demonstration in 1928 when the Simon Commission visited Lahore. Also during 1928-29, he vehemently opposed the Nehru Committee Report until the Congress Party shelved it and took action to secure the Sikhs' concurrence in the framing of constitutional proposals in the future. He was again sent to jail in 1931 but was released after six months. He was re-arrested in 1932 and served another 19 months in prison. He spoke out in opposition to the Communal Award‎, which gave a statutory majority to Muslims in the Punjab, and was in and out of jail on several occasions for making speeches that the British government held to be seditious. In 1935 he was, once again, taken into custody for his scathing criticism of the Communal Award.

In 1940 Babaji was again sent to the jail for participating in the Satyagrah movement, but in spite of his old age, Babaji did not stop his activities.

Recognition of his Unity stand He was one of those leaders who unhesitatingly took up the cause of the INA in 1945. He was a firm protagonist of national unity and opposed both the Muslim League's demand for Pakistan and the Akali proposal for an Azad Punjab. During the elections of 1946 he toured the whole of the Punjab and the N.W.F.P. and made a magnificent contribution to the success of the Congress.

According to Jawaharlal Nehru, during his whole life Babaji had never surrender to anything that he considered to be wrong or evil, whatever the consequences might have been. At another place Mr. Nehru said of Babaji:

"There are few hands which can uphold the honour and preserve the dignity of the national Flag better than those of Babaji".

Demise aged 93 After the Partition of 1947, Babaji stayed in Delhi in virtual retirement from public life, dying on 6 October 1963 at the ripe age of 95.