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Home , Bundala, Chahal Kalan, Chhina, Darshan Singh Pheruman, Dhuleta, Dosanjh Kalan

The Game

In the moonlight of the evening The children in the lanes, play Grasping each others’ shirts they make a train And whirl around and around, saying: Long libe reolusion… Long libe reolusion…

One day they witnessed An old man playing the same game they play

The police swooped on him, and Dragging him in their jeep, Went away.

The children shuddered with fear Till the next evening -Lal Singh Dil

The Heights a Revolutionary Achieved

Baba Bujha Singh was a man of politics. He had been a stalwart and an activist of the , the Kirti Movement, the Tenant’s Struggle, the Communist Parties and the Naxalite Movement. His political life of forty years was shaped neither in a laboratory nor was he a product of some political dynasty. He reached the pinnacle of heroes because of his hard labour in the freedom movement of the country, the communist movement and years of struggle for his ideals. I have not been a witness to what they had gone through or what had happened to other revolutionaries and Baba Bujha Singh during the last century. I was born in the years he was murdered, but his comrades-in-arms who would tell me about his life are around. He is present in the newspaper libraries in which he used to appear as news. The files of the government agencies are kept in offices in which he was branded as the most dangerous person. I have not been a student of communist history, theory, and politics too. Only I had the opportunity to go through the history of those movements as I have been associated with journalism. I have found time to meet leaders, especially the activists. Darshan Dusanjh, a follower of Baba ji, I have met occasionally. He was an affectionate and absorbed person. Like Baba ji, he was also an epitome of sacrifice. Baba ji had a deep influence on him. He made me understand that persons associated with these movements were better than the leaders of traditional communist parties. They were rustic, simple and sincere. They had self respect. They were anti-establishment, and very courageous in discharging their duties. They sacrificed heavily for the country but were always a victim of vilification by the traditional communist leaders. The life history of Baba Bujha Singh is very interesting and a long long one. I started working on his biography in 2004 but I was not well settled in health. It has been very difficult for me to carry out my responsibility. As he had struggled whole of his life to change this world I could not leave my work mid stream, continuing despite hard times. Every great person has some zeniths in his life which differentiate him from others and make him or her, a great being. This revolutionary too has many zeniths. One was he being a Ghadarite. He went to Argentina to fight against poverty at home but he came in contact with freedom loving Ghadarites there. They sparked in him the fire of patriotism. Another height he attained was being a revolutionary. Coming in contact with socialist ideology and becoming its follower. These Ghadarites took him to Russia. He was infused with big dreams through education imparted by teachers at the Eastern University of . These dreams were not for the sake of himself or his family but were meant for the suffering humanity, freedom of the country, a bright future for the people, for revolution and lofty thoughts. To achieve this pinnacle he aimed at bringing a revolution. He was ready to sacrifice anything for it. This made him a person of revolution. He was not ready to accept anything short of revolution. Fighting for this dream he laid down even his life. Another peak was enduring the torture he faced. He went through the torture of the Royal Fort of , confronted the hell of torment at Deoli Camp, and ultimately, faced the police bullets bravely. Even comrades excelled in inflicting psychological agonies on him. But all this was unable to shake him from his convictions and ideals in any way. Another high of him was being a teacher of Marxism. He used to sow intellect. He would make others courageous and self-respecting. I have met his disciples who were steeled by him. I have not been a direct witness to their hard work. I have not seen their energy sprouting like a fountain, nor have I seen their faces glowing with brilliance but I have read them in the pages of history. I have heard about the change they have effected on Indian politics. Baba ji had learnt all his knowledge from the University of Life itself. Even the people studying in universities came to him for guidance. He was a roaming encyclopaedia of Marxist theory and revolutionary movements. Another height he accomplished was becoming a person of old age. During the first Ghadar, all the youths were killed, guillotined, or put behind rails for the rest of their life. After many years, when they came out of prisons they were no longer young, rather had become elderly. That is why they were called Ghadri Baabe, (the Elderly Rebels). Though Baba Bujha Singh did not stay behind bars for a long time during his life, yet he remained a revolutionary throughout. He is a political legacy of a combined and invaluable treasure of the Ghadar Movement, the Kirti Movement, the Tenant Struggle and the Naxalite Movement. This quintessence has raised him to the pinnacle of a Baba. The highest of this revolutionary is: sacrificing at the age of eighty two. Baba ji became a classic representative of the political heritage which was built on sacrifice, perseverance, conviction, simplicity, and struggle. One can have differences with his politics but cannot challenge his commitment, perseverance and, especially, the sacrifice he made. I have only tried to bring some scattered pages of this unparalleled conviction, determination and sacrificing legacy in the form of a book.

25 August, 2008 Ajmer

Contents Life in Brief Part One: Colours of Life 1. In the Monastery of Saints 2. Champion in Shearing Maize Corncobs 3. The Spark: The Ghadar Party 4. In the Country of Lenin 5. The Founding of Kirti Party 6. Torture in the Royal Fort of Lahore 7. In Ferozepur Jail 8. Banished to Village 9. The Battlefield 10. Attempts to Send Bose to Russia 11. Days in Deoli Camp 12. Unity of Kirtis and Communists 13. Fights within the Communist Party 14. Operation Scuttle 15. Championing the Cause of Tenants in PEPSU 16. Defending the Heritage 17. Founding of the Marxist Party 18. The Spring Thunder 19. Mother of Revolutionaries 20. Your Death Echoes—Sant Ram 21. After Martyrdom 22. The Warrior who Defied Death 23. Teacher of Marxist Ideology 24. An embodiment of Revolutionary Culture 25. Brother of 26. He valued of Women Power

Part 2 : Arena of Activity 1. Ghadar movement 2. Kirti Movement 3. Communist Party of 4. Tenant Movement in PEPSU 5. More Acivities of the Lal Party 8. Naxalbari Movement

Part 3: Some other Details Appendices 1. File in the Intelligence Department 2. The work areas of the Kirty Party and the CPI in the eyes of the intelligence wing 3. Members of the Kirti Control Board 4. Letter written to the Chief Secretary of State & other news 5. Copy of the FIR Registered in the Nawan Shehar Police Station at the Time of Martyrdom 6. Mrs. Bujha Singh’s Demand from the Chief Minister 7. The Investigation Report by the Tarkunde Committee 8. Report of Vidhan Sabha 9. Sources The Guillotine—Shiv Kumar Batalvi

Life in Brief Date of Birth: According to Shaheedi Yadgaar Committee, (Publisher: Jasbir Deep) the year of birth of Baba Bujha Singh is 1888. As per the book, Shaheedan Di Wangaar, his brother Yugeshar Singh says the year of his birth is 1899. According to File No. L/PJ/12/ 490, Activity in Argentina, and the Passport kept in India Office Records, British Library, London, his Date of Birth is 19 December, 1903. In the June-November, 2005 issue of “Hun”, a Punjabi magazine, Amarjit Chandan has quoted , saying that Baba Bujha Singh’s birth year was 1895. After ruminating over these dates the writer has come to the conclusion that the most appropriate year of birth of Baba Bujha Singh seems to be 1888. More Information: According to the records of British Library, London, his passport says that his nationality was British Indian, Profession: Day Labour; Height: 172 cm. Physical Composition: Middle Height; Colour: Wheatish; Hair: Black, and a Clean Shaven person. Place of Birth: Village: Chakk MaiDass, PS: Banga, Tehsil Nawan Shehar, District Jalandhar (now in district Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar). This village is situated on Jalandhar- Highway, mid-way between Banga and , at a distance of one kilometre towards south. The distance of Chakk Mai Dass, from the west side, from Phagwara 13 kilometres, from Jalandhar 35 kilometres, however from the east side, from Behram 3 kilometres, from Banga 13 kilometres, from Nawan Shehar 27 kilometres, and from Chandigarh it is 117 kilometres. Its area is 125 hectares, population: 778, Post Office: (Pin Code: 144501), and it is three kilometres away from Kultham Railway Station. The Gotra in village Chakk Mai Dass is Mann for the jatts, for the adi dharmis it is Bangar and Chumbar, and for the lohars it is Bhogal.

The Family Details Father: Dharam Singh Mother: Jai Kaur Uncles: Natha Singh, Bhagwan Singh, Dalip Singh Brothers and Sisters: Yugeshar Singh, Lachhman Singh, Amar Singh alias Gulzara Singh, and Gian Kaur. Wife: Dhanti (Dhann Kaur). Dhanti was the daughter of Punjab Singh and Rajo of village Happowal Off Spring: Nasib Kaur alias Resham Kaur, Ajit Kaur, Hardas Singh, (1936). Nasib Kaur was married to Singh Johal from village (Jalandhar), Ajit Kaur was married to Pritam Singh of village , district Jalandhar, son Hardas Singh was married to Ajaib Kaur of village , district Jalandhar Going to China

Bujha Singh went to China in 1929. The Chinese government issued him a passport No. 6034 in on Sept. 2, 1929. This passport was issued for visiting the , Japan and Panama. He went to Panama in 1930. From Panama he reached Argentina. Argentina: Bujha Singh applied for a residence in Argentina on November 10, 1930. This application was entered in the files on 13 November, 1930. He was allowed to stay in Argentina till September 2, 1934. He lived in Aveneda, Alberdy 26, Rosario. In 1930 he became active in the Ghadar Party chapter in Argentina in 1930. He involved himself in the activities of the party in the company of the international leaders like Bhai Ratan Singh Raipur Dabba, and Sutantar, Chacha Ajit Singh and the leadership in Argentina. Moscow: In accordance with the decision of the Ghadar Party the first batch of Ghadar Party left Argentina for Moscow in April 1932. this batch was led by Bujha Singh. These batches were educated in the theory of Marxism in the Eastern University of Moscow (Russia). In 1934 they came back to India travelling through China. Re-organisation of the Ghadar Party: The Ghadarites founded the Kirti Party in 1934. Bujha Singh was elected as a member of its Punjab State Committee. Afterwards, he was elected to the highest body, the Central Committee. Arrest: he was arrested three times by the Banga and Jalandhar Police in the first months of 1935. These arrests were made after his daughters were married off. His release was secured by the efforts of comrade Rakhkha Singh and the village Panchayat every time. Torture: Bujha Singh was arrested by the police on 27 October, 1935 at and was kept in Shahi Quila Lahore. For two continuous months he was subjected to severe torture. He was released on December 27, 1935, but he was declared a prisoner of war. Banished Within the Village Limits: After his release from Shahi Quila Lahore he was banished to his village Chakk Mai Dass for one year. Punishment: He was sentenced to jail for six months on 27 July, 1936 by the court over the charges that he was instrumental in organising a communist conference in his village. He was released from Ferozepur Jail on 24 November, 1936. He was banished to the village again. Arrested Again: He was arrested from village Bilga in November 1936. Released on November 24. Kisan Sabha: He had organised peasants by forming Debt Committees. When Kisan Sabha was formed in 1936 he was elected national vice-president. Congress Party: The British Government banned the Kirti Party in September 1934. After that, the leaders of the Kirti Party became members of the Congress Party for whiling away the time. Bujha Singh too joined the Congress and worked as one of its leading activists. Press: Bujha Singh was the general manager of the Kirti Lehar (1937, 38, 39) and of the Azad Press, . He was also a member of the Kirti Control Board. Subhash Chandar Bose: in 1939 Subhash Chandra Bose was elected as the national president of the Congress. The Kirti Party and Baba Bujha Singh had a strong hand in the victory of Subhash Chandra Bose. Bujha Singh was also deputed to help Bose flee to Russia in 1941. Arrested Once Again: He was again arrested for not obeying the notice. Banished again. After June 1940, Bujha Singh was arrested from Tata Nagar (Jamshedpur) and sent to the Rajanpur Jail. Deoli Camp: The communist leaders from all over India were arrested on 26 June 1940. They were put into the Deoli Camp in . Bujha Singh and 15 other revolutionaries of the Rajanpur Jail were brought into the Deoli Camp. In this jail, Bujha Singh and 228 other inmates went on a hunger strike from 23 October 1941 to 22 November 1941 on various demands. Bujha Singh was released from jail in 1943. In this camp a process of unification of the Communist Party and the Kirti Party was initiated, which was consummated on 28 May, 1942. Organiser: Bujha Singh was the organiser of the Kirti Party’s district Lyallpur from 1934 to 1937. He was organiser of the in district from 1943 to 1945. In 1946 he was made the organiser of district Jalandhar. Communal Violence—1947: Bujha Singh and his comrades organised the people against communal violence of 1947. Lal Communist Party: Kirtis and Ghadarites founded the Lal Communist Party Hind Union in January 1948. Bujha Singh was its Central Committee member from 1948-1952. In 1952, this party merged with the Communist Party of India. The Communist Party of India did not enrol Bujha Singh as its member till 1963. England Visit: Baba Bujha Singh was the trustee member of Desh Bhagat Yadgaar Hall, Jalandhar. He went to England in 1958 for the construction of this memorial. Chinese Aggression: He was arrested in 1962 because he criticised the Indian government on Indo-China War. He came out only after he completed his sentence in the jail. Communist Party of India (Marxist): He organised the CPI (M) in Punjab when the former was founded in 1964. He worked as a member of the Committee. As an Editor: He was the editor and manager of ‘Lok Jamhuriyat’ when the CPI (M) launched its paper in Punjab. Then ‘Lok Jamhuriyat’ was replaced by ‘Lok Lehar’. He was part of the editorial board of ‘Lok Lehar’. In 1967 he resigned from all the posts and his membership of the CPI (M). Sarpanch: He was the Sarpanch of Chakk Mai Dass from 1963 to1968.

The Naxalbari Movement

*He was a state member of the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries, Punjab when it was formed in 1968. On 22 April, 1969 he was elected the State Organising Committee member. When party elections were held in February 1970, he was elected the state committee member. In the 1970 Congress of the party he was elected as a delegate. During this period, he was organiser of Jalandhar and districts. *Police issued warrants against him in the Achcharwal Conspiracy Case. *He played a leading role in the land acquisition action in Samaon () on December 1968 and in the Quila Hakiman land acquisition action on 18 June 1969. When the land owner of Quila Hakiman General Balwant Singh was murdered Baba Bujha Singh was declared a proclaimed offender. A Rs. 5000 prize was declared on his head. Martyrdom: He was arrested from village Nagar (near ) on July 27, 1970. He was killed in a fake police encounter in the night of 27-28 July on the canal bridge at village Nai Majara (near Nawan Shehar-).

*On June 4, 1973, the guerrilla squad of the party assassinated Jasmail Singh, sarpanch of village Nagar, as he was considered the informer who was instrumental in Bujha Singh’s arrest.

Part First

Colours of Life

In the Monastery of Saints Dharam Singh always behaved as if he were annoyed. He was equally angry over his son Bujha Singh as he was on saints and mystics. He would throw away his spade. Sit down holding his head in his hands. Utter incoherently. But his grumbling made no effect either on Bujha Singh or on the state of saints. Bujha Singh was his eldest son. He hoped that his son would take up responsibility to run the household. But there was no sign his hopes would be fulfilled. For Bujha Singh, the God or his messengers were everything. Only they liked him and nobody else. He had become a devout and would busy himself in religious things. He had secured for himself a room in the house. Here he used to keep the Adi Granth, religious books or drums and cymbals. He would shut himself in this room throughout. Read scripture. He had especially brought the Adi Granth from (Amritsar). Moreover, he had learnt about the meanings of the granth from priests of the golden temple. He had also learnt about reciting the scriptures and the method to enlighten the people through their meanings. Saints from the east would come to deliver discourses. They usually stayed in his room. Bujha Singh’s task was to gather the people. He would move around in his village and in the adjoining villages to bring people to his place. Or he would take up other necessary tasks. The mystics would deliver their discourses for many days. Bujha Singh always felt ecstatic in the company of saints and the people. The devotees would listen to saints very intently. He would feel that Baba Nanak’s spirit had overpowered him. He used to indulge in long discourses with the mystics. In a way, Dharam Singh too was a religious person. His village Chakk Mai Dass neither had a , nor a temple, nor did it have any mosque. There is a village called Paddi near Chakk Mai Dass. There was a monastery belonging to Sant Sohan Lal. That is why that village was called Paddi of the Saints. Dharam Singh and whole of his clan were devout followers of this saint. That is why he committed a ‘mistake’ by sending his son to the monastery. In those times the schools were not there. The children were taught alphabets and imparted religious training in these religious places. He had sent Bujha Singh to this place for studying. The saints taught him the primaries. They taught him to read and write in and . The village pundit taught him Sanskrit and . May be, after his studies, he would opt for the way of life like that of Dharam Singh. But his mother died when he was 15 years old. The agony of bereavement of his mother brought him closer to the monastery. In the meantime, he was so fascinated towards the saints that he fully devoted himself to them. They taught him many secrets. They made him a hermit and sent him back to Chakk Mai Dass. The first thing he took up was to bring the people of his own village on the right path. The people of his own and adjoining villages came under his influence but his own family got embroiled in troubles. Dharam Singh would scold him often. Dharm Singh was an industrious peasant. They were four brothers. All the four were very hard-working and, at the same time, thrifty. They owned ten acres in all. Dharam Singh’s share was two and a half acres. And he had four sons. His whole family used to work hard in the fields. Economically, it was a distressed family. The family was quite big. Natural calamities had pushed them to the brink. Economic wants had forced many a troubles on the household. Dharm Singh was worried ‘what if his son renounces the world’. Dharm Singh thought of Mai Dass and other elders of his clan who had reclaimed this land, the coming of the elders from Tutomajara to live in here. They had been working with the soil hard for years, forgetting their own existence; only the village had come into existence. The memories of stories related with inhabiting Chakk Mai Dass started haunting him. On the one hand, there was the history of his forefathers, and on the other, here was Bujha Singh who had renounced all worldly things and responsibilities. He was becoming one with the invisible power, which no one had ever seen. He had started seeing the resolution of all problems in the meditation of God. He became absorbed in meditation for the welfare of all. For him, every elder of the village was Dharam Singh. All were suffering from misfortune, ordeals, and trussed in the mire of family life. But he was in love with all humanity. He loved animals and all the living beings. On the one side of the village there lied vast unclaimed land. It was like a forest. One day, a pig from the jungle strayed into the village. The youth who were sitting near the gate of the village killed the animal. Before they could divide the game for cooking Bujha Singh arrived with all his might. He got very upset on seeing the murdered pig. He took down his towel from the shoulder and covered its dead body. He gathered whole of the village and cremated the pig. To bring people around to good sense he invited saints to the village. The saints delivered their sermons and condemned animal killing as the biggest sin. Bujha Singh used to meditate daily. He would get up early in the morning, relieve himself and take bath. Then he would sit down to recite scriptures. Dharam Singh always went into rage on seeing him continuously indulging in bathing, washing clothes, cleaning hands and reciting scriptures. He wanted to see him busying himself in family chores, to work in the house and helping in the fields. He wanted him to get married and build a family. He wished that Bujha Singh should not indulge in religious activities all the time. He had no objection if Bujha Singh indulged in meditation in the free time he gets after performing his worldly duties. He wanted nothing more from him. His wife had already left this world. The house seemed miserable in the absence of a woman. There was no woman to keep the house and feed the family. The person who could be married was too much involved with the saints. When all his efforts went in vain he decided to bind Bujha Singh in wedlock. Even Sant Sohan Lal decreed that Bujha Singh should get married. Bujha Singh was left with no alternative and had to give in. At last, he was married to Dhanti, the daughter of Punjab Singh and Rajo, who belonged to village Happowal near Banga. His wife gave birth to three children, Nasib Kaur, Ajit Kaur and Hardas Singh (1936). Bujha Singh followed his father’s dictate, got married and became a father but he did not take up responsibilities of the family in any way. He continued with his old routine of spending time in the service of saints and in meditation. He became a good orator in religious matters becoming a popular person in the area. The people flocked to him to listen to his sermons. The first revolt of the Ghadar Party had happened. A man, Labh Singh* (According to Bhagat Singh Bilga, Labh Singh had returned from America. But according to Narinder Singh s/o Maha Singh, he had returned from Australia) had come to visit his home at Chakk Mai Dass. He was a supporter of the Ghadar Party. He started coming to Bujha Singh to listen to his religious sermons. He thought that as Bujha Singh was a good orator he could become a good propagandist for the Ghadar Party. In those days, the Ghadar Party was trying to reorganise itself. The fight for freedom started by the Ghadar Party was to intensify further. Numerous fighters were needed for that. He started motivating Bujha Singh to take up the task of popularising the cause of freedom. Dharam Singh’s family was helped by a family. Though this family were not their tenants but it helped them in agriculture activities. There was a young man in this family who was called Rakkha Ram. He too was famous in the area like Bujha Singh. He had joined the sect of . He had become an activist of the . The people of the village called him Akali Sikh. In the Guru Ka Bagh Morcha (movement for the liberation of Guru ka Bagh, 1921-22) he was active in the front lines. He was trampled under the horse and cane charged by the mounted police under the command of police officer B. T. Though the police had broken his skull yet he remained stubborn. In the years afterward, he involved himself in the struggle with more vigour and courage. Bujha Singh too was influenced by the heroism of this six-feet soldier. When in 1923-24 Morcha for the liberation of Gurdwara in was launched, he once again became its leader in the area. He was assigned the duty of sending batches of people to the Morcha. He also organised free kitchens for the hungry and thirsty people who were heading to Jaitu on the road from Banga to Phagwara. Bujha Singh was given the responsibility to manage (free kitchen) at the point from where a link road connected the main road to Chakk MaiDass. Jathedar Rakkha Singh was the overall in-charge of this kitchen. Bujha Singh served food, tea and water to batches of people going to Jaitu, with complete dedication. He immersed himself in this service. During the rise of Babbar movement (1920-23) in , the Babbars used to come to Bujha Singh. He would offer them meals. Sometimes they stayed at his place to spend the night. Bujha Singh had no connection with these movements. He was only driven by an intense urge to serve the needy. He served the people with passion. His father was totally occupied in running the family. Dharam Singh was burdened with debt and shattered by the hardships. He was also taking care of Bujha Singh’s wife and her two daughters. This was the basis of his grouch. He would reprimand Bujha Singh occasionally. Discord erupted in the family and it went into crisis. Dharam Singh was unable to pay back the loan he had taken from the usurer. The usurer would come to his house daily and ask back his money. He started insulting them. In this situation Bujha Singh was being pulled in many directions. Jathedar Rakkha Singh wanted him to join the Akali movement. The Babbars who were suffering setbacks at the time and declining in numbers were pulling him to their cause. The saints from the east tried to convince him to renounce the world and join them by taking to the mantle of the saints. Many a times he tried to join them but was hindered by the sad spectacle of daughters and wife. At other times, he tried to extricate himself from the sway of the saints but was unable to do so. His situation was like the phrase: I want to leave the blanket but it doesn’t leave me. He had a friend named Maha Singh Nambardar. Both of them had a very affectionate relationship. He gave Maha Singh powers of an arbiter to decide about his fate. Maha Singh consulted with Labh Singh over the matter. Then asked him to leave for America. Bujha Singh too decided that he should go to America to earn some money and help his family get out of poverty. Meanwhile, father and son were locked in a quarrel. The issue was to arrange money for his departure. Maha Singh took a loan of rupees 30 from a commission agent from Phagwara and gave these to Bujha Singh. Bujha Singh handed over his Granth to Maha Singh, left his drum and cymbals at home, took his karmandal, a religious book and other necessary things with him and left for China. Nobody in the family could know that he had left for abroad.

Note: 1.The human habitation in village Chakk Mai Dass started in the 17th century. The ancestral village of Manns and Chumbars is Tutomajara in district , tehsil Garh Shankar. The of Tutomajra were the Chaudharys (rulers) in the area. They used to hold Darbars (Courts). They were an arrogant people like Ranghar of the area. They relished to be addressed as chaudharys. They had their own laws when they were into making marriages of their children. This village is situated in the sub mountain region. It was surrounded by a forest area. The villages in this area were prone to floods in the rainy season due to choes (the rainy streams). The people had to struggle against many deprivations and problems. Faced with deprivation the people were always on the look out for better lands. A peasant known by the name of Mai Dass came to Behram. He decided to reclaim a barren (Dhakk) piece of land. Mai Dass’s family used to come to this place daily from Tutomajra. With them accompanied tenants of Chumbar gotra. All of them usually brought with them cooked food for the day. The area was rich in grazing lands. So they also used to bring their cattle with them. Then they stopped going back to Tutomajara. They started living here. People of various castes and professions came here to inhabit this unclaimed land. In the mean time, a village came into being. The village was named after the elder who had first inhabited the place, so it came to be called as Chakk Mai Dass.

Champion in Shearing Maize Corncobs Bujha Singh’s friends kept quiet about his departure for abroad. But Dharam Singh smelled it from their whispering. He would comment: “Let us see if he becomes a champion by going abroad? He has never worked at all here. What he can achieve abroad?” His remarks were also meant for getting into the secret. Bujha Singh had reached Shanghai, the Chinese capital. He had reached there on foot. From here starts the story of his resoluteness. He walked for months on long unknown ways. That was around 1929. There he found some Punjabi labourers. They too had a goal to reach America. Bujha Singh too started working as a labourer. Nambardar Maha Singh later told Dharam Singh that Bujha Singh had left for China. The family was sinking in abject poverty. Dharam Singh and Dhanti were looking after the family. Dhanti had spent most of her age in running the wheat grind, doing household work and working in the fields. Now her husband too was supporting her in running the family though he was doing hard labour in China. In those days there was no need of a passport to go to China. But for reaching America, Bujha Singh needed it. Getting a passport became a problem. Then he succeeded in securing one. The Chinese government issued him a passport with a number 6034 from Shanghai office. This passport was for visiting British Empire, Japan and Panama. Bujha Singh and his friends started making plans to reach America from China. Many who had reached China were thinking on the same line. They met an agent who made arrangements for their journey. But Bujha Singh fell short of money. He could not see any other way than seeking help from his family. At last, he wrote a letter back home. Dharam Singh got a loan from the commission agent and sent it to Bujha Singh. The things got a kick. He started trying some way out. There, the Japanese ships freighted materials from China. These ships also carried passengers. Bujha Singh went to Panama over one of the ships. But he was not allowed to enter into Panama. He again boarded the same ship and alighted at the port of Areca in Chile. He travelled through Bolivia and reached Argentina. Here a branch of the Ghadar Party was active. The secretary of the branch was Bhagat Singh from village Bilga. Bujha Singh and Bhagat Singh Bilga were also related to each other. Bilga was the village of Bujha Singh’s mother. Bhagat Singh had an aunt married in village Chakk Mai Dass. Bujha Singh started living with Bilga ji. He had applied for immigration status in Argentina. He was allowed to live in Argentina till September 2, 1934. In this way, Bujha Singh started living in Avenida Alberdy, Rosario. The Punjabi immigration community in Argentina had a tradition that as long as the newly arrived person did not get work he was given free food and free accommodation. Bujha Singh could not get work for two months. The economy was in recession. Unemployment was rising. He spent two months with the help of his fellow Punjabi men. During these days he read new and old issues of ‘Ghadar’ and ‘Kirti’ magazines. These magazines had initiated a campaign to popularise struggle for freedom and the ideology of socialism. He was already initiated into it when he was living in his country. Here he was getting more of it. In free hours he would read and write letters for uneducated Punjabi brethren. Then, there came the harvesting season for the maize crop. This was a very hard job. Many a labourers would flee when this season arrived. Only those opted for this job who could not get some other work. Bujha Singh too was compelled to do it. He too found this work upsetting. He thought of fleeing. But he persisted. Whenever he felt scared of it his father’s words came to his mind: ‘Let us see if he becomes a champion!’ He worked for the whole season with all his power. After that he started doing labour in the railway workshops of Rosario. When the season for harvesting corncobs was over they compared the work done by everyone. The result was startling and Bujha Singh was overjoyed to learn that he stood first in the competition and was declared champion. He wanted to share this happiness of becoming a champion with his father but he was too busy in the railway works.

The Spark: Ghadar Party Bhagat Singh Bilga and Dalip Singh were secretary and president respectively of the Ghadar Party Chapter in Argentina. The house where Bilga ji lived was used like a party office. Bujha Singh too had put up there. Ghadar and Kirti magazines had ignited love for the freedom struggle in Bujha Singh’s mind. He had already been influenced by Rakkha Singh when he was in his country. He became a member of the Ghadar Party when convinced by its aims, goals and activities. Back home, his family in Chakk Mai Dass was waiting for his money. The family was in dire straits. They hoped that the bad situation would be improved, that the family would see better days with the arrival of money from abroad. But things were going in the opposite direction. Leave alone sending of money, Bujha Singh did not enquire about his family even. He devoted himself to the Ghadar Party as he had become a devotee of the saints. His father Dharam Singh and wife Dhanti were bearing the burden of Bujha Singh’s three brothers and a sister. All of the four children were married off by using the same jewellery which Dhanti had brought with her from her parents at the time of her marriage to Bujha Singh. They would first use it for the eldest one and then take it back to utilize it for the second child. The family in Chakk MaiDass never received any money from Bujha Singh. The Punjabi immigrants had gone to Argentina in 1910-11. They worked as labourers in sugar mills, railway workshops and in the agriculture fields. Ghadar magazine of the Ghadar Party had started reaching Argentina right from the beginning of its publication. But during the Ghadar of 1913-16 the immigrants in Argentina had not shown any interest. All of them were hoping to go to the USA. They all had gone to Argentina by sea, travelling through Chile and Bolivia. But later they became Ghadarites as they had faced hardships and were part of the working class. That is why the party could make a foothold only in 1925. The world economic crisis of 1927-32 also forced other Punjabi migrants including Bujha Singh, to become part of the Ghadar Party. It helped them to gain political consciousness. They became aware of freedom struggles going on in India and other countries. After working in mills, factories and workshops they came to know about the movement of the working class. Ghadar and Kirti magazines were bringing them nearer to the working class movement. Bujha Singh and his comrades also got positive response from the people of Argentina. The people of Argentina hated the British imperialists and wanted to see India a free country. With their help the Ghadar Party’s work developed in Argentina. The Ghadarites in Argentina took notice of every social, political, religious and economic event in India. In Argentina strikes and conferences were held and resolutions passed on the martyrdom of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. Bujha Singh and his comrades aroused the people in the wake of martyrdom of young revolutionaries. Bhai Rattan Singh Raipur Dabba, convinced the Ghadarites to go to Moscow to study Marxism and apply mass line after returning to India. He had also visited Argentina in 1930 in this respect. It was decided that Bhagat Singh Bilga and Bhai Rattan Singh will meet the Punjabi workers working in the sugar mills. In their absence, Bhuja Singh will look after the party work. Both the leaders toured the northern province for one and a half months. They told the people about the second Ghadar. Bujha Singh accompanied Rattan Singh when he toured central and southern provinces of Argentina. During this tour, Bujha Singh developed his skills as a good propagandist of the Ghadar Party. He prepared a revolutionary call which asked Indians to go back to India. He also collected funds. After making propaganda and collecting funds for the party he came back to Rosario. The fund so collected was sent to Punjab for the magazine Kirti. Ajit Singh, uncle of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, had become sick in Brazil. The doctors advised him that he should stay in some cold climate. On the orders of the Ghadar Party the Argentinean branch invited him to stay in Argentina. Ajit Singh came to Argentina by sea taking his library, documents and a typewriter with him. A house was rented to keep him. The Argentinean chapter of the Ghadar Party opened a library and an office and appointed a secretary. Bujha Singh was made the in-charge of the office. He worked for the party and the people from this office. He had shorn his hair and shaved his beard. He used to study books in the library and inspired others to do the same. Studying and working for the party was his day-to-day routine. During 1931-32, when Teja Singh Sutantar visited Argentina he exposed Congress Party’s line of non-violence and propagated the line of armed revolution. In the meantime, Argentina went through a coup. This opportunity was used by the British ambassador to Argentina and he instigated an attack on the headquarters of the Ghadar Party in Rosario. Due to the resistance of Ghadarites and local people the attackers could not arrest any Ghadar Party members though they succeeded in rampaging through the whole office. This attack was meant to arrest Bhai Rattan Singh and Teja Singh Sutantar. At that time the Ghadarites were taking a military training course in the north of Argentina. The Ghadarite leaders were holding political study circles. The Ghadarites in Argentina had assembled explosives and ammunition. They were working underground. Teja Singh and Bujha Singh were touring south. They were forming party committees in different areas and collecting funds. In Buenos Aires and Cordoba they organised state committees. They recruited members and gave them guerrilla training. Committees were also formed in the railways union. All the Ghadar Party delegates from Argentina assembled in Rosario for three days for a conference which discussed political situation in India. The government had imposed Martial Law in Rosario. The police succeeded in arresting Teja Singh Sutantar but Bujha Singh and others were able to dodge the government agents. Teja Singh Sutantar’s release was secured with mass resistance. Teja Singh Sutantar and Uncle Ajit Singh inspected Ghadar Party Committees and the guerrilla training. They passed a proposal of sending guerrillas to India and sent the report to Ghadar Headquarters. They were of the opinion that guerrillas should be sent to India for launching guerrilla warfare and then making revolution. Bhai Rattan Singh had a different opinion. He said that the failure of 1914-16 Ghadar lie in the absence of a solid political ideology, want of political consciousness and in the fact that the people had not supported the revolt; and that the revolutionaries should learn from this failure. He proposed that the Indian Ghadarites should go to study Marxism in the Eastern University, Moscow, and return to India after getting training and laced with a political ideology, should propagate ideas of freedom and Marxism among the masses and build a powerful mass based movement. Bujha Singh too was in agreement with Bhai Rattan Singh. Both the proposals were debated at length. The Central Committee accepted the proposal of Bhai Rattan Singh and Bujha Singh. Party branches in all countries were sent orders secretly. The students from , America, Argentina, Afghanistan, Panama, New Zealand, Fiji, China, Kenya, India and Afghanistan were sent to Moscow for study and military training. The first batch of Ghadarites from Argentina was sent to Moscow under the leadership of Bujha Singh. This batch included (1) Bujha Singh, (2) Puran Singh of village Kalan, district Jalandhar, (3) Chinta Singh, son of Sunder Singh of village Bundala, district Jalandhar, (4) Jawand Singh, near Dhariwal, Princely State of Kapurthala (later he became a state witness). Bujha Singh and his comrades deposited all the money they had earned in Argentina with the party and left for Moscow to sacrifice themselves for their country. This batch reached Hamburg from Buenos Aries through S. S. Bayern, on 3 May, 1932. This ship belonged to Hamburg America Line. It was a cargo steamer ship. Teja Singh Sutantar remained with this batch in the ship up till Rio de Janeiro. He got down at the coast of Rio de Janeiro. He left for on a steam ship from there. He travelled on the ship under the passport issued by Turkey and with the name of Teja Singh Azad. The batch headed for Moscow reached Germany. Bhai Rattan Singh took this batch from Germany to Moscow.

In the Country of Lenin After the Russian revolution the Eastern University, Moscow, emerged as a centre for disseminating the ideas of revolution to the working people of the world. Here people from every corner of the world were gathered and imparted education in the principles of Marxism and communism. The Comintern (Third -editor) bore all the expenditures of the students, including the cost of journey to Soviet Union and back, and all the costs of education. The batch of Ghadarites from Argentina had reached this university under the leadership of Bujha Singh. Ghadarites from China, Japan, Argentina, Iran, Turkey, Philippines, Malaya, etc. were already there in this university. There were other students from other countries too. The Punjabi Ghadarites were in majority. These were the people who had lived a life of a worker in foreign countries. Bujha Singh and his comrades understood about class struggle and exploitation which the British had been imposing on the Indians. In the university, they learnt basic things about political economy, dialectics, historical materialism, and the communist philosophy. They were also educated here in the theory of national minorities and the right to self determination and the basic principles about national question. Only here they adopted socialist ideology in a mature form. Here they learnt about the methods of propagation of Marxism. In the Indian section, there were many like Bujha Singh, who knew Punjabi. Ordinarily, the professors knew many languages. Only he was made the professor who knew the mother tongue of the pupils. The person who knew Punjabi well was professor Diyakov. He was an expert in . Bujha Singh made friends with him. Diyakov taught them in Punjabi in a very understandable way. They taught the Ghadarite students in a way which everyone could understand. The persons who knew English would first attend classes of other professors. Then they worked as interpreters. Chanan Singh Shahi was expert in this work. Bujha Singh and his comrades were first taught Marx’s capital. This is the foundation of Marxism. The students also studied the bourgeois political economy. Both the studies were taught in comparison. In the university, most of the books on Marxism were in the Russian language. Therefore, Bujha Singh also learnt the Russian language. They also studied about world famous revolutions, including the Great French Revolution, and also the revolutions of England, America, Germany and Italy. The Russians taught them this history through the lens of Marxism. The second important subject after Capital was historical materialism. This was based on the theory of Darwin. They also studied the history of Russian Communist Party. The students would study the history of October Revolution of 1917 with great interest. They also studied about the Russian law. To teach students the Russian language they gave them Russian newspapers to read. These newspapers belonged to the Soviet Government, the Russian Communist Party, the Red Army and the trade unions. The students were also provided with newspapers in their own languages. These Ghadarites and students from other countries conducted weekly group discussions. The Ghadarites discussed political situation prevailing in India. The students and their professors would sit together and debate about the political situation, communist philosophy, proletarian dictatorship and the subjects they were studying. They would discuss about a wide range of topics and ideas. They held sessions of criticism and self-criticism. If some committed a mistake they would help him in rectifying it. During the whole of debating session, one of the managers from the university would be present all through. He would lecture them on the working of the Soviet Government and the Comintern. In the end, he would let them know of his opinion about the whole discussion. He would send a report of the whole discussion to the university board. The board would send its report to the Comintern. The students were provided with the opportunity to listen to the speeches of the Soviet leaders. They were especially given passes to listen to them. The arrangement of food, clothes, residence, hair cutting and other necessities was the duty of the university. These Ghadarites were provided with tickets from the university to visit theatre or cinema twice a month. Bujha Singh wrote an article, “Art for the People”, during this time. He also learnt how to use art to propagate ideology. There was a club in the university. Bujha Singh and other students used this club for interacting with other students. In this way, students from different countries would come closer to each other. They played together in the mornings and evenings. Through sports they would find opportunity to discuss. Every group published a fortnightly newspaper. It was called the Wall Paper. Every paper had a regular editorial board. These boards were formed through elections. Every student was bound to participate in it. Bujha Singh and his comrades learnt about the importance of press, its utility for revolutionary purposes, and also about how to write for and publish newspapers. Military training was necessary for all students. Bujha Singh and other Ghadarites were trained in military matters under the leadership of professor Charneesh who was in-charge of the civil defence in Moscow. They will take students into dense jungles and put them under the command of army. They would be divided into two groups and taught the art of war. All the Ghadarites were imparted primary training in military affairs. They were also taught defence tactics in the conditions of police torture. Bujha Singh and his comrades were able to see the reconstruction of Russia with their own eyes. In various groups they visited factories and Soviet agriculture farms every month. They enquired about Russian economy and its management. They were greatly impressed by the socialist construction being done by the labour of Russian people with enthusiasm and commitment. The warm and simple nature of the Bolsheviks made an impact on their minds. Bujha Singh and his friends learnt about tactics for the freedom struggle and rule of the proletariat in very simple terms from the Eastern University. After taking courses in Marxism and military affairs the Ghadarites came to India travelling through various countries. Bujha Singh reached India through China in 1934. The Ghadarites took up their duties in Bombay, Calcutta, and Punjab as they had planned. Bujha Singh and Bhagat Singh Bilga went to Bombay to receive their leader Teja Singh Sutantar. After reaching Punjab they started building their organisation.

Founding of the Kirti Party Ghadar Party was trying to form a communist party in India right from 1926. The magazine Kirti was launched taking this into consideration. The mass organisations were built around Kirti. This process came to be known as Kirti Party though the Ghadarites never took Kirti Party as a party but considered it as a group. Till the launching of the party they organised and extended their work around the ‘Kirti Party’. The struggle for the complete freedom of the country and rule of the proletariat got a boost when Teja Singh Sutantar, Bujha Singh, Bhagat Singh Bilga and numerous other Ghadarites reached India from Moscow. By then, the communist movement in Punjab had culminated in the Congress Socialist Party after going through a process of building . Though there was no existence of the Communist Party in Punjab at that time but these Ghadarites had started building the Kirti Party organisationally. In 1934, the state organisational structure of the Kirti party was launched. Bujha Singh was elected as one of the state committee members. To strengthen the organisation further, district and area committees were formed. These Ghadarites became famous as kirtis. They built a vast network of activities. Their activities pushed them on to the political scene in a unique way. In a very short time, Bujha Singh and other Ghadarites were able to build a big caravan. Wherever they went they became popular. A good and able team developed out of them. This team shook the whole society. They formed three centres for their activities: (a) , (b) Doaba, and (c) . In the Doaba region, debt committees were formed in numerous villages with the initiative of Bujha Singh, Lahori Ram Pardesi, Ujagar Singh Bilga, and Karam Singh Mann. After the arrest of , Urdu and Punjabi weekly editions of Kirti were launched by Vasdev Singh and Jawala Singh. Vasdev Singh was arrested in August 1933 and was incarcerated in the Shahi Quila of Lahore for nine years as a royal prisoner. His place was filled by Bujha Singh, Chanan Singh and Dulla Singh when they returned from Moscow. These comrades not only made this weekly magazine more lively and vigorous, they also got fully involved in building mass organisations. Bujha Singh had gone to America to earn money, to improve the bad situation his family was going through. The revolutionary environment in Argentina dragged him into a new life. He wanted to create conditions for another revolt. Politically conscious brain forgot all the responsibilities of the family. He no longer belonged to a single family. He belonged to all the people. It becomes more difficult for these types of revolutionaries to return to their homes. He went to see his family but he was unrecognisable for them. When he had left for China he had unshorn hair and beard. When he went to Moscow from Argentina he cut off his hair and beard. A clean shaven young man wearing pant and shirt knocked at the house in Chakk Mai Dass. Amar Singh could not recognise his brother at first sight. Both scrutinised each other. When the thing cleared out everybody was laughing and hilarious. His brothers Lachhman Singh and Yugeshar Singh, wife Dhanti and daughters Jeeto and Seebo, were thrilled. Dharam Singh was thinking that his son had returned after earning a lot of money. Now the family would see good days. Whole family was ecstatic. When they came to know that he has come to sacrifice himself for the people and wants to free his country from bondage, that he has brought with him a philosophy which will emancipate the mankind from poverty and degradation, to change the destiny of the people through revolution, they frowned upon him. The worst was the condition of Dhanti. She had spent six years of her prime life without her husband and no one knew how many more she will have to endure. She had already gone half crazy. She was also bearing the burden of her two brothers in-law and a sister-in-law.

She shuddered when she learnt about Bujha Singh’s dreams. She tried to make him listen. She cringed about the appalling situation the family was living in. But her husband was thinking of all others families on the earth. Soon she came to understand that her husband won’t budge. She did not want to become a hindrance in his way. She suppressed her feelings. Buried all her wishes. Bujha Singh stayed with the family for four days and three nights. Then he started visiting them in the night at various intervals. About two months he continued to visit his family. The wife of this fighter who was challenging a great empire was facing many privations. She urged him to arrange the marriage of her two daughters. Bujha Singh took up this family responsibility and betrothed Naseeb Kaur to Rattan Singh Johal of village Jandiala, district Jalandhar, while for Ajit Kaur he found a young man Pritam Singh of village Shankar (district Jalandhar). The grooms’ parties stayed in Bujha Singh’s village for days. The marriages were performed in a simple and traditional way but the guests were served well. The dowry was arranged by his friends. The special thing which happened was the arrangement of chairs for the visitors. They were served brown sugar along with food. Men from a secret wing of the government had come to keep a watch on him. Both the marriages were completed successfully. Bujha Singh had to stay in his village for more ceremonies related with the marriages. After fifteen days of the marriages, 25 policemen came to Chakk Mai Dass to arrest him. Women of the house resisted the arrest. They called up the panchayat, nambardar, and other key persons of the village. After a little inquiry the police left without arresting him. After four days the police, in greater numbers, again descended on the village and arrested him. The people of the village strongly resisted the police action under the leadership of Rakkha Singh. The panchayat assembled at the scene. Bujha Singh was questioned in the presence of the panchayat. House was searched. The police found revolutionary literature from his room. On that basis they arrested him and took him to police station Banga. Next day the panchayat brought him back on its own responsibility. After fifteen days the police from Jalandhar came and he was arrested again. They released him after questioning. After that he continued his activities while living in his village. It was Rakkha Singh who had ignited the fire of human values, love for an egalitarian society, and idea of liberation from the British in Bujha Singh. Now Bujha Singh motivated Rakkha Singh to join him. Rakkha Singh turned away from the politics of religion and . He allied himself with the politics of Kirti Party for establishing rule of the working class. CID was having a close watch on the activities of Bujha Singh in the village. In this situation, Rakkha Singh was his only messenger. He worked as a link between Bujha Singh and the party bringing in and taking back his messages. When he was assigned the duty of distributing Kirti he performed it well. He would make a bundle of the magazine and leave on foot for various places to distribute them. He would go as far as to distributing Kirti on the way. He used to lift nearly a quintal of Kirti copies on his head. He would cross River Ravi by boat and move on. Bujha Singh also involved Maha Singh in the activities of the Kirti Party. In the Eastern University, Moscow, Bujha Singh’s teachers had taught him that along with the struggle for freedom for the country from oppression of the British it was imperative to launch economic struggles too to turn them into political struggles. Bujha Singh’s team intensified its political and mass activities in this direction. After organising the peasants around debt committees in his home district, Jalandhar, he started organising Punjab Kisan Sabha. After finishing his work in Jalandhar he was asked to organise peasants in Lyallpur district where he worked as the main organiser. He was a capable organiser as he had organised peasants in all the four tehsils of the district. As he built the party in the area he also became a leader of the peasant’s struggles. In those days, peasant masses followed Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan and Sir Chhotu Ram. Both of them were big landlords and were ministers in the Punjab Government. They used to organise peasant conferences on the lines of caste. They had a vast influence in Lyallpur. The peasant front of the Congress Party also worked on the same lines. Both sides played the game of accusing each other. The simple peasant masses were misled by them. After taking up the charge of Lyallpur district, Bujha Singh started exposing these forces. When Bujha Singh initiated his work he only had Ujagar Singh Bilga, Karnail Singh Phillaur and Bikar Singh Phillaur with him. Hard work done by Bujha Singh soon resulted in the formation of a big team which took up the task of organising the district. He asked this team to conduct a survey of the economic levels and problems of peasantry of the whole district. He created an environment in which the Punjab Kisan Sabha could confront these two ministers and prepare for a mount. He published a poster with the caption “Two Dacoits in War against Each Other”. On the one hand, a confrontation was brewing, and on the other, Kisan Sabhas were being formed in every village. When the Kisan Sabha threw up its roots it started a campaign to open and close the mouths of water channels for irrigation. The fields were irrigated with canal water. The feudal lords had vast lands. They would cut banks of the canals so that water would flow into their lands. Canal water to their lands never stopped running. Small peasantry did not get any water from canals. They suffered droughts every year. Kisan Sabha took up a struggle against this injustice. Under the leadership of Bujha Singh the peasants blocked the water openings irrigating lands of these two ministers and other big landlords of Lyallpur. The small peasants opened mouths of the channels for their own fields. This campaign went on for a long time. Contradiction between small peasants on the one hand, and feudal lords and government on the other hand, mounted. But the peasants did not relent, rather, they moved forward. A small event set the ball rolling. A landlord slapped a mashki (a water carrier). The event turned into a big one. The poor people flew into a rage. One after the other conference was held on this issue. Bujha Singh and his comrades built up such a mass upsurge that the feudal lord of village Jarhan Wala yielded. He touched the feet of mashki and apologised. With such kind of struggles Bujha Singh became a popular leader in Lyallpur. Both ministers went frantic. The peasantry was burdened under debt. Bujha Singh started a struggle against debt. He led many a struggles on this issue. With these kinds of actions a great number of people began to support the party. He told the people that end to their misery is only possible if the country gained freedom; that his party, the Kirti Party, was providing leadership to the working people in this struggle for freedom. With this kind of propaganda, dalits, workers, peasants and working masses started taking up this political cause. Bujha Singh had started implementing the line of the Kirti Party that if we are to capture state power and put the people at its head then new generation of leaders and cadre should be imparted political consciousness and given military training.

Torture in the Royal Fort of Lahore On the day of Diwali, a meeting of the general body of Desh Bhagat Parivar Sahayak Committee (Committee to Help Families of Patriots) was held in the Amritsar office of the organisation. The meeting was to discuss ways to intensify campaign for the release of political prisoners and to help their families. When the meeting was in progress the police encircled the office. The police team was led by a Superintendent of Police of the secret department of CID. The police team had completely barricaded Kirti and Committee offices. The leaders of the Committee told the police authorities that the meeting was in progress and they would be allowed to search the office only after the meeting was over. The police officer said that if they are not allowed to search the office the police would force its way into the office. The committee leaders then allowed the police to make searches. After searchings the police arrested Bujha Singh and Dulla Singh Jalaldiwal (). One and a half years had passed since Bujha Singh had returned from Moscow. Dulla Singh had arrived from Argentina and America some eight months back. Both were taken to Kotwali. Committee followed them. Bujha Singh and Dulla Singh were interrogated from 5 pm to 10 pm. They were told to come again at 8 in the morning and asked to leave. Committee leaders took them to the office. Next day, both of them presented themselves in the morning as the police had asked and were sent to Lahore in the evening, handcuffed. They were put into the Royal Fort of Lahore for two months under charges of being communists under the provisions of Criminal Law Amendment Act. The Shahi Quila of Lahore was the interrogating centre of the political branch of CID, Punjab. Hardly there was a foreign returned revolutionary who had not ‘passed’ the Lahore Quila test. The Quila was popularly known among the people as the “butcher house”. In this headquarter of the CID, political activists considered dangerous were brought, to bring them to their ‘senses’, and to extract information. This “butcher house” was the most notorious centre in the country where ‘incorrigible’ revolutionaries, not only from Punjab but whole of India, were brought to ‘teach’ them by every feasible oppressive method existing in the world. During the Mughal period, Guru Arjun Dev was put to torture in this Quila. This fort is situated in the west of Lahore on the banks of River Ravi and belongs to the Mughal period. The lock-up neither had any window nor a ventilator. Neither air nor light could come into it. And the cells were dark even in the day. These cells were built in such a way that from inside of one you could not see the door of the other. No prisoner could know about the situation of the other. Every cell had a separate sentry. According to Gurcharan Singh Sehnsra, a leader of the Kirti Party, this fort was the abode of extremely cruel, merciless and ruthless policemen. Bujha Singh and Dulla Singh had to go through this hell on earth for two months. They were kept naked. Mosquitoes would suck their blood day and night. For relieving and answering the call of nature big leaves were kept in the cells. They lived by the side of their own faecal matter. The officers of the interrogation centre grilled them about the activities of the Ghadar Party in India, Soviet Union, Europe and other countries. Primarily, they used every means to know about the political activities, schooling, armed training in the Eastern University, activities of the Soviet communists, whereabouts of Bhai Rattan Singh and other leaders of the Ghadar Party and their international links, information about the Ghadarites working in India, their addresses and duties, information about full timer, part timer and sympathiser activists. Bujha Singh told them that he had gone to Moscow to pursue his studies, that without education he knew of nothing. When the authorities could not extract any information from them they started the process of torture and persecution. They kept them standing throughout day and night, not allowing them to sleep, putting 250 Watt. Lamps in front of their eyes. If someone dozed off they would strike a rod at his head. The torture started with sleeplessness. To abuse verbally and keeping them naked was a common thing. They beat them in such a way that though their bodies bore no external injuries their ribs were pushed inside. They smashed muscles of their brachium and thighs, swelled their knees and ankles. When the police could not get any information even after all this torture they would place the foot of bedstead on their palms and put many policemen on it and make them squeak. They burned their bodies at various places with red hot iron rods. They pulled their skin with pliers. After putting pencils between their fingers they would press them. They pulled their hair from various parts of their bodies, including groins, with pincers. They hanged them with grills giving them no food, and after handcuffing them the police gave them electric shocks on the underside of their feet to make them jump like frogs. Both of them were also forced to lie on ice slabs. Faecal matter was tied on their mouths. Every night they would not be allowed to sleep. The police tried every method of torture to exact information about the secret work of the party going on in India and abroad. For two months these revolutionaries were tortured in every way. But the police could not extort anything out of these dedicated fighters, neither it could ‘tame’ them. Both of them came out of this dangerous phase courageously. This persecution steeled them for the rest of their life and they remained full of hatred towards the state power. They did not compromise on anything less than revolution. They were put to maximum torture, more than any other Ghadarite or revolutionary had faced in India. The torture and beatings of this fort of the British could not break them. On the contrary, their hatred became more intense. The Ghadar Party put up efforts to get them released after their arrest and also deputed Ujagar Singh Bilga to convince their families to visit them in jail. Ujagar Singh Bilga went to Chakk Mai Dass and informed Bujha Singh’s family of his arrest. He asked them to meet him in the jail and move an application for securing his release. The family of Bujha Singh was in dire economic conditions. Ujagar Singh Bilga sold his wife’s jewellery and gave the money to Bujha Singh’s brother Yugeshar Singh. Yugeshar first went to Amritsar and after getting information about the Shahi Quila of Lahore he left for the city of Lahore. He would go to the fort everyday to seek a meeting with his brother but the authorities would make excuses every time. Inside the fort, his brother was undergoing torture. He was bearing its agony. Yugeshar was going through torment outside. Party had arranged an advocate for Bujha Singh. The advocate was a sympathiser of the party. Yugeshar used to stay at his place during night. He was allowed to meet his brother after sixteen days. Bujha Singh was so much misshapen due to torture that even his brother could not recognise him. His brother could only recognise him from his voice. He was lying motionless. His face was swollen. Arms and legs were broken. Tears appeared in Yugeshar Singh’s eyes. He found himself unable to speak. Bujha Singh said to him, “Don’t tell anything to the family. They will be worried. Tell the party everything.” He could speak these three lines only. Yugeshar Singh could not bear the sight of him. He ran out of the fort. Legal efforts pursued by Yugeshar Singh and the party cold not bear any results. The rulers of the times continued to put them to cruelty for getting information. The inmates continued to bear hell of the world. When they could not get anything out of them they declared them royal prisoners*. (*Bujha Singh had convinced his younger brother Gulzara Singh to leave the British Army and Join the Azad Hind Fauj. So, the government also declared Gulzara Singh a royal prisoner.) They charged them under section-2 and released from the fort on 27 December, 1935 and ordered them to remain confined to their own villages, Bujha Singh in Chakk Mai Dass and Dulla Singh in village Jalaldiwal, for one year. Bujha Singh and Dulla Singh were released but they still had their bodies shattered. The government wanted to terrorise other revolutionaries through this torture. It had no respect for its own laws. They wanted to send a message to the people that getting organised and struggling against the government will not be tolerated. On 27 December, the Kirti Party organised a huge gathering of the people to break the terror of the English Government. They put the tortured comrades on bedsteads and brought them to Lajpat Bhawan in Lahore in the form of a procession. The ultimate gathering was held in the Bhawan. There were 26 colleges in Lahore. The students in these colleges were seething with rage. They had reached the place in large numbers. The students also demonstrated in the city under the leadership of Jagjit Singh Anand. The leaders of the Kirti Party were raising slogans against the British government. The people were answering to all the slogans with great fervour by raising their hands. In this atmosphere, Bujha Singh** (**When Bujha Singh had left for Argentina he was in a Sikh attire. There he got himself clean shaved. He remained clean shaven till he was sent to Shahi Quila. But when he came out of the Quila he was wearing a turban and had grown a small beard.) and Dulla Singh, getting agitated, also tried to lift their hands. But they could not lift their broken arms. The people were very incensed against such kind of torture. After that they were banished to their own villages under a strong police bandobast.

In the Ferozepur Jail. Bujha Singh’s family was going through severe economic hardships. Previously his father was anxious about his hermetic ways, now his family was becoming a victim of his new life as a revolutionary patriot. He would see at the vast villas built by those who had gone abroad from his area and sulk. He would grieve at their prosperity. The police raids further made him irritable. He was at the verge of further breakdown but Dhanti continued to give him courage. That courageous woman gave confidence to her father in law and with the help of her brothers in law she continued to run the house. Yugeshar Singh, Lachhman Singh and Gulzara Singh continued to shoulder the burden of family by working in the fields. It was the wisdom of Dhanti which bound together their families too and they continued to do hard labour to survive together. All the three brothers faced the excesses of police. The police occasionally raided their premises. The police would arrest all of them. The village panchayat would come to help them and bring them back from the police custody. Bujha Singh was badly shattered physically. Dhanti used every means to heal her husband. Dhanti, his brothers and other members of the family took every care of him. They also treated him with traditional medicines. Though Bujha Singh had become permanently sick due to police torture in the fort but he got cured in the long run. He was under house arrest under the gaze of two policemen. Men from the CID would frequent his village. They watched every person who came to visit Bujha Singh’s house. The leaders and workers of the party avoided going to his village so that not to come under the watchful eyes of the CID. The police had put under surveillance all the ways to the village. The police also had apprehensions because of the powerful demonstration that had happened at the time of the release of Bujha Singh and Dulla Singh. The police had adopted a hard approach because it feared a mass upsurge. Desh Bhagat Parivar Sahayak Committee decided to take up the case of Bujha Singh. Secretary of the committee, Bachan Singh, went to Chakk Mai Dass. Both of them prepared the documents for legal proceedings. Bujha Singh wrote a letter to the Chief Secretary of State protesting against the torture he had gone through in the fort. The Kirti Party made torture a big issue through press and mass organisations. Chaudhry Afzal Haque Ehrar (Garh Shankar), a member of Punjab Council from the Ehrar Party took up the case of torture and application of Bujha Singh and Dulla Singh in the Council. He demanded action against police authorities of the Fort. But leaders of the Congress Party kept silent. Along with the Ehrar Party leadership, both the Kirti and Communist parties too were taking up the cause. The Kirti Party had launched a campaign against cruelty meted out to its leaders. The Political Defence Committee of the Desh Bhagat Parivar Sahayak Committee held a meeting at Amritsar on 26 January, 1936. This meeting passed a resolution against torture and demanded enquiry into the matter. On the one hand, voice against torture was being raised, and on the other, the secret agencies were bent upon extracting ‘truth’ from Bujha Singh. Various agencies had their presence in Chakk Mai Dass. Bujha Singh became angry at the ‘strange investigation’ of the security agencies and exposed police excesses through the party and an article in Kirti under the heading “Let Me Be Alone”. Punjab government and its agencies did not bother about it. Comrade Bujha Singh and police remained stuck to their respective positions. The police wanted to get information from Bujha Singh about communist movement on the international level. They were resorting to all means to know about activities in Moscow and preparations being made for the next Ghadar. To counter the rising voice against police excesses and to conceal their own behaviour the police slapped a false charge against Bujha Singh. The police alleged that Bujha Singh had organised a conference of the communists against the government in his village on 19 May, 1936, and that this conference was presided over by Ujagar Singh Bilga. With this false allegation they arrested him again. He was presented in the court of Additional District Magistrate on 11 July, 1936. The Kirti Party presented witnesses against this false case. After deposition of the witnesses the next hearing was announced for 27 July 1936. On this date the court recorded the statements of Ujagar Singh Bilga and representative of the state. The statement given by Bujha Singh was about the police torture, jails and excesses. He courageously spoke against police and the government exposing cruelty of the British government. On the same day, 27 July 1936, the judge held Bujha Singh guilty of violating his house arrest and for organising communist conference and sentenced him to jail for six months. Police sent him to Ferozepur Jail. The Kirti Party and Desh Bhagat Parivar Sahayak Committee protested strongly against this judgement. They exposed the extremes being practised in the Shahi Quila and took this to the press. In the jail the people asked him to become a candidate for getting elected to the assembly. The mass organisations not only struggled for economic demands and raised political issues, they also took up the issue of torture of political prisoners and raised the demand for their release. The movement around Bujha Singh assumed wider proportions and forced the government to reduce his punishment. He was released from Ferozepur jail on 24 November, 1936. He was again ordered to remain confined to his village, Chakk Mai Dass. But he came to village Bilga after his release.

Banished to the Village According to the issue of December 8, 1936, Bujha Singh was again arrested from village Bilga in the end of November 1936. He had been just released on November 24, 1936. He was arrested on the basis that he had violated the government order to not to move outside of his village but, in fact, the rise of the Kirti Party and its activities had become a headache for the government. The party again got its leader released from the jail. The years of 1934-36 were the years of rise of the communist movement in India. It had strengthened its roots and was developing. When the British regime saw that the communist movement was growing it stopped declaring communist prisoners as royal prisoners. It started banishing them to their own villages. The government thought that the leaders of the movement would get sucked into the vortex of family responsibilities. But it happened otherwise; Bujha Singh started organising study circles during the nights. The people started adopting communist ideas and talked about the model of Soviet Union. Bujha Singh remained in his village during his banishment. He was considered a good for nothing person as far as his family responsibilities were concerned but the first task he carried out was to improve the condition of his family. He tried to organise his agriculture on modern lines. He hired some land on contract. With the passage of time he started purchasing implements. Soon his family was considered one of the advanced and industrious families which used modern techniques in agriculture. They owned every agricultural implement. As an auxiliary activity of agriculture he set up a wheat grinding mill in his village. All the four brothers and their father worked hard day and night and became a prosperous family. Dhanti used to work in the fields, shoulder to shoulder, with her husband like a man. She inspired other women of the house. She would take them along with her and contribute in agriculture work in every way. The family which was at the brink of collapse due to police repression and economic hardships was made prosperous by Bujha Singh’s efforts. The joint labour of whole family made their father Dharam Singh happy and he stopped being a distraught man. At this point Bujha Singh’s banishment started under the watchful eyes of two police constables namely Harkishan Singh Sodhi (Heon) and Maula Baksh. After short periods the state used to change the policemen. Bujha Singh adopted a hard attitude towards the policemen. He did not serve them food. Police ordered the Nambardar of the village to serve them food. After a few months he too refused. Bujha Singh used to say to the policemen that they should teach children of the village and eat food from their parents. The policemen started teaching the children but they could not learn this art. Then he asked them to work in his fields. Only after they toiled in the fields he would give them food. In the night the policemen would fall into sound sleep due to labour they had done in the daytime. Bujha Singh would then leave for the adjoining villages to conduct classes and come back early in the morning. During the period of confinement he used to get up early in the morning and then leave for his fields to work. In the afternoon he held study circles of those who came to see him. Dhanti and other women of the house used to cook for the comrades and comrade Vishnu Dutt of Kalan would keep the hearth burning by putting fuel wood. After taking meals they would go to neighbouring villages on their bicycles when night fell. They used to hold classes on political economy and political matters. With this a new cadre force started emerging for the party. In the villages, Kisan Sabha and Debt Committees were formed. By and by, he also succeeded in securing support of the policemen who were to watch his activities. They were infused with the nationalist consciousness and they started supporting the freedom struggle. If Bujha Singh spent some days outside of the village the policemen would mark him as present. In the village Bujha Singh had three old friends: Rakkha Singh, Maha Singh and Labh Singh. He had succeeded in bringing Rakkha Singh and Maha Singh into active politics soon after he came back from Moscow. Rakkha Singh had become a whole timer of the Kirti Party. He was shouldering most of Bujha Singh’s responsibilities. He used to arrange for Bujha Singh’s meetings in various villages. He would take Bujha Singh to these villages in the darkness of night. After night long schooling he would bring him back to the village before day break. He worked as a link between Bujha Singh and other party leaders. He also used to distribute ‘Kirti’ among the people. Other than Rakkha Singh, Bujha Singh was also successful in educating many men in his own village. A large part of the village became sympathetic to the movement. In the dalit families, Bujha Singh evoked a better response. Firstly, Rakkha Singh was instrumental in this; secondly, Bujha Singh struck hard at the social evils of untouchability. He had initiated an awareness campaign in the village on this issue. In spite of being banished to his village Bujha Singh had built a strong base. On the one hand, he had changed the situation of his family, and on the other, he had compensated for the damage done to the movement. He had prepared a group of young activists with study circles. This was the group which had come forward to take the place of old guards who had returned from Moscow and had faced arrests and tortures. After his banishment came to an end he gave all the responsibilities of the family to his brother Yugeshar and busied himself in the party tasks.

The Battlefield Bujha Singh devoted himself to the peasant front. He worked day and night to build the peasant organisation. He expanded the work of the Kirti Party. The communists and democratic forces had come closer due to the rise of fascism. The Kirti Party had also taken up the agenda of joining the united front of the Congress Party after the latter’s Lucknow Session of 1935. The group led by Baba Gurmukh Singh Lalton, opposed joining the Congress. Bujha Singh was also part of this group. Bujha Singh was again arrested in those days. The majority of the party was in favour of joining the Congress Front. The major factor behind it being the fact that the Kirti Party was banned. After his release from jail Bujha Singh applied for membership of the Congress Party as per the decision of the party. He had taken an oath to wear khaddar for the rest of his life. He was involved in propaganda campaign against communalism along with Baba Aroor Singh, Dr. Bhag Singh, Bhagat Singh Bilga, Munshi Ahmad Din, Mubarak Sagar, Mohan Lal, Kartar Singh Gill, and others. They strengthened the Congress by infusing a new spirit into it. They revolutionised the people and gave them new slogans. Committees were formed in every village. During the 1938 elections of the Congress party, kirti leaders were elected as delegates for the province. In Jalandhar district, 18 out of 21 delegates were kirtis. This was the result of Baba Bujha Singh’s efforts. Vishnu Dutt Sharma (), Chain Singh Chain, Harbans Singh Karnana, Gandharv Sen Noor Mahal, Ajit Singh Garh Padhana, Gurbax Singh Atta, Muhammad Ali Paslwi, Gurcharan Singh , Jawala Singh , Mahinder Singh Kala, Kang, Jawala Singh , Muhammad Anwar, Jagjit Singh Jaggii, and many other kirti leaders were reared by him. The Kirti group of Bujha Singh and his comrades had drawn a line in the Congress party. They had developed the understanding of the Kirti Party. This group was able to effect a political demarcation at the national level. It helped in providing a new direction to the Congress party under the leadership of Subhash Chandra Bose. When Kirti magazine was banned Bujha Singh re-launched it from Meerut under the name Kirti Lehar. Bujha Singh was the general manager of Kirti Lehar (1937-39) and a member of the Kirti Control Board. Though the Kirti was banned it was sent to all corners of Punjab. Though the tasks were under the overall command of the Congress Front yet the secret structure of the organisation was maintained. They did not enter into any such agreement which would jeopardise the Moscow line. A tragedy of those times was that the CPI (Josh group) sided with that faction of Congress which was led by Gopi Chand Bhargav in Punjab, and Mahatma Gandhi and Jawahar Lal Nehru at the all India level. The Kirtis found a common cause with socialist leaning leaders like Dr. Satpal in the Punjab and Subhash Chandra Bose at the all India level in the Congress Party. They supported and collaborated with them in accordance with the line of Naujwan Bharat Sabha and the Kirti Party. They not only made their front as an equal contender but also wrested leadership from them. After the Punjab Assembly elections of 1937-38, the Kirti Party took up the issue of release of political prisoners. It organised a fast in front of the Lahore Assembly Hall in support of prisoners in Andaman jail. They decided to hold demonstrations in front of Assemblies at Lahore, Calcutta, Lucknow, and for the release of these political prisoners. A demonstration was held on the first day of the assembly session at Lahore under the leadership of Bujha Singh, Santa Singh , Bhagwan Singh Shekhupura, B.P.L. Bedi, Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna, Dr. Satpal, Chhanno Devi, Kedar Nath Sehgal, Munshi Ahmad Din, Bhagat Singh Bilga, Mubarak Sagar, Mohan Lal and many other leading figures. According to Bhagat Singh Bilga, about one lakh people assembled for this demonstration. When Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru heard about so many people turning up for the demonstration he was astounded and became nervous. The above leaders had approached him first. But he had told them that his party was not in favour of holding demonstrations. Bujha Singh was one of the main leaders of this demonstration. The police stopped the demonstration in a Muslim area on its way to Anarkali Bazaar. The police had set up a machine gun in front of a street. The police tried to terrorise the people. They also tried to fan communal feelings. But the Muslim community not only welcomed the demonstration but also served the demonstrators with roti and water. They started raising slogans against the police. Subsequently, the police was withdrawn to the barracks. The procession arrived at the Anarkali Bazaar. Students from various colleges of Lahore joined the demonstration at this point. The demonstrators were demonstrating in front of the Assembly. It was a huge success. From this demonstration we can understand about the capacity of Bujha Singh and his comrades and can realize about their power to organise masses to confront the police and the state. The revolutionaries of Bengal organised a demonstration in Calcutta and the leaders of the Kakori Case could mobilise huge numbers of people in front of the Lucknow Assembly which shook the government. Leaders from Bengal, U.P. and Punjab jointly organised an unprecedented demonstration in front of the Assembly at Delhi. With this, the governments in Delhi and provinces were stunned. The Kirti Party, the CPI and the Naujwan Bharat Sabha brought a resolution in the annual conference of the Congress Party (held in Haripur, Gujarat) in 1938 that either the leadership should secure the release of political prisoners or relinquish authority. This issue was debated heatedly. The Kirti Party leadership, including Bujha Singh, had launched a movement for political prisoners and the government had to relent. The government was forced to transfer prisoners from Andaman to the jails in their respective provinces. Hazara Singh* (*Hazara Singh was a poor tenant of village Bhalana. He was shifted to the Madras Jail from Kaale Paani. He had been an activist of the Kirti Party. He was released from the jail when campaign around the issue of the release of political prisoners was going on. The Punjab Government banned his entry into Punjab after his release.), Dhanwantri, and comrades of the Kakori Case were released. It was a big victory of prisoners’ release committee. The Kirti Party had organised three conferences in Lyallpur in 1938. In July 1938, 15,000 peasants had organised a conference after demonstration in the city after they had blocked mouths of the water channels. All the three conferences were of historic importance. These were led by Bujha Singh. The Bist Doab Canal, which was built in doaba, is also one of kirtis’ contributions. These kirti leaders had launched a campaign, ‘Doabe Mein Nehar Nikalo’, from 1935-1938. The Lahore Kisan Morcha (23rd March to 4th September 1939) was also launched by these leaders. They also launched a campaign against World War Two. The Kirti party termed this war as an imperialist war. After his confinement in the village, Bujha Singh had adopted underground life. He organised big mass upsurges, led peasant conference and demonstrations but did not fall into the hands of the police. He dedicatedly led the life of a professional revolutionary. He was instrumental in training many a leaders and activists. A big team was constituted, which seeded the people of Punjab with communism. They built a movement. Bestowed people with an idea. That idea is still alive. He passed on to communist activists the communist morals like confronting the state, leading life of a professional revolutionary and never going for compromise over principles.

Attempts to Send Bose to Russia Police was upturning every stone to arrest Achhar Singh in the Fattewal (district Amritsar) Murder Case. Some cousins of Bujha Singh from Chakk Mai Dass had a soda water factory in Jamshedpur (then in Bihar). Bujha Singh sent comrade Chhina to Jamshedpur after consulting the Party. After this the Kirti Party established links with Jamshedpur and Tata Nagar. Tata Nagar had steel industry. The Kirti Party wanted to organise workers of these factories. In Chakk MaiDass, the Kirti Party held its secret conference in 1939. This conference deputed Hazara Singh to organise workers in Tata Nagar. He took up his duty in April 1939. After three months of hard work he was successful in forming an organisation of the workers parallel to the union which was pro-owners. The Kirti Party launched a strike when owners did not listen to the workers’ demands. When the owners tried to run the factory by bringing in workers from the outside in trucks, a confrontation ensued. The goondas hired by the owners threw up Hazara Singh in front of a truck and he was run over under its wheels. The sacrifice of these martyrs is a milestone in the history of working class revolution. Continuing Hazara Singh’s work Naina Singh Dhoot, Kartar Singh Sarinh, Hardev Rai, Abdullah (Bihar), Daya Singh (Bihar), Bujha Singh, Gurcharan Singh Randhawa and Gandharv Sen continued to organise the workers. But they were arrested one after the other as it was easier for the state to recognise Punjabis in a non-Punjabi land. In the beginning of 1938, the Congress held its party elections. In the Punjab Congress elections, Dr. Satpal and Dr. Gopi Chand Bhargav were the contenders. Dr. Satpal’s group was being supported by Kirti Party, Socialists, and the Naujwan Bharat Sabha. Dr. Gopi Chand Bhargav was being supported by the Akalis and CPI (Josh group). Dr. Satpal was elected president. The Kirti Party was a dominant force in this election. Bujha Singh played an important role in this election. He did not restrict himself to Punjab but also became active at the all India level and tried to win over the delegates to Kirti Party’s line and defeat the Congress line. Due to these activities, the pro-British Congress stalwarts like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawahar Lal Nehru were handed a defeat in the Congress. Subhash Chandra Bose was elected national president of the Congress in Tripura Session in 1939. During this session the leadership of Kirti Party, including Ram Kishan B.A. National, Bujha Singh, Dr. Bhag Singh and Achhar Singh Chhina held a secret meeting with Subhash Chandra Bose. The Kirti Party held that Subhash Chandra Bose was an able leader. It was of the opinion that Subhash should meet communist leaders of the Soviet Union and struggle for freedom should be intensified. They held that India could be liberated with the help of a communist country. The Kirti leadership put up this proposal to Subhash Chandra Bose. Subhash Chandra had accepted this proposal and asked for a meeting with the Russian communist leaders. The leaders of the Congress party could not digest their defeat. They had suspicions about the leaders of the Kirti Party. From within, they were against the revolutionary model of Soviet Union. Their struggle was only for securing their own rule. The Congress party represented feudal and capitalist classes. They knew about connections between Subhash Chandra Bose, the Kirti Party and the Soviet Union. They struck their first blow against the Kirti Party by dissolving the Punjab State Committee in 1939. They had not accepted their defeat in the elections. They created such a situation in the Congress Party that Subhash Chandra Bose had to resign from the post of president. Bose had to launch a new party, the Forward Block. He had resigned from the party post in March 1940 in the all India level session in Ramgarh. Bose held another secret meeting with the leaders of the Kirti Party during Ramgarh Session. They came to the conclusion that the British would not be thrown out without the force of arms. They came to the conclusion that foreign help would be effective. So they decided to take help from Russia. The Kirti Party chalked out a plan in April 1940 to send Subhash to Russia through Afghanistan. Ram Kishan B.A. National, Achhar Singh Chhina and Subhash Chandra Bose were to leave on 7 June, 1940. But Bose did not arrive on the agreed date. Both these leaders deputed Bhagat Ram Talwar to receive Subhash Chandra Bose and left for . They asked Talwar to bring Bose to Kabul. They told him that by the time Bose arrived they would come back from Russia after talking to the Russian leadership. Both of them reached Amu Darya travelling on foot for two months. On the one side of the river there were Afghan guards, and on the other bank, the Russian Army was present. Both of them tried to swim across the river. Comrade Ram Kishan could not succeed in crossing the river and was martyred when he drowned. Comrade Chhina entered into Russia. Subhash Chandra Bose had to go to jail during the Hollwell agitation, that was why he could not arrive at the said date. He resorted to hunger strike in the jail. When his health deteriorated the government released him on parole. Ram Kishan B.A. National, one of the four close associates of Subhash Chandra Bose, had been martyred. Achhar Singh Chhina had reached Russia. The Kirti Party deputed Bujha Singh to re-establish contact with Subhash Chandra Bose. Bujha Singh and Dasaundha Singh left for Calcutta to meet Subhash Chandra Bose. As we know, the party had sent Naina Singh Dhoot to Tata Nagar after Hazara Singh was martyred. He too had been arrested there. Kartar Singh Sarinh, Hardev Rai, Daya Singh and Abdullah (Bihar) too were sent there but all of them were arrested. After their arrest the party had sent Harbans Singh Karnana to work among the workers in Tata Nagar. Tata Nagar was a new thing for Karnana. When Bujha Singh and Dasaundha Singh left for Calcutta they decided to visit Tata Nagar on their way. Bujha Singh sent a message to Karnana to leave for Calcutta and wait for them there. Bujha Singh and Dasaundha Singh went to Tata Nagar to take stock of the situation of party work there. When Harbans Singh Karnana reached Calcutta he was promptly arrested. It was in the end of June 1940. The revolutionaries in Calcutta secured his bail and sent him back to Punjab and paid the bail amount to the court. Meanwhile, Bujha Singh reached Tata Nagar. The workers there were disturbed about the continuous arrests. Their strike had not been successful. Bujha Singh stayed there to back up the workers. He started organising the workers and launched many struggles. In the initial days of his activity among the workers he was arrested by the Bihar police. The police were happy that they had caught a big fish. The Bihar police enquired from the Punjab government about him and sent him to Rajanpur jail. This jail was situated on the border of Bulochistan.

Days in Deoli Camp The World War Two (1939-45) had already started. The British regime was enmeshed in this war. The Congress Party, the Akali Party and other parties were supporting the British government in this war. They were instigating Indian youth in every way to join the army. The Kirti and the Communist Party took up stand against the British government. The Kirti Party launched a mass campaign against the war in this critical time. They helped the Soviet government financially. The Kirti Party was of the opinion that as the British were caught up in the war they should be fought out to force them to leave the country. Under this understanding it had tried to establish a link between Subhash Chandra Bose and the Communist International. They launched an intense struggle against the British rule. As the party had already schooled its cadre to mobilise the people in mass organisations now it was stressing more on arms training of guerrilla squads. In this situation, the government moved strongly against the leaders of the Kirti party and the Communist Party as it was expecting danger from them. It made arrests on a large scale. On June 26, 1940, it raided various places throughout Punjab and arrested 94 leaders in a single swoop. The 94 included 55 from the Kirti Party, 17 of the Communist Party, 16 Socialists, and 6 independents. The British regime had the opinion that these people were a hindrance to preparations for war. The government wanted to keep these revolutionaries away from the people. It selected Rajputana near Kote Bundi in Rajasthan for this. Here was the Deoli Camp near barren hills and a barren uninhabited land. It was a camp of the CRP (Crown Representative Police). This camp was converted into a jail. . In this camp there were 75 prisoners from Punjab which included 51 kirtis, 9 from CPI, and 15 other revolutionaries. There were communist leaders from Punjab, U.P., Bombay, Delhi, Bihar and other provinces too. The revolutionaries from Bengal were not brought here. Revolutionaries from other parts of India numbered 250. They were not put to trial. B.T. Randive, S.A. Dange, Bhardwaj, Sajjad Zaheer, Z.A. Ahmad who were central leaders of the Communist Party were also here. The prisoners were put to many hardships in the camp. They were handcuffed and chained at the feet. On the iron ring around the arm there was a small wooden plate on which name and address of the prisoner were written. They were bound to parade in the mornings. According to the report of the Home department’s political CID, dated 7 January 1941, the camp had leaders and activists of various political parties. They were divided into two categories, namely, A and B. In category A there were 104 prisoners which included 18 from Punjab. In the B category, there were 93 prisoners which included 70 from Punjab, 12 from Bihar and the rest were from other parts of the country. Bujha Singh was put into category B. In every category the prisoners had formed central committees. Every 20 prisoners had an in-charge. The category A had its in-charges in the persons of B.T. Randive, S.S. Batliwala, S.A. Dange, Zia Ahmad, Muhammad-ul-Zafar and Sohan Singh Josh. Similarly, the second class (category B) had its in-charges in the persons of Sher Jung, Dhanwantri, S.V. Ghate, Anger and Ram Singh Dutt. When a prisoner was brought to the camp he was at once put to a shock. The laws of the camp were forced on him. In the camp no one was allowed to wear khaki uniform, Gandhi cap, black turban and hat. Archived file No.43/25/40, 44/33/40, 159/40 states that the code of Deoli Camp was prepared by home ministers of various provinces. The code says that majority of the inmates of Deoli Camp are communists who want to overthrow the present regime. So, they should be considered renegades of the country and treated as seditious. A camp order was passed which said: *They are not given any privileges. *A class have a right to receive rupees 20, B class rupees 10, and C class rupees 5 from their families respectively. *On meetings with the visitors (mulaqaati), an officer will be present on the scene. He will search both the parties. The time of mulaqaat will be decided by the superintendent. If any part of conversation between the inmate and the visitor is exposed outside all future mulaqaats will be disallowed. *Mulaqaats will be allowed in the following order: Class A after 14 days, class B after one month, and class C after two months. *the inmates will be allowed to write a letter as follows: class A after one week, class B after two weeks and class C after two months. The letters will be censured. Undue passages will be cut down. Every person will be provided with a copy to write on. The number of pages in each copy will be recorded. *Any book or newspaper will be allowed only with the consent of the superintendent. How could Bujha Singh and his revolutionary comrades tolerate all this? They had not yielded to two months of torture in the Shahi Quila of Lahore. They wanted an end to this governmental terror. On the contrary, they wanted their terror to prevail. Bujha Singh and his comrades refused to obey these orders. Schooling on this issue ensued. If some officer happened to come in the meantime, the revolutionaries would not bother him. Nor they would stand up to greet him. The class continued. They started disobeying the Camp rules. The authorities did not treat class A inmates much badly. On October 23, 1940 they put up a demand for rupees two as daily allowance, rupee one as personal and family allowance. But their demand was rejected. On 16 November 1940, the class B prisoners put up a demand charter of 29 demands. But the authorities conceded only two of them, the first was providing everyone with a mosquito net, and the second was to allow cigarettes for smokers on one’s own expenditure. The government was strict with Class B and class C prisoners. Bujha Singh and his comrades faced the tribulations bravely. Still, the prisoners confronted the authorities under the able leadership of Bujha Singh. The detainees continued to resist the jail authorities and Bujha Singh continued with his schooling work. As the government had gathered communists from various parts of the country here, it provided an opportunity for the inmates to interact with each other. The communists found a good occasion to study Marxism seriously. Bujha Singh used this time to teach others the lessons he had received from the Eastern University in Moscow. Many non-communists were won over to the ideology of communism. Bujha Singh and other communist leaders not only taught others about the theory of communism, rather they also devoted their time to study this theory earnestly in the Camp. They asked for books which were provided to them. The study added more to their knowledge. The atmosphere in the Camp was turned into an advantage for studying. Here were national level communist leaders who had a good knowledge of theory from Marxist books. This opportunity was utilised to discuss things with the leaders. The leaders educated other comrades about Marxism, communist politics and the political, economic and social situation of the country. It was a process of learning from and teaching others at the same time. Along with this education campaign they also continued to put pressure on the jail authorities. Bujha Singh and his comrades had formed a committee comprising communists and non-communists. Jai Prakash Narayan tried to change the course of this practice. But he was in minority. Bujha Singh and other senior leaders tried to convince him but he stuck to his negative attitude and went for a strike from 30 May to June 5, 1945. The strike failed. After this, the friction between the Jai Prakash Narayan group and the communists increased. Bujha Singh and his friends made attempts to unite all the captives. They announced a strike on the issues of discrimination in food, prices of food items, the question of distribution and on the issue of judicial inquiry. In the month of October, the Assembly Session was to commence. To force their point into the assembly, the communists resorted to a hunger strike on 23rd October, 1941. 50 non-communists started their strike under the leadership of Jai Prakash Narayan on October 22, 1941. In total, 228 inmates participated in the strike. All the prisoners presented to the government the following demands: 1. The category differentiation should be done away with and all prisoners be treated as one category. 2. All prisoners should be treated as political prisoners. 3. The prisoners should be sent back to prisons in their respective provinces. 4. Either the prisoners be put on trial or they should be released. 5. Families of all the prisoners should be given an allowance to make both ends meet. 6. The prisoners should be treated as royal prisoners. The government refused to accept these demands. The hunger strike in the camp infused the struggling people with anger and excitement. The Kirti Party mobilised the people to put pressure on the government to release prisoners in the Deoli Camp and the prisoners of war. Rallies, demonstrations and conferences were organised. Representations were made to higher officials. The Kirti Party continuously raised the issue of political prisoners through its organ ‘Lal ’. An agitation was launched against the government throughout Punjab. All organisations with various political colours were approached on this issue. These organisations included: Kisan Committee, Congress Committee, Akali, Ehrar, Forward Block, trade unions, students unions, Khaksar, Riyasti Parja Mandal etc. The student wing and the teacher’s wing of the CPI organised activities in the city of Lahore under the banner of Civil Liberties Union during the hunger strike period in the Deoli Camp. They organised a signature campaign securing signatures of about 1600 advocates, doctors, journalists and progressives and sent this representation to the concerned officials. Bhagat Singh Bilga went into a hunger strike for 21 days in the Caimbalur jail in support of the hunger strike in Deoli Camp and demands of the prisoners there. Similarly, 16 prisoners in Montgomery jail went on hunger strike in support of the strike in Deoli Camp. The Montgomery Jail strikers included, among others, Chanan Singh Tugalwala, Fazal Ilahi Qurban, Prem Bhasin, Des Raj Chadhdha, Chanan Singh Dhoot, Harnam Singh Tundi Latt, Genda Singh, Dev Dutt Attal, Dasaundha Singh Dhada, Lal Singh, and more. The Archive File No. 7/1/41 (Political-1) records on page 55 that the Civil Liberties Union has taken up the cause of Deoli inmates and is organising rallies, demonstrations and processions. The ‘prisoner’s weeks’ are being organised. The Punjab Congress, Congress Socialist Party, Students Federation and Punjab Kisan Committee are also supporting the demands of the prisoners. On the one hand, the Kirti and Communist Parties were agitating in support of the prisoners while on the other hand, the government of Punjab was propagating an official report of the Governor of Punjab, dated 15-7-41 which stated that: “in some sections the argument goes that the only fault of the prisoners was that they showed sympathy for Russia…the real thing is that they are unprincipled extremists and revolutionaries who are full of hatred for the British government, that the international events will have no effect on them either theoretically or practically.” 228 prisoners, along with Bujha Singh, were persistently carrying on their hunger strike in the jail... the agitation going in their support was providing them with more strength. They were true to their convictions. N.M. Joshi tried to break their hunger strike on 6th November but he could not succeed. On 7 November the hunger strike was called off at the instance of central committee members, comrade Randive, Batliwala and Dange. The non-communists prisoners broke their hunger strike on 22 November. Hunger strike resorted to by these brave men and the agitation going on the outside brought out the oppression, bad management, nominal facilities and worst living conditions prevailing in the Deoli Camp on to the map of India. This brought a bad name to the Camp and the Indian Government. The courageousness and hunger strike of these patriots had forced the government to yield. The government fell as if it were defeated. It had to accept some of the demands of the hunger strikers. Some of the detainees of this Camp were released. Some others were transfered to the jails in their respective states. But it did not accept anything for the bold men like Bujha Singh. He was sent to some other notorious jail. His resolve was put to another test. Note: 1. In the first batch they brought 15 prisoners, including Bujha Singh, from the Rajanpur Jail. This batch also included these leaders: Sohan Singh Bhakna, Dr. Bhag Singh, Santa Singh Gandiwind, Karam Singh Cheema, Visakha Singh, Ram Singh Dutt, Bachan Singh , Naina Singh Dhoot, Jaswant Singh , Master Gajjan Singh, Bhag Singh Canadian, Master Mota Singh, Mota Singh Behbalpur and Ramchandar B.A. National. In the second batch which was brought from Mujaffar Garh Jail in Punjab included Bhagwan Singh Dusanjh Kalan, Kartar Singh Gill, Gurbax Singh Dusanjh, Roor Singh, Mohabbat Singh, Arjan Singh Sachch, Hukam Singh Ghakkewal, Gulzara Singh Mataur, Harbans Singh Bundala Pope, Thakur Gobind Singh, Jawala Singh Bilga, Joginder Singh Chhina (all belonging to the Kirti Party), Sohan Singh Josh, Hazara Singh Humdum, Balwant Singh Dukhia, Balwant Singh Thaither, Firoze Din Mansoor, Hari Singh Soondh, Harjap Singh, Master Kabul Singh and many others. The third batch was also brought from this jail. This batch constituted of Vein Puin, Kesar Singh, Kehar Singh Mahla, Mahinder Singh Lidhran, Milkha Singh Atta, Mohan Lal, Munshi Singh Piplanwali, Nasib Chand Mehmoodpur, Karam Singh , Puran Singh , Pritam Singh Dhandh Kasel, Raja Singh Sardulapur, Ujagar Singh Dusanjh, Sunder Singh Babbar, Thakur Singh , Ujagar Singh Budh Singhwala, Ujagar Singh Paniali and many others belonged to the Kirti Party. Besides, there were Ram Singh Sahungra, Munsha Singh Johal, Makhan Singh Gharjakh and others too were in the third batch. The fourth batch was brought from two jails, Mujaffar Garh and Montgomery. This included leaders from the Kirti Party namely, Mubarak Sagar, Dhanwantri, Harnam Singh Chamak, Sehar Gul Lyallpur, Moola Singh Bahowal, Thakur Waryam Singh, and Watan Singh Kalan. Also there were Ram Kishan Bharolia, Tehal Singh Bhangali, Mange Ram Vatts, Sodhi Pindi Dass, Tikka Ram Sukhan, Mater Hari Singh, Ahmad Din Kasel, Gian Chand Lahore, Krishan Lal Azad Jhajjar, Kulbir Singh and Kultar Singh Khatkar Kalan and others were activists and leaders from other parties. In the fifth batch Rattan Singh , and Om Prakash Sahowal had arrived from Lahore jail

Unity of Kirtis and Communists The arrest of Bujha Singh and other leaders had left some negative impact on activities of the party but they had done every possible thing in the jail by converting it into an arena of struggle. Though the appalling conditions of the jail had told upon their health severely yet they were able to bring into the open the hell like conditions of the jails, break the terror of the state through their hunger strikes and struggles and bringing all this on to the political scene in India. They came to be recognised as genuine and determined revolutionaries. In this Camp, they studied and taught Marxism at the same time. In Punjab, there was rivalry between the Kirti Party and the state committee of CPI like between two wives of one husband but there were also present central committee members of the communist party and many other leaders from various states. Both the sides found a good opportunity to interact with each other freely. It was the first of its kind. The communists of Punjab had been presenting the kirti leaders and workers as illiterate peasants because they were not from an academic background. This misconception of the communist leaders was also busted in the study circles. Bujha Singh got recognition in the jail as a good teacher of Marxism. Though not in terms of political understanding, but the leadership of the CPI got convinced of the dedication, sacrifice, and doggedness of leaders of the Kirti Party. From this emerged the appeals for unity between the two. The process of unity started within the boundary walls of the Deoli Camp itself. The decision for unity was taken sentimentally. Ram Singh Dutt and Bujha Singh opined that ‘both the groups work outside of the jail. The comrades from the jails can only send a proposal and not an order.’ Both of them were accused of obstructing the unity. They turned quiet. After this, both the sides became active for unity on the outside too. Comrades from the CPI tried to evade unity. They set many a new dates to only cancel them later. But comrades from the Kirti Party were over-enthusiastic for unity. In those days, the Kirti people were very fond of saying that ‘one country can have only one party.’ Three sides played an important role in accomplishing unity, that is: (1) the detainees of the Deoli Camp, (2) the detainees of Caimbalpur jail, and (3) the comrades outside of the jails and were active in the field. First of all, the comrades in the Deoli Camp had decided to go together and issued a joint appeal. From the Caimbalpur jail an appeal was also sent by comrade Teja Singh Sutantar and other comrades. When on June 26, 1940, the government had moved to arrest revolutionaries, this group suffered a great setback. The structure of the group had been shattered. The Kirti Party had the State Committee, district committees, tehsil committees and mass organisations. In such a situation, the Kirti Party preferred unity. The leaders of the Kirti Party were of the opinion that the unity was meant to strengthen the communist movement. A unity committee was formed in the jail with Bhagat Singh Bilga, Gurmukh Singh Lalton, and Achhar Singh Chhina from the Kirti side, and Karam Singh Mann, Sohan Singh Josh, and Abdul Aziz from the CPI side. In view of the appeal from the jail, the working committee of the Kirti Party took a decision on 16 July 1941, to merge in the CPI unconditionally. The unity was consummated on 28th May, 1942 after crisscrossing many hurdles. Due to hunger strike in the Deoli Camp and the agitation for the release of political prisoners the government released eight Kirti Communist leaders of Punjab from the jails on May 1st, 1942. These comrades were Teja Singh Sutantar, Bhagat Singh Bilga, Achhar Singh Chhina, and Iqbal Singh Hundal from the Caimbalur jail, while Sohan Singh Josh, Firoz Din Mansoor, Fazal Ilahi Qurban and Karam Singh Mann from the Gujarat jail. After coming out of jail these leaders formed a joint state committee of the Punjab Communist Party on 28 May. Sohan Singh Josh was made the state secretary and Iqbal Singh Hundal was taken into the central committee. On 23rd July the government of Punjab had lifted ban from the Kirti Party. After that the state started releasing Kirti leaders. Bujha Singh was released in 1943.

Fights Within the Communist Party The Kirti communists started working under the banner of the CPI. Bujha Singh was appointed organiser in . He worked as the district organiser from 1943-45. For three years, he worked hard. To work in this sub-hill area was a demanding task. But Bujha Singh did not lose heart. The Gurdaspur district was already a Kirti Party stronghold as Ram Singh Dutt, Piara Singh Agni, Chanan Singh Tugalwala, Chanan Singh Kot, Karam Chand, Shiv Kumar Sharda, Harnam Singh Nano Nangal, Vishnu Dutt Khatkar Kalan, Chhajju Mal Vaid, Ved Prakash Chadhdha, Abdul Salaam, Darshan Singh , Nirmal Singh Khuddi Cheema, Fazal Hussain and other Kirti leaders had already worked there. They had also built a base among the tenants. Bujha Singh tried to consolidate that work and also made attempts to expand it into new areas. The first task he accomplished was to consolidate the party. He built mass organisations and formed party units. He expanded work among the landless tenants. He taught and organised tenants in , Narot Jaimal Singh, Kalanaur etc. in . During this period, big conferences were organised in the villages named Veeramdutt and . These conferences are considered historic conferences in the history of the communist movement. In this district, the Communist Party had no work. The Kirti Party had been organising it since 1938. There was no factionalism in the district, so Bujha Singh did not face any difficulty from the rank and file. All the leaders cooperated with him completely. During this period many struggles of the tenants were taken up under the leadership of Bujha Singh. The people were stirred up against the British rule. Activities against the World War Two (1939-45) were intensified. Peace conferences too were held. When Bengal was gripped in starvation and deaths (1943-44) he organised campaign for economic aid to the region. Most of the work, however, was centred around economic struggles and for establishing socialism and to develop the communist movement. The committee which was appointed by the CPI did not bother to take stock of the work which was going on. The committee did not give work to the underground leaders and workers. The Kirti leaders and activists were at the mercy of the Punjab leadership. They were considered members in the opposition. Sohan Singh Josh, the state secretary, had hatred for the kirtis in his mind. The communist leaders were used to say that the kirtis need to be ‘reformed’. They did not work at the grass roots. The kirtis had built the organisation with their blood, hard labour, torture, sacrifices, and boundless work. That had been shattered. Nobody was speaking up against this process. Taking initiative Bujha Singh started speaking against it. The communist leaders branded him as anti-unity. Baghbanpura plenum was held under the chairmanship of central leader, Dr. Adhikari, on 8, 9, 10 May 1944. This party plenum was held without informing Bujha Singh. In 1946, Bujha Singh was sent to district Jalandhar as its organiser. This was Bujha Singh’s home district. He had himself built the party here. Everyone from the grassroots to the top were known to him. The district committee constituted Bujha Singh’s friends. The district secretary was Harbans Singh Karnana. Gandharv Sen was vice-secretary. Here the kirtis had a big team. Bujha Singh started organising the party with the help of his comrades. They tried to mobilise the masses as before but could not succeed. Now the fight had changed its character. In the days of the Kirti Party, their clash was with the British rulers. But now the party did nothing than pulling the legs of each other. Bujha Singh and his comrades were not allowed to work. The new state committee had two tasks before it: 1. To organise work according to the new line, and 2. To organise and educate new and old comrades and to make them loyal to the party. The unity of the two organisations had happened but there was no unity in the hearts. Bujha Singh was characterized in propaganda among the rank and file as anti-unity. He was projected as a factionalist. Even today, Jagjit Singh Anand says that he used to put more efforts in breaking the party than he had put in building it. The party could not do any work from 1944-47. It was ridden with many factions. The leaders of the Kirti Party had built the organisation with their hard work for ten years. It had taken the communist ideology to the broad masses. It had built its movement around the issue of destroying the British rule and for establishing a working class rule with the ideology of socialism. After unity, this movement was nowhere. The party had disintegrated. According to Gandharv Sen, Bujha Singh was neither with the Gurmukh Singh Lalton led faction nor with Teja Singh Sutantar led faction. He was a supporter of the party, the movement and the revolution. He had no group of his own. He was gripped with the idea of making revolution. He wanted to create a system which would be under the rule of workers and peasants and one like that of the Soviet model. He never accepted high positions in the party. He worked as a worker in spite of being a leader. He lived a life like them. He lived among them. He did not compromise with anything less than revolution. The party work suffered due to infighting among the Punjab leadership. Punjab had emerged as a strong base of the communist movement in the country but now it had fallen back. Bujha Singh was troubled by this. He was not for a politics of compromise. He wanted an end to factionalism by sticking to Marxism. Bujha Singh was not alone in this fight. Many leaders of the Ghadri-Kirti background were of this opinion. Despite having serious differences with the line of the central committee they wanted to work under the leadership of the centre. But the centre had lost faith in them. They did not want to keep him in the party but he wanted to be part of it despite differences with the party line. He wanted to struggle in the party in accordance with his thinking but the centre did not think positively about him. In 1946, the party had its organisational elections. Erstwhile kirtis were elected in great numbers during this election. In the state conference, out of 258 delegates the kirtis had 229 and comrades from various factions in the CPI had only 29 delegates. The centre could not digest it. They alleged that this was the handiwork of Bujha Singh group and Teja Singh Sutantar group. In this situation, the central leadership did not allow the election of delegates for the central conference. The central leadership expelled Teja Singh Sutantar, Bhag Singh and Ram Singh Dutt from the party. They were charged with factionalism and anti-party activities. Bujha Singh gathered representatives of the district committees and decided to meet the central leaders in the form of a deputation. As a result, an eleven member deputation consisting of 1. Teja Singh Sutantar, 2. Bujha Singh, 3. Bhag Singh, 4. Wadhawa Ram, 5. Gurcharan Singh Randhawa, 6. Gandharv Sen, 7. Jagir Singh Joga, 8. Chanchal Singh Chabba Lyallpur, 9. Ram Singh , 10. Wadhawa Ram Montgomery, and 11. Chanan Singh Tugalwal left for Bombay to meet party secretary B.T. Randive. The delegation informed the party secretary about the whole situation and strongly asked him to withdraw the decision. He did not act upon it immediately. But, some time later, the central committee withdrew action against state leaders. Bujha Singh and his comrades considered the party line as revisionist. They were of the opinion that party was not having a revolutionary ideology, that with this kind of thinking the party cannot transform society. When demand for the formation of was raised by the Muslim League the party had decided in its favour. Bujha Singh and his Kirti group were already disappointed at decisions of the party. They considered the policies of the party as reformist and tailing the Congress. They shuddered when the policy on Pakistan was announced. They opposed the formation of Pakistan. They described division of the country on religious lines as religious conservatism. The central leadership of the party considered it as a question of the right of minority nationalities to self determination. The kirtis who believed in internationalism and the rule of the working class strongly opposed the idea of Pakistan. Due to this opposition, the all India committee of the CPI expelled Bujha Singh, Gandharv Sen, Harbans Singh Karnana and Bhagat Singh Bilga from the party in 1946. On the one hand, the kirtis were opposing this division, while on the other hand, Harkishan Singh Surjit, leader of the Josh group, was writing a thesis for a Sikh Rule. It is an irony of time that when the movement for Khalistan started in Punjab the party of Surjit, who had demanded the establishment of a Sikh State* (*Surjit—Siyasat Da Rustem-e-Hind The founder of the Thesis of Sikh Home Land —Shameel), opposed this movement and lost many of its leaders and cadres at the hands of Khalistanis. Dr. G. (Gangadhar) Adhikari had organised meetings in Punjab to explain Surjit’s thesis because he was in charge of Punjab. The kirtis continued to oppose the establishment of Pakistan. The district committees opposed the expulsions and raised their voice against it. Ajay Kumar Ghosh, a central committee member, came to Punjab to calm down the membership. He too faced resistance. In the end, the party had to withdraw the expulsion decision and rehabilitated the comrades. The announcement for the establishment of Pakistan had been made. The Communist Party of India was making some plans on this issue. The kirtis were not ready to send their Muslim members into the Muslim league. The thing Bujha Singh and his comrades were worrying about, happened. The country got divided.**Bujha Singh and his friends could not stop the division of the country nor the ensuing massacres in spite of all their wishes. (**It is clear from the secret papers of the last Viceroy of India that the British government had already decided to divide Punjab and Bengal in 1939.) Operation Scuttle The year 1947 will continue to be considered as the blackest year in the history of India. Firstly, the working people of India were given a so-called freedom. The kirtis described it as sham independence. Secondly, the country was trifurcated in this year. The country and its people, both got divided. The people killed each other. Punjab and Bengal suffered the most. Both the provinces were divided into two each. But number of Punjabis killed was ten lakh. Women were raped. The property of those who had it was looted or destroyed by fire. The events made one shudder with fear. Hindus and Sikhs from the Western Punjab, and Muslims from the Eastern Punjab, were forced to leave their homes. Even a pen cannot write what happened to them. Centuries old brotherhood of the people broke down in seconds. The people living in their houses were forced to become refugees. Heavy rains had lashed Punjab in those months. Dead bodies were seen scattered in the rain like dung cakes. The Punjabis, who always pray for the good of all, had gone through tragic times. This shameful tragedy was also the handiwork of Punjabis themselves. The Punjabis had forgotten their identity. They were no longer the Punjabis asking for the good of everyone, they had become blood thirsty. Their concepts about religion and culture had gone bankrupt. The world had seen the death of their religion and civilization. The slogan that ‘religion unites not breaks’ had been proved wrong. It was established that religion never unites the people; it has been breaking their unity and will continue to do this. It was confirmed that religion and metaphysics were devices in the hands of the political parties; that they had always been with the reactionary politics and had helped it. There are many causes behind the massacres in 1947. But the main cause was the strategies of political and religious institutions of that time. They can never be pardoned. The religious command that says that humans are one, just proved demagogic. Bujha Singh, who had wasted his teens in the company of saints and hermits and in religious activities, found religion and religious institutions such commercial bodies which ultimately played in the hands of politicians. Marxism had made Bujha Singh an atheist. The dreadful events of 1947 further toughened his atheism. He had seriously studied negative aspects of castes, religions and the politics of regionalism. There was another tragedy of those times. When humanity was being butchered brazenly, all the political parties were celebrating the ‘freedom’ that had come. They were scrambling for seats of power. At that time, only the communist party and the leaders of the communist party were trying to douse these raging infernos. The party had its units in both of the . The Kirtis and communists came in support of Muslims in Eastern Punjab. In the Western Punjab the leaders and activists of the party defended Hindus and Sikhs. Bujha Singh and his comrades stood firm in Jalandhar district. They formed peace committees throughout Punjab. In the prevailing hard times these committees became saviours of the people. They stopped all other activities of the party, stopped looking after their personal and family tasks and made peace keeping their only task. Where the peace committees were formed or these patriots were present, or were alone in a place and had some influence, they did not allow the massacres to happen. In Bujha Singh’s area, there were many saints and all of them had become active in massacres (now big temples have come up in their memory). They had made groups in many villages. They would kill people, rape women and rob families. When they would resort to murders the Kirti communists would come in-between and stop them. Bujha Singh and kirtis would convince people, win them over, and ask them to maintain peace. They organised free kitchens for the uprooted people. They helped them by transporting their household wares to the camps. Special care was taken of girls who were escorted to the camps safely. They distributed clothes, food and jaggery. People on both the sides had become strangers in their own land. From the Western Punjab the Punjabis came as refugees. Everything they had was looted on the way and had nothing with them. Bujha Singh and peace committees assumed a very important role in these critical times. They tried to ameliorate the effects of tragedies that had befallen people in those times of slaughter. They helped the displaced people, and along with food and shelter, provided them with places in the villages to live in. they helped these uprooted people when their old properties were exchanged for the new ones and tried to do every thing for their rehabilitation. The kirtis did every possible thing for the defence of lives and properties of the people. Bujha Singh and other communists emerged as champions of true human values in these black times. Though comrade Gehal Singh Chhajalwaddi and others had to sacrifice their lives in the communal violence yet they continued to do their work fearlessly. Championing the Cause of Tenants in PEPSU The communist party could not work from 1942-1947. The people belonging to Teja Singh Sutantar and Bujha Singh went through an extreme dejection in this phase. A trend emerged in these Kirti communists that it was better to work independently than wasting time under the revisionist leadership of the CPI. They lamented the disintegration of the party. They decided to start work in the newly formed country. They committed a grave historical mistake by declaring the formation of the Communist Party of Pakistan on 22 July, 1947. Teja Singh Sutantar was elected secretary of this party. The blunder led to confusion as they had not correctly appreciated the objective situation and could not foresee the migration of populations. As the people were divided on religious lines the party could not come into being. Even the kirtis had to leave the land of Pakistan. With the division of the country, the leaders, activists and sympathisers of the Kirti Party also got divided into two. After the partition of the country the kirtis were busy in the campaign to apply balm on the wounds this tragedy had inflicted and working for rehabilitation of the people. The official group of the CPI started a signature campaign to denigrate Teja Singh Sutantar and his comrades as renegades. Genuine leaders and workers within the party did not participate in this drive. People like Bhagat Singh Bilga opposed it strongly. With this, a wedge was created in the relationship between the leaders of the communist party and the kirtis. It led to hatred towards each other and the distance between them further widened. No miracle happened which could have filled this gap nor any leader emerged who could have played a positive role in this critical situation. The communists who had commenced to unite the workers of the world could not keep themselves united and fell apart. Their ego made them forget the interests of the party. In 1947, the British imperialists struck a deal with the Congress Party and transferred power to its leaders. The deal had following conditions* (*The Explanation of the Political Policy of the Lal Communist Party Hind Union, pages 1-49): *The British capital in India will be protected. The profit thus accrued would be allowed to go to Britain. *The pensions which the British officers are getting from the Indian exchequer will continue to be delivered to them in England. *The officers who have been working against the struggle for freedom and have been repressing the patriots will continue in their posts. *The lands, the riyasats, and feudatories bestowed upon those who were loyal to the British government, the toadies, the police informers and privileges of the pro-imperialist individuals will not be confiscated. No legal action will be initiated against them. *Lady and Lord Mountbatten were made first citizens of India. Lord Mountbatten was given the post of Governor General.

The kirti communists refused to take it as freedom of the country. They gave a call to the people to continue the struggle for freedom. The Ghadri kirti communists demanded that: *The rebel soldiers who were fired from job should be honoured and rehabilitated. *The fighters of the Azad Hind Fauj should be inducted in the at respectable positions. *The soldiers who had rebelled or joined the rebellion and those sepoys and officers who were sympathetic to revolts should be rehabilitated and placed at proper positions. *The people should be endowed with complete freedom. *There should be sharing of power with the representatives of the working class. *The repatriation of capital to foreign countries should be stopped. *The properties of the persons who have collaborated with the British should be confiscated. *The properties* of the patriots confiscated by the British government should be returned back to them (* the property of Ghadri Baba Harnam Singh Kala Sangha has still not been returned till date). *Feudalism should be abolished from the country and tenants be given the ownership of land. These were just demands from the nationalist and people’s viewpoint and not digestible for the new rulers of the country who were working in the interests of the British imperialists. The new government of India got panicky. It issued arrest warrants against Baba Grumukh Singh Lalton and Baba Aroor Singh. The government arrested many communists and locked them behind bars without conducting any trial. On the one hand, the communists were being arrested, and on the other, the party was fraught with internal wranglings. The leadership was pushing the Kirti communists to the corner. Fed up with this intolerable situation and continuous rivalry the kirtis launched the Lal Communist Party Hind Union. At that time, it had 1500 activists in Punjab. They elected 300 delegates, who assembled at town, district Jalandhar, from 5-8 January, 1948. On the first day they held a convention. Then they discussed a review of the political and mass work of the party from 1934 to 1948. They discussed about shortcomings and weaknesses. To change the atmosphere of disorganisation and passivity in the communist movement a new party was formed. After the formation of the Lal Communist Party Hind Union, it elected its office bearers. A central committee was constituted with Teja Singh Sutantar, Dr. Bhag Singh, Ram Singh Dutt, Bujha Singh, Wadhawa Ram, Chhajju Mal Vaid and Gurcharan Singh Sehnsra as its members. The Punjab State Committee had its members in the persons of Chain Singh Chain, Vishnu Dutt, Harbans Singh Karnana, Giani Santa Singh, Ajmer Singh Bharu, Dharam Singh Fakkar, Paras Ram Kangra, Kanwar Lal Singh and Chanan Singh Tugalwal. Teja Singh Sutantar was elected as the general secretary at the all India level and Chain Singh Chain was elected as secretary of the Punjab state. As a member of the central committee Bujha Singh had an important role in the whole of party and in the state of Punjab. The party adopted following resolutions*(*The Explanation of Political Policy of the Lal Communist Party Hind Union, pages 1-49) unanimously: *Germany and Italy have been devastated. This is the fascist camp. Except the Soviet Union, the camp of USA and Britain is the imperialist camp. (In the context of the Second World War) *The countries of the where oil is produced, the imperialists have brought war and religious groups in their grip. The basic purpose is to control the oil resources. *We were to build a front with Russia-China bloc and not to be the tail of this. (A) The revolutionary upsurge got drowned in the clatter about freedom; it has to be reared again. (B) Though the British imperialism has left the country, it has made a common cause with the local bourgeoisie (C) A class of big bourgeoisie has come up. It has profited from both World Wars. The void that came up after the British left, led to the development of indigenous bourgeoisie. (D) The big bourgeoisie has come to dominate the national political scene in place of feudalism. (E) The national leadership, which is compromising in its nature, has wrested the control of political power. Backward communists and infantile socialists too have joined them. As the inner party struggle was not conducted in a proper way, the immature communists and socialists have crossed over to the bourgeoisie. (F) The establishment of Pakistan has not happened on the principle of right of nations to self determination. Only the feudal and religious tendency has dominated. Their greed for state power has worked. Pakistan has been created due to expeditious attitude of the British. (G) There is a need to build such a broad democratic front in which workers and peasants would be in a dominating position. The national government is not an independent government but a new colony. We need to bring a new democratic revolution but this will be executed by a proletarian party having a correct class conscious understanding. This party will emerge through the struggles of workers and peasants. The newly formed Lal Communist Party tried to break the stagnation that had come to mar the communist movement. The old district and area committees of the Kirti Party were reactivated. To infuse new spirit into these committees new members were inducted. The Lal Party took on the government right from the beginning. It raised the slogan of armed revolution against fake independence. It came out steadfastly against princely states, feudalism and pro-British imperialism [of rulers]. Karnail Singh Eesru sacrificed his life in Goa while fighting against these forces. Pandit Kishori Lal, a leader of the Lal Party had gone to Goa at the head of a group to participate in this struggle. The Indian government started a campaign to arrest these leaders. Many Lal Party leaders were arrested during these raids in 1948. Teja Singh Sutantar, Bujha Singh and rest of the leadership went underground. The assault of the government was fought out under the leadership of these leaders. These leaders took up the task of organising the party to launch militant struggles. The party decided to intensify the struggle of the tenants in this respect. It marked some areas for it which are as follows: (a) PEPSU, (b) Pathankot tehsil in district Gurdaspur, and (c) some others areas of lesser significance. Main force was directed on the struggle of the tenants in PEPSU State. Teja Singh Sutantar, Bujha Singh, Dharam Singh Fakkar, Jagir Singh Joga, Gurbachan Singh Rahi, Gurcharan Singh Randhawa and many other leaders organised this struggle. The party published a magazine, Lal Jhanda, from 1948-1952 under the editorship of Teja Singh Sutantar and over all management of Gandharv Sen. The duty to publish and send the paper to all areas rested with Gandharv Sen. Bujha Singh, who was known in the party circles as Akali Bhai was deputed in the PEPSU area. He was to perform the tasks of schooling the organised tenants, train them in arms and to collect funds. The party would organise a secret meeting in some village. Bujha Singh would be taken to that place secretly. He would conduct classes there for the whole night, or for one, two or more days. Bujha Singh taught the party activists about Marxism, politics, historical materialism and metaphysics. He would educate them in the methods of confiscating lands, defence of the thus confiscated lands and about ways to confront the government. The party had formed guerrilla squads. The arms were collected through various means. Bujha Singh taught these guerrilla groups in the use of arms, to take care of them and the methods to attack the enemy. He taught them how to face the enemy in case a member of the squads gets into the hands of the police. He would inspire them not to divulge any information about the secrets of the party and to sacrifice their lives instead. In case someone is unable to withstand the torture of police, he would advise one to name some comrade who is already martyred or arrested or just to name a fake person. He would advise them to strike their head against the wall or the floor in case the police tortured them. He taught them the training he had received from Moscow in the contemporary conditions of the time. His third duty in this struggle was to collect funds. The communist parties have always been short of funds in accordance with their needs. It was a big problem for the party. It was a struggle of the landless tenants. It was very difficult for them to raise funds as they were already living in want. The fund was collected throughout Punjab for the struggle of these tenants. Bujha Singh was one of the front runners in this campaign. He knew how to collect funds. Comrades like Teja Singh Sutantar, who was the general secretary of the party, had a formidable influence and it was easy for him to collect funds but Bujha Singh did it with his own power and authority. These days, the right and ‘left’ comrades collect big money from feudal lords, capitalists and factory owners. Bujha Singh’s method was to approach everyone and take small amounts. He argued that with this the people do not break away from the party. They do not feel the economic burden in this way. When fund is collected on a mass scale the people think that they are contributing for a cause and contact with them further consolidates. Moreover, with this approach, one comes to know about their problems and difficulties too. And kirtis had worked in the peasant movements only. This tenant movement had also come up through the peasant movements. This struggle was not a complete revolution. It was directly a struggle for land. It became a big struggle of the mourusi (permanent) tenants. The Lal Party comrades had achieved victory in this struggle. This struggle had sent the state into convulsions. The state had tried to decapitate the movement by arresting its leadership. The police was having a close watch on Bujha Singh and his comrades but these leaders had a long experience of 15-16 year behind them. They had learnt the art of living underground and knew how to organise struggles while being secretive. Though he escaped the arm of the police in this struggle but his family got trapped in its clutches. The women of the house were dishonoured, including Dhanti. Bujha Singh’s father Dharam Singh too had to bear harassment at the hands of police. The police used to arrest his brothers Yugeshar Singh, Amar Singh and Gulzara Singh. The police would not reveal their whereabouts for many days together. The relatives of Bujha Singh also faced the brunt as their houses were occasionally raided to apprehend him. In these difficult circumstances, Dhanti would provide him with the moral support and courage he needed: “Your profession is to bring revolution. Be devoted to your job. Don’t worry about the family. Do what your conscience asks you to do. Now, don’t look back. Walk the way you have chosen. Come back only after you have kissed victory.” Bujha Singh meditated on the altar of revolution, on the sacrifices of his brothers and wife Dhanti. In the extremities of police terror, they did not abandon Bujha Singh. His family and relatives bore the brunt of countless police excesses. Due to all this duress, his brothers started trying to find channels to go abroad. But Baba Bujha Singh never looked back. He never allowed himself to be let down in the activities of the Lal Party. He did not rest till the tenants of PEPSU were aroused. The credit for the victory of this struggle goes to Bujha Singh and his comrades in the leadership. The tenants had occupied the lands. In the end, the PEPSU government was forced to give them land rights legally. The mourusi tenants became owners of lands. Up to some extent the sirees (the peasants who used to till lands on an ad hoc basis, i.e. gair mourusi tenants) and agricultural labourers also became owners of land. This was the great victory of the Lal Communist Party. The movement of tenants went on from 1948 to 1952. After this victory in 1952, there was stagnation in the work of the party. A meeting of the party was held in Delhi under the leadership of Bujha Singh, Gandharv Sen, Chain Singh Chain and Gurcharan Singh Randhawa. It discussed about the situation prevailing at that time. They felt that: *The tenants have become the owners of land. They have not been able to convert the struggle for land into the fight for revolution. *The Party is unable to find a solution to develop the movement further. *Teja Singh Sutantar was actively forming armed squads during this struggle. Other leaders did not think it the right thing. They argued that the revolution will come by arms but without a people’s upsurge there cannot be a revolution. The guerrilla squads of the party had conducted a dacoity in a bank in Rampur in Rai Bareily district (U.P.) but these leaders had opposed this action. They argued that the dacoities cannot develop revolution. With this the people lose faith in the party. These things spoil the cause. The fight does not maintain its political character. If the tendency to indulge in dacoiteis persists then it will lead to far reaching implications. Wrong tendencies will set in. the political consciousness will receive a setback. So the dacoities were opposed. The majority in the working committee of the Lal Party constituted those who had returned after getting education from Moscow and supported Moscow line. They had a formidable faith in Moscow. The communists considered Moscow as a Mecca. Till then the Moscow had become ‘cautious’ about India. Moscow put forward a line for them, enumerating: *The comrades of the Lal Communist Party are wrong. The conditions for a people’s democratic revolution are not ripe yet. But the leadership of the CPI was successful in putting pressure from the Russian leadership to break the Lal Communist Party. (But Chain Singh Chain writes that there had started a discussion in the party whether to adopt the Chinese model of revolution when Rajeshwar Rao became the General Secretary of the CPI after BT Randive. Therefore, the Lal Party had started nurturing some hopes of unity with the CPI and it approached the Central Committee of the CPI for unity which responded in the positive.)* (*My Political Journey—Chain Singh Chain) -There can be only one communist party in a country, not two. Work in a single party. Resolve internal differences on the basis of majority and minority. -The time to capture state power has not yet arrived. With advice from Moscow and in accordance with the prevailing situation, a line of thinking emerged in the party that Lal Communist Party and CPI should merge into each other. Teja Singh Sutantar was against the merger of two parties. So, a meeting was held at Dalel Singh Wala (Mansa area in the princely state of ) to discuss the issue and arrive at some decision. A resolution was moved to dissolve the Lal Communist Party and join the CPI. It was unanimously decided to dissolve the Lal Communist Party and to join the CPI unconditionally. It was strange that Bujha Singh, Gandharv Sen and Teja Singh Sutantar too voted for the resolution in spite of the fact that they were not for it. Gandharv Sen says that Bujha Singh or others had one common question that how and where to take the movement, to some point of culmination. So they did not press for their differences. He also agreed that they also had faith in the Communist International (?). He also said that at that point in time the Punjab had built a movement and Lal Communist Party was leading it. Had they opposed the resolution the movement would have disintegrated. It would have suffered. So, to save the party from disintegration they had given their consent. The leaders and cadres of the Lal Party joined the CPI. One advantage that happened was that the government loosened its hard attitude towards the Lal Party comrades. Barring a few leaders, warrants against all others were cancelled in May 1952. These comrades were getting ready to work openly but the leadership of the CPI did not allow this. The state leadership of the CPI ordered them to apply for membership and offer muafinama (self criticism). It was binding for everyone to write in the muafinama that he had been in the wrong all these years, that he had been an anti-party person, that he had acted against the interests of the party, violated its discipline and that he should be pardoned for all these follies. They were to write that they had committed a wrong by forming the Lal Communist Party and would work according to every decision of the CPI in future. Bujha Singh, Gandharv Sen, Harbans Singh Karnana and many other leaders and members applied for the membership of the CPI but could not digest the conditions put on them. They had just won the struggle of PEPSU tenants. How they would brand this historic victory as a wrong? How they would write that working against the state and in the interest of revolution was wrong. For them to be communist was to be a man of honour too. A person of honour and principles does not give in. He does not digest the bone. They had the opinion that even at that time the policies of the leadership were revisionist. The party had a compromising attitude towards the Congress. They refused to accede to the demand of the party for this kind of self-criticism. The state committee sent comrades like Bujha Singh, who had worked for revolution for 22 years, back to their homes. Hundreds of leaders and activists of the Lal Communist Party were not given membership in the CPI in the districts of Jalandhar, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur and some other areas. The prominent among them were Bujha Singh, Gandharv Sen, Harbans Singh Karnana, Jawala Singh Bara Pind and others from district Jalandhar, Ram Singh Majitha, Arjun Singh Dadraa, Bhai Sohan Singh Narangabad, Giani Santa Singh and others from district Amritsar. Many among them turned gloomy and went back to their homes and became passive. Many of them like Mahinder Singh , Jaswant Singh Kairon, Sohan Singh, Rawal Singh Dhoot, Ram Singh Dutt, Harbans Singh Karnana, Chanan Singh Tugalwala, Ram Singh Majitha and others were hoodwinked by Pratap Singh Kairon, the then chief minister. Though joining the Congress Party was a very hard thing for them to do but Kairon made them leaders of the ‘Kisan Cell’ of the Congress. Many of the leaders like Bujha Singh did not compromise with Pratap Singh Kairon. They did not bow to the greed Kairon had offered them. Though the leadership had denied them their dream to participate in revolution yet they stuck to their principles. They neither compromised with wrong policies of the party nor yielded to the offers made by Pratap Singh Kairon. They had returned from Moscow as communists and stood the hard tests of times.

Defending the Heritage These were the most dangerous times for Bujha Singh. He squirmed in the pangs of acute pain of those days which he had not experienced even under the torture of Royal Fort in Lahore and the imprisonment in Deoli Camp. The party leadership had torn him off all his relationships with the organisation. It is very difficult to return back to homes Who will recognise us now? Death has put a mark on our foreheads. His situation was like this couplet by Surjit Patar. The policies of the party had locked his dream for revolution in the box. The Congress Party had thrown a net to attract many diligent leaders to its side. Many leaders had been captured by the Congress. They tried to drag Bujha Singh along with them into the ‘kisan cell’. They offered the logic of capturing the Congress from within. Bujha Singh knew about the workings of the bourgeois parties. The others had gone there to initiate a fissure in the system of the Congress. But they did not succeed; instead they ended up as its docile prisoners. Gandharv Sen got himself busy in the social work in the town and municipal committee of Noor Mahal. He encouraged his friend Bujha Singh to go to his village and get himself involved in agriculture. Bujha Singh had made his family prosperous during the time of banishment to his village by involving himself in agriculture. He again immersed himself into it. This was the only way to come out of dejection. He made friends with agriculture from 1952 to 1964. His family had a Belarus tractor. There were other auxiliary works like a flour mill, a cotton ginning machine, and a machine to extract rice from paddy. The main task was to keep the family together. His brothers used to quarrel with each other. When they called each other names, he would say: “Do you have different mothers and sisters when you call bad names about your mother and sisters? They have given birth to you and reared you. You are dishonouring them.” When his brothers would demand the division of land and of agricultural implements among themselves he would convulse and ask: “If you go on dividing land among yourselves what will remain with you? Be one and united. There is no other thing like that.” During the PEPSU Tenant Struggle, the police had harassed his family extremely. Dhanti had separated her only loving son Hardas Singh. He was sick and exasperated from the situation prevailing in the family and also his father. He had left to live in Bihar. He worked as a domestic help with an officer. He was unable to secure a passport in Chakk MaiDass. When the police would come to enquire about him they would disqualify him. The wife of the officer with whom he was working got him a passport and he left for England in 1956. Following his footsteps, his cousin Nirmal Singh Mann (novelist), son of Bujha Singh’s brother Lachhman Singh, and another cousin Tarsem Singh, son of Bujha Singh’s second brother Gulzara Singh also went to England in 1960. Ultimately, these boys took all other members of the family to live in England. Bujha Singh started doing social activities along with taking up family responsibilities. During these years he worked to betroth many boys and girls from the comrade families with one another. He had spent many a years of his underground life in the families of comrades. He had an assessment of the colour, height, nature, and culture of boys and girls of various families. On the basis of this information, he mediated many a successful weddings. All the marriages he arranged were successful, more or less. He started a tradition of simple marriages. And, began it from his own family. In 1954, he married off his nephew Nirmal Singh with the daughter of Sadhu Singh of Bara Pind. In those days, the baraat (the marriage party from the side of bridegroom) used to stay in the home of the bride for three days. But in this case, the baraat did not come in usual numbers and marriage was solemnised in one day. The visitors did not even eat food. Only tea was served and they took the bride with them without any dowry. Bujha Singh had a cheerful nature. Sometimes he would talk in a lighter vein and joke. He had a treasure of stories. He was an expert in telling anecdotes. He also knew how to read palms. How foretelling is used to hoodwink the people, he knew a lot of these tricks. He had the expertise in reading palms like a professional fortune teller. A person who comes to ask about his future cannot understand the mind of an atheist. He would not reveal himself. He would laugh and tell the visitor what was written on his palm. To launch a second Ghadar, Bhai Rattan Singh Raipur Dabba and Bhai Santokh Singh Dhardeo held a meeting with Baba Gurmukh Singh Lalton in Kabul when they had come back from Moscow. They took following decisions in this meeting: 1. Making preparations to fight against the British government and for establishing a socialist regime. 2. Formation of a Desh Bhagat Parivar Sahayak Committee to organise aid for the families of the freedom fighters, to provide legal aid and to work for the release of political prisoners. 3. To build an appropriate memorial, Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall, in the memory of Ghadri Martyrs. Our Ghadri freedom fighters showed their determination to implement all the three decisions. A trust was formed to build the memorial (Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall, Jalandhar) for the Ghadri Martyrs. Gurmukh Singh Lalton was the secretary of this trust. He too had not been given membership by the CPI. Bujha Singh was one of the first trustee members. Both of them and other trustee members took up the tasks of contacting all the comrades of the Ghadar Party, collection of funds for building the memorial, bringing out books about the martyrs, and publish a magazine Desh Bhagat Yaadan. Bujha Singh played a leading role in all this. A decision was taken to build the hall at Jalandhar. The trust acquired the land and building of Rai Bahadur Badri Dass of Jalandhar. All the organisations were asked to contribute financially for the construction of the building. It was decided in 1958 that a delegation comprising Gurmukh Singh Lalton, Bujha Singh, Karam Singh Cheema and Bhola Singh Cheema should go to England, Canada and America to collect money for building the memorial. Gurmukh Singh Lalton, Karam Singh Cheema and Bhola Singh Cheema went to London (England) for this purpose. But sympathisers of the movement in England doubted their intentions. Propaganda began that Gurmukh Singh Lalton and his friends have abandoned the cause of revolution and have started building graves instead. Among them were sincere leaders like Pandit Vishnu Dutt too. To clear their doubts the delegation decided to ask Bujha Singh to come to England. For the sympathisers in England, Bujha Singh was a towering personality. Bujha Singh secured a visa for England. In the revolutionary circles, one of his photos with a coat, pant and a tie is very popular. This uniform he had purchased from Godri Bazaar at Jama Masjid. He purchased two more suits and boarded a plane to England. With his arrival in England the collection of funds started. They collected money from Birmingham, London, Coventry, Wolver Hampton and from many other cities. For mass collection, they used to visit Gurdwaras on Sundays. They made appeals to the people for fund. Every man and woman would contribute five or more pounds. From England Gurmukh Singh Lalton, Karam Singh Cheema and Bhola Singh Cheema left for Canada and America according to the schedule. Bujha Singh stayed back in England to save travelling costs. Not bothering about his old age, the Baba started working in a rubber factory through Vishnu Dutt. He told his comrades that he will not use fund money for his ticket and spend only what he would earn through labour. Many sympathisers offered him money for his travelling but he said that that money would go into the fund. When he earned twenty pounds more than his ticket costs he stopped doing labour. Karam Singh Kirti asked him to earn more but he told him: “Were I to earn money I would not have left Argentina in 1930.” Bujha Singh used to earn 7 pounds a week. He ate simple food and wore simple clothes. On the weekends he organised schooling of his comrades. They used to have a question answer session. He listened to every word his students would say and answer every question logically. He was very straightforward and never acted like unreliable political leaders. His way was clear and simple. He worked for five days and for two days he met the Punjabi community. He learned about their work, conditions, and their problems. He saw, understood and studied the system of England, its social composition, politics and state administration. He discussed it with the comrades living there and made these a part of his schooling sessions. He encouraged them to debate over the issues. The 20th Congress of the Russian Communist Party had happened in Russia. A delegation of the Communist Party of Great Britain had also attended this congress. Rajni Palm Dutt was the deputy Chairman of the Communist Party of Great Britain. He was also head of the international department of the party. He was reporting about the 20th Congress in party branches. Bujha Singh asked for attending a meeting through Punjabi communists. He was granted the permission to sit in a meeting. Mr. Rajni Palm Dutt reported about the 20th Congress. He said that the 20th Congress: (A) has criticised policies of Stalin era and considered them harmful for socialism. (B) has passed a line of peaceful transition. After reporting from Rajni Palm Dutt was over the new line was brought under discussion. The people spoke in favour of and against it. Participating in the debate Bujha Singh rejected* (*According to comrade Avtar Singh Johal) the line, saying: “The direction of the 20th Congress is wrong. its political line is not correct. It is against the working class and the people. It is against socialism. It is collaborationist giving scope for collaborating with imperialism. With this line, the Soviet Union has ceased to be a socialist country. Known throughout the world as a socialist model, the Soviet Union will collapse in the times to come. This line will damage the communist camp. It will lead communist parties of the world on a wrong path. The communist movement will face a serious setback in future. This line will lead to alienation of the communists from the people. The movement will get destroyed. True and genuine communists should oppose this line.” After Bujha Singh had spoken these things the meeting went through a fiery atmosphere. The supporters of this line went into a rage which went high into seven skies. In the 1990s, the Soviet Union collapsed. Today a period of gloom has befallen the world communist movement. It is the logical result of the revisionist line of 1956 which Baba ji had judged with his probing eye at that time. Here, we can judge the clarity in Bujha Singh’s ideology. He had already observed in 1958 what happened afterwards and is happening now. He was pained to see the change of attitude in Moscow. Moscow had given them a political line, a dream, but now it was bringing in the opposite equations. He stood against this line from that very day. He fought against this line till his last breath and continued to educate people in Marxist philosophy. He had started opposing the 1956 line while he was in India. In February 1957, the first communist government was installed in Kerala. The communists in Punjab were extremely happy over this development and were organising victory conferences. A similar conference was organised in Bundala, the village of Harkishan Singh Surjit. There were 14 provinces in India at that time. The famous stage director Narinder Dusanjh had read a poem on Kerala. That poem has long faded out from the minds of people, nobody remembers it. There was a line in the poem which said: 14 were placed in the kiln. One has come out matured. With this we will make the other 13 ripen. Bujha Singh was sitting in a house at that time. He commented on this poem in the following way—the policies of the 20th Congress will not allow the other 13 to mature.” The Indian Communist Party had made friends with Nehru at the behest of Russia; the same Nehru gang dissolved the communist government in Kerala in 1959. Since then the Communist Party of India has been trying to ‘bake all’ in the kiln but has not achieved anything, rather it is now helping the Congress Party to bake the latter’s goods. Bujha Singh had enmity with imperialism. He also hated its compradors. He had fought against Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru even before 1947. And, afterwards too. He was in the fighting mood in England also. He got a ticket to come to India. The famous novelist Giani Kaisar Singh tried to convince him to get settled in England. Bujha Singh had refused, saying: “We have received destruction rather than freedom, Giani ji. The whites left and the coloureds replaced them. Only the capitalists have changed. The working classes are still enslaved. Our indigenous capitalist is busy fortifying his bastion. We have to overthrow him and build a state of the working classes. You too should come back. The real fight for freedom is yet to be fought.” He came back to India to fulfil his mission. Gurmukh Singh Lalton, Karam Singh Cheema and Bhola Singh Cheema had also returned to India after collecting funds from America and Canada. The collection campaign was also going on in Punjab. Money thus collected was spent on building a hall and a corridor on the ground floor. Later a veranda was added to it. Bujha Singh played a leading role in the construction of Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall memorial. He continued to hold classes of the people during this time too. He made peasants understand that they too are workers. When a peasant goes to England he becomes a labourer. He asked them to shed petty mentality of a peasant and chart a path of struggle shoulder to shoulder with the working class. Bujha Singh and Gandharv Sen were not taken as members of the CPI. They were not card holders. They were not permitted to hold classes, to organise the party and struggles. They only had a membership of the Punjab Kisan Sabha. They worked as ordinary members. The Punjab state committee of the CPI had organised a struggle on a burning issue in 1959. The party had launched a Morcha against Khush Hasiyati Tax (Betterment Levy) through the Punjab Kisan Sabha. It was a big mass struggle in the annals of Punjab communist movement. This struggle had mobilised the peasantry. Harkishan Singh Surjit and Jagjit Singh Lyallpuri had emerged as leaders of this movement. How Bujha Singh and Gandharv Sen could have remained behind in such an important task. Gandharv Sen Offered himself for arrest when the campaign for filling the jails was started. Bujha Singh remained busy in mobilizing the peasants. He prepared them to offer for arrests. The enthusiasm they had shown at the time of beginning of the struggle did not last enough. The way the central leadership of the CPI withdrew this struggle, not only disappointed activists like Bujha Singh but also made them rebels who started educating people against the wrong decision of the party. The wounds inflicted by the decision to withdraw struggle had not yet healed. In 1961 Teja Singh Sutantar came out of underground life. When he was the leader of Bujha Singh the latter had great respect for him. After coming out in the open, he started propagating the line of the party (the Soviet party had dictated that CPI should support Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru). Bujha Singh had not expected this from Sutantar. He came out against him. At that time the party was condemning Stalin according to the line of the 20th Congress. The party was denouncing Stalin everywhere under the leadership of Ajay Ghosh. The supporters of Bujha Singh had saluted the photographs of Stalin in front of Ajay Ghosh in the Jandiala (Jalandhar) meeting and made a mockery of policies of the party. Gurmukh Singh Lalton, Bujha Singh and other Ghadarites used to take up one or the other activity through the aegis of Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall. The committee organised a conference on March 31-April 1 to revaluate political situation in the country and to encourage them to work for liberation of the people. revolutionaries from across the country including Bengal, Bihar, Punjab, U.P., Delhi, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Madras and other states were invited to celebrate silver jubilee of the Ghadar Party. To meet the expenses of the conference a fund committee comprising Bujha Singh, Bhag Singh, Karam Singh Cheema, Bhagat Singh Bilga, and Gurcharan Singh Sehnsra was formed under the leadership of Baba Gurmukh Singh Lalton. This committee collected money from villages and cities and organised the conference successfully. Sisters of martyred comrades of Kakori Case, comrades of the Hard Bomb Case, Raja Mahindra Pratap who was president of the provisional government in Kabul and groups of revolutionaries from the south participated in the conference. The president of welcome committee, Gurmukh Singh Lalton, stated in his address that revolutionary patriots endured life imprisonments, put up with property confiscations, faced tortures and even death but their aim is yet to be achieved. The rulers of the country have failed in stopping poverty, starvation, unemployment and illiteracy. Bujha Singh declared that to do away with all these vices a movement will be organised.

Founding of the Marxist Party In 1962, Sino-Indian war happened. This war was not between two countries only, it was also a war within the Indian communist movement. After their first government in Kerala (5 October, 1957), the communists in India had developed a strong infatuation for parliamentary path. They abandoned the agenda of changing system through revolution and fought for seats of power within the system. In a way, the line of peaceful transition adopted in the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of Soviet Union had created confusion in the Indian communist camp. But in the conditions of stagnation, lines were drawn out in the party. The evaluation of role of comrade Stalin was one of the major issues in the world communist movement. Khrushchev had branded Stalin as a dictator, high-headed, and butcher. China and parties in other countries had strongly opposed this thesis. The world communist movement went through a sharp debate which is known as the Great Debate. The CPI stood with Khrushchev. CPM opposed him. But in practice both the parties behaved the same. India-China war also brought a sharp division in the Indian communist movement. One group (the CPI) characterized the Congress party as representative of national bourgeoisie and adopted a line of collaborating with it. It condemned China as an aggressor. It sided with the Indian government and the congress party on the question of War. The other group (now CPM and the Naxalite camp) considered the congress party as representatives of big bourgeoisie and feudal lords. It was of the opinion that communists should adopt a non-compromising struggling attitude against it. Revolution was the only way to change the system. It said that it can use parliament as a tactics. But while working to mobilise the people arms should also be used if the need arises. This group considered India as aggressor and not China. They put the logic that China was a socialist country and a socialist country cannot be an aggressor. This group was conducting its activities in accordance with this line. Bujha Singh and Gandharv Sen who had become minus from the political scene, too came out into the field. They strongly criticized the Indian government on the issue of China. They condemned the Indian government and supported communist government in China and launched activities around this issue. The Indian government started arresting those communists who were supporting China and considered India as the aggressor, under the plea that they were becoming a threat to internal security of the country. In 1962, Bujha Singh, Gandharv Sen and Dr. Bhag Singh were arrested and imprisoned. In the communist party there was (a) struggle between the revolutionary line and the revisionist line, (b) the line of peaceful transition of the 20th Congress had led to the formation of two factions and stagnation in the party, (c) the party ranks were in disagreement and uneasy over the withdrawal of Telangana Peasant Struggle and anti-betterment levy (Khush Hasiyati Tax Morcha), (d) the international communist movement had split over the question of peaceful transition; the parties of the Soviet Union and China had put forward their respective lines, in India too there were communists who adhered to one or the other line, (e) there was a sharp conflict whether India or China was the aggressor, (f) one group of communists was for collaborating with the congress party while the other was against it, and (g) the letters written by CPI Chairman, Dange, pushed the party towards split. In this situation, 32 leaders of the communist movement in India had given a new line to those who rejected the theory of peaceful transition, considered that China was on the correct path, and were in support of the revolutionary line. When Bujha Singh and his comrades were arrested, this line from 32 comrades had already come out. With this line, a possibility for the emergence of a new party (group) had developed. After the comrades were released from jail, activities around this question intensified. CPI (M) was formed in the conference held in Tennali (Andhra Pradesh) on 7-11 July, 1964. In village Atta (Jalandhar), the Punjab state committee of the new party [CPI (M)] was organised. Heavy efforts were required to build the new party in Punjab. Harkishan Singh Surjit knew that the party can gain strength only if people like Bujha Singh become active and only they could bring out the party from stagnation and strengthen it. At the same time, he did not want to take the likes of Bujha Singh into the party. But taking Bujha Singh and his comrades into the party was like a compulsion for him and a political tactics. Firstly, Bujha Singh had a great potential for organising. Whatever he got his hands upon he would accomplish by putting in all his energies to the task. Secondly, Punjab had been a base of the kirits. They were the heroes of the people. The majority of the kirtis had remained in the CPI. Even leaders like Teja Singh Sutantar were made to ‘adjust’. In Punjab, there was a big group which followed Sutantar. The parallel leadership needed men like Bujha Singh, Gandharv Sen and other kirtis. They could have organised others around them and built a parallel group. They were the leaders of people and had the potential to build a party. With the division in the party, new equations had emerged in the ranks. The party structure had been divided. It had happened throughout the country. With the division in the party, the kirtis too had been divided into two. Teja Singh and his supporters remained in the CPI while Bujha Singh, Karam Singh Cheema, Gurcharan Singh Randhawa, Rajinder Sarinh, Dr. Bhag Singh, Bhagat Singh Bilga and Gandharv Sen and other kirtis joined the CPI(M). Bujha Singh, Gandharv Sen and Bhagat Singh Bilga were taken into the Jalandhar district committee. These comrades worked hard, built the foundations of the party in district Jalandhar and devoted themselves fully to the party. They educated the people in the policies of the CPI(M), Marxism and program of the new party. The party organised schooling for the party cadre throughout Punjab. These comrades explained everywhere that how the state system can be changed through revolutionary means. They built a vast network of party branches and mass organisations in the district. They collected funds for the party. As Bujha Singh was an effective speaker he was able to bring the CPI cadre into the fold of the new party. The CPI(M) had brought out its central organ Peoples Democracy. The Punjab committee translated it into Punjabi and brought it under the name of Lok Jamhuriyat. When this weekly paper was launched in Punjabi in 1963, Bujha Singh was made its editor and manager. When he had gone to London in 1958 the possibilities for building a new party were emerging. The comrades in England had presented him with a new type writer and 300 subscriptions. Though the party had emerged on the national scene in 1964 but work around this had begun in Punjab well before that. Under the leadership of Bujha Singh the Lok Jamhuriyat had fought the revisionism of CPI’s Nawan Zamana and thus a healthy trend of sharp polemical journalism emerged. But soon the publishing of this newspaper was stopped. It was replaced by newspaper Lok Lehar. Again, Bujha Singh was deputed to run its editorial board. In 1965, Indo-Pak war started. Bujha Singh’s party condemned this war. It had the opinion that it was not a war between the people of India and Pakistan, rather it was a war for prolonging the lives of Indian and Pakistani regimes. Bujha Singh had already been arrested during India-China war; the government started arresting communists during this war too in March 1965. Bujha Singh avoided arrest and went underground. The government was trying to detract the attention of the people towards chauvinism through this war. But Bujha Singh’s party wanted to divert the attention of the people towards poverty, unemployment, starvation, and inequality. In spite of police raids and difficulties Bujha Singh carried on his work steadfastly. When party started an agitation for civil liberties, Bujha Singh became fully involved in it to make it successful. In 1966, he supported the struggle for Punjabi Suba and became active in it as per the policy of the party. He shouldered every responsibility the party gave him. Then came the assembly elections in 1967. The CPI and CPI (M) struck a compromise in these elections that they will not put up candidates against each other and will support the other’s candidate as its ‘own’. The CPI got the seat of Noor Mahal constituency for the candidacy of Teja Singh Sutantar. The Bara Pind seat was given to CPI (M) to contest. Harkishan Singh Surjit was pushed into the election arena. Gandharv Sen was deputed in Noor Mahal while Bujha Singh was given work in Bara Pind constituency. Both were against the politics of vote. Their relationship with the CPI was bitter. Relationship with Harkishan Singh Surjit was also not good. In spite of all this, they performed their duties well. They asked the people to vote in spite of the fact that they were not in favour of parliamentary politics* (*According to comrade Gandharv Sen). They did this because they were part of the party. What was the use of elections? They were for strengthening the movement. They were against the culture of personality cult. Other leaders had on their minds not the class struggle but personal rivalries. The leaders were like sect chiefs. The time spanning 1964-67 was the time in which the policies of the CPM were to unfold fully. People like Bujha Singh only got frustration in this period too. They had launched the CPM on the basis of theoretical, political and tactical differences with the CPI. Bujha Singh felt that the leadership that had split from the CPI was charting the same course the CPI had treaded. The program of 1964 was sort of an ambiguous program. The leadership had abandoned that too. Within two or three years it became clear that the differences of the leadership of CPM with the CPI were more of an organisational nature than political. The revolutionary cadre became disillusioned and vocal over the revisionist and opportunist ideological line but there was no one who bothered about them. In 1967, Bujha Singh and Gandharv Sen resigned from all posts and membership of the CPM. At that time Bujha Singh was a member of the Jalandhar district committee and managing committee of the newspaper ‘Lok Lehar’. Bujha Singh had been elected sarpanch of village Chakk Mai Dass in 1963 by the people. He remained in this post from 1963-68. This was the time when the new party was being built and strengthened through activities. Bujha Singh had worked with extreme devotion in the Ghadar Party, Kirti Party and the Lal communist Party. He could not work in the CPM for a long time. He came to know about the manoeuvrings of the leadership very early. On the other hand, he had not been attending to his village people all these years. After resigning from the party he took up this duty. In those times, most of the issues in the villages used to be of personal conflicts and fights. He used to say to his people: “These are not basic issues. If you really want to fight against them you should direct your fight against state and strike at the roots of the problems.”

The Spring Thunder The hills of Siliguri in Bengal were echoing with “Spring Thunder”. An ideological-political red line of permanent demarcation with revisionism was being drawn in Punjab too. The genuine communist revolutionaries had raised the flag of Mao Tse Tung Thought by upholding the path of protracted people’s war and rejecting parliamentarism. The conditions of the working people in Darjeeling (Bengal) were very bad. The Marxist party had promised many things to people during elections. But they backtracked from these promises when they came into power. They were not serious to resolve problems of the people. On the other hand, the leaders of district Darjeeling were very active and fiery. They put up the slogan of “land to the tiller” and started a movement. The movement in the Naxalbari area became a countrywide movement. This movement also came rolling into Punjab. A Punjab unit of All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries was also formed. Meetings were organised to bring comrades of district Jalandhar into its fold. Babu Ram Bairagi, a member of the Punjab coordination committee contacted Bujha Singh and decided to have a meeting in a garden in Nur Mahal. The invitees were Bujha Singh, Gandharv Sen, Bhagat Singh Bilga and Sarban Singh Cheema. The meeting decided to join the coordination committee. Harkishan Singh Surjit got wind of this meeting. He deputed Gurcharan Singh Randhawa and Rajinder Singh Sarinh to visit Nur Mahal. He asked them to report on the meeting organised by the coordination committee. In a meeting he commented* (*According to comrade Gandharv Sen) upon the four as such: “Don’t try to convince Bujha Singh and Gandharv Sen. They won’t return back. They will only come back after accomplishing revolution. Don’t bother about Bhagat Singh Bilga. He will not go anywhere. Try to convince Sarban Singh Cheema. Entice him with a ticket for an MLA seat.” Harkishan Singh Surjit was a master craft and could see into the future. His prophecy came true. Gandharv Sen and Bujha Singh joined the organisation run by Punjab coordination committee. The Naxalbari movement had led to a revolutionary upsurge. Bujha Singh and Gandharv Sen started organising youth under the leadership of the committee. Both of them were elected to the state committee. Gandharv Sen was given responsibility to publish and distribute magazine Lok Yudh. Bujha Singh was deputed to organise the coordination committee. In the beginning, the structure of the committee in district Jalandhar was very weak. He made it a priority task to bring more people into the fold and strengthening of district committee. He took the help of Gandharv Sen, Hardiyal Singh Pooni, Mehnga Singh PT, bibi Tejwanti Dhir, Mehnga Singh Kali Rai Khankhana and Darshan Dusanjh and other district committee leaders, and worked hard to strengthen the committee and organisation in Jalandhar district. The team of above comrades visited numerous villages. They met active members of CPI and CPM and other young people. Told them about the Naxalbari movement. Tried to break them away from traditional parties and encouraged them to join the new movement. They educated new-comers in Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse Tung thought. Comrade Charu Mojumdar had declared that by 1975 the Indian revolution would be victorious. This prophecy had encouraged the Indian communists and settled the date for victory. Bujha Singh instilled optimism in youth to make this prophecy come true. He intensified the campaign to establish their dream country. When Bujha Singh again left his home to work for Naxalbari movement in Punjab, his brother Yugeshar said to him, “Elder brother, now you have become old. How would you face the hardships of underground life?” “Revolutionaries never turn old. I can confront the cruel state at this age too.” He had reemphasized his determination. He had left his house. He took up a bi-cycle and became a traveller of vast expanses. Hundreds of youth got ready to sacrifice their lives under his leadership. He was an exemplar for the youth. He had spent whole of his life in struggle against the British imperialists and desi rulers braving sufferings. In his old age, he was ready again to take on the enemy. The committee made it a point to inspire youth with his example. The youth who came in close touch with him could not but get influenced by his rebellious life, his sacrificing spirit, his style of work, and his impassioned being. He influenced youth by his arduous work, sacrificing everything for the sake of ideology, leading a simple life, preferring ideological relationships rather than personal, helping the party workers in every way, steadfastness, boast-less style, seriousness, giving up self for the sake of convictions etc. He used to say that one should avoid falling into the hands of the police. Otherwise, the movement suffers. It gets weakened. One’s health deteriorates. The movement is forced to suffer many kinds of reparations. He would tell them about what methods to adopt when one fell into hands of the enemy. He told them- “If police does not stop torturing you, start striking your head on the ground.” Bujha Singh was known as an expert teacher. The committee made use of this faculty of his. He was deputed to educate party activists throughout Punjab. In the beginning, he educated them on these issues: the causes behind the explosion of Naxalbari movement, the importance of movement, the role of the united front government of West Bengal, the betrayal of revisionist leadership, the way the communists can organise themselves in Punjab and carry on the class struggle forward, dialectical and historical materialism, human society and its evolution. He could educate youth in the science of Marxism in simple words. He would leave the youth captivated. A meeting of the coordination committee was held in village Achcharwal in district Ludhiana. The government registered it as Acharwal Conspiracy Case as a ‘plan to overthrow the government by revolt’. In this conspiracy case, the government issued warrants against 19 comrades and Bujha Singh was most prominent among them. He was declared a proclaimed offender. After forming the coordination committee of communist revolutionaries the following decisions* (*According to comrade Jagjit Singh Sohal) were made: *To organise struggle on student demands through Punjab Student Union. *To occupy land in two areas (a) Bhikhi Samaon (Mansa), and (b) Quila Hakiman () by organising landless peasants and agriculture labourers. Two more areas were selected including (c) to organise tenants in Hajipur (Hoshiarpur) for a struggle to get land rights, and (d) to organise workers at Birla Seed Farms to occupy thousands of acres of land. In September 1968, an open conference was organised in Chhapaar Mela by the committee where Bujha Singh made a passionate speech calling on the youth to work for revolution which was answered by hundreds of them and they joined the movement to sacrifice their lives. The first initiative to occupy land was taken at Samaon. The land was occupied in Samaon on 8 December 1968, and in Quila Hakiman on 18 June 1969. At both the places preparations were made before capturing the lands. Mass gatherings were held in Bhikhi-Samaon and Quila Hakiman under the leadership of Hakam Singh Samaon. Secret training classes were held by Bujha Singh. These training sessions spanned one night and two days or a day and a night in each case. Bujha Singh centred all his meetings on the central slogan of land to the tiller. He taught them in the strategy of building an army to capture state power through guerrilla means and forming revolutionary committees of landless peasants, agriculture labourers and tenants at the local level, and how to complete new democratic revolution by finally seizing cities. He stressed upon the importance of a strong communist party to accomplish all this. He was an expert in explaining on these subjects. He told the cadre that why the Naxalites had taken up the land question as the main issue. Why it is the central slogan of the party as far as land occupation and movement for land was concerned? He elaborated on this. He said that the land belonged to the people and the people would occupy it. How to deal with the goonda gangs of feudal lords who come to obstruct occupation? He organised important camps in the villages of Quila Hakiman, Balian, Kumbharwal, , Rangian, and Bhaini. While in other places he organised small camps. After imparting education in the camps he used to depute various persons for various duties to organise preparations for land struggle. Hakam Singh Samaon and other leaders played an important part in this. Hundreds of peasants took up flags and beating drums they occupied lands. The lands were occupied under the guidance of Bujha Singh and other state committee members. Bujha Singh and Gandharv Sen had the experience of PEPSU Tenant Struggle behind them. The party had deputed Bujha Singh in the Malwa region taking account of that experience. The third case registered against Naxalites was about the occupation of lands after the first two were related with the publishing of a poster and the Acharwal Conspiracy Case. After the murder of Quila Hakiman landlord, General Balwant Singh, the police intensified its efforts to arrest Bujha Singh and other state committee members. A prize was declared on his head. Bujha Singh had a long experience in working underground since 1934. He was considered a master in camouflaging himself and changing his looks. He not only continued with his art but also trained others in it. In those days, the Indian communists living in Canada, America, England and other countries were fired with the spirit of the Ghadarites. Many of them returned to Punjab to make revolution. Bujha Singh told them: “The Naxalbari movement is an underground movement. It will be difficult for you to go underground at once. You get recognised soon. Not only you would be captured it would also create difficulties for us. You have long been not in touch with the people here. They will not have faith in you so easily. The intelligence agencies will be able to follow you quickly. It will lead to more harm. Better you get organised against imperialism in the countries where you work. You support us while living there. You should organise political support for our movement in foreign lands. You should organise demonstrations against police excesses, fake police encounters, and the Indian state. Make use of the press to popularise the Naxalite movement.” Barring a few, others went back. These people were already involved in the work to organise the party. The coordination committees that had been formed since March 1968 were made into organising committees at tehsil, district and state levels in February 1969. In this way, the CPI (M-L) was formed on 22 April, 1969. Bujha Singh was its state committee member. He was given the responsibility of districts Jalandhar and Kapurthala. No sooner the party had been formed, the line of annihilation of individuals was declared. Bujha Singh and Gandharv Sen rejected this extreme left* (*According to comrade Gandharv Sen) line. 1. He was against the line of annihilation of individuals. 2. He supported mass movement. He wanted to build a movement which called for mobilising the agriculture workers for capturing lands. He said that until people’s organisations were built, revolution cannot be made. He was in favour of turning mass struggles into political struggles. 3. He was against designating Chairman Mao as chairman of communist revolutionaries of India. He said that as long as national boundaries are there the people will not accept it and support the movement. 4. He did not see any other movement as a better one. He was for using arms in the initial stages in self-defence only. He was for an armed revolution in the final stage of revolution only. Extreme left line does not agree with the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism. It damages the movement. The party suffers irrevocably. Economic struggles are part of life of the people. The people should be brought to the side of revolution through these struggles. Only a powerful force of the people can make armed struggle victorious. 5. There is no red army in Bengal. Rather, it is a small upsurge of armed squads. But those were the times of individual annihilations and sacrifices. The movement had turned to this side. These old comrades tried to bring the movement on the correct path. But in those days of sacrifices no body listened to them. They implemented the party line in spite of having differences with it. After this, the phase of fake police encounters started. The comrades tried to establish red terror in place of the state terror. Both the sides were locked in an intense fight. Police was trying to capture Bujha Singh by all means. The police informers had cast a wide net. In the hunt for Bujha Singh the police started terrorising his family and relatives. The police would come packed in 10-12 trucks. Search the whole village. Humiliate all members of the family and arrest them. Move them around in various police stations. His brother Yugeshar Singh had to bear extreme terror at the hands of police. The police intensified its activities after Ajit Singh Nambardar, a police informer, of village Rehpa, Tehsil Nawan Shehar, was assassinated by the party squad on May 25-26, 1970. The police encircled the village. They searched everything. Yugeshar Singh was arrested. He was tortured to the extreme. The police raided the houses of all relatives. The police would arrest them. And after extorting money they would let them go at the intervention of panchayats. His daughter Nasib Kaur’s house at Jandiala was raided for maximum numbers than anyone else. Her in-laws were put to torture. Even Dhanti’s parents’ house in Happowal (near Banga, Nawan Shehar) had to face the police terror. Dhanti’s brother Thakur Singh, nephews Sumittar Singh and Bagicha Singh too were beaten by the police. Another of her nephew, Harbhajan Singh, joined the movement afterwards. He too had to bear hardships in jails. Whosoever the police impounded, including Yugeshar Singh, it tried to extract information about the whereabouts of Bujha Singh. They also tried to bribe them saying if they offer help in arresting Bujha Singh they will be given the declared prize on his head. These relatives of Bujha Singh bore extreme brutality of the police but they did not relent, not uttering a word even. They were forced to live in most heinous conditions in various police stations for days and months together. The police had sent informers in all the villages where Bujha Singh’s relatives lived. Still, he would visit his home in his village. In spite of all these tactics resorted to by the police, he continued to live among the people. He used to stay in agriculture worker’s (Dalits) houses. In case the police raided the place, the people would hide him from the police view. They would make him flee and the police would return empty handed. The police had arrested many people from district Jalandhar in their attempt to get some clue about Bujha Singh and sent them to jail. They included Hardyal Singh Pooni, Sucha Singh, Kartar, Iqbal Khan, Pash, Surinder . In the campaign of individual annihilations many police informers in Jalandhar district were eliminated by the party guerrillas. They included Milkhi Singh, Atma Singh, Khushhal Singh, Ram, Nambardar Ajit Singh, , the owner of PEPSU Industries Rattan Singh, his friend Satnam Singh and one other. The guerrillas also tried to kill the owner of Textile Mill Phagwara, Nand Lal, owner of GNG Mill Phagwara, Pakhar Singh and police informer Gurdev Singh but they, somehow, survived the attacks. These things had become usual. The party had given up the mass struggles. The mass organisations of workers, peasants and students had been liquidated as the party was not organising their struggles. The mass organisations collapsed after the movement stopped backing the struggles of students, workers and peasants. On the one hand, the situation demanded that the movement be developed around the question of countering the police repression. On the other hand, the party in Punjab had plunged into a crisis. The party started heading towards a split after the Naxalite attack (April 30, 1969) on police station at Sahib. The committee, under the leadership of Babu Ram Bairagi, brought a resolution in the meeting of State Organising Committee in November 1969. The resolution alleged that the state committee was inept, defended dubious persons, proved inefficient in leading the revolutionary movement, and also contained serious allegations against the State Committee Secretary Daya Singh and state committee member Gandharv Sen. The resolution demanded that a plenum be organised to discuss these issues. Bujha Singh held that these allegations were unfounded and worthless. He got very upset over these allegations as he himself had suffered such allegations and character assassination in his forty years long political life. “This resolution will split the Party. It should be withdrawn.” Bujha Singh pleaded. “This is the resolution of the of District Committee. Either you reject it or accept it.” Babu Ram Bairagi insisted. The State Organising Committee neither rejected nor accepted this resolution. While the State Organising Committee was thinking about bringing out some solution to the problem, Babu Ram Bairagi declared that the State Organising Committee has broken up. He used this crisis situation and went to various ranks of the party. This led to factionalism in the organisation. All the allegations were unfounded. These could have been resolved but both the factions did not make any efforts towards resolving this simple problem. This led to a split in the party. The phenomenon of splits is still continuing unabated even today. This split created a chain involving bigger splits. Bujha Singh had the opinion that the resolutions that could harm the movement should not be brought in, rather the party should work in unity in its fight against the government. The State Committee was formed by electing Bujha Singh, Gandharv Sen, Inderjit Singh Mansa advocate, Bhola Singh Gurusar, Ujagar Singh Mahmadpur (His party name being Sham Singh Chopra) and one more member. This conference elected Bujha Singh and Jagjit Singh Sohal as delegates for the all India party congress. The Eighth Party Congress of the communists or the first party congress of the Naxalites was held in Calcutta (West Bengal) in May 1970. Baba Bujha Singh and Jagjit Singh Sohal had gone to attend the party congress as delegates but they could not meet the party contact at the railway station. The congress was held in complete secrecy from the Indian State. The Naxalites held a façade of a marriage and completed the party congress. A central committee, comprising 21 members, was elected in this congress and comrade Charu Mojumdar was elected as the All India Secretary. Baba Bujha Singh and Jagjit Singh Sohal were to represent Punjab and would have been elected as officials but, as is mentioned earlier, had missed the contact.

Mother of Revolutionaries The Naxalbari movement had started as a revolt against the leadership on social and economic issues. In spite of split in the movement, Punjab emerged as a centre of the Naxalite movement after Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Bihar. This movement was considered as a threat to the internal security of the state of Punjab as was the case with the central government. The government adopted hard measures to crush the movement. Special police operations were conducted to eliminate the leadership of the movement. “This old man is the mother of revolutionaries. He incites innocent youth, puts revolution in their heads, then his comrades train them in arms. He is busy building Red Army in the country. These bastard anti-nationals want to take control of the country.” This was the statement* (*According to comrade Darshan Dosanjh) of the police officials about Baba Bujha Singh. The Punjab government took a decision to kill Baba ji. The police initiated a plan to nab and kill him on the orders of the government. Though it was an indigestible decision on the part of the Punjab government yet the government could not do without killing the mother of revolutionaries. The Punjab government had specially deputed the officers of the anti-Naxalite Cell to eliminate him. Baba Bhagat Singh Bilga had investigated the killing of Baba Bujha Singh in a fake encounter. Baba Bilga wrote, “After my release from jail, I met retired DSP Umrao Singh. He was a cousin of Dalip Singh Tapiala, a leader of the CPI (M). He said that he and DSP Sadhu Singh were deputed to arrest Baba Bujha Singh. Sadhu Singh was assigned the area between Phillaur and Nawan Shehar while he was given the area between Manjki and Nakodar. Umrao Singh had wanted to make Jandiala as his headquarters. For this purpose he met Mehar Chand, uncle of late and asked for his help. When he enquired from Mehar Chand about the contacts of Baba Bujha Singh in Jandiala, spat came the reply that Baba ji stays in his (Mehar Chand’s) house. The latter warned Umrao Singh that he must not dare touch Bujha Singh in Jandiala as the people there would not allow him to do that. Bujha Singh was very popular in Jandiala and every political party supported him. So the people would never tolerate if Bujha Singh was arrested from that place. In fact, similar was the situation in the villages like Sarinh, Shankar, Samrai, Bundala, Rurka, Cheema and others around Manjki. He was considered a hero in this area. The villages like Bara Pind, Dhulata, and Dusanjh Kalan were equally his bastion. Umrao Singh further told Baba Bilga that he had wanted to send Bujha Singh to jail immediately after arresting him not allowing time for his murder. How far it is correct, I am unable to say.” The party leadership pondered over the situation and suggested to Bujha Singh that he should leave the area. But he refused* to go away from his area. [*According to Makhan Singh Johal] “Fight for revolution should not suffer because of the fear of death. The movement will be strengthened if the people like me die for revolution. I have prepared young people for revolution. Should I hide myself? This is cowardice and a betrayal towards those young men who have laid down their lives.” The party asked him to keep in mind the safety of the leadership and asked him to consider about his advanced age. It reminded him of the task of organising the movement, about making the revolution a success and of the police torture but Baba ji stuck to his argument. “See, we are working hard for revolution. We should move forward to make it victorious. As we have already started the war why should we leave the area to avoid arrest by the police?” Baba Bujha Singh worked day and night to bring about a world of his dreams into reality. Though he held political classes throughout Punjab but he worked in Nawan Shehar-Kapurthala as he was the organiser of this area. When he came to know about the plans of the government to kill him he became more active. He further intensified his activities to enrol more people and to educate them while at the same time he got engrossed in serious study. He held classes of all the young people who were enrolled in those days. One such meeting was slated to be held in village Haripur* near Phillaur on the night of 27 July, 1970. [*Bhagat Singh Bilga says the meeting was to be held in village ] The niece* of his wife Dhanti was married to one Ajit Singh of village Nagar near Phillaur. [*Malkit Kaur, wife of Ajit Singh s/o Darbara Singh] Baba ji and Sarbjit Dusanjh had reached Ajit Singh’s residence before noon. Here Baba ji stayed for a few hours respite while Sarbjit Dusanjh headed towards Haripur to oversee the arrangements for the meeting. The police somehow received information about his stay at Haripur. It immediately laid siege of the village. Every kachcha and pucca road was barricaded by the police. They waited for Baba ji to come out of the village. At about 4 pm, Baba ji took a cycle and came out of the village to reach the meeting place. He took up a kachcha road to Rasulpur from Nagar. He was cycling by the side wall of the school when a police jeep came from behind and dashed into him. He fell down on the ground and the books he was carrying in a bag scattered all around. The police instantly caught him before he could get up. When he realised that he had fallen into the hands of the police he raised slogans “Inquilab Zindabad” and “Naxalbari Zindabad”. In a loud voice he told the passers by that he was comrade Bujha Singh of Chakk Mai Dass. The police tied him with his blue turban and the towel he was carrying on his shoulder. They pushed him into the jeep and also took away his bicycle and books. The police threatened the people who had seen all this happening and had gathered there. They asked the people not to talk about it in any way, and sped away. All this had taken only two to three minutes. The police took him to the fort in Phillaur where deputy superintendent Sadhu Singh was waiting for him. The policemen who were present there have told that the DSP had asked Bujha Singh, “What should we do to you?” Bujha Singh replied, “If you have become a superintendent from simply a constable then you must be the son of a poor family, you should release me. If you are a son of a landlord you should shoot me. I am your enemy.” The police officials started pressing him to divulge information about the leaders and other secrets of the party. He was then taken to police station Banga from Phillaur. They brought Nambardar of the village to identify him. Here he was put through the second round of interrogation. Not only did he not tell the police any secrets, he did not even revealed about the place of the meeting which he was to attend that night. Bujha Singh was tortured heavily. (As Com. Darshan Dosanjh stated). When the police could not extract any information from him he was lifted up by a policeman on his back and then thrown down flinging him over his shoulders with a thud. This kind of dhobi patka torture broke his backbone and he died. His dead body was thrown on the bridge at village Nai Majara (near Jadla, on Nawan Shehar-Chandigarh Road) on the night intervening 27 and 28 July, 1970. Next day, the police released the news that wanted Naxalite leader Bujha Singh was killed in a fierce encounter with the police on the bridge of village Nai Majara. The police stated that Bujha Singh along with his comrades Iqbal Singh Manguwal, Darshan Singh Khatkar and Surinder Ram Kariha, was going to murder Rana Moti Singh Jadla, the state congress president. It stated that the police had put up road blocks on all sides of the bridge and he was killed in the encounter.

Your Death Echoes --Sant Ram Udasi

There will be no day like this, There will be no night like this. Instead of you, we receive the news of your death. I see the moon Shining in the skies. Oh the wisest! You are no more, I can see you singing. O the people! The wolves won’t better your destiny. There will be no day like this, There will be no night like this.

I see the sun Clearing the mist all around. The wicked insect pervading the air Eats whatever comes across it. The clusters of stars foretell that The light is going to dawn. There will be no day like this, There will be no night like this.

O dear, why weep on my death? Take up swords and rise up!. Let us challenge the God who Ordains the birth of kings. Today we have to bow to destiny, To live our lives. There will be no day like this , There will be no night like this. Instead of you, we receive the news of your death.

After Martyrdom The police took away his body to Phillaur for post mortem in the morning of July 28. The news of Baba ji’s martyrdom had spread in the communist circles. The police terror loomed all over the village and in the area. The administration had ordered the closure of schools and colleges where the Punjab Students Union had its influence. The lawyers of Jalandhar declared a day of strike against this inhuman torture and demanded a probe into his death. Hundreds of people had gathered in Chakk MaiDass. In the noon, police came in 10 trucks and brought his body to the village. There were no clothes over the dead body. The police did not allow anyone to go near his remains and forbade people to see his face. The police had tried to cremate his remains forcibly. But the people resisted and argued with the police led by a SP. When the situation turned tense the police fled from the scene. The people who had come in confrontation with the police were communists, college students led by the Punjab Students Union and the landless peasants or agriculture ( Dalits) labourers of the villages. Baba ji’s daughter Nasibo and other family members were pained to see that the peasants for whom Baba ji had been working from 1934-1970 had kept quiet. They were busy working in their fields. Yugeshar Singh, brother of Baba Bujha Singh, and Ajit Singh, son of Bujha Singh’s another brother Lashman Singh, were in police custody. The people preserved the body with ice slabs. He was cremated the next day in his fields with a red flag wrapped on his body. The people saluted him. The people had dared to break the terror of the police. When a function was held to commemorate his martyrdom, people had assembled in a vast area comprising four acres. The Punjab Students Union organized strikes in educational institutions and held demonstrations in various cities and towns. Under the leadership of Baba Gurmukh Singh Lalton, the Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Committee Jalandhar, had formed an aid committee to help protect the democratic rights of Naxalite revolutionaries and militant students. This committee had Bibi Tejwanti Dhir (Nakodar), Ghadri Baba Hazara Singh Hamdam, Baba Kishan Singh Cheema, Baba Bhagat Singh Bilga and others in it. This committee raised its voice describing this act as police goondaism. The police arrested Baba Bhagat Singh Bilga. A number of lawyers came out to fight a legal battle against this fake police encounter. In the aid committee a team of advocates was active which was led by Darbara Singh Dhillon and having Harbhajan Singh Sangha, Hardyal Singh ‘Neta ji’, Tirath Singh and others in it. The district bar councils throughout Punjab came out against this heinous role of the police and organized strikes and passed condemnation resolutions against it. The bar councils of Punjab and High Courts and the Supreme Court supported these resolutions of the district bar councils. The advocates like Darbara Singh who were in the forefront of this legal battle made preparations to prosecute the . This mounting opposition to the killing of Baba ji forced the police not to take legal action against the lawyer community and also compelled it to release Baba Bhagat Singh Bilga. The members of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha Tarlochan Singh Riasti, Satpal Dang (CPI) and Dalip Singh Tapiala (CPM) demanded judicial enquiry of the police action. The chief minister of Punjab, , went to UK during those days. Powerful demonstrations against him were organized by the Indian Workers Association under the leadership of Jagmohan Joshi and Teja Singh Sahota during the public meetings in Southall and the gurdwaras in Birmingham. It was doubted that sarpanch Jasmail Singh of Nagar (Phillaur) was responsible for the arrest and murder of Baba Bujha Singh. According to the sources* of the party it was he who had informed the police about the whereabouts of Baba ji. [*As told by late comrade Thakur Dass and Des Raj Umarpura.] The police had also provided him with a rifle for his defence after the murder of Baba Bujha Singh. On the other hand, a team constituting Baba Bhagat Singh Bilga and Karnail Singh Phillaur had investigated this killing. They held that Sarpanch Jasmail Singh was not responsible for informing the police. This controversy went on for three years. In the end, the party came to the conclusion that it was Jasmail Singh who was the real culprit. This decision was taken under the leadership of Thakur Dass Kutbewal. The guerrilla squad of the party kidnapped Jasmail Singh from the well in his farm in the morning of June 4, 1973 and killed him. The lines** written by Pash were proved in this way. [**These unpublished lines of Pash were sent by Navrahi Ghugianvi] We will avenge your death O dear elder. From those who have killed The honour of our Doaba.

The Warrior Who Defied Death According to Karl Marx and Engles, the history of human society is the history of class struggles. This quote entails that the entire human society, except for the primitive communist society, has remained split into basically two opposing classes which have been struggling against each other all through. The experience of thousands of years and the gist of hundreds of thousands of books says this. One class is the master of state, wealth and means of production, this section of the people is called the ruling class. The second section constitutes the labouring class, which creates all the material goods and wealth of society. The things produced by the people are expropriated. Compelled by exploitation, oppression and repression the labouring class ultimately rises in revolt. A section of advanced elements that represents the aspirations, wretchedness, depredations, compulsions, and hopes of the people emerge in society and show the people a way for liberty, prosperity and emancipation by teaching them to rise from the ashes by understanding reasons of poverty, ignorance and misery. Baba Bujha Singh was one of them. Making revolution is not an easy task. It is not the work of some particular individual. Scores of devoted activists, fighters and intellectuals are needed for this task. These dedicated people amass resources and build institutions. In initial phases, revolutionaries like Bujha Singh worked hard to build Kisan Sabhas. Securing land rights for the tenants of Punjab was their remarkable achievement. He wished that there should be no discrimination in society concerning the division of resources, every family should have enough to eat and there should be no inequality in this respect, all should live in a similar environment of freedom. He made it clear that the freedom that had dawned on the country was a farce. He taught the poor all these things. He was a communist and a supporter of the struggle for a better life. He educated the people that all this could be achieved only in a socialist state. He inspired the youth to make revolution a success. To achieve this aim he could have done anything. He inspired legions of warriors for this purpose. He planted a crop of revolutionaries. They came up. What happened next? Bands of revolutionaries stood up to overthrow the British rule, and their next generation gave the Indian rulers sleepless nights. These groups of revolutionaries were embarking on big endeavours. The rulers got scared. When they realized that this will lead to their downfall they moved to crush them. They unleashed tyranny. The state tried to terrorize them and did whatever it could to break them. Many were killed. Not a trace of them was left. These kinds of times are always the testing times. Some people abandon the movement or look for middle paths but those who are staunch they defy death. They dare the state and become Bhagat Singh or Bujha Singh. Those who compromise are ‘pardoned’ by the state and become accomplices of the state power. But those who withstand the cruelty of the state remain unwavering till death. They had cut off a leg of comrade Darshan Dusanjh. He defined his relationship with the rulers—as an endless struggle against them. Bujha Singh did not even relent in his advanced age; he continued to be the enemy of reactionary state power. The state knew that he harvests a crop of revolutionaries. During his days in the Shahi Quila of Lahore he himself was a warrior in the battle. The cruelty which was let loose on him during those two months in police custody cannot be described in words. He experienced the extreme brutality going on in the world during those two months. The men like Harkishan Singh Surjeet did not have go through this kind of ordeal. They developed good relations with the Indian state and the state treated them as pupils of its eyes. Bujha Singh was a fighter of the war. He had started this war with all convictions and beliefs. If people like him were unsuccessful it does not matter anything. Revolutions result in achievements or suffer setbacks, the revolutionaries either succeed in overthrowing the state power or the state power destroys them. The party had fixed 1975 as the year of victory for revolution but the state proved stronger. Everything was ruined. Bujha Singh was martyred at the age of 82. But this warrior became an icon of the revolutionary movement in Punjab. His place in the movement is due to his devotion, perseverance, sincerity and sacrifice.

Teacher of Marxist Ideology Dr. B R Ambedkar and the mass organizations of the communists have given the slogan “Get Educated, Get Organised and Be in Struggle”. Baba Bujha Singh first came to understand this slogan during his days in Argentina. At that time the leaders of the Ghadar Party were busy making plans to overthrow the rule of the British in India. Teja Singh Sutantar was eager to organize a revolt on the lines of the Ghadar movement but bhai Rattan Singh Raipur Dabba stressed the importance of the above mentioned slogan. From this debate of ideas was born the policy of getting educated in Marxist ideology and training in the use of arms. This policy was started from Bujha Singh as the beginner. He led the first batch to Moscow. After that, many such batches went there. At that time, the leadership of the Soviet Union was keen to raise the flag of socialism throughout the world. They also had the experience of a victorious revolution behind them. They also had teachers of Marxist ideology. Those who learned from these teachers diligently became communists and remained so throughout their lives. Whether the students of these teachers were illiterate or educated they got a hard education from them. The teachers not only trained them in Marxist ideology but also made them literates. They published newspapers and magazines in the mother tongues of their students and in the Russian languages. Numerous Ghadarites returned to the country after learning and training in the Soviet Union. They wanted to educate the people of the country in Marxism first before they were brought into the revolutionary movement. Bujha Singh excelled all others in this task. He followed the dictum ‘Be Educated’. He imparted the knowledge to others which he had acquired. I have met many teachers of Marxism other than Bujha Singh. I have met many leaders and activists. All said that there was no one like Bujha Singh as a teacher. Even after 38 years of his murder I meet communist leaders or activists who have been his pupils. they were trained in Marxism by Bujha Singh. They all admire him as a teacher. Though there is an abundance of Marxist literature these days, and the many know English and use internet but they pride in the legacy of Bujha Singh as they had acquired knowledge of Marxist ideology from him. They see their ideological roots in the study Bujha Singh taught them. In the early years, there was a dearth of books in Marxist literature. Very little was available in our languages. The Russian books were translated into English. There was a ban on such literature in the country. In such conditions the people like Bujha Singh, who got their education in Moscow, acquire historic significance. There was not a single area in Punjab where he did not organize study circles. The leaders of the communist parties who now frown at Bujha Singh used to sit on his cycle while he drove them to the place of study circle. This does not mean that Bujha Singh knew all about Marxism. In fact his presentation was marvellous. He could explain Marxism and the politics of revolutionaries in a very simple and understandable way. When the Naxalbari movement started he took up the task of educating new fighters in communist ideology. He was very apt in teaching theory. He would teach theory in relation to the existing objective situation. In those times there were people in Punjab who were eager to learn Marxism. His words emitted fire. And enlightened too. That was why he was very popular as an orator. It was equally easy for a shepherd, a casual labourer, a peasant, and a university professor to understand his words. Whether was it a marvel of his skill or the Russian teachers? Whatever the case, he was an expert in this. He had the qualities of an activist, a leader, an intellectual and an orator. He left his large audiences spell bound due to this distinctiveness. The university and college students would wait for him to listen to him. Whosoever attended his classes would become a devoted revolutionary. Whether it was Darshan Khatkar, a medical student, or Baksheesh MorKariman, a student of engineering, or Ravinder Jagatpur, a student of DAV College Jalandhar, or others (this line is a long one), all were his good disciples. Either they were martyred or are still treading the same path on which Baba ji had led a whole generation. Bujha Singh, like many other Ghadarites and Kirtis, was not well educated as far as academic career was concerned but he always remained a role model for the youth in the revolutionary movements. Firstly, he sacrificed his life; secondly, he was a genuine Marxist. He was one of the few revolutionaries who introduced Punjabi society to the Marxist ideology. He not only brought communist ideas to this land, but also disseminated them. But the leadership of the Communist Party of India branded him a rustic and an ignorant man. They laughed at him saying, “He is an illiterate leader of the illiterate people.” They forced him and Gandharv Sen to go back to their homes. An ‘uneducated master’ became one of their cliché to refer to him. Taunted by the leaders, who were educated and in control of the party in the cities, he started to learn more about English language. He even used his time in England to learn it. Now when Amarjit Chandan denigrates Baba Bujha Singh and the whole revolutionary movement by writing pieces like Parsuram’s Axe, those leaders of the communist party who had been criticizing him all along relish it. But the revolutionary camp still respects him as a fine teacher of Marxism in spite of his limitations (which are usually the part of most of the revolutionary leaders). Now, when the revolutionary movement is on its ebb they remember him even more as a teacher.

An Embodiment of Revolutionary Culture Wherever Bujha Singh went he considered every home of the smpathisers as his own. To mix up with the women and children of the house was his first task. He mingled with them as a family member. He blessed every woman and loved children. He would always talk about useful things with them. He never hesitated. He shared every one’s happiness and sorrows. He became famous among these families. He always spoke in a polite way. It was his quality that if he could talk with the members of a family for quite a few hours. he would convince them over to his ideology. Bujha Singh and his wife both liked tidiness and cleanliness. In those days, generally, the majority of the peasant houses did not give much thought to these aspects. They lived in extreme poverty. Facilities were lacking. The people were not much educated and were ignorant. Even, they did not have enough clothes to wear. When they had them, these were usually soiled. They would wash their hair after a gap of many days and that too with butter milk or curds. Their hair remained sticky all along. Lice usually infected the hair. In fact, they had fixed days for bathing. But Bujha Singh and his wife were very particular about this. He took bath daily and never allowed a long gap to clean his hair. He wore khadi or simple clothes but these were always well washed and clean. When he was not working underground he used to keep a spoon in his pocket. He never talked with women in a loud voice. He would convince and inspire the families where he stayed to cultivate good habits about cleanliness, inspire them to acquire education, and eat, drink and speak in a cultured way. The committee had decided to provide him with a person who would pedal cycle for him because of his old age. This duty was performed first by Darshan Dusanjh and then by Sarbjit Dusanjh. Darshan Dusanjh says about him: “We had a long companionship with Baba ji and we learned from him the ways of living a simple life, and to live as the ordinary people live. He used to educate us about the hardships of underground life and taught us communist ethics and culture.” He was so devoted to the cause that he wanted to dedicate every minute of his life to it. He had the qualities both of an ordinary activist and a leader. He had the capacity to captivate any person. He told others not to leave the beddings and the cot unfolded when getting up in the morning. The bedsheet should be folded up and kept properly and the cot placed at the right place.” Bujha Singh always kept the book ‘Foundations of Leninism’ with him. He would ask his comrades to read it or he would explain it to them. He always emphasized the need of reading theoretical books for the whole timer comrades. He had joined the Congress Party in 1936. He used to wear khadi kurta pyjama as he was told to do so by the congress party. Afterwards, the congress men had abandoned khadi but Bujha Singh abandoned the congress though he continued to wear khadi clothes and maintained simplicity. When he went to England he purchased pants, shirt and necktie from the Godri bazaar (Dehli). He remained a friend of khadi till his death. In winters he used to wear a sweater. The sweater he wore during his Naxalbari days was worn out and had holes in it. Another garment he carried was a parna (simple plain towel). He used to say: “Don’t wait for bath soap. Take bath and rub your body with this parna. Do not tell anybody that I ate this from here and drank that from there.” These things are very important for the activists of the revolutionary movements. Baba Bujha Singh lives in the heart of the people due to this kind of communist life. It is more than a century now when he was born. Perhaps his relatives have forgotten him but he is still remembered by the people. He is a grand old man for the activists of the revolutionary movement. He is a guide for them. He is an apostle of revolutionary way of life. Today the communists are not popular among the people. One reason behind this is that the communists do not follow the communist culture he used to practice. Those communists who follow this tradition will remain as a fish in the sea of people.

Champion of Dalits The question of dalits is a very important and unique issue of Indian society. The caste untouchability is also present in some other countries but in India it has acquired a colossal magnitude and is very complex. In spite of this distinctiveness, the communist movement has not given due importance to this question. It is an historical fact that the dalit question was raised as a prominent political agenda by Dr. Ambedkar. Shaheed Bhagat Singh had taken up this issue in a basic and concrete way but he was soon martyred. When we take an overview of the movements in which the people like Bujha Singh had participated it is clear that these movements have opposed casteism and it was a progressive step, but we can see that there were no special tasks taken up to address the question of casteism. Yet, many communist activists and leaders like Bujha Singh had a sizable influence and respect among the so-called lower castes. He worked among the peasantry throughout his life but when the police forcibly tried to cremate his body, only the dalits came forward to resist and forced the police to flee. The dalits from the nearby villages had gathered and confronted the police while the peasants who had benefited economically from the struggles of the Kisan Sabha remained busy working in their fields. The support of the dalits was due to the fact that Bujha Singh was very close to them. The question of casteism and working amongst the dalit masses are two different things. The accusation that the revolutionary parties have done nothing for the dalits is an overstatement. This attitude is not truthful. These were the revolutionary parties which had popularized the question of distribution of land to the landless as a political issue. The annihilation of caste is a fundamental question for the democratization of Indian society, and without the redistribution of land caste oppression cannot be done away with. Most of the landless peasants in India belong to the dalit castes. Only the revolutionary parties are taking up the question of land distribution time and again. Baba Bujha Singh and his comrades had also raised the demand of distributing land to the dalits during the tenant movement. During his underground years, Bujha Singh usually stayed in the dalit bastis. Their homes were the places where he would hide himself. He ate food and had water from their houses and there was no place for untouchability. It was Rakkha Singh who had inspired Bujha Singh on the ‘right path’ and he also used to live in the houses of the dalits. Bujha Singh used to teach dalits. He always encouraged them to keep their houses clean, along with their bodies, streets and locality, and exhorted them to do common tasks collectively. He gave utmost importance to literacy among the children of the working classes. He inspired children to go to school and followed up every one of them to ensure this. He would give them small incentives to turn to their studies. When the Jatts would snatch implements and bags from the working dalit women who had gone out to collect grass for fodder he would stand by these women. “Where from these poor people would get the fodder? You should tell them that they should ask for it and not spoil the crop.” He would teach women how to cut fodder. The jatts had banned the so-called lower caste people from taking drinking water and water for bathing and other purposes from their water bodies and tube-wells, or they had kept separate utensils for them, but the tube-well belonging to Babaji was open for every one to drink water from and bathe. He used to convince others against untouchability and inspired the dalits. Discrimination was also prevalent among the so-called lower caste communities like , , nayees, chhimbas, lohars and other castes. He also used to talk to them to shun these practices. There were two flour mills in the area. One belonged to the family of Babaji. People from many villages would come to them to grind wheat, carding of cotton wool and to pound rice. His family would charge 8 paisa for grinding 40 seer (1 seer = .9 kg) of wheat. But from the dalit people they would charge only 1 paisa for 40 seer and never applied any cut for the bran. Once there arose a dispute on rice plantation. The peasants of Chakk MaiDass used to pay Rs. 42 for an acre of rice planting. In other villages the rates had gone up to Rs. 50 per acre. The agricultural labourers of Chakk MaiDass put up the demand for raising the rate to Rs. 50. The peasants of Chakk MaiDass refused to accept this demand. The issue became very hot. The peasants got enraged and gave a call of social boycott against the labourers. They put a ban on the working people to collect fodder and to go out to attend the call of nature. Bujha Singh asked the labourers to come to his fields for these purposes. He exhorted the peasants in the following words: “You eat because they labour. They have a share in your crop. You should pay them their due.” Similarly, there was a social boycott of the dalits in village Behram when they demanded more sheaves of wheat at the time of harvesting. Bujha Singh played a role in bringing both the sides to an acceptable solution and the boycott was lifted, as he had done in his own village. Once he took up the responsibility of being sarpanch of the village. He always sided with the poor while solving the disputes among the people. In those days, the jatts of the village used to ridicule Bujha Singh as “sarpanch of the chuhras and chamars”. Though Bujha Singh could not break the domination of the jatts nor did he intend to do this, the communist revolutionaries have not been able to smash this brahmanical power (jatt power), but the smaller tasks he had been taking up for the dalits had won them over to his side. So, when the time came they did not turn their back towards him rather took possession of his dead body. Next day, when he was cremated they wept bitterly as if someone from their ilk had passed away.

He Valued Women Power Though the male domination in Punjab is not as stark as in many other provinces in India, yet there is no significant movement of this half of society here. After being influenced by the communist movement many sensible women plunged into it as individuals and worked with undaunted courage. Still, a powerful women movement was missing, nor the communist movement could attract women, especially of the working classes, towards itself. Even during the times of upsurge in the movement this weakness was quite discernible. During the time of Baba Bujha Singh, the condition of women activists was rather disturbing in the organisations. The organisations had a very thin presence of women in their ranks and women’s main task used to be the household work. These services have no value. These will never be counted as a contribution to history. That is why this half of society has become the target of the market forces. We cannot see Bujha Singh in separation from the conditions existing at that time. The responsibility for the absence of women organisations lies with whole of the leadership. The women related questions, as these are being raised today by the NGOs, were not discussed in this way at that time, or it might have been the limitation of the movement of those days. That is why the movement could not address itself to these questions. It is said that those who come into the fold of the movement are more concerned with their own culture than the culture of the movement. If the leadership of the movement does not have a strong conviction on the issues of ideology and if it does not struggle against these alien trends in an uncompromising way these cultures tend to do damage to the movement. When we take a look at the culture prevailing in the house of Baba Bujha Singh we see that it was quite reactionary regarding the women issues. His background lay in the village Tutomajra (district Hoshiarpur). It was a village of the bigwigs. Their households had no respect for the women folk. The women were like things lying in the dark corners of the houses. Though the Manns from the Tutomajra village had built a new village named Chakk Mai Dass but they were quite traditional about women. Men completely dominated women. Women never ventured out of the four walls of the house. They were forced to live behind veils. They were to observe the same laws and traditions as was the case in Tutomajra. Baba Bujha Singh too was born and reared in a conservative environment. But his journeys to Argentina, Soviet Union and England and his fascination towards the Marxist ideology changed his viewpoint. His attitude towards women was very good. He never distracted from this attitude. He used to say: “Woman is the backbone of the house. The revolutionaries seek shelters in the houses of strangers. They should consider these homes as their own. Every woman should be considered either a daughter or a sister. First of all, the revolutionaries should win their hearts. They should win their faith.” Perhaps such ideas were the need of the movement but Bujha Singh really held them in high esteem. He especially respected his wife Dhanti. When I talked to Surinder Kumari Kochhar about Bujha Singh, she told me that Bujha Singh had these words for Dhanti, “I owe much to Dhanti. A woman can destroy or make a person. Great revolutionaries or men of letters are the contributions of women. Revolutionary tasks cannot be carried out without their help. Some women mar the potential of men while others help them. Dhanti did not accompany him when he went out to do revolutionary work, neither did she oppose him, rather she happily sent him off for the movement. She never became an obstacle in my endeavour, on the contrary, she shouldered all the responsibilities of our family. It was she who ran our family. First, she married off my brothers and sisters. Then she took charge of our children and did it well. She took care of all the comrades who visited our family. She gave them food and clothes. She never resented. She served them with ghee and shakkar. She never let others know about the grim conditions of our family. She faced harassment at the hands of police during police raids. She braved police abuses. Faced humiliation along with other members of the family. She had a brave heart. She was very tolerant. She remained alone throughout her life. She tolerated the insults of our children for my sake. She will be remembered for this.” When I asked her about women power, she showered praise on Babaji and Dhanti, “What is happening to women these days is not what women power is. You should look towards Durga Bhabi, or Gulab Kaur... and other women or Dhanti. They are the symbols of women power. If the women want to have a place in this world only this kind of power will help them and lead them on the path of emancipation.”

PART SECOND

ARENA OF ACTIVITY A brief account of movements/parties in which Baba Bujha Singh participated

Ghadar Movement

The British had occupied the Punjab in 1850. After the land reforms, the British started charging land revenue in cash instead of kind. The rate of land rent was so huge that the peasantry of the country came under debt and land started slipping out of its hands. Pro-British usurers and landlords made the peasants and artisans destitute. The people also had to face the devastating effects of plague and other natural calamities. As a result, the deprived peasants started joining army. The British government drafted Punjabis in the army and sent them to occupy China, Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, Burma, Singapore, and other countries. The wars took them to various countries. The army men came to learn about other countries. After flocking to Malaya, Philippines and China the Punjabis turned towards America and Canada. At the end of 19th century (circa1880) and the beginning of 20th century, the Punjabis went abroad. In these open societies they learned about the meanings of freedom, equality, and slavery. They took up struggles against anti-immigrant policies of the Canadian government. Organisations started coming up for the protection of rights of the immigrants. The Punjabis had gone to Canada, America, UK and other countries to earn livelihood through hard labour. They worked in these countries as labourers to cut jungles and prepare land for agriculture. But these societies humiliated them. They came to learn about the meaning of slavery in the meantime. Their perseverance, their struggles for rights and their inspiration to get freedom for their country led to the rise of Ghadar movement. The struggle for survival forced them to organise.

The immigrants from India organised themselves under the banner of “Hindi Association of Pacific Coast” on 21 April 1913 in Astoria (US). Later on, this association became famous as the Ghadar Party. Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna was elected as President, Lala Hardyal as General Secretary, Pandit Kanshi Ram Maroli as treasurer and Bhai Santokh Singh as Executive Committee Member of the association. In November 1913 the party brought out a cyclostyled magazine in Punjabi language and named it ‘Ghadar’. After ten days it was brought out in Urdu language too. Later on it was also published in Gujarati and Hindi languages. Lala Hardyal was Editor-in-Chief of ‘Ghadar’. From January 1914 onwards, this paper was published as a weekly in eight languages. was editor of the Punjabi section. The Ghadarites had given this name to the party by taking inspiration from the Ghadar of 1857. ‘Ghadar’ was not a paper of the Punjabis only but an international paper of all Indians there. This paper used to be distributed among the readers in foreign lands in a high missionary spirit. The publication of ‘Ghadar’ was an historic revolutionary event. The aim of the Ghadar was to establish a democratic state through an armed revolution. The constitution of the party had declared that religion was a personal affair. The party did not take as its members those who indulged in untouchability or believed in casteism. The members of the Ghadar Party headed towards India from various lands to fight for freedom of the country with a definite and clear political ideology. The US government asked Lala Hardyal to leave USA in 1914. After that, Bhai Santokh Singh took up the responsibilities of the General Secretary and the Editor-in-Chief of the ‘Ghadar’. The Ghadar Party raised a revolt in accordance with its plan. This February 1915 rebellion of the Ghadar Party could not succeed due to many reasons. But the sacrifices, martyrdom, torture and dedication of the leaders of the rebellion left a deep impact on the patriots. The Ghadar movement’s contribution to the national liberation struggle and the Indian politics is historic and fundamental. It propagated and practised a true and genuine concept of national liberation struggle. The impressions about the Ghadar Party are as follows: (A) It put forward a slogan to completely smash the rule of the British and their agents. (B) Secularism (C) Denunciation of Casteism (D) Armed Revolution (E) Internationalism, which they practised by coordinating and uniting with the nationalists and patriots throughout the world (F) They denounced reformism and legalism. Though they also supported the legal struggles for reforms but they were not for putting all the efforts and planning around these as a central task. The central task for them was making preparations for an armed revolution. These concepts are still valid for the revolutionary democratic movement. Initially, the Ghadar Party took its ideology from the French Revolution for Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood. After the October Russian Revolution, the Ghadar politics turned more radical. The Ghadarites drew a correct conclusion from the failure of 1914-16 Ghadar Revolution and the success of Russian Revolution that the Ghadar Party should take up the ideology of Marxism. The Ghadar Party was re-organised in 1919. It elected its President Bhai Rattan Singh Raipur Dabba and Bhai Santokh Singh Dhardeo as General Secretary. The split in the ranks of the Ghadar Party was put right and activities of the activists were encouraged. Its chapters in various countries were revived. The Ghadar Party chalked out a new program on the basis of Marxist ideology. To propagate this program the party published a magazine in English called “Independent Hindustan” from in September 1920. This magazine was devoted to the ideology of democratic revolution. Maulana Barkat Ullah was the first Ghadrite to reach Russia. The party sent Bhai Rattan Singh and Bhai Santokh Singh to Russia in August 1922 from California via New York to see the communist system with their own eyes. Their contact with the Russian leaders was established through a letter written by L.C. Viet, the Executive General Secretary of the Communist Party of USA. Both of them had reached the Russian capital Moscow on September 24, 1922. They stayed there for eight months and participated in the Fourth Congress of the Third Comintern that was held in Moscow, from November 5, 1922 to December 5, 1922. Here they met Zinoviev, Secretary General of the Comintern, Russian leaders and other communist leaders of various countries. This Congress had decided to form communist parties in the colonised countries to intensify their national liberation struggles. Both the leaders studied Marxism-Leninism in the Eastern University in Moscow. They were greatly influenced by the rule of the oppressed people and a system where no exploitation of man by man existed. They decided to establish a Soviet type political system. They chalked out a course to build a united front of the workers, peasants and patriotic forces for the establishment of the rule of oppressed working class. Both the leaders left Russia in 1923. Gurmukh Singh Lalton and Udham Singh Kasel had established an office of the Ghadar Party in Kabul (Afghanistan). All the four met there and held a meeting. They came to the conclusion that the failure of the Ghadar Party had its reasons in the absence of a solid political ideology and lack of political consciousness among the masses. They decided that before launching an armed revolution a party based on Marxist-Leninist ideology should be formed. The need of raising the level of political consciousness of the people was stressed. They took following decisions: 1. Bringing out a news paper 2. Propagation of Marxist-Leninist ideology, and 3. Formation of a Worker and Peasant party. For this, they assigned different tasks to themselves: appointed Udham Singh Kasel to organise co-ordination between India and Afghanistan; Gurmukh Singh Lalton to maintain a constant link with the Russian ambassador to Afghanistan, Bhai Santokh Singh to bring out a magazine in Punjab; and Bhai Rattan Singh to keep in touch with branches of the Ghadar Party in various countries to send cadres to Russia for studying Marxism and to organise the Ghadar Party on the lines of a communist party. Bhai Santokh Singh was arrested while crossing into India in September 1923. He was banished to his village Dhardeo (district Amritsar). When he was released in 1926 he launched a magazine named ‘Kirti’ with help from Dr. Bhag Singh Canadian and Karam Singh Cheema. The first issue of ‘Kirti’ came out on 19 February, 1926. The paper was oriented towards educating the Punjabi people about various workers movements going on in the country and abroad. When Bhai Santokh Singh died in May 1927, Sohan Singh Josh was made editor of the ‘Kirti’. ‘Kirti’ was the first Punjabi magazine that propagated complete freedom and socialist ideas. The revolutionaries in Punjab had to work hard to establish this ideological centre. After the Kabul meeting Bhai Rattan Singh went to Turkish city Istanbul to meet Teja Singh Sutantar. Sutantar was getting military training as a military graduate of the Turkish Military Academy (1924-1929). Bhai Rattan Singh contacted all the branches of the Ghadar Party from the party headquarters. The activities in Europe had again started. He started collecting money and sent it to India to the ‘Committee for the Help of Patriotic Prisoners’ and for the magazine ‘Kirti’. For studying communism, groups were sent to the Eastern University in Moscow. The first batch from California went to Moscow in 1926. It constituted five Ghadarites (Harjap Singh Mahilpur, Santa Singh Gandiwind, Pritam Singh Kasel, Karam Singh Dhoot and Prem Singh Chuhar Chakk). It was the responsibility of Bhai Rattan Singh to send groups to Moscow safely. He had close contacts with the US and German communist parties. These parties greatly helped the Ghadar Party, Bhai Rattan Singh used to be present at the ports where these groups boarded the ships or came back. He routinely sent the list of names of the persons who would leave for Moscow well before time. It was due to his efforts and inspiration that all the Ghadarites had visited Moscow till 1935 for training and education. It was very difficult to enter India directly from Moscow. Bhai Rattan Singh would bring Ghadarites from Moscow to via Germany. From Paris he would send them to India via Pondichery or Colombo. After having completed his military training Teja Singh Sutantar met Bhai Rattan Singh in Berlin and reached party headquarter in San Francisco on 14 December, 1929. A meeting of the Executive of the Ghadar Party was organised. It decided that Bhai Rattan Singh should visit branches of the party in various countries. And after this Teja Singh Sutantar should impart military training to these branches. It was also decided that the Ghadar Party should issue an appeal to go back to India and organise revolutionary struggle. Bhai Rattan Singh organised study circles in Ghadarite centres. He organised and expanded the party. Sutantar imparted practical guerrilla training to the ranks. The Punjabis living abroad were stirred up by Sutantar’s activities. In Argentina, Bhai Rattan Singh, Teja Singh Sutantar, Chacha Ajit Singh, Bujha Singh, Bhagat Singh Bilga and many other active leaders held many meetings. Sutantar and Ajit Singh had the opinion that Ghadarites should go to India for armed revolution after getting guerrilla training. Bhai Rattan Singh opined that the reasons behind the failure of 1914-15 Ghadar lay in the absence of a definite political ideology, lack of class conscious, and little cooperation from the people. So Ghadarites should draw lessons from that failure and should go to the Eastern University in Moscow to study Marxism and to acquire armed training. They should arm themselves with political ideology and return to India to build a mass based movement. The central committee endorsed the proposal put forward by Bhai Rattan Singh. After this, many leaders of the Ghadar party branches went to Moscow for training and education and returned to India. The revolutionary trend of fighting the war for independence which the Ghadarites had started was now preparing for its second edition. The history of Ghadar Party is full of great sacrifices. The Ghadarites faced untold and unbearable torture and repression but they never budged an inch from their commitment. They continued their activities in one way or the other.

KIRTI MOVEMENT

After the victory of the Russian Revolution in October 1917, there arose three centres in Punjab to associate national liberation movement with the communist ideology. (a) Hindustan Socialist Republic Army (Naujwan Bharat Sabha), (b) Kirti Party, and (c) Communist Party of India. In the Punjab, the communist movement started in 1926 with the foundation of Naujawan Bharat Sabha and the publication of Magazine ‘Kirti’. Though the Hindustani Socialist Republic Army related with Shaheed Bhagat Singh had played an important role in propagating the communist ideology in Punjab, but this organisation disintegrated soon under the vicious crack down of the government. The official Communist Party of India also tried to disseminate the communist movement in Punjab but it was the Kirti Party which was able to spread the communist ideology in a consolidated way. The slogans of “Inquilab Zindabad” and “Complete Freedom and Socialism” became popular in India. Naujwan Bharat Sabha had formed its units in Punjab, UP, Rajasthan, Bihar and Bengal. In 1928, the Sabha set its aims as complete freedom from the British and the establishment of a socialist society in the country. Naujwan Bharat Sabha and Kirti Party put forward clear programs of fundamental transformation of society before the people. In 1925, SA Dange, , and others were prosecuted for being communists. It was the first case of its kind. Before this, Bhai Rattan Singh Dabba and Bhai Santokh Singh were put on trial in America for being communists. The Ghadarites of San Francisco had launched a struggle against this trial. Agnese Sanedley was one of them who had started this struggle. This struggle had inspired many people to devote their lives for building a mature communist movement. Mass organizations started coming up after the publication of magazine ‘Kirti’. The Kirtis had declared that they had direct links with the Comintern and that Bhai Rattan Singh was their representative there. That they will form a communist party in India under their leadership. They reasoned that whosoever would work more will be recognized by the Comintern. The Kirtis who were preparing to launch a second Ghadar in India had launched the magazine ‘Kirti’ after getting Marxist education and guerrilla training from Moscow. This paper was started under the editorship of Bhai Santokh Singh Dhardeo, Dr. Bhag Singh Canadian and Karam Singh Cheema. This paper armed the Indian people with basic knowledge about socialism. There was a ban on bringing Marxist literature from abroad. The custom officials would confiscate all such literature. The publication of ‘Kirti’ magazine filled this gap. Because ‘Kirti used to be published in Punjabi and Urdu, so it had its reach up to UP, Delhi, Bengal and North Western Frontier Province. This magazine propagated communist ideology in Punjabi language. It gave a voice to the Punjabi people against the British regime through articles and poems. Those who professed communist ideology started gathering around ‘Kirti’. This magazine took up a leadership role. It played a leading role in imparting political consciousness, ideological understanding about communism to activists and inspired the launching of communist movement and brought them together ideologically. The Ghadarites and Naujawan Bharat Sabha came closer to each other. Bhagat Singh started writing in ‘Kirti’. ‘Kirti’ upheld the sacrifices of the martyrs, leaders and heroes of the Ghadar movement, Babbar Akalis, Naujawan Bharat Sabha and the freedom movement. It was ‘Kirti’ which worked for the spread of communist ideas in Punjab or Hindustan and laid the ground for the formation of the Kirti Party. The Kirtis started the campaign for spreading communist ideas through processions and conferences. Workers and peasant organizations were built around ‘Kirti’. They held big conferences. The issue of police atrocities and economic demands of the people were taken up. The Kirtis exposed the fraudulent policies of the British government and mobilized the people. According to Bhagwan Singh Josh, historian, the organizers of the ‘Kirti’ held a conference in Hoshiarpur under the chairmanship of Sohan Singh Josh, on 6, 7 October 1927. The Akali leaders (Darshan Singh Pheruman, Jathedar Udham Singh Nagoke, Giani Gurmukh Singh Musafir) offered to work for the Kirtis. The ‘Kirti’ team decided to build an organization under their patronage. In this conference these resolutions were passed: (a) A worker and peasant party should be formed for complete independence from the British. (b) A ‘Kirti Centre should be opened in every city. (c) Propaganda should be launched in support of the Russian and Chinese revolutions. (d) Land rent of small farmers should be written off. (e) Working hours in the factories should be reduced to eight hours. (f) Expressing solidarity with the striking workers of Kanpur. The Kirti Party was founded on the call of Sohan Singh Josh and Dr. Bhag Singh Canadian on 12 April 1928 at Jallianwala Bagh, in Amritsar. 60 delegates from various districts participated in the founding congress. The house elected Sohan Singh Josh as secretary, Abdul Majid as vice secretary, and a five member committee was formed to write a constitution for the party. The members included Kedar Nath Sehgal, Abdul Majid, Gupal Singh Kaumi, Hira Singh Dard and Sohan Singh Josh. The main points of the Program of the Kirti Party were—liberation from imperialism, abolishing feudalism, right to vote, civil liberties, eight hour working day for the workers, and many others.

During 1927-28, a powerful centre of freedom-loving forces (Naujawan Bharat Sabha and Kirti party) came into being which opposed communalism and imperialism. This not only indicated that the situation was getting radicalised to the left but also specified that in future the national movement will deepen further and get more advanced in the realm of ideology. The Kirti Party established close contacts with the youth through Naujawan Bharat Sabha. Bhagat Singh worked for the Urdu edition of the ‘Kirti; magazine. The Kirti leader Prof. Barkatullah worked among the Muslims and brought them closer to the Kirti Party. He made them aware of the October Russian Revolution of 1917.

A big caravan of Ghadarites came to India from Moscow in 1934 to organise a revolt in the country. This caravan included Teja Singh Sutantar, Bujha Singh, Bhagat Singh Bilga and others. These Moscow returned rebels strengthened the organisational structure of the Kirti Party. They made the state committee more effective and organised district units of the party. After this the Kirti Party took into its fold most of the communist forces working in Punjab. The Party played a powerful revolutionary role in Punjab which spanned an area from Peshawar to Delhi. These leaders had a powerful political legacy with them in the form of the Ghadar movement of 1914-16. They had a strong economic backing from the Ghadar Party and had such youth in their ranks who were ready to sacrifice themselves. The Ghadarites had shunned the line of individual annihilation and adopted the line of preparing the people for an armed revolution. The Kirtis went to the people to mobilise them for the complete independence of the country, to struggle for the freedom of political prisoners (which included the Ghadarites of 1914-15, the Kirtis, communists, heroes of the Naujwan Bharat Sabha, prisoners of the Martial Law, Babbar Akalis etc.) rehabilitation of confiscated land and property, debt relief, land to the tiller, stoppage of repression against tenants, right to organise unions, right to strike and struggle for just demands and many other such issues. The Kirti Party characterised this as a struggle for food, livelihood and freedom. The word goes that even the parties like the Congress Party and the Unionist Party had to corporate these demands of the Kirti Party in their programs.

The Kirti Party aroused and mobilised the people through wide spread activities on popular demands from the platform of its mass organisations. In this way, it had emerged as a strong organisation. Till 1939-40 the Kirti Party had built its branches on the state, district and tehsil levels. The party had 400 such activists who were always ready to take on any dangerous task at any time. These members were fully equiped with political line of the party. They were efficient organisers. They also held classes on Marxism in every district. The Kirti Party had organised militant volunteer core and guerrilla squads in preparation for revolution. The guerrilla squads had the responsibility to distribute party newspapers and literature. They also performed the duty to paint walls with slogans and defended the underground cadre. 18 of the district committees had built the guerrilla squad force. It had 300 guerrillas at its disposal. It established its contacts with persons in the army and had its army cells.

Outside of Punjab the Kirti Party had active comrades in 4 other provinces, including the North West Frontier Province. The committee of NWFP was very active. In NWFP it had work and influence among the people of Ataman Kheli, Bajouri and Mehmand tribals. It was with their help that the Kirti Party continued its contacts with the Communist International.

Till 15 August 1940, the Kirti Party had 250 of its activists and leaders in jails. 25 other Kirtis had been declared proclaimed offenders with prizes on their heads. Their properties were seized. The government had also issued arrest warrants against 150 more leaders of the party. There were thousands of rupees as prize on their heads.

Still, the Kirti Party realized in a meeting held in April 1940 that no unified communist party has been formed in India. The Kirtis and the national front are two groups. The Communist International recognises both of them. Whichever of the groups would work in an efficient way would get the final recognition as a communist party. In this way, the Kirti Party is the mother of communism in Punjab. It helped grow roots of communism in Punjab. It influenced the Punjabi mind. It attracted the Punjabi youth to its fold. The sacrifices, struggles and activities of this cadre force wrote a glorious historical chapter in the Punjab.

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA

The Kirti Party and the Communist Party united in one organisation on May 28, 1942. The Kirti Party and the CPI got united on the appeals of the Deoli Camp and Caimbalur jail inmates into one party but both the parts could not integrate in one organisation. The party organisation could not come out of internal squabbles. The worst result of this was the disintegration of the biggest communist organisation (the Kirti Party) in Punjab.

Though the unity was agreed upon by three sides (the prisoners of Deoli Camp, prisoners of Caimbalur Jail and the leaders working in the field outside) but in reality it was effected by the leaders in the jail. They were senior leaders. The central leadership had nominated the state committee. There was no proper coordination between the leaders in the jails and those working outside in underground conditions. The leaders in the jails were not in touch with the situation prevailing outside. They considered themselves to be the main leaders of the party.

The legacy of the Ghadar Party was with the Kirtis. As the Ghadarites had conducted revolutionary work in all the sections of society, they were a great force in themselves. They had a mass movement under their leadership. The CPI did not have such a mass following. The communists of the Kirti Party were a popular forces in the political arena. The persons belonging to the CPI had grudges against the Kirtis. The State Secretary Sohan Singh Josh was the main figure among such leaders. He was reluctant to accept the Kirti leaders as being communists. He considered the Kirtis as a rival force or just sympathisers and not the party members, or, they were just considered as activists working among the peasants. They were ridiculed as illiterates and novices. In this way, the CPI leadership did not recognise the Kirti Party as a fraternal communist organisation. The CPI group thought of itself as the real party and used to boast ‘we are the party’ and ‘our party’. The CPI leaders had personality conflicts.

The Kirtis were assigned difficult tasks and were put to test time and again. Their area of work usually went unattended. They were sent to far off areas. The areas where Kirtis had built their influence were not taken care by the CPI leadership. This led to alienation of the leadership from the masses. The Kirtis were not given opportunities to work with the people. They were forced to go back to their homes.

*The movement lacked ideological maturity. Bourgeois attitudes prevailed instead of communist openness. Many leaders betrayed Jatt arrogance.

*Organisational elections were held in the party in 1945-46. In the district elections the leaders of the Kirti Party got elected in a big way. In the state conference, the Kirti Party group had 229 delegates while only 29 were from the CPI who were supported by the central leadership. The central leadership got worried in this situation. They did not allow the election of members for the State Committee and delegates for the Party Congress. The central leadership expelled Dr. Bhag Singh, Teja Singh Sutantar and Ram Singh Dutt accusing them of anti-party activities and factionalism. To protest against this, a delegation of 11 members including Bujha Singh met party secretary BT Ranadive. The secretary of the party could not do justice to this delegation.

*The members of the state Secretariat did not do any work among the people and the lower ranks of the party. They sat in offices and indulged in academic debates. They considered themselves great intellectuals having all the knowledge of the books. That is why they always stressed the point that ‘illiterate’ Kirtis should be trained and educated.

The party had many other serious differences on various issues other than organisational matters:

*The policies of the central leadership of the CPI were reformist. The approach of the party secretary P C Joshi was pro-Congress Party and he followed Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru’s footsteps.

*The Kirtis had the vision of making the war for independence as a war of the people. For this they wanted to arm the people of India. CPI considered this as an erroneous approach.

*The Kirtis who had returned from Moscow did not abandon the Marxist ideology. They were not ready to make any compromise that would leave the establishment of the socialist model discarded. They neither abandoned Marxism nor stopped hatred against the state. *The Kirtis were against the establishment of Pakistan. CPI supported the demand of the Muslim League for a separate State of Pakistan. The Kirtis had the opinion that this was not the issue of national self-determination of the minority nationalities, rather it is Pak-Islamism. It is religious conservatism. It is communalism to divide the country and nation on the basis of religion. They said that the country can survive on the basis of a federal set up. The Kirtis rejected the thesis of Dr. Adhikari which gave legitimacy for the self-determination that would create Pakistan. Bujha Singh, Bhagat Singh Bilga, Gandharv Sen and Harbans Singh Karnana, who had opposed this thesis were expelled from the Party. These comrades had strongly opposed the decision of the party which supported the creation of Pakistan and had asked the Muslim comrades to join the Muslim League.

Tenant Movement in PEPSU

PEPSU Tenant Movement: The PEPSU Mujara Movement is a chapter written in golden letters in the revolutionary democratic movement of Punjab. This struggle was fought under the leadership of Lal Party. This party had broken away from the revisionist leadership of the CPI and taken up the task of building a basic revolutionary agrarian line. This struggle was basically different from the activities and tasks the communists had been taking up. This struggle was part of the situation that had arisen as a crisis in the aftermath of the Wold War Two and the upsurge that had taken place. Agrarian revolutionary struggles had arisen in many parts of the country. Significant among them were the Telangana struggle, Punapur and Vayelar in Kerala, Tebhaga in Bengal and PEPSU Tenant Struggle in Punjab.

The tenant class arose out of the continuous wars that had been going on among the rajas in the country. The rajas conquered lands and gave these to their generals and lackeys which included the land of many villages at a stretch. Also the rajas used to marry the beautiful daughters of the rich peasants and in exchange they gifted lands to these peasants. The British had gifted Murabbas (a rectangular or square tract of 25 acres) to officers who had shown bravery in the wars, lackeys and supporters of the state. In this way, the peasants could not remain owners of their own lands as decreed by the state. On the other hand, they got reduced to subjects and tilled the land as tenants. In this way, they were reduced to tenants instead of being owner peasants. The peasants who were landless were called mourusi peasants. The bisvedars used to receive batai(share cropping system) from the tenants. And in case the peasant was unable to pay batai to him he was evicted from the land. The non-mourusi tenants were liable to be evicted without any legal proceedings. In Punjab, other than Patiala, the bisvedari system was present in the districts of Lyallpur, Sargodha and Montgomery.

The mutual relationship between bisvedars and the tenants was of the nature of master and servant. The bisvedars used to oppress tenants in many ways. The tenant was at the mercy of the bisvedar and could not do anything without his orders. They even could not feed their cattle without paying fodder to the bisvedar. Their cattle was taxed. They could not take fodder, corn, barley and other crops to their homes. The henchmen of the bisvedars would search the bodies and clothes of the daughters, wives, women and children of the peasants. If one was found having something on her person she would be booked. These henchmen would ask the married women to lift their veils to confirm their identity so that their names could be entered. The bisvedars had prepared wooden stamps. The mukhtiar would place powdered clay on the harvested crop and stamp it with the mark. The bisvedars did not visit the fields for many days. If some animal would damage the clay stamp the bisvedar would not let the peasant have his share of the crop. The peasants were usually accused of stealing grain from the field and evicted as having committed the crime. The bisvedars had started the conkut system to get more share of the crop. According to this system a three member committee was formed to take stock of the standing crop that how much yield it would generate. Every committee was constituted having one member from the bisvedar, the other from the tenant and the third one appointed by the government. The member appointed by the bisvedar and the government member would evaluate the yield in an exaggerated way. The Patwari would note down the assessment of the committee in his records. The Bisvedar would ask the tenant to weigh the yield and ask him to deposit in bisvedars house. Many bisvedars would later deny that they had taken their share of the crop. They did not give any receipt to the tenant. Then they would go to the court and secure a decree in their favour.

During the a mujara (tenancy) reform movement started. This movement was started by the rich peasants of Kishangarh and . They formed an appeal group. This group would go to the Maharaja to appeal on behalf of the peasants. It would relate the stories of the atrocities of the bisvedar and ask for justice. The bisvedars were created by Maharajas. Usually, they were their relatives or the persons who would help them in running the state affairs. The Maharaja would not listen. Then this group started going to the officers of the British Empire. The Maharajas were aligned with the British Empire, so the British officers were not allowed to interfere in the affairs of the former. This reformist mujara movement died its own death. But later, the Kirti communist group, under the leadership of Teja Singh Sutantar, took up this movement in its hands. A ‘Mujara War Council’ was set up jointly by the communists, the congress party and the Parja Mandal movement and organised the tenant movement. The 1946 was the year of revolts against the British rule. This movement became a people’s movement. Clashes between the tenants on the one hand and police and bisvedars on the other became order of the day. The communal carnages of 1947 attracted the attention of the communists who were leading the tenant movement. They devoted themselves in the rehabilitation work for the uprooted people. On the other hand, when the country gained ‘independence’ the rulers united all the fiefdoms of the maharajas in Punjab into a PEPSU state. The maharaja of Patiala, Yadwinder Singh was made its chief. And a supervision regime was established under the chairmanship of Gian Singh Rarewala.

When the Lal Communist Party was formed in January 1948, forceful preparations were made for launching militant struggles. The party deputed all its forces into the mujara movement. The tenants were mobilised in a big way. Unity of mourusi tenants with the agricultural labourers was consolidated. The siri (labourer who worked with the tenant peasant throughout the year) was given equal rights over the produce along with the tenant. For this purpose, the demand to do without the share of the bisvedar was raised. The party demanded that the shopkeepers and the artisans and other sections of society who did labour for the village society for a share in the crop be also given land. The working masses were prepared for this struggle. In this way, the movement started uniting the peasant turned tenants, mourusi tenants, siri (permanent) labourers, shop keepers, and artisans and other working people. The movement refused to give any share to the bisvedars. The people banished the bisvedars and mukhtiars from the fields.

When the state announced that the tenants would get one third of the land they tilled, a spate of conferences and marches were organised in the villages opposing this decree. The people rose up in great numbers against this decision. Then the government accepted the party demand that ¾ of the land tilled by the tenants would be given to them. This emboldened the tenants. They intensified their struggle even more. In 1949, the Lal Party organised a convention in Tamkot under the chairmanship of Teja Singh Sutantar. This convention rejected the decision of the government to give ¾ ownership of land to the tenants. This further intensified the conflict between tenants and the government and bisvedars.

The Lal Party also initiated a campaign to occupy household lands of the bisvedars. In every village the tenants and agricultural labourers put up flags on the lands of the bisvedars by beating drums. This land was distributed among the landless labourers. The activists and people belonging to the Lal Party occupied the lands in Dalel Singh Wala and Bakhshi Wala villages. In rest of the villages the clashes continued. The goonda forces of bisvedars and police continued their attacks on the people. With these attacks they would usually destroy the crops, beat up children and women and leave. The tenants would again take control of the village. The women of the tenants too organised themselves to confront the police. Both sides fought pitched battles. The armed squads of the Lal Party fought against the bisvedar and government forces. Giani Bachan Singh was the commander of the guerrilla forces. The guerrilla forces snatched arms from the government forces and forced them to flee. In the armed squads there were Puran Singh Sirsiwala, Kehar Singh Bakhshiwala, Ishar Singh Tamkot, Pritam Singh Kishangarh, Pandit Bant Ram Alisher, Harbans Singh and Pakhar Singh of village Maheru, Nasib Singh Samra, and many other leaders. Many other comrades, including Gajan Singh, Atma Singh and Darbara Singh, were martyred in these armed clashes. The comrades who had escaped from Ludhiana jail also joined these squads. These included Gurcharan Singh Randhawa, Wadhawa Ram and Rajinder Singh Sareenh.

The Lal Party comrades had captured the lands of village Kishangarh. The police officer and bisvedar Siasat Singh was able to uproot the tenants with the help of the police and private armies from village Kishangarh and took back the possession of land. In this clash the police thanedar was killed. The government sent its army and surrounded the village. The army arrested Dharam Singh Fakkar and Mahinder Singh and broke their legs. Four members of the guerrilla squad including Ram Singh Baghi and Kapur Singh Biroke were killed by the army bullets. 22 leaders were arrested from Kishangarh and sent to jail after booking them under 302, i.e., murder case. The police roped in 45 witnesses to force death sentence on these jailed comrades. The party squads threatened the witnesses with guns and stopped them from deposing against these comrades. 24 arrested comrades were saved from gallows. The plans of the state to supress and uproot the tenants of Kishangarh did not succeed.

Like Kishangarh, there was a morcha (struggle) in village Bakhore Kalan where police and forces of the bisvedars occupied lands of the tenants but the guerrilla squads harassed them in such a way that the former had to abandon the village. The government had set up police posts in the villages in support of the bisvedars, which led to direct battles between guerrilla forces and the police. The bisvedars became victims of guerrilla forces. The police characterized these attacks of the guerrilla forces as robberies and slapped court cases against the guerrilla leaders. The bisvedars abandoned the villages and started living in the royal city of Patiala. The tenants took permanent possession of lands, which was later legalised by the PEPSU government. The mourusi tenants were given ownership rights without having paid any compensation. Siri labourers, artisans, shopkeepers and rural workers were also given lands.

When this struggle emerged and developed the political situation in PEPSU State was in a flux. Three governments were formed between 1949-52. The Maharaja of Patiala was embroiled in a conflict with the central government. The movement developed in the void of this political situation. The other reason behind this strong movement was the three pronged exploitation which the people had to face. The father of Captain , the ex-chief minister of Punjab was a prop of the English rule. The bisvedars, Maharaja and the British rulers had a close alliance. The people were being suppressed under the slavery of all the three. In this way, this movement developed as a movement against imperialism and feudalism. The third reason was the correct political line of the Lal Party.

This movement shook the foundations of feudal fiefdoms of princely states. This movement brought the question of redistribution of land on the political agenda for the first time in Punjab. This agenda was again taken up by the Naxalbari movement two decades later. The Lal Party had adopted a political and organisational line, which directed all the forces at its disposal against princely fiefdoms. It was due to this power that the movement took roots and developed towards victory. In India, there were 762 princely states that witnessed revolts. The Telangana Struggle that was against Nizam Hyderabad became famous internationally but the movement in Punjab could achieve positive results and solid achievements in a very short time. The loss of life and property was not huge in Punjab. The Patiala princely state had 784 villages under its rule. The people of these villages got 18,000,00 acres of land as a result of this struggle. The real force behind this victory was the popular leaders of the Lal Party. This movement had intelligent brains like Teja Singh Sutantar, Dr. Bhag Singh, and Baba Bujha Singh. It found its heroes in Dharam Singh Fakkar, Harnam Singh Dharamgarh, Jagir Singh Joga, and Gurbachan Singh Rahi Ugrahan. Giani Bhachan Singh Bakhshiwala, Kehar Singh Bakhshiwala, Pirtha Singh Kishangarh, Ghuman Singh Ugrahan, Pandit Bant Ram Alisher, Harbans Singh and Pakhar Singh Mareru, Naseeb Singh Samra, Ram Singh Baghi, Puran Singh Sirsiwala, Ishar Singh Tamkot, Kaur Singh Gaura, and many like them were the brave defenders of this movement.

On the other hand, the line of the central leadership of the CPI was capitulative. It forced the withdrawal of “the Great Telangana Struggle”. Its wrong line also led to the formation of the Lal Party. The Lal Party rejected the parliamentary path and upheld the line of armed revolution and applied it for the first time. This aspect of ideology led to the formation of the Lal Party and inspired it to take its popular wing to rise to the level of “Mujara War Council”. This struggle was fought under the leadership of “Mujara War Council” and not the Kisan Sabha. The tenants living in a vast area from the River Ghagar to River Satluj provided the popular support for this council.

The major shortcoming of this movement was that it did not have a good understanding of the agrarian revolution and the people’s war. That was why the land struggle could not be raised to the level of war for capturing political power. The second shortcoming was, as had been the case with other peasant movements, the only struggle for their own demands. The leaderships of these struggles could not establish a central command through coordination. Due to this, all the struggles could not be united into a single chain. A central revolutionary centre lacked.

In spite of these shortcomings and limitations the Lal Party could achieve a great victory.

Some other Activities of the Lal Party: the Lal Party also took up many other activities other than the PEPSU Mujara Movement. Here follows a brief information from the “Work Report” of 1950:-- *A magazine named ‘Lal Jhanda’ was published to propagate the line of the party among the masses. Teja Singh Sutantar was its editor and Gandharv Sen as manager. This magazine was published in Punjabi, Hindi and English languages.

*The police had arrested many people in the initial days when the party was formed. Comrades went underground. New shelters were established. The leaders and activists of the party changed their names and adopted new ones. Their lives went a transformation as demanded by the new situation. They were asked not to visit their homes and relatives. The party schooling was started to impart knowledge of Marxism and the politics of the party. Publication of literature was started for the party cadres. This literature included the classics of Marx, Engles, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and international revolutionary literature.

*The party built volunteer organisations along with the peasant committees.

*Peace Movement against war launched.

*The leaders of the Punjab peasantry worked in the but the tenant movement was fought under the banner of Mujara War Council.

*It worked in the organisations of Punjab Mazdoor Sabha and in the railways union.

*It organised its work in the Textile Mazdoor Sabha affiliated with the All India Trade Union.

*It worked jointly with the Congress party and the CPI in All India Trade Union and did not break away from it due to difference with them.

*Lal Party also organised a women organisation. It organised the women of PEPSU state for the mujara struggle. The women fought against the police and bisvedar’s goonda forces. They participated in many clashes. According to Bibi Mahinder Kaur of Amritsar, more than a dozen women activists worked as whole timers in this struggle.

*It organised the students.

*It also worked in the lower rank government employees like patwaris, clerks, chaprasis, teachers, policemen, lower rank army men, naval personnel, lower level staff and workers working in the air force bases. It also organised them in various unions wherever possible.

*It inspired education in the party ranks. And also, imparted them with all kinds of necessary training.

NAXALBARI MOVEMENT

The time between 1964 and 67 is considered the time in which the CPM policies became more exposed among the masses. In this period, the communists who had left the CPI on the basis of ideological, political and tactical differences and joined CPM got disillusioned with the new leadership. They thought that the new leadership was again treading the same old beaten path. The cadres took up a sharp struggle against its revisionist, opportunist ideological-political line and non-communist practices.

In 1967, a united front government was established in West Bengal in which the CPM was a participant and a dominant force. The CPM had declared and promised in its manifesto during elections that it will distribute lands of the feudal lords who had it in excess of the land ceiling act. With coming into power of the united front government, the sharecropper and landless peasants hoped to get land but the government did not keep that promise, as a result, the communist cadres became restless. The party had a strong unit and mass following in the Darjeeling district which was in continuous struggle right from 1951. After getting disillusioned with the CPM leadership these communists started organising their independent peasant struggles.

In 1967, the tea workers of the tea gardens of Siliguri went on a strike from March to July. The tenants refused to part with the share of the feudal lords. At many places the tenants occupied the lands after getting armed. This came up as an initial revolutionary model of the revolutionary peasant struggle. The land occupation struggles that had happened in the Naxalbari area was repeated in other parts of West Bengal. This became a movement and became famous as Naxalbari Movement. Charu Mojumdar, Kanu Sanyal and Jangal Santhal emerged as the leaders of this movement. The Chinese Communist Party hailed these developments as “Spring Thunder Over India”.

With this wave of occupation of lands the peasants faced the attacks of the combined private armies of the feudal lords and the police. With police repression the revolt spread very fast. As the party workers and people became the victims of a government dominated by the CPM, the two line struggle in the CPM became fierce. The CPM’s united front government received growing condemnation not only in West Bengal but also in other parts of the country. The revolutionary cadres and leaders started forming support committees in favour of the Naxalbari struggle. Scared by this growing revolt within its ranks the party leadership dissolved the Darjeeling district committee of party. The district committee established contacts with other rebellious cadres in the state and formed a coordination committee in 1967. This led to the spread of the movement in other parts of the state of West Bengal. Soon afterwards, the Naxalbari movement lit fires of revolt throughout the country. The slogan of “Naxalbari—The Only Way” found echoes in every part of the country. It worked as a uniting force for the revolutionary communists and on 3 November, 1967, an All India Co-ordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR) was formed which had representatives from 12 provinces.

Naxalbari is such a turning point in the communist movement that became a catalyst to bring back the movement from slumber. It not only effected a break with the mother party but also broke away from its ideological, political and tactical line and brought a revolutionary program to the fore. The Naxalbari revolt was not only a struggle that had broken the long accumulated ice of lethargy, rather it was a conscious attempt to break away the communist movement from the shackles of revisionist politics. On the international level, it was the result of opposing the ideological-political line of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and upholding the line of the Communist Party of China.

Setting up of the Punjab Co-ordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries

The armed revolt of the Naxalbari peasants also had an impact on the communists in Punjab. This land that has been a centre of patriotic and revolutionary struggles took its legacy further. The news and literature regarding the Naxalite movement in Bengal and Andhra Pradesh started infiltrating into Punjab too. The secretary of Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall, Baba Gurmukh Singh Lalton, the Ghadarite leader, started distributing literature about the movement to the communists in Punjab. He tried to form a support committee in defence of the Naxalite movement. But he could not succeed.

Many of the communist revolutionaries came out in support of the movement. They started gathering supporters for the movement. In , Professor Harbhajan Singh Sohi, Hakam Singh Samaon, Inderjit Singh Mansa, Bant Raipuri; in district Sangrur Jagjit Singh Sohal and others; Daya Singh, Master Hardev Singh Salabatpur and other comrades in Chandigarh-Ropar area became active in support of Naxalbari. In Ludhiana, Amar Singh Acharwal and Babu Ram Bairagi and others were supporting the movement. With these initial efforts and attempts at co-ordination, Hardyal Pooni, Darshan Dausanjh Baba Bujha Singh and Gandharv Sen of Jalandhar district also became active.

In a very short period, the support movement for Naxalbari was evolving into an active centre. In February 1968, a co-ordination committee in Punjab was formed on the active initiative of the leaders in Bathinda, Sangrur, Ropar and Ludhiana districts. Sri Gunna from Andhra Pradesh and Hans Raj Rehbar from Delhi came to Jalandhar to inspire comrades here to form a co-ordination committee and made arrangements for the Punjab comrades to establish links with the AICCCR as both these comrades were associated with the all India body. Comrade Daya Singh Kharar (Ropar) was made the convener of Punjab co-ordination committee that was formed in March. 1968. Babu Ram Bairagi (Ludhiana), Jagjit Singh Sohal (Sangrur), Bant Raipuri (Bathinda), Baba Bujha Singh (Jalandhar), Gandharv Sen (Jalandhar) Darshan Singh Baghi (Sangrur) Tara Singh Madoke (Ferozepur), and Santokh Singh (Amritsar) were elected members of the committee.

The Activities of the Punjab CCCR

The co-ordination committee took up many tasks soon after its formation. In the initial phase, they took up activities related with land, workers demands, and student demands.

After the formation of the committee of the Naxalites the state committee of the CPM affiliated Punjab Students Union came out in support of the Naxalbari movement under the leadership of Darshan Singh Baghi. The student organisation was activated with the co-ordination committee putting its full support behind it. The student struggles became a source of inspiration for the student community. On the land issue, four areas were marked in Punjab. The all India co-ordination committee had directed that Naxalbari type struggles should be launched in every region. The committee decided that the lands of feudal lords and usurers should be confiscated and then distributed among the oppressed people. The Punjab committee followed the direction of all India committee and occupied lands in Bhikhi–Samaon (near Mansa, then Bathinda district) and in Quila Hakiman (Sangrur) under the leadership of Hakam Singh Samaon. In Ropar, it organised workers in Birla Seed Farm and launched a struggle under the leadership of Daya Singh. Gandharv Sen led the struggle of tenants against the landlords in Hajipur Mukerian and the adjoining villages of Himachal Pradesh.

Foundation of the CPI (M-L)

The history of revolution took an historic turn with the Spring Thunder of Naxalbari over the Indian political scene. The leadership of the toiling classes of society launched a war for liberation, freedom and prosperity of the mankind. The struggle, which started at Naxalbari on the question of harvesting of crop and the issue of land, transformed itself into a war for usurping state power. The AICCCR, in which 12 states had participated, was formed on November 3, 1967, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) was founded on 22 April, 1969.

Before the party was founded the co-ordination committees at tehsil, district and state levels were transformed into organising committees. Similarly, the members of the Punjab co-ordination committee were converted into an organising committee. This was effected in a meeting held in town. Comrade Daya Singh Kharar was elected state organising secretary of the CPI (M-L). Before the formation of this committee, Tara Singh Madoke (Ferozepur) had left the movement.

On 22 April 1969, the formation of CPI (M-L) was announced in the West Bengal city of Calcutta (now Kolkata). In this political conference more than one lakh people had gathered. On this day, the Political Resolution was put up. In the resolution, the significance of building a guerrilla war for a New Democratic Revolution of the revolutionary peasantry under the leadership of working class was stressed upon. The resolution promised to establish a new democratic state under the leadership of the working class. The gathering took a pledge to fight for the complete liberation of the oppressed working people. And the immediate task of building the party was stressed.

The Party Congress, May 1970 After the formation of the CPI (M-L) on 22 April 1969 the Eighth Party Congress, or the first Congress of the Naxalites was held in Calcutta (Bengal) in May 1970. A 21 member Central Committee was elected in this congress and comrade Charu Mojumdar was made its General Secretary. This congress was held after completing state party congresses. Comrade Jagjit Singh Sohal was elected the secretary of the state organising committee in Punjab after the martyrdom of comrade Daya Singh. The state congress of the Punjab province could not be held in Punjab due to police repression, so it was held in Delhi which was attended by comrade Charu Mojumdar and other central committee members. Jagjit Singh Sohal was elected state secretary in this congress. Baba Bujha Singh, Gandharv Sen, Inderjit Mansa (advocate), Bhola Singh Gurusar, Ujagar Singh (party name Sham Singh Chopra) Mahmadpur (Sangrur) and another comrade were elected as members of the state committee. This congress elected Baba Bujha Singh and Jagjit Singh Sohal as delegates for the central party congress.

PART THREE

Some other Details

Appendices Appendix--1

FILE IN THE INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT INDIA OFFICE RECORDS BRITISH LIBRARY, LONDON Bhagat Singh (Bilga) and Bujha /Singh Activities in Argentine File no. L/PJ/12/490 Appendix —A 19. 6. 35 My dear Johnston, A Sikh named BHUJJA SINGH of village Chakmaidas, district Jullundur is reported to have returned to India from Moscow about six months ago. There is a suggestion that he may have been in the Argentine before proceeding to Moscow. I should be much obliged if you would ask the Foreign office to enquire from H. B. M. Ambassador in Buenos Aires whether any trace can be found of any BHUJJA SINGH, formerly in the Argentine, who might be identical with this person. If the information is correct, BHUJJA SINGH wouId presumably have left the Argentine for Moscow some time between 1931/4, and most probably in 1932/3. There is a record of a passport issued in Shanghai No. 6034, Dated 2nd September 1929, to a Bhuja Singh, son of Tharm Singh, born at Chakmai Das, Ferala, district Jullundur, in 1903. This passport was made available at the time of issue in 1929 for the British Empire, Japan and Panama. It is not known at present whether these particulars relate to the Person with whom we are now concerned, but it might be worth mentioning them to H.B.M. Ambassador, Buenos Aires. It is Just possible that Bhujja Singh may have been in some Part of America other than the Argentine: I suggest according that a copy of the F.O. letter to the Argentine be Sent to Rio de Janeiro and Panama in order that Similar enquiries may be made at these centres. Yours Sincerely, Signature Chief of Identification.

Appendix –B Enclosure in Buenos Aires despatch no.289 of August 16th, 1935. TRANSLATION office of Chief of police. STATEMENT OF INFORMATION 542 1935 regarding B H U J A S I N G H Son of Dharam Forehead : straight medium And of Je Kor Eyebrows : arched, far apart Nationality : British Indian Eyelids : well open Town : Chak Mai Das colour of eyes : dark brown Born : 19th December 1903 Nose (outline; straight base:horizontal) civil status : Married Reads and writes : Yes Mouth : medium Profession : Day-labourer Lips : medium Domicile : Av. Alberdi 26. Chin : short Height : 1. 72 centimetres Ears : medium Physique : Medium Fingerprint Identity No. V 4444 V 4442 10 01 Colour of skin : dark Colour of hair : black Colour of beard : clean shaven His antecedents as recorded in statement No. 297318 section (?) of this Division on this date are :- The applicant was identified on the 6th November 1930, on applying for a ''Cedula de Identidad" (Identity card). RELATIONS Name Relationship domicile Laj man Parents in Europe Tejisi Brothers in India Ober " " " Gotyur " " " Buja Singh wife " " Jardos son '' “ Rosario, August 2nd 1935 (agd) illegible Chief of Identification

Appendix —C

P & J (S) 832 1935 16. 9. 35 Mr. Johnston I should be glad if you would refer to Buenos Aires Dispatch No. 289 of the 16th of August, 1935, (which is in reply to your letter to the Foreign Office P. & J. (S) 342 of the 26th June, 1935) regarding BHUJA SINGH of village Chakmai Das, district Jullundur. From the particulars which have been supplied it seems very likely that the BHUJA SINGH referred to in H.B.M. Ambassador's Despatch, is identical with the man who is believed to have been working for the Communist International in Moscow. In thanking H.B.M. Ambassador for his useful information, would it be possible to ask him whether inquiries could be made in Rosario with a view to ascertaining the date on which BHUJA Singh the Argentine and whether there is any record of his destination or the route by which he traveled? Signature

Appendix –D

SECRET Mr. Johnston In my minute No. 2387 of the 16th of september, 1935, I asked you whether H.B.M. Ambassdor in Buenos Aires could be requested to institute inquiries in Rosario with a view to ascertaining the date on which BHUJJA SINGH of village Chak Maidass, district Jullundur left the Argentine for Europe enroute for MOSCOW, and the route by which he travelled. You wrote to the Foreign Office on this subject on the 5th of October, 1935 (P. & J.(S) 832/1935). but so far, no reply has been received from Buenos Aires. It has since been learnt that BHUJJA SINGH sailed from Buenos Aires for Hamburg probably in march, 1932. He was accompanied by TEJA SINGH SUTANTAR alias TEJA SINGH AZAD (as far as Rio de Janiero), CHINTA SINGH (of village Bandala, district Jullundur) and two others. CHINTA SINGH has already formed the subject of correspondence with H.M. Ambassador in Buenos Aires and separate inquiries are being addressed to him about the other two sikhs. CHINTA SINGH secured a passport in Rosario on 6 . 3 . 32; consequently he and his friends must have sailed subsequent to this date. In this connection, it may be observed that the Hamburg-American S.S. ''Gen. Osorio" left Buenos Aires for Hamburg on 15 . 3. 32. I shall be much obliged if H. B. M. Ambassador could from these particulars, ascertain the name of the vessel by which these five men travelled. I suggest that a copy of the letter to Buenos Aires should be sent to Pannama, who were asked at an earlier stage to make inquiries about BHUJJA SINGH. There is nothing to show that BHUJJA SINGH or any of the persons mentioned in this letter, visited Panama. Signature Chief of Identification.

Appendix —E

Copy No.5 Confidential BRITISH CONSULATE ROSARIO. 23rd March, 1936. Sir, With reference to your confidential despatch No. 10 of the 20th instant, relative to certain British Indians, - and to your confidential despatch No. 21 of the 14th November last, I have the honour to report as follows :- Bhuja Singh s/o Dharm Singh. He was summoned on 10th December last to attend at this consulate, nominally for the purpose of re-registration but actually for interrogation. No response was received, no trace of this man found and it is much regretted that, through an inadvertency you were not notified at the time to this effect. From enclosure No. 1 to your despatch No. 8, confidential, of the 13th March, 1936, it is observed that this man is ''now in India". Police particulars enclosed with my despatch No. 10 of the 7th August last stated that he had applied to them for a ''cedula" on 10th November, 1930. He was registered on 3rd November, 1930 and has not, to the best of my knowledge, since visited this consulate. The passport then held by him was No. 6034, Shanghai, 2nd September, 1929, i.e. valid until 2nd September, 1934 so that he could have travelled in 1932 on that passport and the records of this consulate show no passport issued or renewed to him in the last three years. His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador, Buenos Aires.

Appendix —F

SECRET 11th May, 1936. Mr. Johnston. Please refer to H.B.M. Ambessador, Buenos Aires' despatch No. 111 dated the 2nd of April, 1936, which formed the enclosure to the Foreign office letter A.3513/208/51 dated the 1st of may, 1936. (P.& J.(s) 366/1936). H.B.M. Ambassador, Buenos Aires, may like to know that it has now been ascertained that BHUJJA SINGH son of Dharam Singh of village Chak Maidass, district Jullundur, accompanied by CHINTA SINGH, son of Sunder Singh, Village Badala, district Jullundur, PURAN SINGH of village Rurka Kalan, District Jullundur, and JOWAND SINGH of near Dhariwal, Kapurthala, arrived in Hamburg from Buenos Aires by the s.s. "Bayern" on 3.5.32. This vessel which belongs to the Hamburg- America Line is not shown in the sailing list, and is presumably, therefore a cargo-steamer., TEJA SINGH SUTANTAR (also known as TEJA SINGH AZAD) is understood to have accompanied them as par as Rio de Janeiro on the same vessel. He disembarked at Rio de Janeiro and sailed for Europe by a later steamer. He was presumably travelling on a Turkish passport in the name of TEJA SINGH AZAD. All these five persons are now in India. Signature JGW/

Appendix —2

The work areas of the Kirti Party and the CPI in the eyes of the intelligence wing (from the Home Department (Political) File No. 216/1940)

Appendix –3

Members of the Kirti Control Board Karam Singh 'Chima' (Ghadr Director K-20) Muvarik Ali Saghar (Punjab List 315) Bhujja Singh (Ghadr director-B-88) Achhar Singh "Chhina" (-do- A-7) Bhag Singh Canadian (-do- B-47) Bhagat Singh 'Bilga' (Punjab List 61) Munshi Ahmed Din (-do- 6) Indar Singh (Ghadr Dircotory X-13) Mohan Lal 'Berosgar' (Punjab List 310) Santa Singh (Ghadr Dircotor S-18) Sher Singh (-do- S-43) The above cantrol Board was replaced by the Kirti Lehr Managing committee (editorial Board) towards the end of October, 1938, Consisting of- Harminder Singh sodhi (Ghadr Director M-2) Karam Singh 'Dhut' (-do- K-22) Dulla Singh (Punjab List 115) Gurcharan Singh Sainsera (-do- 148) Ram Singh Dutta (-do- 384) Bharat Singh B.A. LL.B. (U. P. List 16) Dr. Bhag Singh (Ghadr Director B-46) { Home Department (Political) File No.216/1940}

Appendix —4

(A) Letter Written to the Chief Secretary of State 1. Sir, I was arrested in Amritsar on 27 October1935 and was sent to Shahi Quila, Lahore on 28 under Criminal Law Amendment Act. After one day, that is on the 29th, I was produced before Sayyad Ahmad Shah, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Bakhshi Sampooran Singh, Inspector CID and an English officer who was called Zincon. They asked me some questions about religious ceremonies and they exhorted me to follow the religious code as a staunch follower. At the time we were departing, the above said English officer while addressing to the representatives of the state, said, “Ask sub-inspector Dyal Singh, alias Gurdyal Singh, that he… He…should remove the insect of communism from his head.” 2. Sub-Inspector Gurdyal took my charge on the 30th and started writing my statement. I answered all his queries in accordance with what I had in my memory or whatever I knew. After the full day of interrogation I could gather that Gurdyal Singh was not satisfied with my answers. Next day, when he came to me, his attitude was quite different from the previous day. Gurdyal Singh time and again stressed that I should say whatever information he wanted from me, I told him that I was telling him the truth. 3. When on 1.11.1935 I got tired of answering their repeated questions then I said in front of deputy superintendent Taj Din that “I still think that this is my statement which I have already given. I do not want to make any amendments in it as my head is aching. So, I should be allowed to have some rest and no more questions should be asked.” (I have already written to the Secretary what they had said to me in response to this.) After coming back from the quila it has not only become difficult but impossible for me to walk and do any work. 4. It is not good to put a citizen behind bars and put on trial without telling him about accusations one has against. This is not a rare thing. Hundreds of inmates in the fort have taken their own lives after suffering from incarceration woes. Only yesterday, a Chakrvarti who was banished to his village committed suicide by tying a rope around his neck but do not expect Bujha Singh to do this. The Criminal Law Amendment Act is a direct attack on the personal freedoms of a person. Thousands of people in the whole of Hindustan are being victimised under it but the Punjab police seems still unsatisfied from it. It is bent upon…the political prisoners in every way and using every method. Dozens of activists who were doubted about having communist ideas have been arrested and sent to the fort only in one year. What happens to them there is the same as has happened to me, and then they are banished to live in their village. There they are banned to express themselves in word or writing so that they should not speak against it when they come out. That he is unable to seek doctor’s advice. That he is unable to avail any cure for himself because the English government is so benevolent that there is no doctor available for even ten miles from a village. The government itself is going against its own laws. Had the government any faith in its own laws it would have withdrawn case against Teja Singh Azad (Sutantar), a writer, and not made him a royal prisoner. In the Bombay Case against communists, it would not have confiscated the money it had to return back to the accused, etc etc. With the incarceration of Bujha Singh the worker peasant movement has not stopped, on the contrary, Bujha Singhs have come up in many villages and houses. It is proved by the fact that 24,000 peasants assembled in the peasant and workers conference in Cheema Kalan. The government is bent upon destroying the communists. They are considered enemy number one. But if the government really wants to destroy communism, it should destroy the real reasons behind starvation, sufferings, poverty, unemployment and slavery, which provide the basis for the spread of communism. The people look towards communists with respect, love and sacrifice while the government looks at them with hatred and enmity. If the government considers communists as enemy number one, the people consider them as liberators and the only alternative. (Kirti Amritsar, 31 July, 1936, page 6 and 12)

(B) Gathering of Political Defence Committee

A meeting of the political prisoners Defence Committee was held in Amritsar office of Desh Bhagat Parivar Sahayata Committee, Amritsar, on January 20. In this meeting, rules and sub-rules of the committee were laid down under which the defence of the ‘Political Servants’ was to be taken up in the courts without any religious discrimination.

This committee had its office bearers as described in the follow:

1. Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna, President, 2. Sathi Sajan Singh Margindpur, Secretary, and 3. Sathi Gurdit Singh, Treasurer. Following resolutions were passed in this meeting:

1. The committee is deeply pained to learn about the content of the letters that Bujha Singh Chakk Mai Dass, District Jallandhar, and Sathi Dulla Singh, Jalaldiwal, princely State Patiala, have written to the higher authorities of the Punjab Government, after their arrest. The committee demands from the government of Punjab that there should be an open enquiry of the accusations against the responsible officers and they be given punishment accordingly. Moreover, proper steps should be taken to stop tortures.

2. We sympathise with Sathi Dulla Singh and Sathi Bujha Singh who have suffered this travail.

3. An appeal to all the editors of the newspapers was sent asking them to write against the tortures the political activists are subjected to after their arrests and should press upon the government to stop future tortures.

4. The committee is of the opinion that the government has obstructed the work of the defence committee by arresting the secretary of the committee, Jaswant Singh Kairon, as he was an active member.

(Kirti, Amritsar. 9 February, 1936)

(C) Strange Investigation

Jalandhar:--the CID officers have been often harassing Sathi Bujha Singh by interrogating him for the whole day. Bujha Singh was arrested from the office of the Sahayata committee and jailed in Shahi Quila Lahore for two months, and later on, banished to his village. The comrade says that many a times he has told the officers in the Quila whatever he had been doing. Still, they are not satisfied and hound him. Whenever comrade Bujha Singh went to his fields the officers too would accompany him, so he was unable to do any work for his family.

(Kirti, Amritsar, 20 March, 1936)

(D) It is Enough Now Comrade Bujha Singh of Chakk Mai Dass, district Jalandhar, was arrested by the CID Punjab when he had come to see the festival of Diwali in Amritsar from the office of Desh Bhagat Parivar Sahayata Committee. The CID had taken him to the Royal Fort in Lahore. After keeping him in the Quila for two months he was banished to his own village which he was not allowed to leave. The news went around that all his tasks were being disrupted as the CID continuously watched him.

We do not know what the CID had been doing for two months when the comrade was in Shahi Quila Lahore if his interrogation was still not complete. It seems that the CID was busy in other things rather than asking him the questions about what it had wanted to know. Was it not busy in the things about which the comrade had written to the Home Secretary, Punjab, and the things which were related to torture and travails and which are yet to be debated in the Punjab Council.

Right, the CID was busy in other things during that period and now it was staying in his village harassing and humiliating him, and this is the worst thing. This is disrupting his day-to-day life and makes difficult for him to earn something for his family. Some economic activity must go on.

If the CID must go on interrogating him daily it should give him a minimum allowance to live on so that he is free to answer the daily queries of the officers.

(Kirti, Amritsar, 20 March, 1936.)

(E) Comrade Bujha Singh and the Police

Comrade Bujha Singh, who was arrested under black laws and kept in for two months and then banished to his village, says that the police are harassing him without any reason. The special police of Lahore have been harassing him and these reports have regularly been published in the Kirti. Now we again have come to know that the thanedar of Banga police station went to the Chakk with some constables and interrogated comrade Bujha Singh for the whole night. Comrade was not allowed to sleep during the night. This has caused disturbance in his agriculture activities. There is no clause in any Act of the constitution which allows such kind of harassment. Are the police prejudiced towards the above said comrade, or is it coming up with a new conspiracy against him.

(Kirti, Amritsar, 15 May, 1936)

(F) Producing Him in the Court of Additional District Magistrate, Jalandhar

Jalandhar: -- The case of Bujha Singh Chakk Mai Dass was put for a hearing in the court of additional district judge, Jalandhar at 2 pm on July 11, 1936. There was a fairly good crowd in the court. Among them were: Baba Karam Singh Cheema, Master Gajjan Singh, comrade Nirmal Singh, Maha Singh, Taita Singh, Inder Singh Kirti, Didar Singh, Secretary of the Desh Bhagat Parivar Sahayata Committee, Amritsar, Bachan Singh. Advocate had appeared from the side of Bujha Singh. Comrade Didar Singh, Chakk Mai Dass, told the court that his fields are close to those of Bujha Singh. Didar Singh used to work in his fields. There was no jalsa (conference) in Chakk Mai Dass; neither Bujha Singh ever went outside of the village. Ujagar Singh’s daughter is betrothed to a person in our village. He has never come to our village now. But he meets me if he ever comes to our village. The police had come to our village but it had never talked to me. I have seen the conferences but never participated in them.

Comrade Balwant Singh of Chakk Mai Dass said that his cattle den is close to the fields of Bujha Singh. Way to Bujha Singh’s fields passes in front of his den. I always live there to attend to my cattle. No conference was held in our village. I have seen a conference in village Cheema. Police has never enquired anything from me. But it had come to our village.

Comrade Karam Singh Chakk Mai Dass deposed that his house is situated on the way to village Sarhala Ranuan. We tie our buffaloes under the acacia tree. The land there is neither flat nor rocky. My fields are located beyond the well of Bujha Singh. I always walk past his well. In our village a conference has never been held.

After this, the next witness is to be heard on July 27, 1936. And the next witness is Ujagar Singh Bilga.

(Kirti, Amritsar, 17 July, 1936)

(G) Bujha Singh’s Statement in the Court I assert that the accusations about me are all fake. Right from the time I had been banished to my village I have not attended any conference nor endorsed it. Not only this, I declare that no conference has been held in my village Chakk Mai Dass on May 19, 1936. They have concocted up a story about a conference only to book me. All the witnesses of the so-called conference are working as police agents. The real thing is that not only my life and property is at the mercy of this police, which is the alleged protector of peace, but also the life and property of 35 crore Hindustanis. Not only I but thousands of leaders of the workers and peasants who want to see their country free are facing difficult conditions in the jails and that too without any trial and without specifying any charges against them. All have been caged in the jail cells or banished to their villages and localities for indefinite times.

I am not surprised being roped in this case because I knew about this when I was kept in the Lahore Quila for two months, (October to December) under the lawless black law (Criminal Law Amendment Act).

The thing they told me at the time I left the Quila has proved right now. The letter I had written to the Chief Secretary about the officer in the jail… (The judge stopped the reading of the statement which Bujha Singh had submitted in writing also, and filed it).

(Kirti, Amritsar, 31 July, 1936, page 12)

(H) Six Month Jail for com. Bujha Singh

The case against Bujha Singh Chakk Mai Dass resumed on 31 July in the courts of ADM. Ujagar Singh Bilga, deposed in the court that he had not visited Chakk Mai Dass for the last one year nor he had made any speech. In answer to the questions by the state advocate, he told the court that his mother’s and Bujha Singh’s mother belonged to the same village, that is why he knew Bujha Singh. He and Bujha Singh had never worked together. That Ujagar Singh came to know about the arrest of Bujha Singh from the newspaper. After this, the advocates from both the sides debated on the case. Bujha Singh’s advocate said that no conference was held [in Chakk Mai Dass] and Bujha Singh had not participated in any such conference. The advocate from the government side also spoke about one or two things. Then he kept quiet. The judge ordered that the people and political activists who had come to listen to the case should be asked to leave the court room and the door be closed. So, Baba Karam Singh Cheema, Babu Labh Singh, Balwant Singh, Inder Singh Kirti, Jaswant Singh, Karam Singh, Ujagar Singh and others left the court room. The police was put to guard the doors. The written statement of Bujha Singh was filed before he could finish reading that. Later, the judge (ADM) read the decision of the court imprisoning him for six months. When Bujha Singh was being taken to hawalat from the court room a sort of procession formed and slogans of Inquilab Zindabad and Bujha Singh Zindabad ranted the air. The police tried hard to disperse the procession but could not. Comrade Bujha Singh looked happy and cheerful.

(Kirti, Amritsar, July 31, 1936)

(I) Discussion

Torture in the Shahi Quila: Comrade Bujha Singh has been sent to jail for six months on the charge of attending a conference for violating banishment orders under the black law. The statement he has given in the court has once again attracted the attention of the political activists to the atrocious treatment meted out to political prisoners in the Shahi Quila of Lahore. Bujha Singh has written in his statement his personal account of the torture he received in the Quila. He has also submitted the letter he had written to the Prime Minister of India (Wazeer-e-Hind) and Chief Secretary of the Punjab Government concerning this behaviour. He has clearly written in his letter about the methods which the authorities in the Quila resort to extract statements from the political prisoners, and how they are to be reformed and how their ideas about communism are to be washed away. Till now, neither the prime minister nor the chief secretary has given any answer to the letter written by him, nor have they ordered any investigation into his allegations. Comrade Bujha Singh has been sent to jail again for six months. So, it is the duty of other activists to take up the case about the behaviour of the officers in the Shahi Quila and launch an agitation on this issue to force the government to conduct an enquiry into the matter and put a stop to such conduct in future.

(Kirti, Amritsar, 7 August, 1936, page 4)

Appendix —5

Copy of the FIR registered in the Nawan Shehar Police Station at the Time of Martyrdom

To the SHO, Police Station Nawan Shehar. As per the information of informer it is requested to Sir Sadhu Singh, DSP Jalandhar that… … it is learnt that Bujha Singh s/o Dharam Singh Jatt, r/o Chakk MaiDass, Iqbal Singh s/o Hazara Singh Jatt, Darshan Singh s/o Chanan Singh Jatt, both r/o Manguwal, Surinder s/o Rakha Adi Dharmi r/o Kariha, Police Station Banga, are PO’s and hard core members of the Naxalite Party, were out to inflict physical harm to landlord Moti Singh Rana, r/o Jadla. The informer also told that if a nakabandi is put on the bridge falling on the border of Nai Majara, the culprits could be nabbed today. In accordance with the above said information, the active police party organised an active armed barricade under the leadership of Sadhu Singh DSP Jalandhar to nab the famous POs. This team included, Kartar Singh, SI/SHO PS Banga, Mr. Veer Singh, SI/SHO, PS Phillaur, Sri Gurbachan Singh ASI/CIA Banga, Dalip Singh ASI Banga , Sri Sai Dass ASI Nawan Shehar, Shangara Singh HC 93, Bakhshi Ram 214, Mohan Singh 388, Harbhajan Singh 109, Ram Lubhaya 712, Milkha Singh 38, Chanan Singh 281, Sohan Singh 181, Megh Raj 778, Joga Singh 838, CIA Banga, Harbhajan Singh 483, PS Banga, Mehma Singh 308, Nawan Shehar, Gurdev Singh Reader DSP, Joga Singh 933 PS Phillaur…and Sri Chuhar Chand s/o Puran Chand r/o, Tarlok Chand s/o Sunder Jatt r/o Nawan Shehar. They reached the barricade point on the bridge at about 12 in the night where they were divided into three parties. Dalip Singh, Sai Dass ASI, Joga Singh, Ram Lubhaya, Harbhajan Singh, Tarlok Chand took up positions on the South Eastern side of the above said bridge and Sri Kartar Singh SI, Gurbachan Singh ASI, Megh Raj, Milkha Singh and Chuhar Chand on the Western side of the South of bridge while DSP Sahib, Sri Veer Singh SI, HC Shangara Singh, Mohan Singh Bakhshi Ram, Sohan Singh, Joga Singh, Gurdev Singh Reader took up positions on the North Western side of the said bridge. At about 3 a.m. in the night four persons appeared, coming from the side of bridge. When they reached near the bridge the police rang out a call asking them who were they? As a response, the accused persons fired on the police 4/5 times from their hand held arms. I and Sri Kartar Singh led party fired to the side of the accused for self defence while DSP Sahib and Sri Gurbachan Singh ASI fired light emitting bullets from their pistols. One of the accused, whose name and address we came to know later as Bujha Singh s/o Dharam Singh, r/o village Chakk Mai Dass was found dead at the spot of encounter while the rest of the culprits succeeded in fleeing in spite of being chased by us. When we examined Bujha Singh we found that he was having a .303 bore country made loaded pistol in his right hand while on the left side of him lay a bag nearby that included 6 live cartridges of .303 bore, his turban, and literature and books with Naxalbari content, the details of these things have been included in a separate file about the material which the police had found at the encounter site.

Because the above said accused have fired upon our nakabandi party with an intent to kill and thus committed a crime under IPC 4/5 307/34 and 25, 54/59 A Act therefore this FIR 308 is sent to the police station through Mehnga Singh for filing a case in the court. The case number should noted. A special report should be sent to inform the officers. I am at the place of happening investigating the case.

Signed

Sardul Singh, SI, CIA, Banga

28/7/70, 4. ½ AM

The above FIR was received in the police station and entered into the records. The original FIR and its copy were sent to ASI Sahib. The FIR as a special report is being sent to the senior officers.

Swaran Singh

MHCPS Nawan Shehar

28/7/70

Appendix –6 Mrs. Bujha Singh’s Demand from the Chief Minister

Conduct a Judicial Inquiry into the Death of my Husband--It is a Murder Committed by the Police

Jalandhar, 8 September – Mrs. Dhanti, wife of the Naxalite leader who fell to the police bullets has demanded in a letter written to the Chief Minister that an inquiry be held by a High Court Judge into the reasons behind the death of her husband.

The letter which has been released to the press today says that her 80 years old husband was so weak that he was unable to become a part of the police encounter. Therefore, the story of Bujha Singh’s encounter with the police is concocted. Mrs. Dhanti has says that Bujha Singh was murdered by police after arresting him and then the latter floated a story about encounter.

(Rozana Nawan Zamana, Jalandhar, 9 September, 1970.

Appendix –7

Investigation Report by the Tarkunde Committee

Murders in the Name of Encounters: Eight Murders in Punjab

The First Interim Report of the Civil Liberties Committee of Punjab

A civil rights committee was formed in Punjab in October 1977 to investigate the deaths of alleged Naxalites in Punjab who were killed in the “encounters” with the police. This committee was formed on the request of many a mass organisations.

The committee is headed by VM Tarkunde who is General Secretary of the Citizens for Democracy and acting president of Peoples Union. The other members of the committee are Kuldip Nayyar, editor Express News Service of Indian Express, Sri Dara Singh, senior advocate, Punjab and Haryana High Court, Sri Roshan Lal Batta, advocate, Punjab and Haryana High Court, Sri Arun Shorie, Senior Fellow ICSSR, and Sri Ashok Panda, advocate, Supreme Court.

The committee was helped by Sri Darshan Khatkar (Punjabi poet), Bant Singh Manunke, peasant leader, and Giani Ajit Singh, Convener Desh Bhagat Jamhoori Morcha, Punjab.

The committee organised hearings in Chandigarh and Delhi and also toured Jargarhi (district Ludhiana), Tara Garh (Tehsil ) and Badesron (Tehsil Garhshankar) to pool facts for the deaths of following persons.

Names and Addresses of Dead Persons

1. Baba Bujha Singh

Age: Around 80 years

Date of Death: 27-28 July, 1970

Place of Alleged Encounter: Bank of a canal near village Nai Majara (Nawan Shehar).

Resident: Chakk Mai Dass, Tehsil Nawan Shehar, District Jalandhar

2. Amarmeet Singh

Age: About 19 years

Date of Death: 25 September, 1971

Place of Alleged Encounter: Karwalia, Tehsil Batala, District Gurdaspur

Resident: Karwalia, s/o Harbans Singh, Tehsil Batala, District Gurdaspur

3. Rajinder Singh

Age: About 20 years

Date of Death: 25 September, 1971

Place of Alleged Encounter: Karwalia, Tehsil Batala, District Gurdaspur Resident: Karwalia, Tehsil Batala, District Gurdaspur

4. Raunak Singh

Age: 50 years

Date of Death 18-19 February, 1971

Place of Alleged Encounter: Babhera, District Ropar

Resident: Charri, Tehsil , District Ludhiana

5. Tarsem Bawa

Age: 26 years

Date of Death: 17-18 April, 1971

Place of Alleged Encounter: Canal Bridge, Near Village , Tehsil Samrala, District Ludhiana

Resident : Doraha, District Ludhiana

6. Kartar Chand

Age: About 45 years

Date of Death: 10 June, 1973

Place of Alleged Encounter: Sarhala Khurd, Tehsil Garhshankar, District Hoshiarpur

Resident: Kullewal, Tehsil Garhshankar, District Hoshiarpur

7. Gurdial Singh

Age: About 27 years

Date of Death: 10 June, 1973 Place of Alleged Encounter: Sarhala Khurd, Tehsil Garhshankar, District Hoshiarpur

Resident: Manan Hana, Tehsil Garhshankar, District Hoshiarpur

8. Tarsem Lal

Age: About 22 years

Date of Death: 2 February, 1976

Place of Alleged Encounter: Badesron, Tehsil Garhshankar, District Hoshiarpur

Resident: Sauli, Tehsil Garhshankar, District Hoshiarpur

Whatever information and facts we have gathered point to the fact that all the above said eight persons have been murdered by the Punjab Police. No one among them has been killed in an “encounter”.

The committee has gathered proof from the relatives of the killed persons, the persons who have worked along with them, and villagers who have seen everything happening right before their eyes, and such persons who were working as public servants at important posts.

The witnesses we have examined have been divided into various categories: Firstly we have gathered proofs from such people who have seen the police arresting the victims with their own eyes. Secondly, from those who have seen the victims in the custody of police. Thirdly, from those who saw the police taking victims to the place where the victims were killed. Fourthly, from those who had seen the police killing the victims. Fifthly, from those who got a chance to see the dead bodies closely before they were removed from the scene. In one case, we had one deposition from a person who had seen the dead body being unloaded from a truck at the place where he was declared killed in the “encounter” with police. All the witnesses taken together prove that the persons who died were killed ruthlessly while they were unarmed and in many cases they were severely tortured before being killed.

In two cases out of ten, we are convinced that they were brutally tortured before they were killed.

In two cases the marks on the body suggest that there were no bullet marks on the dead bodies. They died during tortures. The rest were shot from point blank.

In every one of the above stated cases the relatives and friends of the killed persons had written to the state and central governments demanding inquiry into the deaths. In every case such requests were refused. The brutal acts of the police and the refusal of the state and central governments have destroyed the faith of people in “the rule of law”.

Baba Bujha Singh, 27-28 July 1970

Bujha Singh was an old patriot who had fought for the freedom of the country and was a leader in CPI and CPI (M) and later in the CPI (M-L), in Punjab.

Kehar Singh (s/o Mehnga Singh, r/o ) and Darbara Singh (r/o village Nagar) stated that on 27 July, 1970, Baba Bujha Singh stayed in the house of Darbara Singh with them till afternoon. They talked about family matters, had their meals together, and had tea after taking some rest.

Baba Bujha Singh was to go towards Phillaur and because Kehar Singh too had to go to Phillaur, therefore, he asked Babaji to cycle behind him keeping a distance of 100 yards.

Both of them had left the house of Darbara Singh at 4 p.m. Darbara Singh and Kehar Singh deposed that the baba was wearing white kurta and pyjama on that day. He also had a towel of Khadar in which he had wrapped his books. He did not have any bag with him nor did he have any arm on his person.

After travelling for some time they reached a spot from where the road leading to Rasulpur reached the main road. Baba took to the Rasulpur Road. Hardly he had turned his bicycle that a jeep crossed Kehar Singh and suddenly stopped in front of Baba Bujha Singh.

Four or five policemen jumped out of the jeep and getting hold of Babaji they put him into the jeep. Baba resisted them as far as he could and raised the slogan “Naxalbari Zindabad” many a times. He also cried that he was Baba Bujha Singh of Chakk Mai Dass. The police took him away after putting him in the jeep. It took only 2-3 minutes for the police to “arrest” him.

Many passers-by stopped to watch what was happening. When some of the policemen were catching hold of Bujha Singh, others asked the travellers to go away and forget what they had seen lest they should too get into trouble.

Joginder Singh s/o Labh Singh and resident of Phillaur, district Jalandhar, and Chunni Lal s/o Sunder Lal of village Assahur also corroborated the scene of capture of Bujha Singh.

Nambardar of Chakk Mai Dass, Sri Gurdas Ram, deposed before the committee that in the evening of 27 July, 1970, a policeman in white clothes came to his residence and asked him to accompany him to the police station Banga because he was to identify Bujha Singh. When he reached the office of the CID he was taken to the top storey of the building. They asked him to identify the arrested man whether he was Bujha Singh. He could easily identify Bujha Singh. Baba looked very tired and weak.

Next morning, the police announced that the Baba was killed in an “encounter” on the bank of the canal between Nai Majara and Sanawa. One, Sansar Singh r/o village Babbar Majara, among others who had seen the dead body lying on the bank of the canal, deposed that he had seen the dead body and the place around it keenly. But the white kurta and pyjama Baba Bujha Singh was wearing had not a single stain on it, neither the place around his body bore any mark of blood. The police knew it well that the dead body had started stinking because the death had occurred much before, so they gathered a lot of neem leaves and threw them around the cadaver to minimise the smell.

Suggestions

The evidence we have gathered from witnesses (who were on high and responsible posts in the area, and some still are there) we are convinced that not a single death has occurred in “encounter”. We are also convinced that not a single encounter has happened and these are murders by the police committed brutally. The evidence we have points undoubtedly to the cruel and murderous activities of the state officials. Of course, this matter is of high public importance and the facts substantiated are related to special cases.

Therefore, we feel that this matter should be investigated by a commission under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952. This commission should be appointed by the central government. As per the Bhargava Commission, the attitude of the Andhra Government has clearly demonstrated that when a commission is investigating the officers of the state government, and at the same time, if it is also appointed by the state government, the latter will interfere in the investigation.

The experience of Andhra Pradesh also proves that though the government of a state is not the same during whose tenure the murder had been committed, the intention to obstruct the investigation process is clearly there. The new government, like the previous one, also depends on the same administration and police officials whose conduct is itself under scrutiny. Therefore, it is automatically inclined to protect the interests of its officials.

In this case, the argument to set up a commission by the central government is more concrete because when these murders happened there were some ministers who still are ministers. Moreover, we are sorry to state that the chief minister Prakash Singh Badal has already refused to provide the version of police about these murders to the committee.

He has refused to go beyond the Magisterial inquiries, which were conducted at that time and in which the people had no faith.

Due to above said reasons, we think that an Inquiry Commission should be appointed. But the whole of previous experience and especially the Bhargava Commission in Andhra Pradesh has demonstrated that it is not sufficient to appoint an inquiry commission and then wait for its report. So, we have decided to file our case. Now, we are sorting the evidences concerning the deaths of Raunak Singh, Amarmeet Singh and Rajinder Singh, so that we are able to file cases against the concerned officials of the state.

It is natural that the cases in the court will take time. We would need the support and inspiration from the people. Money will be needed to follow the cases at various stages. After putting up our cases for hearing in the court we will request the people. We are fully confident that the people, especially the people of Punjab will stand with the victims and justice. It is the only way to put a check on such happenings in future. It is necessary to secure punishments for the officials who have been involved in murderous activities.

If the central government listens to our request for judicial inquiries then it would be a great task for the people living close to the places of alleged encounters that they come forward to support and defend the witnesses from threats and offers from the police. The experience of Andhra Pradesh highlights that when an inquiry commission is established or even when the possibility of setting up of an inquiry committee arises the police resorts to threats and other means to create fear among the witnesses. Only the people can encourage and strengthen the will of the witnesses, only the people can defend the truth.

Comments

 The cases we have examined show that there is not even a remote possibility for an encounter.

Sri VM Tarkunde

 To kill someone the police thought that it was sufficient to brand one as a Naxalite.

Sri Kuldip Nayyar

 In the above discussed cases, the persons who were murdered were not even formally arrested.

Sardar Dara Singh Advocate

 However serious the charge against someone might be, no body can be forced to sacrifice his right to defend himself before the law.

Sri Arun Shorie

 Police does not have any right to catch somebody, brand him a Naxalite, and then shoot him.

Sri Roshan Lal Batta

(This report was released as “The First Interim Report” by the Punjab Civil Rights Committee, in Punjabi and English languages. The price of this report is printed as 50 paisa and the print line is: ‘Published by Shri Roshan Lal Batta advocate, Punjab and Haryana High Court, Kothi No. 658, Sector 11/B, Chandigarh. Printers: MT Printers, Jallandhar.’ The date of print is not mentioned.)

(Only the part concerning Baba Bujha Singh, Tarkunde Committee Inquiry Report, as translated from Punjabi)

Appendix – 8

Report of Punjab Vidhan Sabha

 1736.Comrade Satya Pal Dang: Will the Chief Minister be pleased to state—

(a) Whether the Government have received a copy of first interim report of the Punjab Civil Rights committee about the alleged murder of 8 Naxalites by the Punjab Police, released to the Press on 15 October, 1978 by VM Tarkunde, General Secretary of the Citizens of Democracy; if so, a copy of the same be laid on the Table of the House.

(b) Whether at any time after the present Government assumed office the said Committee sought the Co-operation of the State Government in its Investigation into the alleged Killings of the Naxalites by the Punjab Police between 1970 and 1976.

(c) If the reply to part (b) above be in the affirmative; whether the necessary co-operation was given;

(d) If the reply to part (c) be in the negative the reasons therefor?

Sardar Prakash Singh Badal:

(a) Yes Sir. A copy of the Report of Punjab Civil Rights Committee is being put on the table of the House in Appendix (A).

(b) Yes Sir.

(c) No Sir. (d) Because all these cases were treated under Magisterial inquiries and we did not want to interfere in their findings.

Comrade Satya Pal Dang: the Tarkunde Committee has reached its conclusions after profound investigations that the so-called police encounters which killed the people had not happened. The police caught them and killed them. This Bujha Singh is 80 years old. How he can engage the police in an encounter? This committee has very clearly stated that these are the murders by the police. Mr. Speaker, the Government of India has assured in the parliament that it will ask the Punjab Government to action. Mr. Speaker, they [the Punjab Government] have not listened to the central government. I want to know that whether [Punjab Government] is taking action against the police officers who have killed the so-called Naxalites in encounters after arresting them from their houses? I want to know that why they are not listening to what the government of India says. The police officers should be charge sheeted and taken action against on the basis of Tarkunde Committee report.

Chief Minister: Mr. Speaker, Magisterial Inquiry has been conducted so there is no need of further inquiry. The Tarkunde Committee Report being mentioned is a private inquiry. The government is not bound to provide any record to such inquiries. Whatever could be done in accordance with the law has happened, therefore, there is no need of any other inquiry.

Comrade Satya Pal Dang: They should know about the fact that Tarkunde Inquiry was not a private inquiry. He has been a Judge of the High Court. This committee had also inquired into the Andhra Pradesh cases; as a result, the government there formed a commission to investigate [these cases]. Now the honoured chief minister says that Magisterial Inquiry has been conducted, I want to know that is it not a reality that the government of India has asked them to take action about these murders but the CM is shielding the police officers. These murders have happened during the rule of chief minister, when he first came to power. Some murders were committed during Zail Singh’s ministry. All of them are responsible for these murders. They are shielding the police officers. They should take action against them. Chief Minister: I can state with honour that in the case of Naxalites, our attitude has been quite liberal and we have acted in accordance with the orders of the Indian Government. Had there been a government [of Satya Pal’s Party] they would not have done this. (clapping). The action has been a legal one. Therefore, it is not correct to re-open the case.

Comrade Dalip Singh Tapiala : Mr. Speaker there is no doubt that the present government adopted a very liberal attitude towards the Naxalites and has done everything on the orders of Government of India, but he himself had said that whatever atrocities had happened during Governor’s Rule they will be inquired. They have committed murder in daylight. The people demand that there should be an inquiry. I am of the opinion that the people should be satisfied through inquiry.

Chief Minister: According to the CrPC clause 174, a District Magistrate is delegated the powers to order inquiry in any unnatural death. He was given powers and the inquiry has been completed.

Sardar Umrao Singh: Mr. Speaker, the CM has said in his reply that Magisterial Inquiry has been done, that this case cannot be re-opened. I want to know that when commissions finalise their reports, and especially when Chhangani Commission conducts its inquiries, and these are ordered by the police as closed cases, why an inquiry cannot be re-opened”?

Mr. Speaker: I do not think if it arises out of this question.

(A brief from the Report of Punjab Vidhan Sabha, 2 May, 1979)

Appendix – 9

Sources:--

A) Reference Books Serial No. / Editor /Author/ Name of the Book / Publisher

1. Darshan Dosanjh : Amitt Pairan, Shaheed Publication Punjab, Mahil Gehlan (Nawan Shehar), 2000

2. : Shaheedan Di Wangar, Surkh Rekha Prakashan, Ghudani Kalan (Ludhiana), 1983

3. Prof. Harbhajan Singh : Kisan Sangharshan Di Shanamatti Prampara Jari Hai, Kafle Prakashan, Chandigarh 1997

4. Shamil : Siyasat Da Rustam-e-Hind (Harkishan Surjeet Da Rajsi Jeevan), Lok Geet Prakashan, Chandigarh, 2000

5. Ajmer Sidhu : Turde Pairan Di Dastan, (Jeevan Gatha Comrade Darshan Dosanjh atey Doabe Di Naxlbari Lehar Da Itihas), Balraj Sahni Yaadgar Prakashan, Chandigarh, 2003

6. Bhagat Singh Bilga : Ghadri Babeyan Di Political University, Mera Watan, page 131-135

7. Bhagat Singh Bilga : Ravi De Us Paar—Chaudhary Afzal Haque, Mera Watan, page 119-122, Bhagat Singh Bilga Pradhan Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall, Jalandhar, 2000

8. Gurcharan Singh Sehnsra : Ghadar Party Da Itihas, Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Committee, Jallandhar, 1969

9. Bhagat Singh Bilga : Ghadar Lehar De Anfoley Varke, Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Committee, Jalandhar, 1998

10. Chain Singh Chain : Kirti Party (Duji Sansar Jang Samay), Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall, Jalandhar, 1990

11. Lala Hardial : Nawen Zamane De Nawen Adarsh 12. Harjap Singh : Diary Ghadri Baba Harjap Singh, Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Committee, Jalandhar, 1998

13. Gurmit : Azadi Sangram Di Suhi Laat, Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Committee, Jalandhar, 2000

14. Lala Hardial : Marx (Ik Rishi)

15. Itihas Sub-committee : Ghadar Lehar Di Kahani Ghadri Babeyan Di Zubani, Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall, Jalandhar

16. Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Committee : Ghadri Yodha Bhai Santokh Singh, Jeevni atey Likhtan, Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall Committee, Jalandhar 2003

17. Sampooran Kav : Shiv Kumar Batalvi

18. Sampadana : Ghadar Diyan Pairan, Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall Committee, Jalandhar, 2004

19. Dr. Anoop Singh, Sirdi Sangramia Comrade Chanan Singh Tugalwala, Parerna Prakashan, Patiala, 1999

20. Abhay Kumar Dubey : Kranti Ka Atam Sangharash, Biney Prakashan, 1991

21. Balbir Parwana : Punjab Di Naxalbari Lehar, Tarak Bharti Prakashan, , 2003

22. Amrik Singh : Inquilabi Gholaan Da Mulankan, Proletari Prakashan, 1980

23. Sukhdarshan Natt : Punjab Di Naxalbari Lehar Da Nayak Hakam Singh Samaon, Tarak Bharti Prakashan, Barnala, 2004

24. Dr. Gurdev Singh Deol : Ghadar Party Atey Bharat Da Qaumi Andolan, Sikh Itihas Research Board, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Sri Amritsar, 1970

25. Bhagat Singh Bilga, Nirbhay Yodhey Ghadri Babay Gurmukh Singh Di Jeevni, Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Committee, Jalandhar, 2004

26. … … Bharat Da Mukti Sangarsh, Naujwan Dasta Prakashan, Haryana, 1999

27. Prof. Malwinderjit Singh Waraich, Jeevan Sangram Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna, Tarak Bharti Prakashan, Barnala, 2003

28. Giani Bachan Singh : Hawa Da Rukka, Ravneet Litt Yaadgari Prakashan, Khanna

29. Dr. Harish K Puri : Ghadar Lehar (Vichardhara, Jathebandi, Ranneeti), Dev university, Amritsar, 2006

30. Aridam Sen, Parth Ghosh : Bharat Mein Communist Andolan, CPI (M-L), Liberation, 1992

31. Amilesh Tripathi :Bhartiya Rajneeti Mein Garampanth Ki Chunauti, Granth Shilpi, New Delhi, 1999

32. Balbir Parwana/Sukhdarshan Natt : Naxali Yodha, Shaheed Comrade Amar Singh Acharwal, Radical Prakashan, Mansa, 1993

33. Suniti Kumar Ghosh : Bharat Ka Bada Punjipati, Krantikar Budhijeevi Sangh, Bihar, 1993

34. Bhim Inder Singh : Samkali Markasi Chintan, Kuknus Prakashan, Jalandhar, 2002

35. Shiv Kumar Mishra : Kakori Se Naxalbari, Filhaal, Patna, 2005

36. Chain Singh Chain : Harphan Maula Comrade Teja Singh Sutantar, 5aab Prakahsan, Jalandhar, 2007

37. Vijay Bambeli : Dharti Puttar, Tarak Bharti Prakashan, Barnala, 2004

38. Bhagwan Singh Josh : Punjab Vich Communist Lehar, Nav Yug Publishers, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, 1981

39. Bhag Singh Sajjan : Mithihaas, Itihaas Te Itihaasak Padarathvad, Tarak Bharti Prakashan, Barnala, 2003

40. Gurcharan Singh Sehnsra : Oh Vi Din Sann, K. Lal & Co., Jalandhar

41. Amarjit Diary : Punjab De Pind, Shehar Atey Kasbay, Directory Publishing Company (P. Ltd.), Ludhiana

42. Lal Singh Dil : Daastan (Svay Jeevni), Chetna Prakashan, Ludhiana

43. Deva Singh Mahla : Saade Matbhed

44. Paramjit Jaj : Naxalite Movement in Punjab, Popular Prakashan, Bombay

B) List of Magazines

Serial No. Lekhak Lekh Atey Parchay Da Naam

1. Sampadaki mandal Punjab Vich Naxalbari Lehar De Shaheed, Jaikara, 25 May, 1982

2. Sampadak Lok Yudh

a) Bazurg Saathi Bujha Singh Shaheed Ho Gaye, August 1970, page -4

b) Charu Mojumdar:-- Mazdoor Jamaat De Naam, May 1970, page -1-4

c) Bharti Communist Party (M-L) Di 8vin Party Congress Vich Manzoor Kiti Rajneetak Jathebandak Report, September 1970, page 1-5

d) Comrade Charu Mojumdar Di Taqreer, page 5-8

e) Inquilabi Naujwan Te Vidiyarthi Suramtai De Ghol De Raah Utte, page 6-12

f) Bharat Vich Da Dhamaka, May-August 1973, page 5-8

3. Jaspal Jassi, Amolak Singh Naxali Lehar Nu Samrpat Vishesh Ankk, Inquilabi Jantak Leeh Atey Surkh Rekha, May1992, page 1-30 4. Sampadaki Mandal:

Hiraval Dasta/Sada Raah

a) PEPSU Ghol : Sabak Jo Sikhkhe Nahin Gaye, December 1998, page 14-17

b) Jugo Jug Atal Jamaati Sangharash DeTin Mahatavpooran Padaa, April 2006, Page 3-6 and 21, Sada Raah

5. Deepayan Bose Naxalbari Te Baad De Chaar Dahaake, Pratibadh, April-June 2008, page 3-37 Atey 64

6. Sampadak, Harbans Heon Amin (July-Aug-Sept, 2006)

a) Balvir Dhand Chandan Jabran Sang Ral Giya Hai, page 21-27

b) Ajmer Sidhu Kehni Te Karni De Sumel Da Halafnama, page 27-29

7. Vishesh Pattar Parerak Baba Bujha Singh De Bhai Naal Mulaqat, Surkh Rekha, December 1982

8. Ajmer Sidhu Lasani Desh Bhagat Atey Communist – Shaheed Baba Bujha Singh, Samkali Lok Morcha, July 2003, page -15

9. Sohan Singh Pooni, Canada Vancouver Da Mahan Ghadri Bhai Rattan Singh Raipur Dabba, Inquilabi Sada Raah, Nov. Dec.2004 Atey January 2005

10. Master Bachittar Singh Comrade Arjan te Trilochan Di Shaheedi, Desh Bhagat (Sampadak Harbhajan Singh Cheema, Canada) January-February 2005, page- 7

11. Shaheed Baba Bujha Singh Di Yaad Vich Shaheedi Conference, Parchand, September 1979

12. Amar Shaheed Baba Bujha Singh, Samkali Disha, page- 17

13. Lok Yudh (Lalkar Prakashan, Birminghton, Spa), December-January, 1970-71, page 1-28

14. Lok Yudh (Lalkar Prakashan, Biminghton, Spa), September-October, 1971

15. Main Stream Sept., 9-15, 2005

a) Kamla Prasad Naxalixm, Constitutionalism, Democracy and Governance

b) Vinkitesh Ramakrishanan The Naxalite Challenge

c) Vinkitesh Ramakrishanan The Road From Naxalbari

d) Aman Sethi in Jalandhar Fighting For Relevance

16. Amarjit Chandan Paras Ram Da Kuhara, Hun, June-November, 2005

17. Desh Bhagat Yadan De ankk, 1967-68

18. Yojana February 2007

a) Parkash Singh Bharat Vich Naxalbari Lehar, page 2-5

b) KPS Gill Naxalvad, page 6-10

c) Androoni Surakhaya Wangaran, page 11-12 19. Sampadak, Teja Singh Sutantar

& Gandharv Sen Lal Jhanda, 1948-1952

20. Charu Mojumdar Comrade Charu Mojumdar Di Aakhri Likhat, “Frontier”, 12 August, 1972

21. Jaswinder Punjab Vich Naxalbari Lehar De 30 Varrhe, Lal Parcham, July-August 1997, page 14-24

22. Punjab Vich Naxalbari Lehar De Shaheed, Lal Kafla, July-August 2005, page -17

23. C. Joshi Police Atiayachar Te Dehshat, Drishti, (July 1977)

24. Satinder Singh Noor Punjab Vich Naxalvadi, Kaumi Ekta, (September, 1977)

25. Amarjit Chandan Punjab Vich Pulis Atiyachar Te Dehshat, Drtishti, (September, 1977)

26. Lalkar (Britain) 23 August 1970/Shaheed Bujha Singh Vishesh Ankk

E) Newspaper Sources

Serial No. Author Name of Newspaper & article

1. Sampadak Pind Manhasa Vich Shandaar Political Conference, Kirti Lehar, Meerut, 16/04/1939

2. Sampadak Senkre Naujwan Bina Mukkadma Chalaye Nazarband Han, Kirti, Amritsar, 31 July, 1936, page -12, 6 3. Sampadak Comrade Bujha Singh Nu 6 Mahine Qaid, Kirti, Amritsar, 31 July, 1936, page -6

4. Sampadak Jagjit Singh Anand Rozana Nawan Zamana, Jalandhar

a) Chain Singh Chain Zila Jalandhar Vich Kirti Party Di Muddhli Jathebandi, 19 December, 2004

b) -do- Ankiasi Zimmewari Sir Aan Payee

c) -do- Kirti Party Di Kendri Leadership Vich

d) Kesar Singh Novelist Shaheed Baba Bujha Singh, 8, October, 2000

e) -do- Nikkian Nikkian Waddian Gallan (Comrade Baba Bujha Singh)

f) Surjit Gill Muzara Lehar Vich Istrian Da Yogdaan

g) Bhagat Singh Bilga Argentina Pujjan Te Pehlian Sargarmian, 24/07/2005

h) -do- Ghadar Party Naal Sambandh Jurrne, 31/07/2005

i) -do- Naxalbari Lehar Vich Sargarmi Te Jhoothe Muqable ’ch Shahadat, 07/08/2005

j) Principal RS Sharma, Vijay Bambeli Mujara Lehar, Kishangarh Di Takkar, Te Dharam Singh Fakkar, 19 June, 2005

k) Chiranji Lal Kanganiwal Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall Di Pithth Bhoomi, 30/10/2005

l) Comrade Jagroop, Gurnam Kanwar Marxvad Da Koyee Badal Nahin Hai, 30/10/2005 5. Chain Singh Chain Ghadar Lehar De Kujh Nivekle Pakhkh, Rozana Ajit Jalandhar, 30/10/2005

6. Dr. Chaman Lal Ghadar Party, Ghadar, Atey Ghadri Babay, Rozana Desh Sewak (Chandigarh), 31/10/2004

7. Rozana Punjabi Tribune (Chandigarh)

a) Ranjit Lehra Ghadar Lehar Atey Kaale Paanian Di Gatha, 05/12/2004

b) Amolak Singh Mela Deve Hoka, Jaag Ve Loka, 01/11/2004

C) Prof. Malwinderjit Singh Waraich Ghadar Akhbar Baare Adalti Tippnian, 01/11/2004

d) Devinder Pal Ghadri Babeyan Da Pehla Nishana Kashmir Nu Azad Karnana Si, 01/11/2004

e) -do- ‘Kashmir Ganraj’ banaon Di Yojana ‘Ghadar’ Vich Kiven Badli Te Kiven Hoya Sangharash Da Dardnaak

Antt, 01/11/2004

f) Dr. Harjinder Singh Walia Parvasi Punjabi Pattarkari : Vikaas Te Bhumika, 12/03/2007

8. 1934, 1935 Atey 1936 De ‘Kirti’ (Amritsar) De Akhbaar

9. 1937, 38 Atey 1939 De ‘Kirti’ (meerut) De Akhbaar

10. Shrimati Bujha Singh di Mukh Mantri Ton Mangg – “Mere Pati Di Maut di Adalati Partaal Karaao – Police Ne Usnu Qatal Keeta

Hai”, Rozana Nawan Zamana, 09/09/1970

List of Persons Whom I Met (Interviewed)

Serial No. Name/Designation/Relationship/Address

1. Resham Kaur (Bibi Naseeb Kaur): Age 90 years, Daughter of Baba Bujha Singh, Village Jandiala, Distt. Jalandhar.

2. Baba Bhagat Sing Bilga: Age100 years, former Secretary Ghadar Party Argentina, former the President of Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall, Jalandhar.

3. Chain Singh Chain: Age 86 years, former State Secretary of the Kirti Party, Punjab.

4. Gandharv Sen: Comrade-in-arms of Baba Bujha Singh, Age 88 Years, has been a leader at the district and state level of following organisations: Kirti Party, Lal Party, and CPI (M-L). He was also Organising Editor of Lok Yudh.

5. Surinder Kumari Kochhar: Age 64 years, adopted daughter of Gandharv Sen, was active in the communist parties and worked as a whole-timer in CPI (M-L).

6. Chuhar Singh: Age 62 Years, Village Bajjo (Nawan Shehar). Former leader at the district level, Kirti Kisan Union, and leader of CPI (M-L), Nawan Shehar.

7. Interview with Karam Singh Kirti (England) by Dr. Harish K Malhotra

8. Bhajan Singh: Village Happowal (Banga): Age 80 years, former Secretary of Kirti Kisan Union at the tehsil level, member of CPI (M-L), Nawan Shehar, and nephew of Dhanti, wife of Baba Bujha Singh.

9. Makhan Singh Johal : Village Jandiala (Jalandhar), Age 66 years, Son of Baba Bujha Singh’s daughter, and a Punjabi writer.

10. Kamaljit Singh Johal, Village Jandiala (Jalandhar), Son of Baba Bujha Singh’s daughter.

11. Paramjit Chahal, Village (Nawan Shehar), Age 62, Disciple of Baba Bujha Singh and former District Committee member of CPI (M-L) Jalandhar.

12. Jagjit Singh Anand: Editor of Rozana Nawan Zamana (Jalandhar) and former student leader and former Member of Parliament.

13. Mahinder Kaur: Age 70 years, resident of Nrayangarh, Amritsar, wife of Atamjit Singh, Sister of Darshan Dosanjh, was active in the Lal Party and the Communist Party as a whole timer worker.

14. Sheela Chain, w/o Chain Singh Chain: was a whole timer in Kirti Party, Lal Party and Communist Party.

15. Kehar Singh, former Sarpanch of village Khan Khana (Banga): Father of Iqbal Khan, deposed before the Tarkunde Commission regarding the murder of Baba Bujha Singh.

16. Teju Ram: Former Sarpanch of village Chakk Mai Dass, Age 65 years, his father nambardar Gurdas Ram had testified against the murder of Baba Bujha Singh before the Tarkunde Commission. He faced police harassment in the aftermath.

17. Karnail Singh: Resident of Phillaur (Jalandhar), Age 94 years, former comrade-in-arms of Baba Bujha Singh during Kirti Party days in Lyallpur. 18. Madan Gopal: Village Samrai, Age 60, former member of CPI (M-L), Amritsar unit.

19. Gurdip Singh Ankhi: Village Kang Araiyan (Jalandhar), Age 78 years, Former Secretary of CPI (M), District Jalandhar.

20. Jit Singh Ankhi (Jalandhar): Sarpanch of village Rurka Kalan, former leader of the CPI (M), interviewed by Makhan Singh Johal.

21. Darshan Singh Dosanjh: Village , Age 70 years, former Secretary of CPI (M-L) Jalandhar, and State Committee member.

22. Sukhdarshan Natt: Mansa, Age 49 years, State Secretary of Democratic Employees Front, and manager of Baba Bujha Singh Bhawan, Mansa.

23. Tara Singh Chalaki: Village Chalaki (Ropar), Age 65 years, former state committee member of CPI (M-L).

24. Gurdial Singh Sheetal: Age 62 years, Village Sherpur, District Sangrur, former district committee member of CPI (M-L).

25. Des Raj: Village Umarpura (Jalandhar), Age 65 years, former district committee member of CPI (M-L).

26. Ram Dhan: Village Chakk MaiDass (Nawan Shehar), Age 92 years.

27. Nirmal Singh: Village Happowal (Nawan Shehar), Age 50 years, son of Harbhajan Singh (nephew of Dhanti).

28. Sukhwinder Singh Kandola: Village Happowal (Nawan Shehar), Age 46 years, son of Dhanti’s nephew Harbhajan Singh and president of Sant Ram Udasi International Trust. 29. Balvir Kaur: Village Chakk Mai Dass (Nawan Shehar), Age 75 years and great grand daughter-in-law of Baba Bujha Singh.

30. Avtar Singh Johal: Village Jandiala (Jalandhar), activist of Indian Workers Association, England.

31. Rajinder Kaur: w/o Avtar Singh Johal, Village Jandiala (Jalandhar), Age 62 years, and daughter in law of Seebo (daughter of Baba Bujha Singh.

32. Raghbir Singh Chheena: Age 65 years, member Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall, Jalandhar.

33. Hardial Singh Puni: Village Jeendowal (Nawan Shehar), Age 94 years, he was the first secretary of CPI (M-L), Jalandhar unit.

34. Amolak Singh: State secretary Lok Morcha and editor of Mukti Marg.

35. Biker Singh: Age 95 years, former owner and publisher of magazine “Shaheed”, Village Mahil Gehlan (Nawan Shehar).

36. Surinder Singh Heera: Village Manguwal (Nawan Shehar), Age 60 years, sympathiser of the movement.

37. Nasib Kaur: Age 90 years, Village Manguwal, mother of martyr Ram Kishan (Kishu).

38. Jaswant Khatkar: Village Manguwal (Nawan Shehar), Age 55 years, former activist of CPI (M-L).

39. Mohan Lal: Village Manguwal (Nawan Shehar), Age 60 years, brother of martyr Sohan Lal.

40. Joginder Baharla: Famous dramatist and former leader of IPTA. 41. Prof. Harbhajan Singh: Village Kala Sangha (Kapurthala), Age 60 years, former state secretary of CPI (M-L) Jan Shakti, .

42. Jagjit Singh Sohal: Sangrur, Age 78 years, former state secretary of CPI (M-L), Punjab

43. S.S. Azad: Village Khiva (Mansa), Age 59 years, former state committee member of CPI (M-L), Patron of magazine ‘Parchand’ and member of editorial board of Lok Yudh.

44. Mahinder Singh Dosanjh: Village Jagatpur (Nawan Shehar), Age 64 years, writer and sympathiser of Baba Bujha Singh.

45. Harjit Singh: Village Ruriwal (Moga), Age 46 years, sympathiser of Naxalite movement.

46. Gurdial Singh Punjabi: Village Kukkran (Hoshiarpur), Age 65 years, Punjabi poet (gazalgo) and sympathiser of the movement.

47. Lal Singh Dil: Samrala (Ludhiana), militant poet and former district committee member of CPI (M-L).

48. Narinder Singh s/o Lambardar Maha Singh: Village Chakk Mai Dass (Nawan Shehar), Age 76.

E) Documents

1. Tarkunde Committee’s Findings : Eight Murders in Punjab. The Civil Rights Committee.

2. Ground of detention in respect of Shri Bhagat Singh s/o Shri Hira Singh village Bilga, P.S. Noormehal, district Jalandhur. Ram Gopal District Magistrate Jalandhur 16-11-1971. 3. India Office Records, British Library, London (U.K.). Bhagat Singh (Bilge) and Bujha Singh activities in Argentine file no. L/PJ/12/490 dated 19/06/1935, page -1

4. ibid – dated 21 June, 1935, no. 289 page 2, 3, 4.

5. ibid – dated Aug. 16, 1935, no. 289 page 5.

6. ibid – Enclosure in Buenos Aires despatch no. 289 of August 16, 1935 page 6, 7.

7. ibid – British leoation Panama, October 3, 1935 page 8, 9, 10.

8. ibid – Foreign Office S.W.I. October 10, 1935 page 11.

9. ibid – dated 04-02-1936 page 12

10. ibid – dated 15 Feb. 1936 page 13, 14, 15

11. ibid – British Consulate, Rosario March 23, 1936. page 16, 17.

12. ibid – dated May 11, 1936, page 18.

13. ibid – dated may 19, 1936, page 19.

14. ibid – dated June 22, 1936, page 20, 21.

15. ibid – memorandum regarding Bhagat Singh, Bujha Singh, page 22, 23.

16. Confidential W.S. of S. Foreign Office, June 23, 1936.

17. History of Ghadar Movement by Jaspal, page 1-47.

18. Home Department (political), file no. 216/1940 (reports of C.I.D.)

19. ibid – Kirti Kisan Party in Punjab.

20. ibid – The Ghadar movements.

21. ibid – The Ghadar Communist alliance. 22. ibid – The Kirti and its successors the Kirti Lehar.

23. ibid – the Kirti Lehar Meerut.

24. ibid – contacts with army.

25. Home Deptt. Poll. File no. 7/1/1941 page 1.

26. ibid – monthly surveys outlining communist activities of the communist party of India.

27. ibid – communist literature.

28. ibid – students.

29. ibid – The communists’ foreign contacts.

30. ibid – C.P.I. activities in provinces

F) List of Manuscripts or Other Sources

Serial No. Name of the Writer, and his Work

1. Lal Singh Dil: Baba Bujha Singh Ik Wadda Nishana

2. Ajit Singh Ankhi: Meri Nazar Vich Comrade Bujha Singh

3. Teja Singh Sahota, England: I met comrade Bujha Singh in 1953. (A Letter, page 1-2).

Guillotine

--Shiv Kumar Batalvi

They say A tree in my village has been imprisoned.

There were many allegations against him:

It bore red leaves instead of greens,

And fluttered even without a wind.

It was not situated outside the village

It grew in the village well, instead.

And bestowed shadows whenever it rocked

And instilled fear in the sun.

And offered travellers its cool,

Protecting them from sweltering heat

And all the girls who came to take water from the well

Were daughters to him.

The story goes

That he had many feet.

And he walked in the night

And returned only

After meeting all the trees of the village every day.

And lamented every time When winds were not favourable.

But it is strange my friends

Friends, I have seen branches of the trees

Did they ever have feet too?

And today I have read in the newspaper

That he was an armed tree.

He had millions of bombs, guns and bayonets.

I had always heard only about the cool shadows of trees

But the story of bombs is

Quite an enigma.

This is phony news.

I can’t believe it

He has killed another tree of the village, the tree that had grown

In the courtyard of the wealthy,

And that nestled the crows

Which spied on the village daily.

And today a friend from my village has come Bringing the news that,

That tree of my village will be guillotined

His father who is like acacia, and

His mother who is like jujube, Are in grief.