ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>BHAGV&#256N SI&#7748GH LAU&#7748GOV&#256L&#298&#256 (d. 1944)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="BHAGVN,SIDGH,LAUDGOVL*"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279BHAGV&#256N SI&#7748GH LAU&#7748GOV&#256L&#298&#256 (d. 1944), patriot, Ak&#257l&#299 activist and one of the founders of the Praj&#257 Ma&#7751&#7693al, a platform meant to provide voice to the people of Indian states ruled by Indian princes during British times to ventilate their grievances and protest against the oppression, misrule and extravagances of the autocrats who presided over their destinies, was born in Burma where his father R&#363&#7771 Si&#7749gh was a soldier in the army. The only child of his parents, he was named Indar Si&#7749gh. The family originally belonged to the village of Lau&#7749gov&#257l in the present Sa&#7749gr&#363r district of the Punjab. As he grew up, Bhagv&#257n Si&#7749gh, then Indar Si&#7749gh, also joined the army and served in World War I. Under the influence of <u>Gh</u>adr radicalism, deserted the army and went over to Nepal, disguised as a <i>s&#257dh&#363</i>. It was during this phase of his life that he changed his name from Indar Si&#7749gh to Bhagv&#257n Si&#7749gh. After remaining underground for 4-5 years, he came to India where he was apprehended by police. As he stepped out to freedom, he was drawn into the Gurdw&#257r&#257 reform movement, participating in <i>d&#299v&#257ns</i> and activities connected with the liberation of the Sikh shrines from the control of the degenerate <i>mahants</i> or clergy. On 24 May 1922, he was convicted and sentenced to two years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 1, 000 for a "seditious" speech delivered at Sherpur (Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 state). Another "seditious" speech delivered at an Ak&#257l&#299 gathering in his own native village, Lau&#7749gov&#257l, landed him in jail for a three-year sentence. All his property was confiscated by the princely ruler of Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 state. Bhagv&#257n Si&#7749gh was released along with other Ak&#257l&#299 prisoners after the Punjab Legislative Council passed the Sikh Gurdw&#257r&#257 laws in 1925. But almost immediately he plunged into the agitation for release from Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 jail of the veteran Ak&#257l&#299 leader, Sev&#257 Si&#7749gh &#7788h&#299kr&#299v&#257l&#257. In open defiance of the orders of the district magistrate, Sun&#257m, he led a <i>jath&#257</i> of agitators from his village to join a protest rally on 11 July 1926. In 1928, a largely-attended <i>d&#299v&#257n</i> was held at &#7788h&#299kr&#299v&#257l&#257 in protest against the continued detention of Sev&#257 Si&#7749gh. Speaking at the <i>d&#299v&#257n</i>, Bhagv&#257n Si&#7749gh denounced the British government as vehemently as he did the princely rulers of the states. The Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 police arrested a large number of Ak&#257l&#299 workers who had attended the <i>d&#299v&#257n</i>, but Bhagv&#257n Si&#7749gh dodged the police and escaped into the (British) Punjab territory, thereafter operating mostly from outside the orbit of the princely states. Ak&#257l&#299 leaders Master T&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh and B&#257b&#257 Kha&#7771ak Si&#7749gh were his new allies now.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bhagv&#257n Si&#7749gh represented the states' people at the All-India States Subjects Conference held at Calcutta in 1928. In December 1929, the first regular session of the Punjab Riy&#257st&#299 Praj&#257 Ma&#7751&#7693al was held at Lahore where Bhagv&#257n Si&#7749gh was elected general secretary of the Ma&#7751&#7693al. Another detention and court trial earned him totally a sentence of 22 years. He was released from jail as a result of the T&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh-Bh&#363pinder Si&#7749gh Pact of 1935 concluded between the Ak&#257l&#299 leader and Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Bh&#363pinder Si&#7749gh of Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 after the death in jail of Sev&#257 Si&#7749gh. Against this pact Bhagv&#257n Si&#7749gh along with five of his leading colleagues from the Riy&#257st&#299 Praj&#257 Ma&#7751&#7693al undertook a fast unto death on 20 January 1936 in front of the Ak&#257l Ta<u>kh</u>t at Amritsar. The pact in fact signalled the exit of Bhagv&#257n Si&#7749gh from the Ak&#257l&#299 Dal and his gravitation towards the Communist Party.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bhagv&#257n Si&#7749gh married, late in his life, Dharam Kaur, widow of his cousin, who bore him two daughters and a son. He died on 16 September 1944 of phthisis of the lungs. His portrait occupies a place of honour among the galaxy of eminent Sikh leaders displayed in the Central Sikh Museum at the Golden Temple at Amritsar.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Walia, Ramesh, <i>Praja Mandal Movement in East Punjab States</i>. Patiala, 1972<BR> <li class="C1"> Fauja Singh <i>Eminent Freedom Fighters of Punjab</i>, Patiala, 1972<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Zail Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>