ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>KART&#256R SI&#7748GH GI&#256N&#298 (1902-1974)</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="KARTR,SIDGH,GIN*,Person,Person"> <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">&#65279KART&#256R SI&#7748GH, GI&#256N&#298 (1902-1974), Ak&#257l&#299 leader who was known for his political astuteness and for his single-mindedness of purpose and who dominated Sikh politics during the 40's and 50's of the 20th century, was born the son of Bhagat Si&#7749gh and M&#257&#299 J&#299o on 22 February 1902 at Chakk No. 40 Jha&#7749g Branch in Lyallpur district (now in Pakistan) . The family, Ja&#7789&#7789s of Khaihr&#257 clan, originally belonged to N&#257goke village in Amritsar district and had migrated to Lyallpur district when that area, formerly a wasteland known as S&#257ndal B&#257r, was opened up as a canal colony towards the close of the nineteenth century. Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh received his early education in the village <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i> and later joined <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 School in the neighbouring Chak No. 4l from where he matriculated in 1921. He had a religious bent of mind and during his school days led a <i>k&#299rtan&#299 jath&#257</i> or group of hymn-singers which earned him the epithet <i>gi&#257n&#299</i> (learned in religious texts). He joined <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 College, Amritsar, but owing to an attack of smallpox two years later he had to leave without taking a degree. The only son of his parents, Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh was married at an early age to Harn&#257m Kaur, daughter of Jagat Si&#7749gh of Ghi&#257l&#257 Kal&#257&#7749, in Amritsar district.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Gi&#257n&#299 Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh was attracted to politics in his early youth. He was in Amritsar in April 1919 staying with his uncle, Ris&#257ld&#257r Jagat Si&#7749gh, a Viceroy's commissioned officer in the army, when the Jalli&#257&#7749v&#257l&#257 massacre took place. This event and the martial law conditions in the Punjab under which he travelled from Amritsar to his village left a deep impact on his mind. While yet a student of the tenth class, he along with some fellow students had participated in the campaign on behalf of the Tilak Svar&#257j Fund launched by the Indian National Congress. Leading a party of about 20 students, he also attended a Sikh conference at Dh&#257rov&#257l&#299 village in early October 1920, which paved the way for the formation of the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal. In 1924, he was appointed general secretary of the Lyallpur district branch of the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal. Later during the same year, he was arrested for leading a procession to welcome the 13th Shah&#299d&#299 Jath&#257 which was touring the central districts before it headed for Jaito. He was sentenced to six months' imprisonment which he underwent in the central jail at Campbellpore. In 1926, he was elected a member of the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee which had been reconstituted under the Sikh Gurdw&#257r&#257s Act, 1925, and became a member of its executive committee in October 1927. He took part in the agitation against the visit of Simon Commission to India in 1928 and attended the protest rally that greeted the Commission with black flags al Lahore railway station, on 30 October 1928, with shouts of "Simon, Go Back." During the Civil disobedience movement in 1930-31, he was again arrested and sentenced to one year's imprisonment for delivering anti-government speeches. In 1933 Gi&#257n&#299 Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh was elected member of the executive committees both of the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee and the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal. In 1937, he was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly from Samund&#257ri Ja&#7771h&#257&#7749v&#257l&#257 constituency of Lyallpur district.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Reacting to Muslim League's demand for a separate Muslim State, Gi&#257n&#299 Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh put forward in 1943 some concrete Formulations of which his &#256z&#257d Punjab scheme was vigorously pursued for some time. The scheme envisaged carving out of the then-existing Punjab a new unit, &#256z&#257d Punjab, which would have included the maximum Sikh population, with no single religious community being in absolute majority. This formed the basis of the Ak&#257l&#299 standpoint at the subsequent political negotiations during which Gi&#257n&#299 Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh ranked next only to Master T&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh as representative of the Sikh opinion. Later, in January 1947, he was elected president of the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal. In 1942 he had played a crucial role in bringing about rapprochement between the Ak&#257l&#299s and the Muslim-dominated Unionist Party in consequence of which Baldev Si&#7749gh, the Ak&#257l&#299 nominee, joined the Unionist Government as a minister in the Punjab led by Sir Sik&#257ndar Hay&#257t <u>Kh</u>&#257n. Taking advantage of the arrangement labelled as Sikandar-Baldev Pact, Gi&#257n&#299 Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh moved a bill in the Punjab Legislative Assembly to amend the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, with a view to making the central authority for the management of Sikh shrines, the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee, more effective. Already, at a meeting of the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee on 22 February 1941, he had drawn the attention of the Sikh people to the need for such a revision. The amending bill, which became the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Act XI of 1944, was passed on 12 December 1944.The amendments provided for representation on the Committee to the so-called backward classes among the Sikhs, greater administrative control over the local <i>gurdw&#257r&#257s</i> and more freedom for the Committee to spend money from its funds for missionary, educational and charitable purposes. The Act was again amended consequent upon the merger of PEPSU territory with the Punjab in 1956. That amendment too was sponsored by Gi&#257n&#299 Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; After the Viceroy's proclamation of 3 June 1947 announcing the decision of the British government to divide the country conceding the Muslim League's demand for Pakistan, Gi&#257n&#299 Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh called a joint meeting of the working committee of the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal and the Panthic Prat&#299n&#299dh&#299 Board which passed a resolution on 14 June 1947 advocating transfer of population and property as an essential concomitant of the proposed partition. After 15 August 1947, Gi&#257n&#299 Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh at grave personal risk helped the migration of non-Muslims, especially of Lyallpur and Shei<u>kh</u>&#363pur&#257 districts to India. On 17 March 1948, the working committee of the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal under his leadership passed a resolution, permitting all Panthic (Ak&#257l&#299) members of the East Punjab Assembly to join the Congress. Gi&#257n&#299 Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh became a minister in the East Punjab government under Chief Minister Gop&#299 Chand Bh&#257rgava and was assigned to the portfolios of revenue and developmen&#7789. He continued in the ministry headed by L&#257l&#257 Bh&#299m Sain Sachar which in fact he, with his group of 22 MLAs, had helped to form in March 1949. He was the architect of what came to be known as the Gi&#257n&#299-Sachar formula, according to which East Punjab was demarcated into Punjabi-speaking and Hindi-speaking areas --- a demarcation which laid the foundation of a Punjabi-speaking state. Demand for Punjabi S&#363b&#257, i.e. Punjabi-speaking state, became the focus of. Sikh politics and Gi&#257n&#299 Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh became one of its principal advocates on re-joining the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal. In 1955, he courted arrest in the Ak&#257l&#299 campaign for Punjabi S&#363b&#257.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Earlier, as a member of the Constituent Assembly Gi&#257n&#299 Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh had advocated some statutory guarantees for the Sikhs as a minority. He lost his assembly seat in the first general election held under the new Constitution in 1952, but was elected to the Punjab Legislative Council soon after. In 1956, a compromise was reached between the Ak&#257l&#299 Dal and the Congress in the form of what is known as Regional Formula and the Ak&#257l&#299s again joined the Congress party <i>en bloc</i>. Gi&#257n&#299 Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh was elected to Legislative Assembly from Das&#363y&#257-&#7788&#257&#7751&#7693&#257 constituency and became Revenue and Agriculture minister in 1957 in the Cabinet headed by Part&#257p Si&#7749gh Kairo&#7749. In 1962, he was re-elected to the state assembly. In February 1967, Gi&#257n&#299 Kart&#257r Si&#7749gh sought election from his former constituency as a Congress candidate but was defeated. He resigned from the Congress party on 16 April 1967. His bid to be elected a member of the Lok Sabh&#257 from Hoshi&#257rpur in 1972 met with a similar fate. He was now in failing health and his political career had come to a v&#299rtual end. He died in R&#257jindra Hospital, Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257, on l0 June 1974.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Dalip Singh, <i>Dynamics of Punjab Politics</i>. Delhi, 1981<BR> <li class="C1"> Gulati, K.C., <i>The Akalis: Past and Present</i>. Delhi, 1974<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>The Heritage of the Sikhs</i>. Delhi, 1983<BR> <li class="C1"> Sarhadi, Ajit Singh, <i>Punjabi Suba</i>. Delhi, 1970<BR> <li class="C1"> Wallace, Paul, and Surendra Chopra, eds., <i>Political Dynamics of Punjab</i>. Amritsar, 1981<BR> <li class="C1"> Brass, Paul R., <i>Language, Religion and Politics in Northern India</i>. Delhi, 1975<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Kulwant Si&#7749gh Virk<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>