ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>MOT&#256 SI&#7748GH MASTER (1888-1960)</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="MOT,SIDGH,MASTER,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">&#65279MOT&#256 SI&#7748GH, MASTER (1888-1960), patriot and revolutionary, was born the son of Gop&#257l Si&#7749gh on 28 February 1888 at Pat&#257r&#257, a village 7 km east of Jalandhar. His grandfather, S&#257hib Si&#7749gh, was a soldier in the Sikh army and had fought against the British. After passing the matriculation examination, Mot&#257 Si&#7749gh trained as a junior anglo-vernacular teacher and served in different schools in Jalandhar and Hoshi&#257rpur districts. He also passed Gi&#257n&#299 (Honours in Punjabi) and Munsh&#299 Faz&#299l (Honours in Persian) examinations of the University of the Pañj&#257b and took his B.A. in English at the same University. He was headmaster of the Sant Si&#7749gh Sukkh&#257 Si&#7749gh <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Middle School at Amritsar in 1914-15 and later taught at <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 High School, at Damdam&#257 S&#257hib; at Ak&#257l College, at Mast&#363&#257&#7751&#257; and at <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Ku&#257r&#299 College, at Bhasau&#7771. He also associated himself with the educational work of the Central M&#257jh&#257 <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n and helped set up several <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 schools for boys and girls.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Master Mot&#257 Si&#7749gh plunged into politics during the anti-Rowlatt Bills agitation of 1918-19. His first major public speech before a huge gathering at Sh&#257h&#299 Masjid, Lahore, on 11 April 1919 offended the British authority and he was imprisoned under the Martial Law regulations. In the jails those days Sikh prisoners were not permitted to wear turbans as enjoined by their religious faith. Master Mot&#257 Si&#7749gh went on a hunger strike to assert his right to wear a turban. He was released from jail in December 1919, on the eve of the Amritsar session of the Indian National Congress, which he attended. He joined the Ak&#257l&#299 movement for the liberation of Sikh holy places from the control of a corrupt and effete priestly order, but did not approve of its policy of non-violence. The incident at Tarn T&#257ran on 26 January 1921, when an Ak&#257l&#299 <i>jath&#257</i> was treacherously attacked by the priests, seriously injuring 17 of the reformists of whom two later died, and the massacre of Sikhs at Nank&#257&#7751&#257 S&#257hib on 20 February 1921 finally drove him to radicalism.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; At the time of the Sikh Educational Conference at Hoshi&#257rpur from 19 to 21 March 1921, he and Kishan Si&#7749gh Ba&#7771i&#7749g along with a few others held a separate secret meeting and made up plans to liquidate those responsible for the Nank&#257&#7751&#257 S&#257hib tragedy. Their first attempt aborted and the men assigned to the task were arrested on 23 May 1921. Warrants were also issued for the arrest of Master Mot&#257 Si&#7749gh who went underground. For full one year he played hide-and-seek with police. He would suddenly appear at a Sikh <i>d&#299v&#257n</i> or religious gathering, deliver a fiery speech against the British government in full view of police, and then, to their utter discomfiture, disappear. During this period he guided and assisted Kishan Si&#7749gh in organizing the radical group of Babar Ak&#257l&#299s, and made a trip to K&#257bul where he met Indian revolutionaries who had close contacts with the Bolsheviks of Russia. Arrested at last on 15 June 1922, he was sentenced to imprisonment for seven years which he spent in different jails in India and Burma.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Released on 23 June 1929, he was rearrested on 23 July 1929 for his anti-British speeches delivered at Tarn T&#257ran and Jalandhar, and was awarded, on 16 September 1929, a long sentence in jail. He was, however, released in July 1931, as a result of the compact between the British Viceroy Irwin and Mah&#257tm&#257 G&#257ndh&#299 whereby political prisoners were released and the passive resistance campaign was called off. But Mot&#257 Si&#7749gh returned to jail soon after on a two-and-half-year sentence for a speech he made at the Naujaw&#257n Bh&#257rat Sabh&#257 conference at Jha&#7749g on 25 November 1931. On 11 July 1938, he earned two years' imprisonment, with a fine of Rs 150 (or another six months in jail in default) for speeches made at &#7693araul&#299 Kal&#257&#7749 and Manko, both in Jalandhar district. Master Mot&#257 Si&#7749gh went to jail again during the Quit India Movement, 1942-45, launched by Mah&#257tm&#257 G&#257ndh&#299. In 1952, he was elected a member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly as a nominee of the Indian National Congress, but later parted company with the party, and devoted himself actively to work in the Kis&#257n movement, becoming president of the District Kis&#257n Sabh&#257, Jalandhar.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Master Mot&#257 Si&#7749gh never married. Struck by paralysis, he died in Civil Hospital, Jalandhar, on 9 January 1960.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Prat&#257p Si&#7749gh, Gi&#257n&#299, <i> Ak&#257l&#299 Lahir de Mah&#257n Net&#257.</i> Amritsar . 1976<BR> <li class="C1"> Mast&#257n&#257, S&#257dh&#363 Si&#7749gh, <i> Master Mot&#257 Si&#7749gh J&#299</i>. 1978<BR> <li class="C1"> Josh, Sohan Si&#7749gh, <i>Ak&#257l&#299 Morchi&#257&#7749 d&#257 Itih&#257s</i>. Delhi, 1972<BR> <li class="C1"><i> Asal&#299 Qaum&#299 Dard</i>. 1 July 1929<BR> <li class="C1"><i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Sam&#257ch&#257r</i>. 21 January 1960<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Jagj&#299t Si&#7749gh Anand<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>