ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>PR&#298TAM SI&#7748GH GOJR&#256&#7748 JATHED&#256R (1896-1976)</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="PR*TAM,SIDGH,GOJRD,JATHEDR,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">&#65279PR&#298TAM SI&#7748GH GOJR&#256&#7748, JATHED&#256R (1896-1976), born into a simple rural family, rose, without advantages of education and worldly means, to the position of president of the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal, to be distinguished from the <i>Riy&#257st&#299</i> Ak&#257l&#299 Dal (representing only Sikhs living in the princely states of the Punjab), by his solid qualities of character. He was born Dal&#299p Si&#7749gh in 1896, the only son of Kishan Si&#7749gh Dh&#257l&#299v&#257l and Part&#257p Kaur of village Gojr&#257&#7749 in present-day Sa&#7749gr&#363r district of the Punjab. His father died when he was still very young and his mother remarried. Pr&#299tam Si&#7749gh grew up as a neglected child and in january1915 enlisted in the army. Contrary to the common ways of Punjabi youth, Pr&#299tam Si&#7749gh vowed, when still in the army, totally to abstain from the use of alcohol and flesh. After his release in 1920 from the army, his interest in religion became more pronounced. He in fact started studying the Sikh texts under royal tutors of Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 attached to Gurdw&#257r&#257 Mot&#299 B&#257<u>gh</u>. This was the time when he was drawn towards politics as well. He joined the Ak&#257l&#299 party which was the dominant political force among the Sikhs. He went through the rites of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 initiation in 1921 and received the new name of Pr&#299tam Si&#7749gh. He became a member of the Gur&#363 Hargobind Jath&#257, a Sikh group active in the Sikh religious reform.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; For Participating in the Jaito agitation Pr&#299tam Si&#7749gh was jailed in 1923. In 1926, he took part in the agitation launched against the ruler of Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 for the release of the Ak&#257l&#299 activist Sev&#257 Si&#7749gh &#7788h&#299kr&#299v&#257l&#257. He betrayed active interest in promoting the tour of the Ak&#257l&#299 supremo, B&#257b&#257 Kha&#7771ak Si&#7749gh, in 1928 who was <i>persona non grata</i> with the ruler of Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 state.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; He was very unhappy when the Ak&#257l&#299 Dal patched up its differences with Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Bh&#363pinder Si&#7749gh of Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257. He denounced the agreement between Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 ruler and the Ak&#257l&#299 leader, Master T&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh, branding it as a sell out.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Turning away from the Praj&#257 Ma&#7751&#7693al which had come to be dominated by communists and the urban elite, Pr&#299tam Si&#7749gh reverted to Ak&#257l&#299 politics and focussed his energies on strengthening the Riy&#257st&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal of which he had been the Jathed&#257r (president) since its very inception. He supported the Baldev Si&#7749gh-Sikandar Pact made in 1942 between the Ak&#257l&#299 Dal and the Muslim dominated Unionist Party of the</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Pu&#7749j&#257b and the &#256z&#257d Punjab demand raised by Master T&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh in 1943. In 1944, he was elected president of the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal, the mainstream political party of the Sikhs. At the fifth All-India Ak&#257l&#299 Conference held at Lahore on 14 October 1944, Jathed&#257r Gojr&#257&#7749 raised the demand for a sovereign Sikh State in case the Muslim League demand for a separate Muslim State was accepted. When after independence, the Ak&#257l&#299s decided to join the Congress party (March 1948), Pr&#299tam Si&#7749gh stood by the side of Master T&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh opposing this move. Jathed&#257r Pr&#299tam Si&#7749gh Gojr&#257&#7749 launched in 1946 a strong and widespread agitation against the excesses and misrule of J&#299nd. In 1954, he was elected a member of Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 and East Punjab States Union Assembly in the mid-term poll.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Wroth at the half-hearted implementation of the Regional Formula devised as a compromise between the Ak&#257l&#299s in the Punjab and the Congress party, Jathed&#257r Gojr&#257&#7749 resurrected the demand for a Sikh State at a press conference in Jalandhar on 12 June 1958. He was an active supporter of the Punjabi S&#363b&#257 agitation, but dismayed at the intra-party wranglings between the Ak&#257l&#299 leaders, Master T&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh and Sant Fateh Si&#7749gh, he withdrew himself from active politics in 1965 and retired to his native village of Gojr&#257&#7749. Having lived the simple life of a recluse all these years he had raised no family nor did he own any property. The village Pa&#7749ch&#257yat (council) assigned to him a small portion of the <i>sh&#257ml&#257t</i> (common land) for his residence and subsistence. In character with his saintly life, he willed the property to the village Pañch&#257yat</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Bajwa, Harcharan Singh, <i>Fifty Years of Punjab Politics (1920-1970) </i>. Chandigarh, 1979<BR> <li class="C1"> Gur Rattan Pal Singh, <i>The Illustrated History of the Sikhs (1947-78) </i>. Chandigarh, 1979<BR> <li class="C1"> Gulshan, Dhann&#257 Si&#7749gh, <i>Ajj d&#257 Pañj&#257b te Sikh R&#257jn&#299t&#299</i>. Rampura Phul, 1971<BR> <li class="C1"> Jaswant Si&#7749gh, ed. <i>Master T&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh: J&#299van Sa&#7749gharash te Udesh</i>. Amritsar, 1972<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Surj&#299t Si&#7749gh G&#257ndh&#299<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>