ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>SAMP&#362RAN SI&#7748GH R&#256M&#256&#7748 JATHED&#256R (1895-1970)</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="SAMPjRAN,SIDGH,RMD,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">&#65279SAMP&#362RAN SI&#7748GH R&#256M&#256&#7748, JATHED&#256R (1895-1970), active in Ak&#257l&#299 politics and in the Praj&#257 Ma&#7751&#7693al movement, was born in 1895, the son of Har&#299 Si&#7749gh M&#257n and Bh&#257g Kaur of Mau&#7771 &#7692hilv&#257&#7749 in present-day Ba&#7789hi&#7751&#7693&#257 district of the Punjab. The family later shifted to R&#257ma&#7749 where Har&#299 Si&#7749gh had inherited his mother's property. Both these villages fell within the erstwhile princely state of Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257. Samp&#363ran Si&#7749gh came early into notice for his interest in Punjabi folk poetry which he started reciting at fairs and religious festivals. His political career commenced after he had received the rites of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 at Anandpur S&#257hib in 1941, when he gave up his role as a popular balladeer and became a whole time worker of the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal. With his appointment as district <i>jathed&#257r</i> (leader) of Ba&#7789hi&#7751&#7693&#257 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal, the epithet <i>jathed&#257r</i> came to be a permanent prefix to his name. R&#257m&#257&#7749, the name of his village, was suffixed according to the common Ak&#257l&#299 custom of using the village instead of caste as surname. Jathed&#257r R&#257m&#257&#7749 soon became president of the Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 state Ak&#257l&#299 Jath&#257 and worked in collaboration with Jathed&#257r Pr&#299tam Si&#7749gh Gojr&#257&#7749, president of Riy&#257st&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal, a body representing Sikhs of all princely states of the Punjab, and Shr&#299 Sundar L&#257l, president of Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 state Praj&#257 Ma&#7751&#7693al, demand-ing democratic reforms in Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 state. A regrouping of political parties in the region on the eve of the first general elections (1952) in the wake of Independence saw the state Ak&#257l&#299 Dal split into two groups, one led by Pr&#299tam Si&#7749gh Gojr&#257&#7749 and the other by Samp&#363ran Si&#7749gh R&#257m&#257&#7749. Samp&#363ran Si&#7749gh subsequently broke away from the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal and formed a separate party ---M&#257lv&#257 Riy&#257st&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Jathed&#257r Samp&#363ran Si&#7749gh R&#257m&#257&#7749 was among the earliest protagonists of Punjabi S&#363b&#257, a new state to be created comprising Punjabi-speaking areas of the region. He advocated the proposition through a Punjabi poem published in <i>Haft&#257v&#257r Babar</i> on l3 April 1952. On 24 April 1953, he wrote a letter on this subject to Prime Minister Jaw&#257harl&#257l Nehr&#363. After saying <i>ard&#257s</i> at Sr&#299 Damdam&#257 S&#257hib, he left for the Indian capital, a <i>kafan</i> or shroud wrapped around his head, to sit on a fast unto death in front of the Prime Minister's house to have his demand for a Punjabi-speaking state conceded. But he was arrested on the way at Narel&#257 railway station along with his four companions on 1 November 1953 and lodged in Tih&#257&#7771 Jail in Delhi. He immediately went on a hunger strike, but was released from jail and taken to his village, R&#257m&#257&#7749, under escort. Repeated hunger strikes shattered his health and he gradually retired from active politics.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He died at Ba&#7789hi&#7751&#7693&#257 on 15 November 1970.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Sarhadi, Ajit Singh <i>Punjabi Suba</i>. Delhi, 1970<BR> <li class="C1"><i>Khalsa Advocate</i>. Amritsar, 16-23 November 1970<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Janak Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>