ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>TEJ&#256 SI&#7748GH BHUCHCHAR (1887-1939)</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="TEJ,SIDGH,BHUCHCHAR,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">&#65279TEJ&#256 SI&#7748GH BHUCHCHAR (1887-1939), one of the pioneers of the Gurdw&#257r&#257 reform movement in the 1920's was the eldest son of Mayy&#257 Si&#7749gh and Mahit&#257b Kaur, of the village of Bhuchchar <u>Kh</u>urd, 25 km from Tarn T&#257ran, in Amritsar district. He was born on 28 October 1887 at M&#299e&#7749 ke Mau&#7771, popularly known as Bh&#257&#299 Pher&#363, the village of his mother's parents, now in Pakistan. He attended the village school and assisted his father in tilling their lands. When <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n M&#257jh&#257 was revived in 1918 under the name of Central M&#257jh&#257 <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n, Tej&#257 Si&#7749gh had himself initiated and took the vows of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257. He became an active member of the D&#299w&#257n, which concerned itself mainly with reforming the ceremonial in Sikh holy places, especially at Tarn T&#257ran and Amritsar. At the annual meeting of the D&#299w&#257n held at Bhuchchar in March 1919, Tej&#257 Si&#7749gh was elected its <i>jathed&#257r</i> or leader. A few weeks later, on 13 April 1919, occurred the Jalli&#257&#7749v&#257l&#257 B&#257<u>gh</u> tragedy and the British Brigadier-General E.H. Dyer, who had ordered the shooting, was received and honoured by the government appointed <i>sarbar&#257h</i>, or manager, and the priests of the Harimandar at Amritsar which deeply hurt the feelings of the Sikhs. A public agitation started against the <i>sarbar&#257h</i> in which the Central M&#257jh&#257 <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n, under the leadership of Jathed&#257r Tej&#257 Si&#7749gh Bhuchchar, took an active part. As the Gurdw&#257r&#257 Reform movement got under way, Tej&#257 Si&#7749gh Bhuchchar led a <i>jath&#257</i> of 25 Ak&#257l&#299 volunteers which liberated Gurdw&#257r&#257 B&#257be di Ber at Si&#257lko&#7789 on 5-6 October 1920. Upon the occupation, on 12 October 1920, of Sr&#299 Ak&#257l Ta<u>kh</u>t by the reformist Sikhs, he was named its first <i>jathed&#257r</i>. He was also a member of the provisional committee of nine Sikhs appointed the following day by the deputy commissioner of Amritsar to manage the shrines till the formation of a regular committee. Tej&#257 Si&#7749gh took the initiative in summoning a general meeting of the Sikhs which formally elected, on 15-16 November 1920, a 175-member committee, called Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee. He joined the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal formed on 14 December 1920, and led a <i>jath&#257</i> of 40 Ak&#257l&#299 volunteers to Tarn T&#257ran and liberated the Darb&#257r S&#257hib on 26 January 1921. On 5 February 1921, he took possession of Gurdw&#257r&#257 Bh&#257&#299 Jog&#257 Si&#7749gh at Pesh&#257war. On 15 March 1921, Tej&#257 Si&#7749gh was arrested along with 14 other Ak&#257l&#299 activists. He was tried by a special magistrate at Lahore and awarded a nine year sentence which was suspended by government in September 1921.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;While Jathed&#257r Tej&#257 Si&#7749gh was still in jail, his supporters in the Central M&#257jh&#257 <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n formed, on 19 April 1921, a new organization, the Ga&#7771gajj Ak&#257l&#299 Jath&#257 (later, Ga&#7771gajj Ak&#257l&#299 D&#299w&#257n), and elected him in absentia its president for life. Neither the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee nor the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal had favoured his taking control of the Gurdw&#257r&#257 forcibly and he had gradually drifted away from them. As he was released from jail, the government made overtures to him through Day&#257 Kishan Kaul, prime minister of Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 state, and succeeded in securing his consent to preside over a rival Ak&#257l&#299 conference proposed to be held at Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 on 12-13 December 1921 at which Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Bh&#363pinder Si&#7749gh of Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 was to be elected leader of the Sikh community. But the plan did not materialize owing to Ak&#257l&#299s getting themselves involved in November 1921 in the agitation for the recovery from government of the keys of the Golden Temple treasury. However, Tej&#257 Si&#7749gh's opposition to the central Ak&#257l&#299 leadership continued. To strengthen the Ga&#7771gajj Ak&#257l&#299 D&#299w&#257n, he floated on 22 February 1922 his own daily newspaper, Ga&#7771gajj Ak&#257l&#299, with financial assistance from the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 of Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257. He supported the Gur&#363 k&#257 B&#257<u>gh</u> agitation but, later, he renewed his attack on the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee through his new newspaper <i>Babar Sher</i>, which started publication from 15 June 1923. He stoutly opposed the proposal for the use of gold basins and silver spades for the inauguration of <i>k&#257r-sev&#257</i>, the desilting of the Amritsar <i>sarovar</i>. On 17 June 1923, a band of volunteers from the Ga&#7771gajj Ak&#257l&#299 D&#299w&#257n tried to disturb the inauguration ceremony. The Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee, at its meeting the following day, declared Tej&#257 Si&#7749gh a <i>tankh&#257h&#299&#257</i>, guilty of the breach of Sikh code of conduct, and removed him from the membership of the committee. For his contacts with Master Mot&#257 Si&#7749gh, a leader of the radical Babar Ak&#257l&#299 movement, he was re-arrested on 10 December 1923. Cancelling its earlier resolution, the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee readmitted him to its membership. The Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal celebrated his release on 5 November 1929 by presenting him with an address of welcome.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Tej&#257 Si&#7749gh died in the Civil Hospital at Amritsar on 3 October 1939, succumbing to injuries he had suffered at the hands of his brother, Sev&#257 Si&#7749gh, in a family feud.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Pi&#257r Si&#7749gh, <i>Tej&#257 Si&#7749gh Samundr&#299</i>. Amritsar, 1975<BR> <li class="C1"> Ashok, Shamsher Si&#7749gh, <i>Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Prabandhak Committee d&#257 Pañjah S&#257l&#257 Itih&#257s</i>. Amritsar, 1982<BR> <li class="C1"> Prat&#257p Si&#7749gh, Gi&#257n&#299, <i>Gurdw&#257r&#257 Sudh&#257r arth&#257t Ak&#257l&#299 Lahir</i>. Amritsar, 1975<BR> <li class="C1"> Mohinder Si&#7749gh, <i>The Ak&#257l&#299 Movement</i>. Delhi, 1978<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Kulwant Si&#7749gh Virk<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>