A throwback to 1907 -- Sardar Ajit Singh's peasant movement in Punjab

Sardar Ajit Singh 

Over the last two days, thousands of farmers from North India have begun a “Delhi Chalo” march, to protest against the farm law amendments passed by Parliament in September. The farmers continued their march despite facing water cannons and tear gas from the Haryana Police. Led by organizations such as the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, the farmers have shown fierce resistance to the Police forces and the barricades, making this among the most significant farmer movements we have witnessed in recent years.

This post aims to draw parallels with another farmer movement that took place 113 years ago, during the British Raj.

The ‘Pagdi Sambhal Jatta’ movement

In 1907, Sardar Ajit Singh, a freedom fighter and nationalist revolutionary, led a peasant movement in Punjab – which was popularly referred to as the ‘Pagdi Sambhal Jatta’ movement – to protest against the British Empire’s decision to pass the Punjab Colonisation Bill, 1907. The genesis of this Bill goes back to 1879, when the British constructed the Bari Doab Canal for drawing water from the Chenab River. This water was to be transported to Lyallpur, in Punjab (After the partition of Punjab in 1947, Lyallpur is now a part of Pakistan. It was renamed as Faisalabad in 1977).

The British requested peasants and servicemen from places such as Jalandhar and Amritsar to settle in Lyallpur, and promised to allot them free land for cultivation. The peasants settled in Lyallpur and toiled for more than a decade to make the land fertile for agriculture. In 1907, when the land had become fertile, the British proposed to enact the Punjab Colonisation Bill. This Bill took away the farmers’ right to own the lands that they had cultivated, and would transfer the ownership rights to the British Empire.

The farmers were reduced to the status of sharecroppers, and could not directly sell or purchase the land. If the farmers violated the provisions of the proposed Bill, they faced the prospect of being evicted from their lands. The Bill hence nullified the efforts that the farmers had put, to make this land fertile.

To oppose this Bill, Sardar Ajit Singh began the Pagdi Sambhal Jatta movement – which was also joined by retired Indian soldiers and other freedom fighters such as Lala Lajpat Rai. The movement witnessed mass rallies and protests, where calls were also made for a permanent end to colonial rule.

Lala Lajpat Rai

Along with mobilizing Punjabi farmers, Ajit Singh also gathered the support of serving Sikh soldiers. This popular support resulted in a situation where many serving Indian soldiers refused to open fire at the protesting peasants – and defied the orders of their British masters. However, the British continued to brutally repress the movement.

On 9^th May, 1907, Sardar Ajit Singh and Lala Lajpat Rai were deported to Mandalay jail in Myanmar. Despite the repression faced at the hands of the Empire, the movement was partially successful, as the Colonisation Bill was vetoed by the Governor-General, and ultimately withdrawn.

Interestingly, the name ‘Pagdi Sambhal Jatta’ was derived from a song introduced by Banke Dayal, who was the editor of the Jhang Syal newspaper. The words of the song -“Pagdi sambhal Jatta, Pagdi Sambhal oye” became so popular among the masses that it defined and symbolized the soul of this movement. 

Parallels to 2020

After the Indian Constitution came into force in 1950, Indians got the right to be citizens of their own country, and were no longer only the subjects of their British masters. The farmers, led by Ajit Singh, who protested during the Pagdi Sambhal Jatta movement were not Indian citizens, and were only subjects of the British Empire. Contrast this to the present march to Delhi, where the farmers facing repression at the hands of the Delhi and Haryana Police are Indian citizens – who have a fundamental right to assemble peacefully without arms under Article 19(1)(b) of the Constitution.

But, the ferocity with which the Police obstructed their movement with tear gas and water cannons makes one wonder whether fundamental rights such as Article 19(1)(b) continue to merely be freedoms that are available at the pleasure of the State. 71 years after our Constitution was adopted, as we witness fundamental rights trampled upon on a daily basis, it is time to question – is there any difference between 1907 and 2020?

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Postscript: After being released from Mandalay Jail, Sardar Ajit Singh faced yet another arrest warrant from the British. To evade arrest, he escaped to Iran in 1909, and subsequently went to Europe – to gather support for the Indian independence movement.

During the Second World War, Ajit Singh was in Italy. After Italy’s defeat, he was arrested in May 1945 by the Allied Forces, and was moved across multiple jails in Germany and Italy. Prolonged incarceration in multiple jails had an adverse impact on his health. In 1946, when independence from colonial rule was on the horizon, he was released and sent back to India.

He breathed his last on 15^th August 1947 – the day India became independent.