Relatives of one of the youngest freedom fighters, Kartar Singh Sarabha, observed a day’s hunger strike to mark the 66th Republic Day on Monday while the Punjab Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal,on Monday called for setting up a true federal structure in the country and sought participation of the people in a decisive struggle against various social evils and other problems facing the State.
Led by Sukhdev Kaur Sandhu and supported by the Sehajdhari Sikh Party, relatives of Shaheed Sarabha organised the hunger strike at the Bhai Bala chowk in Ludhiana. They were demanding a “national martyr” status for Sarabha, who was sent to the gallows at the age of 19 years in November 1915, for his role in the Ghadar movement. Ms Sandhu, granddaughter of Dhan Kaur, who was Shaheed Sarabha’s elder sister, had led a similar protest on the last Republic day and reiterated the demands on the martyr’s birth and death anniversary functions on May 24 and November 16, respectively.
Talking to The Hindu , Ms. Sandhu said that her family was not seeking any monetary benefit for themselves as her grandmother had refused any price tag for her brother’s sacrifice. however, since the visit by Punjab’s third Chief Minister Partap Singh Kairon, the State Government has not fulfilled any of its promises. Apart from granting Shaheed Sarabha the status of “National Martyr”, his ancestral house in Sarabha village was to be restored and developed into a museum. “So far, they have not even restored the roof, which fell off,” she lamented adding the road from the city to the village is also yet to be named after him.
President of the Sehajdhari Sikh Party, Paramjeet Singh Ranu said that while the government had not accorded him the status of “national martyr”, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), has so far refused to accept that Shaheed Sarabha was a Sikh even.
Despite being born in Sikh families, Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Shaheed Udham Singh, were also not accepted as Sikhs by the apex body managing the community’s affairs, he added.
