Tara Singh (activist)
| Tara Singh | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
24 June 1885 Rawalpindi, Punjab, British India (present-day Pakistan) |
| Died | 22 November 1967 (aged 82) Chandigarh, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
Master Tara Singh (24 June 1885, in Rawalpindi, Punjab – 22 November 1967, in Chandigarh) was a prominent Sikh political and religious leader in the first half of the 20th century. He was instrumental in organising the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee and guiding the Sikhs during the Partition of India. He later led their demand for a Sikh-majority state in Punjab, India. The Indian journalist and politician Rajinder Kaur was his daughter.
Tara Singh was born on 24 June 1885 to a Hindu family in Rawalpindi, which was then a part of Punjab Province in British India. He converted to Sikhism while a student and became a high school teacher upon his graduation from Khalsa College in Amritsar in 1907. Singh's career in education was within the Sikh school system and the use of "Master" as a prefix to his name reflects this period.
Singh was ardent in his desire to promote and protect the cause of Sikhism. This often put him at odds with civil authorities and he was jailed on 14 occasions for civil disobedience beteween 1930-1966. Early examples of his support for civil disobedience came through his close involvement with the movement led by Mohandas K. Gandhi. He became a leader of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) political party, which was the major force in Sikh politics, and he was similarly involved with the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (Supreme Committee of Temple Management), an apex body that dealt with the Sikh places of worship known as gurdwaras.
During the Partition of India, over one million Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims were killed and families were displaced as they migrated across the new India-Pakistan border. During this period, many alleged that Tara Singh was endorsing the killing of Punjabi's. On 3 March 1947, at Lahore, Singh along with about 500 Sikhs declared from a dais "Death to Pakistan".
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