Marking the death anniversary of a great Indian Sikh revolutionary and a leading luminary Kartar Singh Sarabha, we would not get a more fair chance to commemorate this legendary hero who is not only forgotten but cast aside by the proponents of Non- Violence and the flow of time.
7 facts about Kartar Singh Sarabha that are remarkable but lesser known too:-
- He sacrificed his life for our country India at the age of 19 ( Of Course ,A tender age to embrace gallows)
- When he was sent to U.S.A to study at University of Berkeley, California. He was put through rigorous questioning at the port of San Francisco while other people were allowed to after slight checks. He was told ‘Indians are the citizens of a slave country. As such they are treated badly.’
- Bhagat Singh was inspired by him. He regarded Kartar Singh Sarabha as his ‘Guru’
- He exclaimed with pride in his final day of hearing in the court “What sentence will I receive for my crime? Life-sentence or death/. I would prefer death, so that I could be born again – as long as the India does not become free I would be born again and again – and would be hanged for my country. This is the last wish I have.
- Kartar Singh was locked in his death cell. His grandfather came to see him. He said, “Kartar Singh, people for whom you are giving your life use abusive language for you. It does not also seem that the country will benefit from death. Kartar Singh asked him very softly,“Dadaji, where is (such and such) relative of ours?”“He died in plague.”
“And the other one?”
“He died of cholera.”
“So you want that Kartar Singh should be lying on his bed for months suffering with some sickness and die! Is this death not thousand times better than that?”
His grandfather was speechless.
- He did most of the work for the ‘Ghadar’ paper from writing articles to printing the paper (which was done by hand press). When he was tired of running the press he would sing:-ਸੇਵਾ ਦੇਸ਼ ਦੀ ਜਿੰਦੜੀਅੇ ਬੜੀ ਔਖੀ,ਗੱਲਾਂ ਕਰਨੀਆਂ ਢੇਰ ਸੁਖੱਲੀਆਂ ਨੇ,
ਜਿੰਨੇ ਦੇਸ਼ ਦੀ ਸੇਵਾ ਚ ਪੈਰ ਪਾਇਆ,
ਓਹਨਾ ਲੱਖ ਮੁਸੀਬਤਾਂ ਝੱਲੀਆਂ ਨੇ.”
Serving ones country is very difficult
It is so easy to talk
Anyone who walked on that path
Must endure millions of calamities.
- On November 16, 1915 he was hanged. That day too he was happy as always. His weight too increased. He embraced the hanging rope with the words, “Victory to Mother India.”
