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150th Anniversary of Kuka Movement
Hazara Singh*
The following celebrations were held at national level during
2007:
– 50th anniversary of the 1857 - Revolt by the
Bengal Sepoys of the East India Company on May 10 acclaiming
it as India’s First War of Independence;
– Diamond Jubilee of Independence on August 15;
and
– The birth centenary of martyr Bhagat Singh on
September 28.
Such celebrations need to be objectively assessed for imparting
their precise impact at national level.
The terming of 1857-Revolt (regarded as mutiny by the British)
as India’s First War of Independence leads to the
implied recognition that the earlier invasions from north-west
were not acts of foreign aggression but had been a chain
of home-coming by the natives despite their being marauders.
If this is accepted as a historical fact then the heroic
deeds of Indian patriots and reformers prior to the advent
of East India Company would appear as acts of treason. Any
resentment against the demolition .of religious places would
not only be misplaced but amount to sheer vandalism. If
the invasions from north-west had been continual aggression
then the acclaiming of 1857-Revolt by a few detachments
of Bengal Sepoys as India’s First War of Independence
is a misnomer.
In fact our approach to historical events had been casual
if not distorted. The redemarcation of Bengal into two provinces
in 1905 was resented as partition, whereas the separation
of Burma from India in 1937 was accepted as a prerogative
of the British. It would be worthwhile to note that Lokmanya
Bal Ganga Dhar Tilak (1856-1920), who spearheaded a sustained
campaign for swadesi and swaraj, did not accept the 1857
Revolt as an uprising of the masses, because beyond Mogulserai
in the east and Jhansi in the south-west, there were no
noteworthy protests.
The Punjab Government took a corrective step by deciding
to observe the 150th anniversary of Namdhari (Kuka) Movement
at a state-level function at Bhaini Sahib on April 15, 2007.
Baba Ram Singh, founder of the Namdhari sect, adored as
Satguru (preceptor of truth) had been a soldier of the Khalsa
Army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. After the demise of Maharaja
in 1839, he got fed-up by the intrigues of his survivors
and their gradual departure from lofty ideals of Khalsa
Raj. In disgust, he left the army service in 1845 and returned
to his native place, Bhaini, near Ludhiana. But after the
annexation of Punjab by the East India Company in 1849,
the provocative activities of patronized missionaries and
the demoralization of the disarmed Khalsa Army awakened
his national pride. He resolved to restore the glorious
values of sovereign secular Khalsa Rule. It was on the Baisakhi
of 1857, about four weeks earlier than the revolt of Bengal
Sepoys on May 10, that Baba Ram Singh founded the Sant Khalsa.
It enjoined a strict code of simple pious living attuned
to Naam (Name of God). The new sect began to be called Namdharis
accordingly.
As, in their ecstasy, they often indulged into loud shrieks
(called kuks in Punjabi) the epithet Kuka also got added
to Namdhari. Because wearing of kirpans was resented by
the East India Company regime, the Kukas began to carry
sticks (lathis). Mass physical drills formed a part and
parcel of their congregations. The Namdharis were the first
to start a parallel self-rule by introducing their own postal
system for maintaining secrecy about their activities. They
settled all mutual disputes through sabhas (panchyats) instead
of petitioning to courts. Child marriage, infanticide, sati
and all such practices, derogatory to dignity of women,
were forbidden. Education through mother tongue was encouraged
so that the taught remained acquainted with their cultural
heritage. The campaign was the forerunner of the non-co-operation
movements launched by Mahatma Gandhi from 1921 onwards.
The British did not take kindly to the growing activities
of the Namdharis, as they were reviving the national pride
and martial spirit of the ruled.
The opening of a chain of slaughterhouses by the British
for providing beef to the colonial army was resented by
the Namdharis. The sentiment for cow-protection was exploited
by the British to incite clashes between Namdharis and the
local butchers. After one such encounter, sixty six Kukas
were blown up without any trial by L. Cowan, Deputy Commissioner,
Ludhiana on January 17-18, 1872. The executed included Bishen
Singh, a teenager, who was hacked to pieces. Baba Ram Singh
was deported to Rangoon where he passed away in 1885. As
per its aims and goal, the foundation of Sant Khalsa on
the Baisakhi of 1857 deserves to be acclaimed as the declaration
of India’s First War of Independence.
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