“Chu Kaar Az Hamha Heelte Dar Guzast, Halal Ast Burdan Ba Shamsheer Dast!” (When all other means have been exhausted, it is righteous to draw the sword).It was with a flourish of his kirpan on stage and with the chants of these Persian couplets – written by the 10th Sikh Master, Guru Gobind Singh in his ‘Zafarnama’ (addressed to Aurangzeb as a proclamation of the undying spirit of the Khalsa even after the Guru lost his two sons and many Sikhs in the Battle of Chamkaur) – that Jathedar Kishan Singh Gargaj used to start his address amid the incensed gatherings of a 1920s Punjab, seething with anger against the British rule. It was owing to his fiery speeches that he earned the epithet ‘Gargaj’ (The Thunderer).Jathedar Kishan Singh Gargaj along with Master Mota Singh was the founder and foremost proponent of the Babbar Akali Movement which mobilised disillusioned Sikhs, Ghadarites, army men and the repressed peasantry of the state into a movement which became tough even for the British to handle. The year – 2026 – is being observed as the centenary of the Babbar Akali Movement.The Babbar (meaning lion) Akali Movement was an offshoot of the Gurdwara Reform Movement, which took its own form and ideology. Unlike the peaceful and non-violent measures of the Gurdwara Reform Movement, the Babbar Akalis believed in armed struggle, disregarding formal political party lines or policies of non-violence in the wake of contemporary massacres and tragedies. The 1919 Jallianwala Bagh tragedy followed by the ‘Saka’ Nankana Sahib’ (February 1921), atrocities on the Guru Ka Bagh Morcha (1922) and the plight of Punjab’s farmers, became the immediate trigger for the movement.The British repression, excesses and arrests of countless Sikh leaders to snub this uprising led to the final death sentence for the Babbar Akali Movement’s six illustrious leaders on February 27, 1926, at the Lahore Central Jail. These six leaders were – Jathedar Kishan Singh Gargaj, Shaheed Nand Singh, Babu Santa Singh, Shaheed Daleep Singh, Shaheed Dharam Singh and Shaheed Karam Singh.The centenary of the demise of these very six leaders is being observed across villages and memorial organisations across Punjab and among the diaspora this year.On February 27, the Jalandhar-based Desh Bhagat Yadgaar Hall also marked the centenary event through a conference held under committee president Kulwant Singh Sandhu, general secretary Gurmeet Singh and convener of the cultural wing, Amolak Singh.Historian and eminent Ghadarite scholar Chiranji Lal Kangniwal says, “Following the Saka Nankana Sahib, Jathedar Kishan Singh Gargaj, who was then serving in the army, issued a fiery speech at the army gurdwara, cautioning fellow army men against the trickery of the British government. When officers got wind of it, court martial proceedings were initiated and he resigned. The 13th Sikh Educational Conference at Hoshiarpur from March 25 to 27, 1921 marked the formal start of the Babbar Akali Movement. It was here that some leaders made an exhortation to quit the path of peace and call for the murder of those responsible for Saka Nankana Sahib — British officer CM King, Commissioner of Lahore; Mr Bowering, Mahant Sewa Das, Mahant Narain Das, S Sundar Singh Majitha and Kartar Singh Bedi.”Word got out and so began the 1921 ‘Akali Conspiracy Case’ against 25 people. Warrants were issued against Jathedar Gargaj and Master Mota Singh. The arrest of Master Mota Singh on June 16, 1922 ignited anger. While congregations mobilised by Gargaj were already popular by the name of “Chakravarti Jathas”, it was with the publication of the first edition of ‘Babbar Akali Doaba’ newspaper by Karam Singh on August 20, 1922 that the movement got its formal name and the jathas began to be called “Babbar Akali Jathas”.While the primary activities of the Babbar Akalis were centred around Doaba, Amolak Singh, author and convener of the cultural wing of the Desh Bhagat Yadgaar Hall said, “The chapter involving the Babbar Akalis is an illustrious part of the history of Punjab and the sacrifices made by our illustrious ancestors which must not be forgotten. The Yadgaar Committee is also reaching out to countless villages with Babbar Akali histories across Punjab — like Chak Kalan, Binga, Kaulgarh, Daulatpur, Jhingar, Madhali, Patara, Pandori Nijran, Ghurial, Mander, Bahowal, Kot Fatuhi, Jassowal, Sahadara, Langeri, Dhugga, Pandori Manga Singh, Nangal Kalan, Rakkar Bet and Fatehpur Kothian, among others.”This year’s Mela Ghadri Babeyan Da will also be marked with tributes to the Babbar Akali Movement.wuw