Kartar Singh Jhabbar (1874-20 November 1962) was a Sikh leader known for his role in the

Gurdwara Reform Movement The Akali movement , also called the Gurdwara Reform Movement, was a campaign to bring reform in the gurdwaras (the Sikh places of worship) in India during the early 1920s. The movement led to the introduction of the Sikh Gurdwara Bill in 1925, w ...

of the 1920s. Kartar Singh was born to Teja Singh in the Jhabbar village of

Sheikhupura District Sheikhupura District ( pa, ; ur, ), is a district located in Lahore Division of Punjab Province, Pakistan. Sheikhupura is the headquarters of Sheikhupura district. According to the 1998 census of Pakistan, the district had a population o ...

Punjab (British India) Punjab was a province of British Raj, British India. Most of the Punjab region was annexed by the East India Company in 2 April 1849, and declared a province of British Rule, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall und ...

. His grandfather Mangal Singh was in the service of

Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He s ...

. He received religious education (1906–09) at the Khalsa Updeshak Mahavidyalaya, a training institution for Sikh preachers at Garjakh. In 1909, Kartar Singh became a preacher and later joined the

Singh Sabha Movement The Singh Sabha Movement was a Sikh movement that began in Punjab in the 1870s in reaction to the proselytising activities of Christians, Hindu reform movements ( Brahmo Samajis, Arya Samaj) and Muslims (Aligarh movement and Ahmadiyah). The mov ...

. In 1919, he was arrested for anti-Government protests following the

Jallianwala Bagh massacre The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on 13 April 1919. A large peaceful crowd had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab, to protest against the Rowlatt Act and arrest of pro-independenc ...

. He was awarded a sentence in the Andaman jail, but was later released after the announcement of the royal

clemency A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

. In the 1920s, Kartar Singh led the

, which aimed at transferring the control of Sikh gurdwaras from traditional clergy (

Udasi Udasi (Gurmukhi: ਉਦਾਸੀ ਸੰਪਰਦਾ; ''udāsī saparadā'') is a religious sect of ascetic ''sadhus'' centred in northern India. Becoming custodians of Sikh shrines in the 18th century, they were notable interpreters and spreade ...

mahant Mahant () is a religious superior, in particular the chief of a temple or the head of a monastery in Indian religions. James Mallinson, one of the few westerners to be named as a mahant, describes the position of a mahant as a combination of a ...

s) and Government-appointed managers to the

Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee ( SGPC; "Supreme Gurdwara Management Committee") is an organization in India responsible for the management of Gurdwaras, Sikh places of worship in states of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and the unio ...

(SGPC). In 1920, a

jatha A Jatha ( Punjabi: ਜੱਥਾ g ਜਥੇ l) is an armed body of Sikhs. They have existed in Sikh tradition since the beginning of the Khalsa (Sikh community) in 1699 CE. A Jatha basically means a group of people. The Damdami Taksal Jatha ...

(volunteer group) led by him seized the control of the Babe di Ber gurdwara in

Sialkot Sialkot ( ur, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of Sialkot District and the 13th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined with Jammu (the winter capital of Indian administered Jammu and Ka ...

. He also played an important role in the SGPC's takeover of the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple), the holiest shrine of the Sikhs. He further helped the Akalis seize the control of

Gurdwara Panja Sahib Gurdwara Panja Sahib ( pa, ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ਪੰਜਾ ਸਾਹਿਬ , ; ur, ) is a famous gurdwara located in Hasan Abdal, Pakistan. The shrine is considered to be particularly important as the handprint of the founder of Sik ...

(

Hasan Abdal Hasan Abdal ( Punjabi, ur, ), is a city in the Attock District of Punjab Province in Pakistan, located 40 km northwest of the country's capital city, Islamabad. Hassan Abdal is the headquarters of Hasan Abdal Tehsil (sub-district). As home ...

, November 1920), Gurdwara Sacha Sauda (Chuhar Kana, December 1920),

Gurdwara Sri Tarn Taran Sahib Gurdwara Sri Tarn Taran Sahib is a gurdwara established by the fifth guru, Guru Arjan Dev, in the city of Tarn Taran Sahib, Punjab, India. The site has the distinction of having the largest sarovar (water pond) of all the gurdwaras. It is famo ...

(January 1921) and

Gurdwara Guru ka Bagh About three kilometers east of Takht Sri Harmandir Sahib is where Guru Tegh Bahadur first alighted in a garden (bagh) belonging to Nawabs Rahim Bakhsh and Karim Bakhsh, nobles of Patna, and where the sangat of Patna along with the young Guru G ...

(near Amritsar, January 1921). In 1921, Kartar Singh was arrested for protesting against the

Nankana massacre The Nankana massacre (or Saka Nankana Sahib) in Nankana Sahib gurdwara on 20 February 1921, at that time a part of the British India but today in modern-day Pakistan. Between 140 and 260 Sikhs were killed, including children as young as seven, ...

, and again in 1924 for taking part in various

Akali movement The Akali movement , also called the Gurdwara Reform Movement, was a campaign to bring reform in the gurdwaras (the Sikh places of worship) in India during the early 1920s. The movement led to the introduction of the Sikh Gurdwara Bill in 1925, w ...

demonstrations. He was released in December 1928, because of poor health. He and his associates were involved in securing for SGPC the possession of properties attached to various gurdwaras, in accordance with the

Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 The Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 was a piece of legislation in British India which legally defined Sikh identity and brought Sikh gurdwaras (houses of worship) under the control of an elected body of orthodox Sikhs. Gurdwara reform movement Prior to ...

. After the partition of India in 1947, Kartar Singh migrated to Habri village of

Karnal district Karnal district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana state in North India which constitutes the National Capital Region (NCR) of the country. The city of Karnal is a part of the National Capital Region (NCR) and is the administrative headq ...

(in present day

Kaithal district Kaithal district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana, state in northern India. Kaithal town is the district headquarters. The district occupies an area of 2317 km2. It has a population of 1,074,304 (2011 census). It is part of Karnal div ...

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land a ...

). He was engaged in resettlement of refugees, and died in Habri, in 1962.

Film and Literature

Kartar Singh Jhabbar was shown in a Punjabi movie Saka - The Martyrs of Nankana Sahib where

Mukul Dev Mukul Dev (born 17 September 1970) is an Indian television and film actor. He is known for his work in Hindi films, Punjabi films, TV serials and music albums. He has also acted in few Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu films. He received t ...

was shown doing his lead role and the entire movie was based on Saka Nankana Sahib and Gurdwara Reform Movement

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Fateh Indian Sikh religious leaders Punjabi people Sikh politics 1874 births 1962 deaths