Modern Indian History-Events and Personalities

Teja Singh Sutantar: Remembering the revolutionary leader

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Teja Singh Sutantar

Mains level: NA

teja

Punjab Chief Minister unveiled a statue of Teja Singh Sutantar, a former MP and revolutionary leader.

Teja Singh Sutantar

  • Teja Singh was born as Samund Singh in 1901 in Aluna village of Gurdaspur district.
  • After completing his schooling, he joined Khalsa College in Amritsar.
  • Following the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919, he joined the Akali Dal to participate in the movement to liberate gurdwaras from degenerate mahants.
  • However, in September 1921, he formed his own squad called the Sutantar Jatha, which successfully liberated a gurdwara in a village called Teja in Gurdaspur district from the mahants.
  • He later freed another gurdwara in Othian village from mahants.

Early life and revolutionary activities

  • In early 1923, Teja Singh went to Kabul as a Sikh missionary and there he came into contact with a few leaders of the Ghadar Party, who were preparing for their second attempt to overthrow the British government.
  • They persuaded Teja Singh to undergo military training, so he joined the Turkish military academy in 1925 under the pseudonym Azad Beg.
  • He later moved to Berlin and then to Canada and the United States, where he addressed congregations of Indians, mainly Punjabi Sikh immigrants.

Political Career

  • After visiting several countries, Teja Singh returned to India and became a prominent leader of the communist party (CPI).
  • He contributed revolutionary articles to the party journal, the Kirti, frequently writing about issues that plagued peasants.
  • In May 1937, he was elected unopposed to the Punjab Legislative Assembly as a nominee of the Indian National Congress while he was still in prison.
  • He continued to remain a member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly till 1945.
  • He was also the secretary of the Communist Party (Punjab) from 1944 to 1947.

 

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