Master Tara Singh

Tara Singh (24 June 1885 – 22 November 1967) was a Sikh political and religious figure in India in the first half of the 20th century. He was instrumental in organising the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee and guiding the Sikhs during the partition of India, which he strongly opposed.

He later led their demand for a Sikh-majority state in East Punjab. His daughter was the Indian journalist and politician Rajinder Kaur.

Singh was born on 24 June 1885 in Rawalpindi, Punjab Province in British India into a Malhotra Khatri family. Later he became a high school teacher upon his graduation from Khalsa College, Amritsar, in 1907. Singh's career in education was within the Sikh school system and the use of "Master" as a prefix to his name reflects this period.

Singh was ardent in his desire to promote and protect the cause of Sikhism. This often put him at odds with civil authorities and he was jailed on 14 occasions for civil disobedience between 1930 and 1966. Early examples of his support for civil disobedience came through his close involvement with the movement led by Mahatma Gandhi. He became a leader of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) political party, which was the major force in Sikh politics, and he was similarly involved with the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (Supreme Committee of Gurdwara Management), an apex body that dealt with the Sikh places of worship known as gurdwaras.

He was instrumental in getting the Sikh State resolution passed by Akali Dal under his leadership in 1946, which declared Punjab as the natural homeland of the Sikhs. He also advocated for a "Azad Punjab" (Free Punjab) before demanding the independent nation of "Sikhistan" at the time. He later led their demand for a Sikh-majority state in East Punjab. A devout worker for the cause of Sikh religious and political integrity, Tara Singh often found himself in opposition to Indian Government. He was jailed for civil disobedience 14 times between 1930 and 1966. In the 2020 biography of former Punjab CM Partap Singh Kairon, it has been documented that Tara Singh revived his demand for a separate nation for Sikhs after Independence. In 2018, his granddaughter in law mentioned that Master Tara Singh’s “dream of an autonomous Sikh state in India remains unfulfilled.”

Partition of India

As with other Sikh organisations, Singh and his Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) condemned the Lahore Resolution and the movement to create Pakistan, viewing it as welcoming possible persecution; he thus strongly opposed the partition of India, saying that he and his party would fight "tooth and nail" against the concept of a Pakistan.

Independent India

Singh's most significant cause was the creation of a distinct Punjabi-speaking state. He believed that this would best protect the integrity of Sikh religious and political traditions. He began a hunger strike in 1961 at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, promising to continue it to his death unless the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru agreed to his demand for such a state. Nehru argued that India was a secular country and the creation of a state based on religious distinction was inappropriate. Nonetheless, Nehru did promise to consider the issue. Singh abandoned his fast after 48 days. Singh's fellow Sikhs turned against him, believing that he had capitulated, and they put him on trial in a court adjudged by pijaras. Singh pleaded guilty to the charges laid against him and found his reputation in tatters. The community felt he had abandoned his ideals and replaced him in the SAD.

The linguistic division of the Indian state of Punjab eventually took place in 1966, with the Hindi-speaking areas redesignated as a part of the state of Haryana. Singh himself died in Chandigarh on 22 November 1967.