Master Mota Singh

Master Mota Singh was an Indian Sikh freedom fighter in the early 20th-century Punjab. He was one of the leaders of Babbar Akali Movement which mobilised disillusioned Sikhs, Ghadarites, Army men and the peasantry of Punjab.

Early life Mota Singh was born on 28 February 1888 in Patara, a village located approximately 7 km east of Jalandhar in British Punjab, into a Jhir Sikh family. He was the son of Gopal Singh and Rali Kaur. During 1914–1915, he served as the Headmaster of Sant Sukha Singh Khalsa Middle School in Amritsar.

Revolutionary activities

Activism & Imprisonment

The British Government passed the Rowlatt Act in 1918 and Mota Singh was arrested on 11 April 1919 for delivering a speech against the government at a large gathering held at the Shahi Mosque in Lahore. After the Rowlatt Act was withdrawn, he and other prisoners were released in December 1919.

Babbar Akali Movement In 1921, Master Mota Singh and Kishan Singh Gargajj led the Babbar Akalis, a breakaway faction from the Akali Movement. The Akali Movement sought nonviolent methods for its campaigns, but attacks from government authorities radicalized some of its members who adopted armed resistance. The faction made its first formal appearance during the Sikh Educational Conference held at Hoshiarpur from 19 to 21 March 1921. thumb

In November 1921, Mota Singh delivered a speech at the annual fair held at Gurudwara Nankana Sahib. He spoke against the British colonial rule, about the oppression of the peasants and resisting the payment of taxes. The police officers tried to arrest him but Mota Singh escaped as the people surrounded him in order to defend him from the police with their Kirpans.

In February 1922, a large public assembly (Deewan) was convened in the village of Kot-Phatuhi. The police surrounded the area from all sides as Mota Singh proceeded to deliver his address. Following the instructions of the meeting's president, the audience stood up and dispersed. Amidst this confusion, Mota Singh managed to escape the police and evade the arrest.

In 1922, the British Government announced a reward of two murabbas (fifty acres) of land for Mota Singh's arrest. He was arrested on 17 June 1922 while he was visiting his village Patara. In July 1929, The Tribune, Lahore published a message by Master Mota Singh, The portrait of Master Mota Singh (bottom-right) featured in the Page of the martyrs' edition of the Daily Pratap, (17 November 1929). In 1929, Mota Singh was elected as the member of All India Congress committee. In August 1929, he was arrested for delivering a speech at a conference of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha. After resigning as the MLA, he took part in the Kisan Movement and began working as the President of the District Kisan Sabha in Jalandhar. Before Mota Singh's death in 1960, he actively participated in a farmers’ movement against the Betterment Tax introduced by Pratap Singh Kairon Government in 1959.