Foreword To The Book 'Who's Who Punjab Freedom Fighters - Vol 2' By Professor Parm Bakhshish Singh

FOREWORD (Ist Edition)

History of freedom movement is an impressive record of the record of the great deeds accomplished by men of resolute courage devoted to the service of the nation. It is a saga of death and deprivation, of untold suffering and preserving struggle of the unflinching souls who were dedicated to the cause of Indian independence.

The Punjabi University committed itself to salvage from the scattered data and information the facts about the punjabi heroes who participated in the struggle and collect and collate in the form of a cohesive and consequential account. The gratifying result is the completion of Who’s Who Punjab freedom fighters.

The Department of Punjab Historical Studies made efforts to record and recount the contribution of individual freedom fighters about whom a reference was available. The 824 page collection of entries pertaining to known and unknown freedom loving Punjabis, most of them the ruralities, who though led the life of penury and privation rose above their responsibilities towards their families either directly jumped into the mainstream of freedom struggle by joining revolutionary movements like Swdeshi, Quit India etc. or entered the regional struggle against the common national foe. Many a Punjabi 'participated in different morchas, suffered persecution and met the gruesome death. Their sacrifices, consequently, forcefully promoted the national struggle.

The contribution of the Punjabis to the cause of freedom of their motherland is as old as the annexation of the Punjab in 1849 when Maharaj Singh, the unknown rather forgotten enterprising hero, attempted though unsuccessfully to reinstate Maharaja Duleep Singh on the lost throne of his father, Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The Punjabis demonstrated unparallel and unique enthusiasm by Participating in the violent and non-violent activities during the first decades of the twentieth century with the rise of the Ghadrites, the Babar Akalis, the Bharat Naujawan Sabha etc.

With the attainment of freedom in' 194 7 new national consciousness was initiated to give rational contours to our past. The· present attempt is an experiment in this direction. The study is based on oral history tradition and on the archival records. Besides being a significant historical document the additional merit of the enterprise lies in the fact that it is a formal, though inadequate, recognition of the services of Punjabis to the nation.

The volume will be highly useful in the prevailing situation in the country both for scholars working on the subject as well as for the general reader at the time when the memories of those freedom fighters are getting blurred. It should be obligatory on the part of the scholars to make the role of these valiant fighters in the national struggle widely known and their services adequately recognised.

While it is essentially a chronicle of the eminent freedom fighters, this work highlights the actions of those who symbolised some major forces which have transformed our age.

Punjabi University, Patiala.

November 19, 1991.

H.K. MANMOHAN SINGH

Vice-Chancellor