Tara Singh (activist)

Master Tara Singh (24 June 1885 – 22 November 1967) was a Sikh political and religious leader 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 Punjab, India. His daughter, the Indian journalist and politician Rajinder Kaur, was killed by Punjab Police in Bathinda.

Quotes about Tara Singh

• Among Hindus and Sikhs resentment at the agitation is growing and, particularly in the case of the latter in an ominous degree. On the 12th of February in the second statement he has issued against the agitation since it started, Master Tara Singh declared that it was communal in its essentials and has as its purpose the domination of the Punjab by Muslims. He called on the Sikhs to prepare themselves to face the Muslim League onslaught and towards this and to reorganize the Akal Fauj.
  • Chief Secretary of the Punjab Government, as quoted in Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus in the Punjab 1947, 1950, Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee p. 60-1 [1]

• In Tainch and Harnali about two dozen Sikhs were killed and brutalities committed in the latter place. About 30 women were abducted from these places and the Gurdwaras were burnt. In Harial about 20 Sikhs were killed and 40 were abducted. The Gurdwara was burnt. This last is Master Tara Singh’s home place. Masterji’s house were razed to the ground with sadistic vengeance, the site struck with shoes and ploughed over.
  • Talib, S. G. S. (1950). Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus inthe Punjab, 1947. Amritsar: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. [2] [3] [4] [5] (p 84)