The Unsung Revolutionary== Shaheed Kartar Singh Saraba==

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~~~Shergill Jamsheria~~~
"--THOSE WHO DO NOT FEAR DEATH, DO NOT DIE--"

Shaheed Kartar Singh Saraba was born in a village called Sarabha in Ludhiana district in 1896 AD. His fathers name was Sardar Mangal Singh. He passed his matriculation examination from Orissa where he lived with his relatives. When he was fifteen, his parents put him on board a ship for America to work there. That ship landed at the American port of San Francisco in January 1912 AD. The American Immigration officer put Indians through rigourous questioning while people of other countries were allowed to pass after slight checks. Kartar Singh asked one of the passengers about this type of behavior. He told him, "Indians are the citizens of a slave country. As such, they are treated badly." This incident had a great effect on Kartar Singh.

In 1914 AD, two million Indians worked as watchmen or labourers in foreign countries. Out of the eight thousand lived in America and Canada. Ninety percent of those working abroad were soldiers who had fought for the consolidation of British rule or extending the boundaries of their empire. Kartar Singh enroled in the University of California-Berekely and also took up the work of picking fruit in orchards. He frequently talked to other Indians about getting his country freed.

On the 21st April, 1913 AD, Indians assembled and formed the Ghadar Party (Revolution Party). The aim of the Ghadar Party was to get rid of the slavery of the British by means of an armed struggle and set up a national democratic government. Their slogan was "Put at stake everything for the freedom of the country." On the 1st of November, 1913 AD, the Ghadar Party started taking out a paper named 'Ghadar', which was published in Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujrati and Pushto languages. Kartar Singh did all the work for that paper.

This paper was sent to Indians living in all countries throughout the world. The purpose of the paper was to unmask the truth about the British rule to the Indians, in part military training, and explain in details the methods of making and use of weapons and bombs. There were articles and poems which inspired the youth to die for the freedom of the country such as this one from 'Revolutionary War'.


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