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Sardar Arjun Singh: Sardar Bhagat Singh's Grandfather Excerpts from the NAI Repository – Patriotic Writings Banned by the Raj (May, 1931)
Sardar Bhagat Singh: A Short Life-Sketch
Chapter I: The Family and The Boy
Sardar Bhagat Singh comes from a well-known family from the district of Lyallpur. His ancestors were Khalsa Sardars who, under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, helped in the spread of the Sikh Kingdom against the turbulent Pathans on the west and the dangerous English on the east. For helping the Sikh rulers with life and blood, this family was rewarded with considerable land.
Bhagat Singh's grandfather, Sardar Arjun Singh was a big landlord. Though more than 80 years old, he is still strong and used to take a keen interest in the proceedings of the Lahore Conspiracy Case. He is full of nationalist spirit. His brothers, Sardar Bahadur Dilbagh Singh and others, through their services to the Government, have grown rich and are now prosperous and men of rank and title.
But Sardar Arjun Singh chose another path which inevitably leads to poverty and obscurity. The grandmother of Sardar Bhagat Singh, Sm. Jaikaur, is a typical old woman of a Hindu family. It is she who has brought up all her sons and grandsons. She is a very brave lady; still, she talks of Sufi Amba Prasad, one of the pioneer nationalists of India, who used to visit them. Once the police came to arrest Sufi Sahib while he was in the house of Sardar Arjun Singh. But the brave lady saved him by a clever trick.
Sardar Arjun Singh had three sons, Sardar Kishen Singh, Sardar Ajit Singh and Sardar Swarna Singh. All the three brothers are known throughout Punjab for their sincere love of the country. Their patriotism has stood the severest test of imprisonment, banishment, and poverty.
It was Sardar Ajit Singh who is reputed to have drawn Lala Lajpat Rai to the field of political service for the motherland.
Bhagat Singh joined the D.A.V. School, Lahore.
When not yet fourteen, Bhagat Singh's enthusiasm for the service of the country brought him into touch with some revolutionary organizations in Punjab.
It was partly to avoid police scrutiny, partly to find out a new field of activity that Bhagat Singh left Punjab and went to reside at Cawnpore. Here he came into touch with Sj. Ganesh Shanker Vidyarthi and the two formed a life-long friendship. This was a turning point in his life, as since then he became part and parcel of a well-organized revolutionary party in India. Henceforth his life was part of a story of the revolutionary movement in India.
The Appendix of the banned book carries a Copy of the written statement filed by Bhagat Singh and B. K. Dutt in the Court of the Sessions Judge, Delhi, in the Assembly Bomb Case.
Source: Sanyal, Jitendra Nath. Sardar Bhagat Singh, a short life sketch. Allahabad. pp. 129 (Biography of Bhagat Singh) (English, 969)
Special Thanks to Library Staff. National Archives of India (NAI). From Dr. Sanjay Garg and Dr. Divya Sethi.