Ram Singh

Baba Ram Singh Ji Namdhari (February 3 1816 – 29 November 1885) was a Sikh philosopher and reformer and the first Indian to use non-cooperation and boycotting of British merchandise and services as a political weapon. He was the religious leader of the Namdhari (Kuka) sect. Baba Ram Singh Ji launched his holy war against the British on 12th April 1857 by hoisting a white flag of freedom and announced a programme of far reaching significance.

He gave a clarion call to the people to boycott govt services, boycott British run educational institutions and law courts, boycott foreign made goods and defy British laws. He was the originator of the nonviolent and civil disobedience movement in Punjab in 1872.

Baba Ram Singh Ji was a true fore-runner and torch bearer of freedom movement. Mahatma Gandhi later used the concept of non-co-operation and civil disobedience movement propounded by him as political weapons against the British. Baba Ram Singh Ji's monumental achievement and the sacrifices of innumerable Namdhari Sikhs in the freedom movement are yet to be fully evaluated and given due recognition.

Acknowledging baba Ram Singh Ji's contribution and achievement in the freedom movement Dr Rajendera Prasad India's first President wrote:

In fact it is a historical truth that the non-co-operation and Swadishi movement started by Baba Ram Singh Ji shook the very foundations of the British rule in India. Baba Ram Singh considered political freedom a part of religion. The principles of boycott and non-co-operation which Mahatma Gandhi introduced so vigorously in our freedom movement were expounded by Baba Ram Singh Ji for the Namdharis.

The Namdhari Freedom movement had far reaching repercussions - Mahatma Gandhi adopted their means and methods as political weapons against the Raj in India. It united the countrymen in the common cause of achieving freedom leading to independence in 1947.

Baba Ram Singh Ji's fight for independence was a turning point in world history for it eventually sounded the death-knell of colonial rule in the British empire. His Ideas were later used by Mohandas Gandhi and were a key part in securing India's Independence from the British.

References

* [http://www.punjabilok.com/misc/freedom/namdhari_freedom_move.htm Baba Ram Singh]

External links

* [http://www.sikh-history.com/sikhhist/warriors/namdhari.html Sikh history - Namdhari]
* [http://www.namdhari.org/Links/History.htm Namdhari history]
* [http://www.sikhism.com/articles/origin_non_violence.htm Origin of Non Violence]