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Kartar Singh

Village: Badala

City: Amritsar

Kartar Singh alias Kainchi, son of Hari Singh, of Badala, P. S. Jandiala, District Amritsar. Was educated at the Khalsa College, Amritsar. Took part in the agitation in 1907 against the appointment of a European (in that college). Founded the Khalsa School at Mahilpur in 1908 and sebsequently went to America to collect funds for his school. He arrived in Seattle in 1911 with Santokh Singh and others and stayed with them in Vancouver in 1912. He became editor ofthe "Sansar" paper in Victoria in 1913. He quarrelled with the Gurdwaras and cut his 'kesf. He left British Columbia about 1915 with Dr. Sundar Singh of village Munawan, district Lahore (formerly one of the leaders ofthe Ghadr Party) for Toronto. For a time he worked in the Union Station in Toronto and then in an ammunition factory but afterwards had a chartered accountant's office of his own. In Toronto he tried to revive the Canada-India League. In 1928 he interviewed the Indian members of the Empire Parliamentaiy Association, notably Chaman Lal. He moved to Vancouver in December 1928 with the object of organising the Indian colony into a national body and creating a national spirit among the masses, and collected subscriptions for two papers, a monthly in English and a weekly in Urdu, which he intended to publish for the revival of political agitation. He extolled the services of Mewa Singh at a meeting held on 4th January 1929. He edited his "India and Canada" about the middle of 1929, and published a Punjabi edition ofthat paper about the end of May 1930. He collected funds for Bhagat Singh's (Murderer of a Police Officer in India) appeal and spoke in praise of Bhagat Singh and his companions at a meeting held at Abbotsford Temple on the 9th November 1930. He was elected Correspondence Secretary ofthe War Council in 1930. Towards the end of 1930 he visited California to seek financial aid for his paper. He met Dalip Singh ofNangal Kalan (D-5) at Marysville and was sent on by him to the Ghadr Party headquarters at San Francisco. There he saw Teja Singh Sutantar (T-8) who told him that the Ghadr Party had no sympathy for any other organisation which did not advocate its principles. Spoke at the Akhand Path on 5th April 1931 held at the Vancouver Sikh Temple in commemoration of the death of Bhagat Singh and his comrades. He stressed the fact that but for India’s weakness these priceless lives would not have been lost and exhorted the young men of India to avenge their deaths. He is still in Vancouver, B. C.

Description : (1910) : Age 22 years; fair complexion; prominent eyes; medium build; height 5-6".

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