Shaheed Swaran Singh - Uncle of Great Bhagat Singh

Shaheed Swaran Singh, who died on 20th July, 1910, Author of many books on revolutionaries and revolutionary freedom movement of India, was the younger uncle of Bhagat Singh. Incidentally Swaran Singh died at almost same age-23 years, as Shaheed Bhagat Singh kissed the gallows around same age.

Shaheed Swaran Singh, the youngest son of  Sardar Arjan Singh was born in 1887 at Khatkar Kalan , exact date of birth is not yet known. Along with his elder brothers- Sardar Kishan Singh ,father of Bhagat Singh and Ajit Singh, close associate of Lala Lajpat Rai and Sufi Amba Prasad, he also got his education from Saidas Anglo Vedic school Jalandhar. As Kishan Singh and Ajit Singh were both active in freedom struggle, so Swaran Singh also followed their path. He was particularly associated with Ajit Singh’s activities in Lahore, like organizing Bharat Mata society and ‘Mohabbat-e-Watan’ and focusing on peasant problems of those days. Ajit Singh used to bring out lot of literature in Urdu and English those days and Swaran Singh played major role in publishing activities. He was accused for publishing and selling books and pamphlets like — Bandar Bant , Divide and Conquor , Peshwa , Hindustan Mein Angrezi hakumat ,’Ghadar’, Baghi Masih , Amanat mein Khayanat and many others Because of his activities, he was also jailed many times and caught tuberculosis in jail. In a book edited by well known historian Dr. Ganda Singh for Punjabi University Patiala-‘Seditious Literature in The Panjab’, all the intelligence reports of those days, collected in the book, give vivid description of Swaran Singh’s activities and also refer to his being at the advanced stage of consumption, because of which he could not be tried for certain cases against him. So it is clear that Swaran Singh dedicated his life to nation, though he came from a well to do family and because of jail sufferings, he became consumptive, he did not receive any proper treatment for that and passed away on 20th July 1910, at the age of just 23 years.

Veerender Sandhu, author of family history of Bhagat Singh in Hindi has referred to Swaran Singh as being appointed Superintendent of an orphanage in Lahore in 1905, where lot many orphan children were brought by his elder brother Kishan Singh from Rajputana, because of severe drought there. Swaran Singh turned out this orphanage into a revolutionary training centre for children. He became a propaganda secretary of ‘Bharat Mata Society’ established by his elder brother Ajit Singh. After Ajit Singh’s deportation to Mandalay jail in Burma in 1907, Swaran Singh published his anti British articles from Lahore and he was convicted on 20th July 1907 and sentenced to one and half year imprisonment, where he caught consumption. He was tortured in jail by putting him with Mahasha Ghasita Ram for drawing water from well like oxen are put up. He refused to obey the illegal orders and he was confined to isolated cell for long time.