Giani Kartar Singh

Giani Kartar Singh was one of the leading Akali politicians of the 1940s and 1950s. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says that in the political negotiations of those years he ranked next only to Master Tara Singh as a representative of Sikh opinion. He was president of the Shiromani Akali Dal in 1947, framed the Azad Punjab scheme, and later sat in Congress governments in East Punjab and Punjab.

The Encyclopaedia gives his birth as 22 February 1902 in Chak No. 40, Jhang Branch, in Lyallpur district, now in Pakistan, and his death on 10 June 1974 at Rajindra Hospital, Patiala. He earned the title Giani for his religious learning, was jailed in 1924, joined the SGPC in 1926 and was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly in 1937.

Key moments

• 1942: the Encyclopaedia says he helped bring the Akalis and the Unionist Party together. Baldev Singh joined Sikandar Hayat Khan's ministry under the Sikander-Baldev Pact, and Giani Kartar Singh moved a bill to strengthen the SGPC.
• 1943: he put forward the Azad Punjab scheme, which became the basis of the Akali position in later negotiations (Encyclopaedia).
• 24 April 1947: Mountbatten's report records that Master Tara Singh, Giani Kartar Singh and Baldev Singh came to see him together and made it clear that they would fight to the last man if put under Muslim domination. On 5 June 1947 Mountbatten wrote that Giani Kartar Singh told him he would see Jinnah, when the bitterness had died down, and make the best terms he could for the Sikhs who would come into Pakistan (Gurmit Singh, Appendix 25).
• After 15 August 1947: the Encyclopaedia says he helped non-Muslims migrate to India from Lyallpur and Sheikhupura districts at great personal risk.
• 23 January 1948: with Bhopinder Singh Man and Harcharan Singh Bajwa he met B.R. Ambedkar, who, Gurmit Singh writes, told them the remedy of the Sikhs lay in demanding a Punjabi Suba.
• 17 March 1948 to 1949: the Akali Working Committee, under his leadership, let Akali members of the East Punjab Assembly join the Congress on 17 March 1948. He became a minister under Gopi Chand Bhargava, and in March 1949 he and 22 legislators helped form Bhim Sen Sachar's ministry. The Encyclopaedia calls him the architect of the Giani-Sachar formula, which divided East Punjab into Punjabi-speaking and Hindi-speaking areas.
• 1955 and 1956: he courted arrest in the Punjabi Suba agitation of 1955 (Encyclopaedia). Gurmit Singh writes that after he visited Lahore for a cricket match that year, the Indian press carried false propaganda alleging a conspiracy with Pakistan. Gurmit Singh lists him with Master Tara Singh, Jodh Singh, Gian Singh Rarewala, Hukam Singh and Bawa Harkishan Singh as meeting Nehru, and dates the Regional Formula that followed 22 January 1956. The Encyclopaedia says the Akalis then rejoined the Congress en bloc.
• 1957: he was elected from Dasuya-Mukerian and became Revenue and Agriculture Minister under Partap Singh Kairon (Encyclopaedia).
• 16 April 1967: he resigned from the Congress after losing the February election (Encyclopaedia).

What he is remembered for. He is remembered as the Akali leader who took the party into the Congress in 1948 and was a chief negotiator of the Regional Formula. Khushwant Singh writes that after Partition Sikh leaders such as Giani Kartar Singh were compelled to secure their future by co-operating with the party in power.