Kartar Singh Sarabha Biography 
Kartar Singh Sarabha was a Sikh revolutionary of Ghadar Party and one among the accused of the Lahore conspiracy trial. Singh was executed at Lahore in November 1915 for his role in the Ghadar Conspiracy in February the same year. When he died, he was just 19! The great freedom fighter Bhagat Singh was inspired by him. Bhagat Singh regarded him as his guru, friend and brother.
Kartar Singh Sarabha was born in Sarabha Village, Ludhiana of Punjab, India on 24 May 1896. His parents were Sardar Mangal Singh and Sahib Kaur. He lost his father at a young age and later he was brought up by his grandfather. After primary education at his village, he joined matriculation at Malwa Khalsa High school of Ludhiana. While studying 10th he went to his uncle’s home in Orissa. After finishing high school, he joined college. When he was fifteen, he started working on board in an American ship. Once observing that only Indian passengers have to go through rigorous questioning, he asked one of the passengers about this type of behaviour. When he got reply that it’s because Indians are slaves of British, it really affected his thoughts. In those days Indians mostly work as soldiers or laborers.
Kartar enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley, for a degree in chemistry. In addition to it, he did odd jobs like picking fruits in orchards. Already patriotic feelings had rose in his mind. In 1913, the revolutionary party, Ghadar Party was formed by Indians of California whose sole aim was to get rid of British from India. The party started printing a paper named Ghadar in several languages and circulated nationwide. Taking the big opportunity of First World War in 1914, they published the "Decision of Declaration of War" against the British and circulated several copies, even in small villages.
Kartar Singh reached Kolkata with a group of friends. Very soon, revolutionaries of Ghadar party got arrested one by one. They gathered meeting at Ladhouwal near Ludhiana and decided to commit robberies in the houses of the rich to accumulate fund. Kirpal Singh, a police informer informed the Government of the planned revolt and thus their attempt failed. Yet Kartar was not willing to leave the country as a coward. He returned with two friends and went over to Chak No. 5 in Sargodha to start a rebellion. But he got arrested and was executed. He soon became the symbol of martyrdom and many freedom fighters were influenced from his bravery and sacrifice.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 02, 2014
