Hazara Singh

Trade union leader and freedom fighter Hazara Singh was born in the early 1910s in Bhalri village of Hoshiarpur district, Punjab. His real name was Banta Singh. He joined the Independence struggle at a very young age. Imprisoned several times by the British, he was an unwavering soul who fought for the people in Punjab, Madras, Port Blair, and the coal fields of Bihar (now Jharkhand) until he finally attained martyrdom in Jamshedpur. The first Kirti Kisan Party convention was held in Hoshiarpur on October 6 and 7, 1927, and it was perhaps only then Singh began to interact with the revolutionaries of Kirti Lehar. He was simultaneously also involved with Bhagat Singh’s Naujawan Bharat Sabha. Hazara Singh planned to kill the Governor of Madras. But the plan was leaked to the police and he was arrested. He was sent to Cellular Jail for transportation for life. In 1937, after a prolonged hunger strike, he and other prisoners came out of jail. After release, he again became active in the national movement. Hazara Singh attended the secret Kirti Party convention at Chak Maidas village near Hoshiarpur, where he was tasked by the party’s senior leaders with intensifying the movement in Jamshedpur. Meetings were conducted in the labor settlements under the communist banner, led by Hazara Singh. The workers were galvanized to go on strike. On July 2, the striking workers picketed the factory gate, blocking it. Some of the company’s lorries wanted to take workers who did not participate in the strike into the company. The workers surrounded the lorry and Hazara Singh stood in front of the lorry, placing his hand on the bonnet. When the lorry moved forward slightly, Hazara Singh took a few steps back. But Amar Singh, a stooge of factory owners, ran the lorry over Hazara Singh on the company premises. Hazara Singh was immediately brought to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead. Thousands of laborers attended Hazara Singh’s last rites. But unfortunately, now there is not even a small monument for such a revolutionary in the city.