Sikh Leadership Early 20th Century

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In this work the author has identified and examined the social background of nearly three hundred prominent Sikh leaders and activists and a co-relation-ship between their background and socio-political perception. These leaders and activists were associated with the Sikh organizations like the Singh Sabhas, the Diwans, the Chief Khalsa Diwan, the Central Sikh League, the Shiromani gurdwara Prabandhak Committee and the Shiromani Akali Dal. On the basis of their heterogeneous social composition and different roles, the work denotes five categories of the Sikh leadership namely (a) the aristocratic leaders (b) retired civil and military personnel (c) Professionals (d) religious leaders and functionaries (e) Jathedars and activists.

The comprehensive background of this leadership in itself suggests that no single paradigm is adequate to analyse the causes and circumstances under which it joined the different Sikh organizations at different times. Therefore the work highlights the specific situations under which each category of this leadership joined the Sikh organizations and the distinct role played by each category in the Singh Sabha and the Akali Movements in late 19th and early 20th centuries.

About the Author

Joginder Singh, Professor of History, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, has been studying Modern Sikh History for over two decades; has written; several articles on socio-religious, cultural and political articulation of the Sikhs under the British rule; has also written a monograph entitled, the Sikh Resurgence (1997) which analyses this type of articulation during the intervening period between the Singh Sabha Movement and the gurdwara Reform Movement; undertook a U. G. C. 's major research project entitled "The Sikh Leaders and Activists in Early 20th Century: A Study of their Social and Political Ideology" (1994-1997).