In Memoriam: Sufi Amba Prasad

(Sufi Amba Prasad’s 100th martyrdom day falls on 21 January 2017)

PARMINDER S. BHOGAL*

( POWER POLITICS February 06, 2019-Vol.XIII, no.02, P, 63 )

http://www.powerpolitics.in/Issues/Feb2019/page63.php

On the morning of 21st January, 1917, ‘Sufi’ Amba Prasad, then in the
captivity of “ The East Persia Cordon” of the British Indian Army, under the
command of Brigadier General Reginald Dyer stationed at Shiraz in Iran was to
face the firing squad. The previous day, his compatriot Kedar Nath Sondhi had
faced the same on his way to martyrdom. As the dawn broke, the guards opened
the door of the condemned cell, they found Sufi Amba Prasad sitting calm and
motionless, in “deep Meditation”. Even when called out, he did not move. The
curious English guard then tried to shake and wake him up for the day and face
his fate but the motionless Sufi just slumped on to his side. True to the word
given to his compatriots, he had attained martyrdom while in deep meditation,
and not on the “British gallows” or “of a British bullet”.

Sufi Amba Parsad’ was born in 1858 in Moradabad. He was the

sixth out of the seven sons and a daughter of Sh Gobind Prasad Bhatnagar of
Mohalla Kanoongoan in Moradabad. Due to a genetic disorder he was born
without his right hand. He would often joke that in his previous life he lost his
hand while fighting against the British in 1857 war of independence but at the
time of his rebirth God forgot to restore it. He passed his matriculation from
Moradabad and then shifted to Bareilly where he passed FA and graduated in
Law. Highly proficient in Hindi, Urdu, Persian and English languages, he
however chose to become a journalist. He got married, however his wife died
within two years of their marriage. This personal tragedy turned him towards
spiritualism and he came under the influence of a Sufi mystic Syed Mohammad
Hussain of Moradabad. He soon mastered its philosophical aspects and adopted
it as a way of life. The powerful journalist in him however always focussed him
upon the miseries of the people under the British rule. Those were the terrible
times of Bengal Famine. The eternal rebel in him was nudging him towards a
life long struggle for the empowerment of his people against tyranny.

In 1887 he established his own printing press in Moradabad and brought

out papers firstly “Sitara e Hind” and then in 1890 “Jami-ul-Uloom”. He was
highly critical of the policies of the colonial government. Hindu-Muslim unity
was another of his passions. He thus faced continuous persecution at the hands
of the British government. In 1897 he was jailed for 18 month on the charges
of sedition. However the fury of his writings against the atrocities of the British
Government remained unabated and he was again jailed in 1901 for seven years
on charges of sedition and forgery.

After his release from Moradabad jail in early 1907, he came to Lahore and
briefly joined a news paper “Hindustan”. Punjab at that time was rife with
agitation popularly known as Pagri Sambhal Jatta Movement. Sardar Ajit
Singh (Uncle of Shaheed Bhagat Singh ) along with his brothers Kishan Singh
and Swaran Singh , Lal Chand Falak , Mehta Nand Kishore ,Ishwari Prasad and
others was organizing people against the newly introduced laws affecting the
rights of the peasantry and enhanced revenue rates. He joined them in
Anjuman-i- Mohiban-i-watan and Bharat Mata Society and started editing
the paper “Bharat Mata”. He also wrote for another paper “India” published
from Gujranwala by Lala Pindi Dass.

Sardar Ajit Singh and Lala lajpat Rai were arrested and deported to
Mandalay in Burma in May 1907. Sufi Amba Prasad along with Sardar Kishan
Singh and Mehta Nand Kishore escaped to Nepal.

Soon, fearing unrest among the high number of Punjabi soldiers in the
British-Indian Army, all the bills against rights of peasantry of Punjab and
enhanced revenue rates were withdrawn and Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh
were released from Mandalay in Nov 1907. On the return of Ajit Singh, Sufi
Sahib again became very active and vigorously continued his revolutionary
activities. However the government was now being even more repressive
towards the revolutionaries. Therefore in August 1909 Sardar Ajit Singh and
Sufi Amba Prasad along with Rishikesh Letha Thakar Das Dhuri and Zia ul
Haq left for Iran. There they established contacts with the Iranian
revolutionaries in the city of Bushier. Later on it was decided that it would be
more useful and safe to be stationed in Shiraz. This courageous escape to Iran
has been very vividly described by S. Ajit Singh in his memoirs “Buried Alive”.

Sufi Amba Prasad stayed on in Shiraz till his end. While others left for
different destinations in other countries to coordinate the revolutionary activities
of Indian expatriates.

Because of his proficiency in Persian language and Sufi leanings he

blended very well with the Iranian milieu of that time. He closely collaborated
with Iranian revolutionaries. He started a newspaper “HAYAT” which
targeted British imperialism and Anglo Russian belligerence in Iran. He also
founded a school with modern curriculum in Shiraz and served as its Principal.
A Sufi Society “Anjuman e Sufiah” in Shiraz was founded by him. He was
popularly addressed as Agha Sufi-ye Hindi or by his Iranian aliases ' Mohammad
Hoseyn Sufi; and Mohammad Hoseyn “Khadem e Shari'ati” etc. etc.

Beginning of World War I in 1914 rejuvenated the activities of the Indian

revolutionaries abroad under the influence of the Hindustan Ghadar Party which
was clandestinely supported by the German government. The Ghadarites apart
from their activities in Canada and America began to organize the Indian
prisoners of war in Turkey, Germany, Mesopotamia, and the Middle East. It is
here that the “Indian Independence Army” was organized under the
leadership of Sufi Amba Prasad to invade British India from Iran. He was joined
by Kedar Nath Sondhi, Rishi Kesh Letha and Amin Chaudhry. This army of the
Ghadarites, starting from Shiraz attacked the frontier city of Karman and
arrested the British Counsel . They soon chased out the British from Siestan
and Karamshir area of Baluchistan. Advancing towards Karachi they took over
the coastal towns of Gawader and Dawar in Balochistan. However just then
the war in Europe took a turn for the better for the British. Turkey was defeated
and Baghdad came under British control, thereby cutting support to the Ghadar
army, which finally led to its defeat. They retreated to regroup in Shiraz. The
British attacked Shiraz. The Ghadar army fought very bravely but was defeated
and slaughtered. Their leaders Sufi Amba Prasad along with Kedar Nath
Sondhi were captured alive and were ordered to face the firing squad.

The body of Sufi Amba Prasad was buried in Shiraz near the mausoleum
of the famous Persian Poet-Philosopher Sheikh Saadi. The remaining
Ghadarites carried on guerrilla warfare along with the Iranian partisans but
when the Iranian patriots were defeated, they left Iran in 1919. Sardar Ajit
Singh, in his biography “Buried Alive” writing about his long association with
Sufi Amba Prasad thus concludes, “One day, I hope Indians would bring his
tomb or at least his remains here”..........

 Director, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Study Center (A UGC funded project under the
scheme “Epoch Making Social Thinkers of India”) Arya College, Ludhiana.
(www.facebook.com/sbsscaryacollegeludhiana)