DALJIT SINGH

DALJIT SINGH (d. 1937), one of the passengers on board the S.S. Komagata Maru, was born at the village of Kauni, now in Faridkot district. He passed his matriculation examination and became assistant editor on the Panjabi Bhain, a journal sponsored by Sikh Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Firozpur, to promote the cause of women`s education. At the age of 21, he left the Punjab to seek avenues for further education abroad. In Hong Kong, he met Baba Gurdit Singh, then negotiating the chartering of the S.S. Komagata Maru to take Indians to Canada after the country had passed new and stricter immigration laws.

Daljit Singh became Baba Gurdit Singh`s secretary and made the voyage with him to Vancouver where he carried on an extensive correspondence with the immigration authorities bent on expelling the ship from the harbour. In the melee at Budge Budge, near Calcutta, where the Komagata Maru passengers were fired upon, Baba Gurdit Singh and Daljit Singh were among those who escaped unhurt. Daljit Singh, avoiding arrest, went to Amritsar where he assumed the name of Rai Singh He came in contact with Master Tara Singh and joined the staff of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.

He was arrested in the Akali conspiracy case on the charge of having designs to establish Sikh raj in the Punjab, and jailed for three years. He was released in September of 1926, along with Master Tara Singh, Gopal Singh Qaumi, Sohan Singh Josh, and others. In the 1930`s he served as manager of the Gurdwara at Muktsar. Daljit Singh, later Rai Singh, died on 8 December 1937.

References :

1. Josh, Sohan Singh, Tragedy of Komagata Maru. Delhi, 1975
2. Johnston, Hugh, The Voyage of the Komagata Maru. Oxford (Delhi), 1979