MOHAN SINGH TUR, JATHEDAR

MOHAN SINGH TUR, JATHEDAR (1915-1979), cminest Akali politician, was born at village Tur in Tarn Taran tahsil of Amritsar in 1915, the son of Jagat Singh, an Akali activist of the Akali Lahir (Gurdwara Reform movement) of the early 1920`s and a member of the first Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee elected under the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925. Mohan Singh, too, as he grew up, joined the Shiromani Akali Dal and slowly ascending the ladder became a member of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee in December 1954.

He went to jail during the Punjabi Suba morchd (agitation) of 1955 and was again elected a member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee in January 1960. In the internal conflict in the Shiromani Akali Dal leadership Jathedar Mohan Singh Tur sided with Sant Fateh Singh against Master Tara Singh. In the general elections in 1962 he, while yet in jail, was put up as an Akali candidate for the Punjab Legislative Assembly from the Tarn Taran constituency against the Congress stalwart and chief minister Partap Singh Kairori. The sitting chief minister won the seat by a bare margin of 34 votes, which outcome was cavilled at by opposition parties.

Mohan Singh emerged from this election as one of the front rank jatheddrs (leaders) of the Sant Akali Dal. He was elected a member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly in 1967 and again during the midterm elections of 1969. After the death of Sant Fateh Singh in 1972, Jathedar Mohan Singh Tur was elected president of the Shiromani Akali Dal. In this capacity he successfully conducted the agitation against Haryana government`s unlawful pressure on Sikh landholders settled in that state. A second landmark was the peaceful agitation against the countrywide state of emergency declared by the Central Government headed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In March 1977, Jathedar Tur was elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament. Jathedar Mohan Singh Tur died on 30 July 1979.

References :

1. The Ajit, Jalandhar, 30 July 1984
2. Ashok, Shamsher Singh, Shromani Committee da Panjah Said Itihas. Amritsar, 1982
3. Dilgir, Harjinder Singh Shiromani Akali Dal, Chandigarh, 1980