Channi unveils statue of Sikh revolutionary Maharaj Singh

Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi Thursday inaugurated the statue of Sikh revolutionary Baba Maharaj Singh, considered the first martyr of Jang-E-Azadi (freedom struggle), at village Rabbon Uchi of district Ludhiana. Later, he also paid obeisance at Gurdwara Damdama Sahib in the village.

Channi said that Maharaj Singh led an anti-British movement in Punjab after the first Anglo-Sikh war and exhorted the people to strive for unity and integrity of the nation and mobilized people for independence struggle. He said that Maharaj Singh sacrificed his life for the sake of freedom of the country.

Channi said attempts were made to portray the 1857 revolt as the beginning of the freedom movement of the country but the history says that Baba Maharaj Singh had started the struggle for independence at the very time when he tried to free the last Sikh ruler Maharaja Dalip Singh from the clutches of the British. But, the British got tip-off of the plans and imprisoned Maharaj Singh and sent him to Singapore where he suffered innumerable hardships and was martyred on July 5, 1856.