Jaito Da Morcha: the Akhand Paath at Gangsar and the firing at Tibbi Sahib

Jaito Da Morcha was a long non-violent campaign of 1923 to 1925 at Jaito, in today's Faridkot district, during the Gurdwara Reform Movement. It is remembered each year with a mela at Jaito, on the anniversary of the firing on the shaheedi jatha in February 1924.

The interrupted Akhand Paath

In 1923 the British forced Maharaja Ripudaman Singh of Nabha, who sympathised with the Akali movement, to give up his throne. Sikhs gathered at Gurdwara Gangsar Sahib in Jaito, a town then in Nabha state, to hold an Akhand Paath and pray for his restoration. In September 1923 the police arrested the sangat and broke off the reading before it was complete. For Sikhs, interrupting an Akhand Paath was an intolerable insult to the Guru.

The jathas

The SGPC began sending jathas to Jaito to complete the Akhand Paath. Each was arrested. On 21 February 1924, a shaheedi jatha of five hundred Sikhs, followed by thousands of sympathisers, reached Gurdwara Tibbi Sahib near Jaito. The state forces opened fire. Many were killed and many more wounded. The jathas kept coming, from Punjab and from Sikh communities as far away as Canada and Shanghai.

The outcome

The morcha ended in 1925 with the passing of the Sikh Gurdwaras Act. The authorities allowed the Akhand Paath to be completed at Gangsar, and in August 1925 one hundred and one Akhand Paaths were held there together.

How the day is observed

A mela is held at Jaito on the anniversary, with Akhand Paath, kirtan and Ardas at Gurdwara Gangsar Sahib and Gurdwara Tibbi Sahib.