Source: Indian Express

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Context

Farmers protesting at the Punjab and Haryana borders are observing February 23 as Pagri Sambhal Diwas, in honour of Ajit Singh, paternal uncle of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.

About Ajit Singh                                                                         

• He was a prominent freedom fighter, revolutionary leader of national movement.
• Date of birth - February 23, 1881.
• He was born at Khatkar Kalan village in Punjab.
• He played an instrumental role in inspiring his nephew Bhagat Singh.
• Ajit was the elder brother of Kishan Singh, Bhagat Singh’s father.
• He graduated from the Anglo-Sanskrit High School in Jalandhar in 1894.
• Singh attended the DAV College in Lahore.
• He got himself enrolled at Bareilly College to study law, but he dropped out later.
• In 1905, Ajit Singh and his brother Kishan Singh worked among the people in famine-stricken areas like Barar, Ahmedabad
• He worked in flood and earthquake-affected areas like Srinagar and Kangra.
• Ajit Singh played a key role in peasant agitation Pagri Sambhal Jatta Movement (1907) which was against the oppressive Colonisation and Doab Bari Acts, which denied land ownership to farmers.
• He established the Bharat Mata Book Agency, which published anti-British literature.
• Ajit Singh moved to Iran and later Paris to evade arrest.
• He established the Indian Revolutionary Association.
• In 1913, he collaborated with the Ghadar Party.
• In 1932, he contributed to the Azad Hind Fauj in Italy.
• He was captured by Allied forces in 1945, was imprisoned in Italy and Germany.
• He was released from the jail when india neared independence.

Source:

INDIAN EXPRESS