The Hindu Maha Sabha in the Punjab

 

The Hindu Maha Sabha in the Punjab

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The Punjab Hindu Sabha was established on December 16, 1906. In December of 1913, the All India Hindu Maha Sabha emerged from its ashes. As a result of the growth of Hindu consciousness, numerous Hindu organisations were established in Northern India in the nineteenth century. According to Indra Prakash, the Hindu Maha Sabha's official historian, “the first Hindu Sabha was created in the Punjab, laying the foundation for the later creation of the All India Hindu Maha Sabha.” The middle class included Punjabi merchants, professionals and service providers who belonged to the Arya Samaj was influential in the Hindu Maha Sabha. The Hindu Sabha was founded and Hindu consciousness flourished in the nineteenth century as a result of social and economic circumstances in the Punjab. Hindu Sabha, the first Hindu organization was formed in the Punjab on December 16, 1906. It included many prominent Hindu leaders such as Lala Lajpat Rai, Hari Krishan Lal, Ruchi Ram Sahni. According to N.G. Barrier, “during 1908-1909, there was a Hindu Sabha associated with the Punjab Hindu Sabha in every district.”

Now the middle class Hindus thought that the British Government was hostile towards them. The Hindus had a feeling that the British Government was favouring the Muslims. The Hindu leaders intended to serve the interests of their community in the province by getting the support of Hindu unity which they wanted to maintain at the All India level. The Hindu leaders were convinced that they could not hope to act as a pressure group in Politics of the Punjab without broadening the area of their activity and mobilizing the entire Hindu Community of the Country. The Hindu Maha Sabha sprang out of the revivalist movements that emerged in North India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Hindu Maha Sabha was founded on the ideology of a freshly formed Hindu identity. The conditions created under the colonial rule contributed in the emergence of the Hindu Communal Consciousness. The Hindu Maha Sabha organization was formed in the Punjab by the upper and middle class Hindus. The foundation was laid by this Provincial level organisation for the eventual establishment of the All India Hindu organisation.