Rahul Mehta Gandhinagar LsCandidate
One very good example of mass-movement is ----- Sikhs forced British to pass SGPC act in 1925 and all adult Sikhs ELECTED a Sikh head , and took the control of Golden Temple back from the Udasi Mahants. The so called Udasi Mahants were puppets installed by British and Sikh elitemen who were contractors to British.
The BJP-leaders, Congress-leaders, AAP-leaders etc always tell activists that "mass movement will always fail, and so only way activists can get good law/actions from Govt is that activists must become andh-bhakt of tallleader, and elect 300 "good" mini-leaders appointed by that tall leader into Parliament. And then these "good" leaders will pass the good law-drafts. And thats the only way !!! Essentially, these leaders want to tell activists not to work to generate mass-movement to reduce any problem.
Since 1998, I have been trying to convince the activists just the opposite, that spending time in shouting slogans for tall leaders, in absence of Right to Recall is a waste of time. And that activists should focus on explaining the law-drafts to voters and asking voters to demand good law-drafts DIRECTLY and thus activists should create a mass-movement. But the paid-mediamen heavily campaigns against the concept of mass-movement, and paid-mediamen campaign in favor of "ONLY focus on electing 300 good leaders into Parliament".
Nevertheless, activists RIGHTLY ask me to give examples of sucessful mass-movement. I have given several examples of mass movements in chapter on "Aandolan" in rahulmehta .com/301.htm . Pls search of word "andolan" in table of contents. One more example, and BEST of all examples is --- Sikhs forced British to pass SGPC act in 1925 using mass-movement and without sending even one good leader into the British Parliament or even National Assembly in India.
The story is as follows
1. The Sikh Guru had started a tradition that heads of local Gurudwara aka Prabandhak will be elected by local Sikhs every 2-4 years. Unlike Hindu temples, where heads were lifetime and made via inheritance or guru-pratha . (for more deteials, please see my article on "Which law-drafts can make each sect of Hinduism as strong as Sikhism" at facebook . com/groups/righttorecallparty/10152190088748103/
2. After Guru Gobind Singh , the tradition started that second head of Sikh Panth such as Akal Takht head etc will be elected by informal elections held by these Gurudwara Prabandhaks in Lahore and later at Amritsar . (The first head is Guru Granth Sahib). Later , Golden Temple became office of Sikh Panth's heads )
3. British started taking over control on Golden Temple via Sikh elitemen who were contractors to British Govt and Sikh Kings who depended on British. British installed some Mahants in Golden temple who started running Gokden Temple, and started giving pro-British Hukumnama !!
4. Since local Gurudwara heads were elected, they could never agree with such Mahants. The crisis increased and reached flash point when Mahants honored General Dyer some 10 days after he shot over 1000 persons in Jalianwala Baug. So Sikhs decided to expel Mahaants and have their own elected heads in Golden Temple
5. So Sikhs , and many Hindus who supported them, from across India gathered at Goldern Temple and asked Mahants to leave. The Mahants called their own goons. The British police also worked for the Mahants. Some 400 Sikhs died, some 2000 Sikhs were injured , some 30000 were arrested. They also killed some 50-100 Mahants goons, the head Mahant was also killed and many policemen got injured.
6. The British Govt passed "Sikh Gurudwara Bill 1922" , where Commissioners appointed by British would run the Gurudwara !! The Sikhs opposed it
7. The Sikhs gave their own version of Gurudwara Bill in which heads were to be elected by all Sikhs across India !! The British never wanted any such law !! But against will of British, and without sending even one good leader to British Parliament or even local Assembly, the British were forced to pass SGPC Act 1925, in which every adult Sikh male above the age oif 25 years was a voter, and they would elected local Gurudwara heads, who then will elect apex Golden Temple heads !!!
(pls read every word of en.wikipedia .org /wiki/Akali_movement ,
en.wikipedia .org /wiki/Shiromani_Gurdwara_Parbandhak_Committee . )
"Starting in late 1920, a large number of reformers both in urban and rural Punjab had joined to form separate and independent religious orders called jathas. The primary purpose of a jatha was to gain control over local gurdwaras. A jatha under the command of a jathedar would occupy a shrine and try to take over management in its favor from its current incumbents. Sometimes the transfer went peacefully especially in the case of smaller Gurdwaras with less income resources. This was done sometimes with the threat of force. .... At the same time Malcolm Hailey, the governor of the Punjab showed his readiness to assist the Sikhs in taking possession of all the important Gurdwaras in the province through a five-member committee constituted by the Sikh members of the legislative council. Hailey presented a draft of a new Gurdwara Bill to the Akali leaders imprisoned in Lahore fort. Master Tara Singh, Bhag singh Advocate, gurcharn singh Advocate, Teja Singh Akerpuri(Jathedar AkalTakht Sahib) Sohan Singh Josh and Sardar Teja Singh Samundri studied each clause of the bill carefully. The bill met all the Akali demands and was passed into law on July 28, 1925 by the Governor General of India after its ratification by the Punjab legislative council. The Act came into force on November 1, 1925 with a gazette notification from the government of Punjab. According to the Act a Central Gurdwara Board elected by the Sikhs was to be the custodian of all-important Sikh places of worship. The first meeting of the Gurdwara board passed a resolution that its designation be changed to Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which was accepted by the government. Thus ended what came to be known in common parlance as the ‘Third Sikh War’. .... When the new elections for the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee were held, the Akali Party won majority and the newly elected Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee elected Kharak Singh as the President and Master Tara Singh as the Vice President. Since Baba Kharak Singh had not yet been released the responsibility of the president fell on the shoulders of Master Tara Singh. "
IOW, it is possible for activists to force Govt to pass law-drafts which people want, without sending even one so called "300 good leaders" into the Parliament. And without Right to Recall, the whole effeorts of electing 300 good leaders into Parliament will be a waste of time. The activists should focus on which law-draft they want to get see, and then explain the law-drafts to the voters, and then ask voters to demand these law-drafts ; i.e. a mass-movement. Thats the only way. One example is passing of SGPC-act . Other examples are given in chapter on "andolan" in rahulmehta . com/301.htm