| Honorific Prefix: | Bhai Sahib |
| Randhir Singh | |
| Honorific Suffix: | Narangwal Ji |
| Birth Name: | Basant Singh |
| Birth Date: | 7 July 1878 |
| Birth Place: | Narangwal, Ludhiana district, Punjab |
| Death Date: | 13 April 1961 |
| Known For: | Founder of the Akhand Kirtani Jatha |
| Parents: | Natha Singh Punjab Kaur |
GBhai Randhir Singh Narangwal (7 July 1878 – 13 April 1961) was a Sikh leader who started the Gurdwara Sudhaar Movement and founded the Akhand Kirtani Jatha.[1] [2]
Randhir Singh was born as Basant Singh in Narangwal, Ludhiana district, Punjab on July 7, 1878 in a Grewal Jat Sikh family to father Natha Singh and mother Punjab Kaur. His father, Natha Singh, worked as a District Inspector of Schools and as a Judge in the High Court of the State of Nabha. His mother, Punjab Kaur, was a direct descendant in the seventh generation of Bhai Bhagtu, a distinguished Sikh of the congregation of Guru Arjan. He completed his schooling in Nabha and higher education from Government and Foreman Christian Colleges at Lahore. Singh wrote various books on Sikh theology, philosophy, and the Sikh way of life.
He was leader of Sikhs who took part in strong resistance movement,when in 1914 British Goveronment of India felled a portion of Rakabganj Gurdwara wall under beautification plan of Goveronment secretarial buildings in New Delhi area presently known as south block rakab gunj.Ultimately Goveronment had to yield against demand of Sikhs and wall was restored.
The whole movement was linked with freedom fighters of ghadar movement 1914-15 and Lahore Conspiracy Case II.[3] [4]
But Bhai Randhir Singh was charged in 1914 with waging war against the British Crown and had to undergo life-imprisonment from 1914 to 1931.
On his release from Lahore Central Jail in 1930 a Muslim jailor arranged a meeting between him and Bhagat Singh lodged there . He had such a magnanimous personality that in two hour of meeting him, he got him transformed to a new spiritual awakening from his earlier atheist belief . Bhagat Singh otherwise too was a great admirer of Bhai Randhir Singh because of his revolutionary activities because of which he himself had earlier sent a request to jail authorities to meet Randhir Singh.
He died on Vaisakhi, April 13, 1961 and his cremation took place at the lake between Gujjrawal and Narangwal.