Martyr
Sewa Singh Thikriwala
ਸੇਵਾ ਸਿੰਘ ਠੀਕਰੀਵਾਲਾ
Leader of the Praja Mandal against the Maharaja of Patiala's rule, who died in Patiala jail after a hunger strike.
Sewa Singh, from the village of Thikriwala near Barnala, worked for years as a health officer before joining the Akali movement and the struggle against princely rule in Patiala. In 1928 he became a leader of the Riyasti Praja Mandal, which demanded representative government and relief for peasants in the princely states.
Jailed by the Maharaja, he died on hunger strike in Patiala jail in January 1935. The tenants' movement of the next two decades looked back to him.