Punjab Riyasti Praja Mandal
[1]: 163 As per the body's constitution, membership was open to all adult inhabitants of Punjabi princely-states, regardless of their caste, class, or religion.
[3] The central organization managed the local outfits of the body and was affilliated to the All India States People's Conference.
[3][1]: 163 Also, the rulers and officials of the princely-states were harsh and intolerant toward any perceived criticisms of their governance and enjoyed full-backing by the British colonial authorities.
[3] The Akalis were invigorated due to their recent success in the Gurdwara Reform movement in obtaining custodianship over Sikh shrines from the pro-British mahants.
[3] In 1929, the Mujara Commission was established, which protested for the rights of Punjabi tenants against repressive landlords, despite the leaders of the Praja Mandal being imprisoned at the time.
[2] After the death of its founder and charismatic leader, Sewa Singh, in 1935, the movement lost much of its momentum and also due to its loss of Akali-patronage.
[3] The organization further declined due to factionalist infighting that was occurring internally between Communist-inclined ruralites and Congress-inclined urbanites from within its ranks.
[3] Also, the Akali Dal had stopped interfering with the internal matters of princely-states, thus did not offer support to the organization like they had previously.
[2] Also in 1939, most of the leaders of the Praja Mandal were incarcerated but the work of the body continued through the Peasants and Tenants Committees that had been set-up the same year.
[3] The Punjab state government in India claims to have lost documentation and records relating to the Punjabi Praja Mandal movement.
[7][3] Many Akali workers were arrested by the state authorities, with Master Tara Singh campaigning against the ruling Patiala monarch, with the Praja Mandal intensifying its movement.
[3] Eventually due to this pressure on the Patiala officials, Sewa Singh and forty other Akalis were released from Patiala Central Jail on 24 August 1929 and during the first regular session of the Punjab Riyasati Praja Mandal that was convened at Lahore on 27 December 1929, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh was again heavily criticized by the body in its resolution.
[3] This prompted the Praja Mandal to step-up their mission against him, with Sewa Singh personally reprimanding the Patila ruler and demanding his removal from the throne at the organization's Ludhiana conference on 11 October 1930.
[3] Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala, realizing the increasing popularity of the movement, began to negotiate with the agitators starting in 1931.
[7] At the third Punjab Riyasti Praja Mandal conference that was supposed to have been held in Shimla in July 1931, Sewa Singh met with Mahatma Gandhi to discuss the issue regarding Patiala State during that time.
[3] In 1932–33, a second memorandum was brought-out by the organization against Maharaja Bhupinder Singh and staged protests at Amritsar and Delhi against the ruler.
[7][3] Sewa Singh refused to defend himself and the outcome of the subsequent Khudiala Akali Conference Case resulted in him being sentenced to three or six years of prison and a 500 rupee fine.
