{"id":30348,"date":"2022-08-14T15:17:42","date_gmt":"2022-08-14T20:17:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/?p=30348"},"modified":"2022-08-15T17:22:06","modified_gmt":"2022-08-15T22:22:06","slug":"sardar-jj-singh-luce-celler-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/sardar-jj-singh-luce-celler-act\/","title":{"rendered":"JJ Singh Journeyed from Selling Fabrics to Americans to US Corridors of Power for Indians\u2019 right to Seek Naturalized Citizenship"},"content":{"rendered":"
In 2021 alone, a record 78,284 Indians gave up their Indian citizenship and became US citizens. The 2018 American Community Survey conducted by the US Census Bureau revealed that Indian Americans make the second-largest immigrant group in the United States. This would not have been possible if JJ Singh had not laid the foundation for naturalization of Indians in America in 1946.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
PC: JJ Singh’s family collection | JJ Singh (second from right in the first picture)<\/p><\/div>\n
The battle JJ Singh, an astute businessman from Punjab in the undivided India, had fought for some 4000 Indians in America then, established the passage to US citizenship for lakhs of Indians till this date<\/strong>. The US Supreme Court\u2019s verdict in the 1923 States vs Bhagat Singh Thind case denied naturalization to Indians. His advocacy for Indians\u2019 right to naturalized citizenship in the US overturned the ruling after years of lobbying in the corridors of power and led to President Harry Truman signing the Luce-Celler Act into law. 2022 marked the 76th<\/sup> anniversary of the law that allowed Indian immigrants to naturalize as US citizens starting from 1946.<\/p>\n
Born in 1897 in Rawalpindi, Jag Jit Singh travelled to different parts of Punjab province with his father, a judicial officer. The waves of protest that erupted in the aftermath of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre swept Singh in his early 20s into the Non-Cooperation Movement by Gandhiji<\/strong>. Out of his disillusionment over Gandhiji\u2019s decision to call off the movement in 1922, he moved to the UK to study law. He attended an exhibition at Wembley in London where different handicraft products of British India were showcased to the English and Irish audiences. He took a cue from the success of the exhibition and imported silk fabrics, embroidered clothes as well as handloom products from India to sell in Britain with a cousin\u2019s help.<\/p>\n