Namdhari Guru Ram Singh (3 February 1816 – 1885) is the second guru (religious leader) of the Namdhari sect of Sikhism. He is credited as being the first British Indian to use non-cooperation and boycott of British goods and services as a political tool. He was exiled to Rangoon, Burma (Myanmar) by the British colonial government of India on 18 January 1872.Namdhari Guru Ram Singh was born in a small-farming Tarkhan family to mother Sada Kaur and father Jassa Singh. He lived in the village of Raiyan, near Sri Bhaini Sahib, Ludhiana. He was nurtured by his mother in the traditions of Guru Nanak and was taught to read and write in Punjabi. Namdhari Guru Ram Singh spent 20 years of his life attending to the family business.Later, his father sent him to the army of the Sikh Empire at age 20. As the empire fell apart after the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, concerns over British power and Sikh decline led him to galvanize his followers (of mostly humble origin) to proclaim a new "Sant Khalsa" to restore Sikh prestige.