Skip to main content

Wanted by India, militant leader Gajinder to be honoured by Akal Takht as Sikh Warrior-in-Exile

 

 

Wanted by India, militant leader Gajinder to be honoured by Akal Takht as Sikh Warrior-in-Exile

Jagtar Singh

Ground Zero

 

Issue is no more that of yet another stamp from Akal Takht reinforcing legitimacy of the Sikh militant struggle commanded by Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale as the same has been epitomized by Martyrs’ Memorial in the Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) complex.

The announcement by the Akal Takht, the supreme religio-political institution of the Sikhs for prayer and politics that represents sovereignty of the Sikh doctrine transcending geographical boundaries, to honour Gajinder Singh, one of the founders of the radical Dal Khalsa organisation, with the title of Sikh Warrior-in-Exile signals confrontation at one level with the Indian state as he was once on the list of 20 most wanted militant leaders by India.

Gajinder is known to be in Pakistan but is stateless technically. Pakistan denies his existence there.

The other person to be honoured is another founder of Dal Khalsa Harsimran Singh who now focusses on research on doctrinal part of Sikh religio-political dynamics and runs his institute at Anandpur Sahib. Both of these leaders along with former All India Sikh Students Federation leader Harvinder Singh Khalsa are learnt to be personal choice of Akal Takht acting Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh for the honour.

The letter to this effect was today delivered by the Akal Takht secretariat to Kanwarpal Singh at the Dal Khalsa office in Amritsar with copy to Gajinder daughter Bikramjit Kaur who is based in England.

It may be mentioned that another Dal Khalsa founder Manmohan Singh had died as a stateless person in England.

The decision to honour Gajinder in particular from the radical stream has two main dimensions, both in the context of the Akali Dal political discourse and from the Indian point of view.

As stated above, it is a direct challenge to India’s law enforcement agencies as Gajinder is on the wanted list, at least technically. Gajinder’s Facebook page was blocked twice by India in recent times.

He was among those activists who had hijacked the Indian Airlines plane to Lahore on September 29, 1981 to press for release of Sant Bhindranwale arrested on September 20 in the case of gunning down of Hind Samachar group chief Lala Jagat Narain. He completed his jail term in Pakistan and as per the international norm, a person can be tried only once for the particular crime.

The second aspect is in context of the political line of the Shiromani Akali Dal. This party is directly impacted as it controls the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee that manages the Sikh institutions. The Akali Dal has been in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party since 1996. The alliance is in trouble now on the issue of farm ordinances but that is a separate issue. The perception in the Akali Dal leadership is that the party can’t come into power without support from a section of the Hindus. The Akal Takht honouring of Gajinder is significant in the context of electoral dynamics of the Akali Dal.

It may be mentioned that Beant Singh, assassin of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Harjinder Singh Jinda and Sukhdev Singh Sukha who gunned down retired General A. S. Vaidya in Pune were bestowed the title of martyrs of the Sikhs and their death anniversaries are observed at Akal Takht.

This decision keeps  alive the dynamics of the radical political discourse. This is for the first time that a leader in exile is to be honoured at Akal Takht.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Damage to institution of Akal Takht symbolising Sikh sovereignty more important dimension of current crisis in Sikh domain

  Ideological Damage to Akal Takht most important dimension of Akali Crisis Ground Zero By Jagtar Singh The Sikh religio-political discourse entered a new phase on Baisakhi 2025 — the historic day on which Guru Gobind Singh, in 1699, created the Khalsa at Anandpur Sahib, completing the ideological foundation laid by Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of the Sikh faith. Significant developments emerged from the well-attended Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) conference held at Takht Sri Damdama Sahib on April 13. It was the first major public appearance of Sukhbir Singh Badal since his re-election as party president on April 12, marking his return to the helm after a brief interregnum. Sukhbir, who first succeeded his father, Parkash Singh Badal, as party president in 2008, resumes leadership of a party long dominated by the Badal family—an influence that has spanned over three decades, the longest in the SAD’s history. For months, the religio-political landscape of Punjab has remained i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Akal Takht intervenes to reset Sikh religio-political discourse

  Akal Takht intervenes to reset Sikh religio-political discourse Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh, Dec 8: The Sikh religio-political domain has the tendency to dictate religio-political discourse of Punjab whose polity is different from other regions in the country. This is the state where a national dynamic minority is in majority. This minority was the third entity in all the political negotiations leading to India’s independence. What happened in Punjab on December 2 has to be reviewed in this backdrop as this development is going to have far-reaching impact not only on the future of the Shiromani Akali Dal but also the political tendencies at several levels. It is pertinent to mention at this stage itself that the Sikh religio-political discourse is presently affecting even India’s geo-politics, especially in the American sub-continent in the context of the activities of a section of the Sikh Diaspora. December 2 was unprecedented in the history of more than a c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Killing of Sidhu Moosewala is chilling reminder that all is not well with Punjab but not the time to indulge in blame game

  Something continues to be wrong with Punjab going by killing of Sidhu Moosewala Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   The killing of  Punjabi pop star Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu popular as Sidhu Moosewala is more than shocking. It has not only numbed Punjab but has triggered shock waves across the seas. The only inference that can be drawn from this tragic end of a young icon is that something is not right with Punjab, despite illusion created by degenerated political elite of so called normalcy. It is the system that has to return to normalcy. It has not. The unabated degeneration in the system at times tend to play havoc. This is not the time to play blame game. Rather this is the time to rise above parochial political interests. Punjab needs consensus to facilitate the return of this historically disturbed state and the injured psyche to return to normalcy. And it is not an easy task. What Punjab lacks at this juncture is a role model. After all, Punjab is not a state like any other...
Post a Comment
Read more