Jagtar Singh

  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. This is the

  Message from Akal Takht Jathedar to Sikhs to get armed is multidimensional   Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   More than the message from Akal Takht acting Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh to the Sikhs to arm themselves, it is the timing that is significant. The message seems to be in continuity with his call to the Sikhs to strengthen Shiromani Akali Dal followed by taking up the issue of release of Sikh prisoners in jail in militancy related cases. It is for the first time that this more than a century old Shiromani Akali Dal has landed itself in such a deep abyss. The people dumped not only this party but also its top leadership   in the electoral dustbin in the last Assembly election. Shiromani Akali Dal is not just a political party but an institution of the Sikhs after the Akal Takht and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, in that order. This party was set up to articulate the Sikh concerns in 1920 by the SGPC leadership created at Akal Takht. The message from

  Navjot Sidhu and Jakhar narrative reinforces mercurial nature of Punjab’s political domain Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   Punjab has suddenly hit the realm of the unknown although this only reinforces unpredictable character of political domain of this that state historically associated with major ups and downs. It is the Congress   party that has triggered the churning process this time. Sunil Jakhar, one of its frustrated former state Congress chiefs, has jumped over to the Bharatiya Janata Party. The one word that describes his action is ‘ironic’. Another former chief and highly volatile Navjot Singh Sidhu was today lodged in Patiala jail. His is a case of poetic justice. Jakhar at one time had taken strong exception to his seemingly inadvertent but conspiratorial portrayal as a Hindu leader when his name had propped up as replacement for chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh. It was Ambika Soni, who has been political secretary to Sonia Gandhi, who had put the roadb

  Akalis should declare Sikh detenus as political prisoners to exhibit their commitment     Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   The coming together of several decimated Akali factions and some Sikh organisations to demand release of several Sikh prisoners in jail for more than two decades as part of the radical struggle is a welcome step. This is the first such gathering organised by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee after rejection of Shiromani Akali Dal by the people in February 2022 Assembly elections. The next logical step is that these organisations and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee should declare these detenus as the political prisoners to remove any doubt about their commitment to the cause. They were associated with the struggle that is commemorated by martyrs’ memorial in Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) complex that is known as Sant Jarnail Singh Khalsa Bhindranwale memorial. Not only that. Beant Singh and Satwant Singh, assassins of prime minister

  Brazen politicisation of police plays out over melodramatic arrest of Delhi BJP leader Bagga Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   The name Bashir Mohammad would not strike any chord. However, his is a classic case to which the police in any state can cross all the limits. He was a Punjab police deserter who joined the ranks of Sikh militants in Punjab and finally, preferred sanctuary in West Bengal with his wife Sakina Begum. On May 17, 1993, a team of Punjab police led by superintendent of police Bathinda S K Singh raided a flat in Tiljila locality in Calcutta early in the morning and gunned down the couple. They took away their bodies. The West Bengal police were not informed. What is more striking dimension of this case is that the Punjab police had used helicopter to reach Calcutta and it was refuelled too on the way. This helicopter was at the disposal of then highly glorified Punjab police chief K P S Gill. This is the only such case in which the police had used a helicop

  Patiala incident represents Punjab’s dark underbelly under composite Punjabi culture Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   What has happened in Patiala recently is not an incident in isolation. It is continuation of a narrative that reflects the dark underbelly of the syncretic Punjabi culture that this region otherwise represents. Punjab has been known as the Land of the Gurus and the Sikh Gurus preached egalitarianism and humanism, treating human being at the same level without any distinction. This narrative underlying Punjab’s religio-political dynamics has been there all along. Of course, the Sikhs and the Punjabi Hindus share the same cultural ethos but not the religio-political narrative. During the last about 1000 years till the British annexed the Sikh Empire, the people who ruled this region were either the Muslims or the Sikhs. And this Empire had been established after long period of struggle for survival when the heads of even ordinary Sikhs carried bounty. One only has t