Blood Donation Event For Bapu Surat Singh

Inderjit Singh donating blood and raising awareness for #SikhBlood 2017 blood donation campaign

FREMONT, California, USA—Sikhs and human rights advocates worldwide will donate blood during the week of 29 October, to help raise awareness for the oldest hunger-striker Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa.

For the past two years, Sikhs and human rights advocates have donated blood and posted pictures of support on social media. The event will fall during the Sikh Genocide Remembrance Week, where Sikhs from across the world commemorate those who died during the 1984 genocide in Delhi, India.

Affectionately called Bapu ji (translating as father), 84-year-old American resident and Indian native Surat Singh Khalsa has been on a hunger strike for nearly 1000 days in Punjab to raise awareness about Sikh political prisoners. The majority of these prisoners have served their sentences and continue to languish in jail. Due to Bapu ji’s hunger strike, several prisoners have been permanently released and others have received parole for the first time in decades.

As Bapu ji heroically fights on, the Sikh community and social activists will steadfastly stand by his side and continue to raise awareness for his cause. Everyone is encouraged to help save lives and create awareness by donating blood or posting a picture of themselves on social media with a sign of support, using the hashtag #SikhBlood.

The week-long campaign will see Sikhs giving their blood for justice, something ingrained within Sikhs. By bringing awareness to the situation, Sikhs hope to get Indian authorities to look into the cases of the remaining political prisoners.

Many Sikhs regard Surat Singh’s hunger strike as a service to humanity, a core principle of Sikhism. This is echoed in the campaign, which hopes to increase blood donations from Asian blood donors who are more likely to have a rare blood group.

A blood drive in Fremont, California has been organized to help raise awareness for Bapu ji’s hunger strike and Sikh political prisoners. The blood donation event will take place on Saturday 25 November, 2017 at Gurdwara Sahib Fremont, from 9am to 3pm.

 

3 COMMENTS

  1. Every time I open Sikh24 and see this photo of Bapu Surat Singh it make me sick, am i the only one. Why hasn’t anyone made else made any comments on this.

    Why can’t the Indian Government release the prisoners who served their time, why are they so scared of old Sikhs who are no longer a threat.

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