Op/Ed: 1717 days of Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa’s peaceful struggle versus India’s announcement to release eight Sikh prisoners

CHANDIGARH, Punjab—It was January 16, 2015 when an octogenarian Sikh activist Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa started hunger strike for the release of political Sikh prisoners who have completed terms of their life sentences. His struggle has completed 1717 days today, which in itself is a record in Sikh history as previous hunger strikes never extended to such a long period.  Unfortunately, this comes at a cost as Bapu Surat Singh is being force fed by the Indian state. 

However small this might seem, the Indian government has announced to release eight political Sikh prisoners and commute the death sentence of one to life imprisonment without disclosing the names of beneficiary prisoners. 

Any Sikh familiar with Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa’s struggle might be thinking that the time has now come when Bapu Ji should conclude his struggle.

In such circumstances, it is necessary to have a look at past that why and under what conditions Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa had started his hunger strike and why didn’t he quit his struggle even when he was yielding desired results.

Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa had begun his hunger strike where Bhai Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa, the pioneer of this movement, left off. Indian state ruthlessly ignored and suppressed his demands and maligned his image in public relations endeavors. Later, Bhai Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa also faced accusations of accepting bribe from the Indian government via DSGMC.

Unlike Bhai Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa, Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa raised a wider demand of the release of all political Sikh prisoners who have completed their life terms.

During the initial months, Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa’s struggle brought unprecedented results with the transfer of Prof. Devender Pal Singh Bhullar and Bhai Gurdeep Singh Khaira to Punjab and then their release on parole.

Despite getting released these two prominent political Sikh prisoners on parole, Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa didn’t deliver onto the expectations of Indian government and openly stated that his struggle will continue till all the political Sikh prisoners, who have completed their life terms, get released.

Then, it was the same Indian government, which deployed all it’s resources to sledgehammer mass support in favor of Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa and finally succeeded in its motive by arranging the murder of his son-in-law Bhai Satwinder Singh Bhola in Peoria, IL, USA on August 16, 2015. After his murder, mass support to Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa’s struggle dramatically fell down and Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa became a lone caged lion devoid of mass support.

Since then, Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa has been enduring immense torture in police custody. He is being force fed at Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana against his wishes. Whenever he tries to remove these nasal tubes or stop the intake of water, he is brutally beaten by the Indian state agents assisted by Punjab state police.

What could be worse is the fact that Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa has not even seen sunlight in the last four years as he is illegally detained within the confines of DMCH, Ludhiana.

As now the Indian government has announced to release eight political Sikh prisoners, it seems high time for Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa to finish his struggle or partly conclude his struggle.

But it doesn’t seem that Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa will quit this struggle at the release of mere eight political Sikh prisoners as he had demanded the release of all political Sikh prisoners who have completed terms of their life sentences.