By Bir Devinder Singh
PATIALA: It’s inexcusable that the role of Punjabi and the Sikhs freedom fighters have been deleted from the narrative of Kale-Pani, under a deep rooted conspiracy hatched by the RSS and BJP. It is pertinently mentionable that the narrative of most notorious cellular jail at Andamans is engraved in the collective Punjabi consciousness as that of the Kale-Pani. The jail has now been converted into a national heritage museum.
The Punjabis in general and the Sikhs in particular have rich socio-political history and their contribution to the freedom movement cannot be belittled by any mean. It’s abysmal that the role of Punjabis has by and large has been deleted, especially after the return of BJP Government at the center. It was at this jail, where freedom fighters suffered the worst of indignities and torture. Going by the numbers of freedom fighters who had undergone imprisonment in this jail, Bengali freedom fighters were the maximum followed by Punjabis and the Sikhs. However quite intriguingly, the entire focus in the narrative is on V. D Savarkar (Vinayak Damodar Savarkar), the man who wrote at least four mercy petitions to the British rulers to seek release from that jail. Shockingly enough, even in the hour long light and sound programme too, the man who emerges as the hero is V D Savarkar, courtesy; RSS and BJP.
It is conceivably agonizing that no Chief Minister of Punjab has ever cared to visit the cellular jail at Andaman.
At least 57 activists of the Ghadar Party that was formed on the US soil were arrested in India and lodged in cellular jail. They were convicted in Lahore Conspiracy case of 1915 and 23 Cavalry Court Martial case. The fairly long list of other prisoners, include four Bishen Singhs, Amar Singh, Bhan Singh, Gurdit Singh, Gurmukh Singh, Hardit Singh, Harnam Singh and many more. Then there were those who were tortured to death by the Britishers.
The clamp-down of Martial law as an immediate measure to control the violence that erupted in form of the massive protest against the killing of hundreds of innocent people at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on the Baisakhi of April 13, 1919, out of several hundred protesters arredted, 25 were sentenced to Kala Pani. They included Akali leaders Kartar Singh Jhabbar and Teja Singh Chuharkana. The lists available, incompletely deleted the name of prominent prisoners of Babbar Akali Dal, who were sentenced to life imprisonment and transported to Andaman.
Sikhs today are the most prominent minority of India. Notwithstanding their limited numerical strength, they singularly played immensely courageous role in the freedom struggle against the British rule. Significantly the contribution of the Sikhs, in men and material both is the tallest.
It’s highly deplorable attempt of the BJP and RSS to insinuate and project a cowardly person, V. D Savarkar as a ‘hero’ by eclipsing the genuine role of the real heroes of the freedom struggle.
I would appeal to all the members of the Parliament (Both Houses) from Punjab to raise the issue in Parliament with alacrity and strength it deserves. Let there be a commission headed by the sitting Supreme Court Judge to determine the role and names of the freedom fighters who suffered torturous imprisonments in the notorious cellular jail at Andamans in the process of their struggle for the freedom of the country.
Bir Devinder Singh
Former Deputy Speaker
Punjab Vidhan Sabha
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