From Dreams to Revolution: The Legacy of Bhai Gajinder Singh
Moninder Singh | @akalibabbar | @khalistancentre
ਜੂਝਣ ਲਈ ਨਿਕਲੇ ਹਾਂ ਮਿਟਾਏ ਜਾ ਨਹੀਂ ਸਕਦੇ
We left to struggle (against tyranny), and we cannot be eliminated.
-Bhai Gajinder Singh
In Sikh history, there have been countless moments where death was accepted by a Sikh as they stood up or walked out the front door of their home–not knowing in those circumstances whether they would ever return. In one well known example in 1699, Sri Guru Gobind Singh jee asked a Sikh to stand and offer their head, a sign of their trust and submission to the Guru’s hukam (order). The Panj Pyare (Five Beloved) stood one by one and as they did, they had accepted death as that was the hukam of Guru Sahib. Their test was standing in that moment and offering themselves to their Guru.
Individual survival was never the purpose of a Sikh, rather it was the fulfillment of their Sikhi which could only be done through acceptance of the Guru’s hukam, regardless of the impact on one’s tann (physical body), mann (mind) or dhann (worldly resources):
ਪਹਿਲਾ ਮਰਣੁ ਕਬੂਲਿ ਜੀਵਣ ਕੀ ਛਡਿ ਆਸ ॥
ਹੋਹੁ ਸਭਨਾ ਕੀ ਰੇਣੁਕਾ ਤਉ ਆਉ ਹਮਾਰੈ ਪਾਸਿ ॥੧॥
First, accept death, and give up any hope of life.
Become the dust of the feet of all, and then, you may come to me.
Embodying this tradition on September 29, 1981, Bhai Gajinder Singh jee died for the first time.
When he left home that morning, he had accepted his fate which could only lead to a life of imprisonment, exile, or death. Bhai Gajinder Singh then spent the next four decades of his life between imprisonment and exile, with the threat of death and assassination constantly looming around him. Bhai Gajinder Singh was first imprisoned in 1971 for handing out leaflets promoting a “Sikh Homeland” (Khalistan) which disrupted a political rally of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Fifty-three years later Bhai Gajinder Singh died in exile on July 4, 2024–spending his entire life in sangarsh for the establishment of Khalistan.
ਗੁਰਸਿੱਖ ਅਤੇ ਗੁਰਸਿੱਖੀ (GURSIKH & GURSIKHI)
Such was the life of this Sikh poet, activist, soldier, intellectual… or what we as Sikhs refer to as, a Gursikh. There has never been, nor can there be, a separation of Miri-Piri within the sidhant (principles) of Sikhi and to label a Gursikh like Bhai Gajinder Singh as anything less would be severely problematic. Within the compromised and diluted lens of “Sikhism” of the modern day, this artificial separation is becoming a serious problem where a Sikh is starting to prioritize Miri or Piri over the other and somehow justifying this dismembered existence. Those who choose to prioritize a distorted “spirituality” to avoid the physical death inevitable in sangarsh and those who choose to prioritize a distorted form of “politics” devoid of dharam, equally turn their back on the essence of Gursikhi we were blessed with.
We have no right to pick and choose hukams of Guru Sahib that suit only our personal needs or hide our weaknesses and shortcomings. It would be more appropriate for one to accept such weaknesses as individual shortcomings rather than projecting either distortion as the essence of the collective Guru Panth.
Bhai Gurdas jee in their vaars (ballads) give a direct and concise definition of Gursikhi:
ਗੁਰਸਿੱਖੀ ਦਾ ਕਰਮ ਇਹ ਗੁਰ ਫੁਰਮਾਏ ਗੁਰਸਿੱਖ ਕਰਨਾ॥
The path and action of Gursikhi is that the Guru orders and the Gursikh complies.
The hukam or orders of Guru Sahib can be found throughout Gurbani, Bhai Gurdas jee’s vaars, Bhai Nand Lal’s writings and other historical texts as well. All provide a balance of Miri-Piri as the foundation to everything a Gursikh would undertake from a spiritual and physical perspective. The spiritual transformation that a Sikh undergoes is left incomplete unless the strength, wisdom, and compassion gained through such upliftment is then translated into seva (selfless service) in pursuit of the Guru Panth’s objectives: exercising our Guru-granted patshahi (Sikh sovereignty) to establish raj (governance/rule) and ensure sarbat da bhala (the welfare and wellbeing of the entire Creation). While the examples are endless, there is a beautiful shabad which captures all of this and much more in a mere few lines:
ਸੁਣਿ ਮਨ ਮਿਤ੍ਰ ਪਿਆਰਿਆ ਮਿਲੁ ਵੇਲਾ ਹੈ ਏਹ ॥
ਜਬ ਲਗੁ ਜੋਬਨਿ ਸਾਸੁ ਹੈ ਤਬ ਲਗੁ ਇਹੁ ਤਨੁ ਦੇਹ ॥
ਬਿਨੁ ਗੁਣ ਕਾਮਿ ਨ ਆਵਈ ਢਹਿ ਢੇਰੀ ਤਨੁ ਖੇਹ ॥੧॥
Listen, my mind, my friend, my love: now is the time to meet your creator.
As long as there is youth and breath in you, give this body to this creation and its creator.
Without virtue and committing good deeds, this body is useless and shall crumble into a pile of dust.
Bhai Gajinder Singh’s influence, in person and through his writing, was world renowned within the Panth. The revolutionary writing and poetry of Bhai Gajinder Singh drew one into a world where the depth of Sikhi pyar (love), pain of vichhora (separation), and Chardi Kala (forever in high spirits) of sadeevi sangarsh (eternal struggle/revolution) was constantly pulling at a Sikh to give and do more. In an interview with Bibi Amarjit Kaur (wife of Shaheed Bhai Fauja Singh) she stated:
“Quite a bit before his (Bhai Fauja Singh) martyrdom, he began to say that there was another battle to be fought. It was about this time that Sardar Gajinder Singh’s poem “ਗੰਗੂ ਦੀ ਰੂਹ - Gangoo dee Rooh” (Gangoo’s spirit) was published. He would read the lines from this poem many times:
“ਇਹ ਗਾਂਧੀ ਇਹ ਨਹਿਰੂ, ਜਾ ਨਹਿਰੂ ਦੀ ਧੀ ਏ
ਗੰਗੂ ਹੀ ਗੰਗੂ ਨੇ ਹੋਰ ਇੱਥੇ ਕੀ ਏ
There’s Gandhi, there’s Nehru and there’s Nehru’s daughter.
They are all just Gangoo, what else is there here?”
Bhai Gajinder Singh’s words brought an understanding that putting our trust in the enemy had proven destructive in the past and we must now comprehend our current position within the Indian state and prepare accordingly. So powerful were the words from the pen of Bhai Gajinder Singh that they inspired Gursikhs like Shaheed Bhai Fauja Singh as to what the upcoming sangarsh demanded. Shaheed Bhai Fauja Singh was well prepared for his sacrifice already and if he was reciting Bhai Gajinder Singh’s poetry, the impact he would have had on naujawan Sikhs and those still preparing would be immense.
ਸਦੀਵੀ ਸੰਘਰਸ਼ (SADEEVI SANGARSH): THE EVERLASTING STRUGGLE/REVOLUTION
“ਸਾਡਾ ਉਦੇਸ਼ ਸਰਬੱਤ ਦਾ ਭਲਾ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਸਾਡਾ ਧਰਮ ਖਾਲਿਸਤਾਨ ਦੀ ਰਾਜਸੀ ਸਥਾਪਨਾ ਉਤੇ ਜਾ ਕੇ ਖਤਮ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਅਤੇ ਨਾ ਹੀ ਇਹ ਇਸਦੀ ਮੰਜਿਲ ਹੈ। ਸਾਡੀ ਮੰਜ਼ਿਲ-ਏ-ਮਕਸੂਦ ਸੱਚੇ ਪਾਤਿਸ਼ਾਹ ਦੇ ਚਰਨ-ਕਮਲ ਹਨ ਅਤੇ ਸਾਡਾ ਸੰਘਰਸ਼ ਸਦੀਵੀ ਹੈ।”
-ਸ਼ਹੀਦ ਭਾਈ ਹਰਜਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਜਿੰਦਾ ਅਤੇ ਸ਼ਹੀਦ ਭਾਈ ਸੁਖਦੇਵ ਸਿੰਘ ਸੁੱਖਾ
“Our purpose is sarbat da bhala (welfare and well-being of all) and our dharam (faith/righteousness) does not end with the political establishment of Khalistan. Our primary purpose is to take our place in the beloved feet of Satguru and our sangarsh (struggle/revolution) is everlasting.”
-Shaheed Bhai Harjinder Singh Jinda and Shaheed Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha
Approximately five days before their shaheedi on October 9, 1992, Bhai Jinda and Bhai Sukha wrote these words to the Khalsa Panth with a clear purpose of outlining the sadeevi sangarsh (everlasting struggle/revolution) that is core to a Gursikh. This Gursikh is ordered to struggle and fight panj (five) vikaars (Kaam/Lust, Krodh/Anger, Lobh/Greed, Moh/Attachment, Hankaar/Pride and Ego) daily while carrying a responsibility to the collective Khalsa Panth to fulfill the mission that Guru Gobind Singh jee brought to this world with them and then bequeathed upon their Khalsa as their own roop (form):
ਯਾਹੀ ਕਾਜ ਧਰਾ ਹਮ ਜਨਮੰ॥ ਸਮਝ ਲੇਹੁ ਸਾਧੂ ਸਭ ਮਨਮੰ॥
ਧਰਮ ਚਲਾਵਨ ਸੰਤ ਉਬਾਰਨ॥ ਦੁਸਟ ਸਭਨ ਕੋ ਮੂਲ ਉਪਾਰਿਨ॥੪੩॥
This is the reason I have come; all should understand this clearly
To propagate Dharm (righteousness), to liberate the good (“saints”), and to rip out the roots of tyranny.
(ਬਚਿਤ੍ਰ ਨਾਟਕ – Bachittar Natak)
Bhai Jinda and Bhai Sukha are outlining that Khalistan is a necessity and need of the Khalsa panth in today’s time just as previous examples of raj (governance/sovereignty) were needed and established in various forms for various generations stemming from Baba Banda Singh Bahadur (~1710) to the Misl sardars (~mid-1700s) and Maharaja Ranjit Singh (~1801). They go further to reference the concept of sadeevi sangarsh and the Khalsa’s overarching mission of patshahi (sovereignty) which is interwoven with our Guru-given hukam (order) of sarbat da bhala to ensure that the Khalsa understands that its mission will go beyond the confines of the modern nation-state model and its borders in the current world that we see today. The Khalsa is free and sovereign wherever it exists, and its purpose will remain the same as which Guru Gobind Singh jee bequeathed to them as their form on this earth.
ਐਸੀ ਪੰਥ ਅਬਹਿ ਪ੍ਰਗਟਾਵੌ । ਬੀਚ ਸਹੰਸ ਨਹ ਏਕ ਛਪਾਵੌ ।
ਐਸੀ ਮੁਹਰ ਸੀਸ ਤਿਨ ਧਾਰਉਂ । ਸਯੋ ਸਯਾਲਨ ਮਹਿ ਸਿੰਘ ਵਿਚਾਰਉਂ ।
I will create a Panth that amongst thousands they won't be hidden.
I will place such a stamp on their heads [they will stand out], like a tiger roaming amongst jackals.
-Gurbilas Patshahi 6 (1720)
This hukam of sadeevi sangarsh can be seen on full display through the life of Bhai Gajinder Singh. The primary identity given to Bhai Gajinder Singh over the last four decades has been “hijacker”. In contemporary terms, this definition is extremely negative in its application without understanding the context in which an act of rebellion was committed. Bhai Gajinder Singh was involved in the hijacking of an Indian Airliner in 1981 that was safely landed, all passengers were removed safely and handed over to authorities, and all the Sikhs involved were arrested without incident or violence. In the aftermath, passengers are on video and in news media saying they were treated well, reassured nothing would happen to them and given the context of why this was happening. In the “perfect world” no citizen would ever hijack a plane out of protest and in the same vein, no state would ever commit genocide against their own people or any people for that matter. Unfortunately, our world from east to west is far from “perfect” and physical, cultural, linguistic, etc. genocides through rape, pillage, plunder, colonialism, residential schools, and transnational repression continue as they have for hundreds if not thousands of years.
Bhai Gajinder Singh was so much more than this term “hijacker.” He became a symbol of resistance and intellect within Sikh spaces. He was steadfast and clear with his politics of nothing less than Khalistan in today’s world would be enough for the Sikh people to ensure the security of its future generations. This steadfastness, resilience and clarity manifested in him because he was a witness and exposed to Indian state sponsored repression and violence as well. He watched members of his community continuously protest and be murdered at the hands of the Indian state. He watched young Sikh men face arbitrary detention, extended incarceration, inhumane torture, and extrajudicial murder. He repeatedly heard and realized that his people were gulaam (enslaved/subjugated) in this country and this meant that their struggle had to break past the limited horizon of simply alleviating “discrimination”: they had to dream of a greater struggle for liberation.
Despite the violent conditions Bhai Gajinder Singh witnessed and endured in India, countless jujharoos (warriors) like him are attacked because they chose the path of resistance and armed struggle. This consistent refrain used against oppressed peoples all over the world that “all violence is unjustified morally” originates from an oppressor that unapologetically wields this violence without restraint or repercussion. The physical and discursive violence deployed by the police, military, judiciary and media and other institutions of the state is nothing new in the history of oppressed people struggling to gain their freedom, nor will it hold us back from our rightful claims to dignity, equality, and sovereignty:
“We were told that violence in itself is evil, and that, whatever the cause, it is unjustified morally. By what standard of morality can the violence used by a slave to break his chains be considered the same as the violence of a slave master? By what standards can we equate the violence of blacks who have been oppressed, suppressed, depressed and repressed for four centuries with the violence of white fascists? Violence aimed at the recovery of human dignity and at equality cannot be judged by the same yardstick as violence aimed at maintenance of discrimination and oppression.”
-Walter Rodney, The Groundings with My Brothers (1971)
ਕਿੰਝ ਮਾਰੇਗਾ ਕੋਈ ਸਾਨੂੰ? (HOW CAN ANYONE ELIMINATE US?)
As we constantly strive to move forward with our sangarsh, Bhai Gajinder Singh will be a guiding light with his words and his life lived. It was a life that showed every part of a sangarsh from activism and direct action, to art and intellectual production, to boldly facing imprisonment and exile. What he exemplified was that there is no one way to move forward; Sikhs are able to engage in activism and sangarsh in many different ways. However, the one constant reminder from Bhai Gajinder Singh to all of us has been to build a foundation of Gurmat and Sikhi (Piri) for us to develop and implement our siyasat/politics (Miri) from.
When we step back and look at Bhai Gajinder Singh and his over 50 years of sangarsh, not only is it awe-inspiring but it also raises a significant question. How was he able to endure for so long with such steadfastness and conviction? Conviction and steadfastness can be seen in the court of Wazir Khan when Sahibzada Zorawar Singh and Sahibzada Fateh Singh discuss their path forward with death looming:
ਜ਼ੋਰਾਵਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਐਸੇ ਭਨੈ, “ਕਿਉਂ ਭਾਈ ਅਬ ਕਿਉਂਕਰ ਬਨੈ ।
ਫਤੇ ਸਿੰਘ ਤਬ ਕਹਯੋ ਬਖਾਨ, “ਦਸ ਪਾਤਸ਼ਾਰੀ ਹੋਵਹਿ ਹਾਨ ।
Zorawar Singh asked Fateh Singh “Brother, what to do now?”
Fateh Singh then answered steadfastly “We act and behave as all 10 Gurus were watching.”
-ਕਥਾ ਗੁਰੂ ਜੀ ਕੇ ਸੁਤਨ ਕੀ
(ਕ੍ਰਿਤ ਭਾਈ ਦੁੱਨਾ ਸਿੰਘ ਹੰਡੂਰੀਆ)
Bhai Gajinder Singh’s steadfastness and conviction came from this same place; an understanding that Guru Sahib is ang-sang (always around us in their creation) and our truest test in life is how we react to hukam and bhaana. By embodying Gursikhi in its fullest sense, Bhai Gajinder Singh embraced his death the moment he left home on September 29 and never looked back again. It is in this acceptance of death, that Bhai Gajinder Singh epitomizes the meaning of life in Gursikhi.
My favorite poem by Bhai Gajinder Singh brings tears to my eyes while raising my spirit at the same time. These few lines may be the closest to my heart until the day I complete my journey as per Akal Purakh’s hukam…as we all will. Our Ardas should always be that we remain steadfast like Bhai Gajinder Singh and fulfil our Sikhi with every breath (ਸਿੱਖੀ ਕੇਸਾਂ ਸੁਆਸਾਂ ਸੰਗ ਨਿੱਭ ਜਾਵੇ) by embodying both Miri and Piri as our generation shoulders the responsibility to carry on the struggle for Khalistan that jujharoos like Bhai Gajinder Singh devoted their entire lives to.
ਲਹੂ ਨਾਲ ਲਿਖਾਂਗੇ ਕਿਸਮਤ ਕੌਮ ਦੀ
ਨਕਸ਼ਾ ਖ਼ਾਲਿਸਤਾਨ ਦਾ ਬਣਾਵਾਂਗੇ
With our blood we will write the future of our Panth and draw the map of Khalistan
ਤਾਰਿਆਂ ਸੰਗ ਲਿਖਾਂਗੇ ਖ਼ਾਲਿਸਤਾਨ
ਖੁਦ ਵੀ ਤਾਰੇ ਬਣ ਕੇ ਖਿੱਲਰ ਜਾਵਾਂਗੇ
We will write Khalistan in the stars and, perhaps in our pursuit, ourselves become those stars and disperse
ਕਿੰਝ ਮਾਰੇਗਾ ਕੋਈ ਸਾਨੂੰ
ਅਸੀਂ ਖ਼ੁਸ਼ਬੂ ਹਾਂ ਹਵਾਵਾਂ ਚ ਖਿੱਲਰ ਜਾਵਾਂਗੇ
How can anyone eliminate us, We are a beautiful fragrance that will just disperse into the winds (and inspire the next generation to rise)
ਭਾਈ ਗਜਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ
ਜੇਲ ਤੇ ਜਲਾਵਤਨੀ
੨੯ ਸਤੰਬਰ, ੧੯੮੧
KHALISTAN ZINDABAD
Thanks for writing