On the eve of the birth­day of Bhai Gajin­der Singh, a Sikh rev­o­lu­tion­ary who, de­spite his ad­vanc­ing age and ill health is seeped in the spirit of Sikh free­dom, The World Sikh News ed­i­tor Jag­mo­han Singh writes an Open let­ter to him ac­knowl­edg­ing the pain he is un­der­go­ing in his cur­rent state of near-prison life and his sta­tus as a state­less per­son. Yet, he asks him to cel­e­brate his birth­day, and each day of his life, even though he is phys­i­cally liv­ing in ig­nominy. He should have the cool sat­is­fac­tion that his dreams are be­ing lived by the gen­er­a­tion next with gusto, glory, and de­ter­mi­na­tion, not only in his home­land Pun­jab but also in the rest of the Sikh world.

MY DEAR GAJIN­DER SINGH JI, HEARTI­EST GREET­INGS FROM THE HOME­LAND PUN­JAB on your birth­day on the 19th of No­vem­ber, which iron­i­cally co­in­cides with the birth an­niver­sary of the late In­dian Prime Min­is­ter In­dira Gandhi, with whom you had a face-off near Dera Bassi on the Chandi­garh-Am­bala road when she had come there to de­liver a speech in De­cem­ber 1971. You set the pace and di­rec­tion of your work there which you have con­tin­ued since then.

My heart reaches out to you with a blend of re­spect and melan­choly. As you mark an­other year, it pains me deeply to ac­knowl­edge the long shadow cast by ex­ile that hov­ers over your life. It is a stark re­minder of how we, as a com­mu­nity, have stum­bled in our ef­forts to right the wrongs faced by rev­o­lu­tion­ar­ies like your­self, who re­main state­less, not by choice but by the harsh whims of po­lit­i­cal tides and le­gal chal­lenges.

You, who chose to hi­jack a plane not with the power of arms but with the might of thought and pen, to shine a light on the Sikh quest for sov­er­eignty, find your­self in cir­cum­stances re­sem­bling a prison.

Pak­istan’s fear of an­other killing like that of Paramjit Singh Pan­jwar in Pak­istan or Hard­eep Singh Ni­j­jar in Canada has in­ad­ver­tently im­pris­oned a mind that soars freely in the heights of ide­al­ism and the depth of po­etic ex­pres­sion.

Your life, a ta­pes­try of un­wa­ver­ing con­vic­tion, weaves through it the as­pi­ra­tions for Sikh free­dom. Be it the silent walls of con­fine­ment or the vast skies of Pun­jab that you so dearly miss, know that your essence, your work, and your sac­ri­fices are in­grained in the hearts of those who share your dream.

It is in recog­ni­tion of your life of con­vic­tion and ded­i­ca­tion, that the high­est tem­po­ral body of the Sikhs -Akal Takht Sahib, be­stowed on you the ti­tle of “Sikh War­rior in Ex­ile” in 2020.

The Dal Khalsa, a move­ment birthed from your vi­sion, nur­tured by the con­tri­bu­tions of your col­leagues and you, the daunt­ing stretches of jail terms you en­dured, and your re­lent­less voice for Sikh sov­er­eignty will for­ever be etched in our col­lec­tive mem­ory and will al­ways be cher­ished.

As you stand as a bea­con for many, let the light of your life’s path guide and in­spire us. Your reg­u­lar in­ter­ac­tion with the world through Face­book gives you an op­por­tu­nity to share your past and your vi­sion for the fu­ture, notwith­stand­ing your dreary life and po­si­tion.

Pak­istan’s fear of an­other killing like that of Paramjit Singh Pan­jwar in Pak­istan or Hard­eep Singh Ni­j­jar in Canada has in­ad­ver­tently im­pris­oned a mind that soars freely in the heights of ide­al­ism and the depth of po­etic ex­pres­sion.

It may seem like a soli­tary jour­ney at times, but rest as­sured, the path you have set is not un­trod­den. There are foot­steps that fol­low, some seen, many un­seen, trac­ing the routes you have charted with such con­vic­tion. The cur­rent Dal Khalsa lead­er­ship, while cel­e­brat­ing 42 years of your ex­ile, early this year, boldly asked the Gov­ern­ment of Pak­istan to grant you asy­lum and shift you to the his­toric Nankana Sahib.

You have com­pleted your prison terms and it has been es­tab­lished even in the courts of In­dia in the cases of your col­leagues Sat­nam Singh Paonta Sahib and Tejin­der Pal Singh that the ju­di­cial prin­ci­ple of dou­ble jeop­ardy ap­plies and you can­not be ha­rassed or de­tained any fur­ther any­where.

Un­ques­tion­ably, you are a state­less in­di­vid­ual as rec­og­nized by the United Na­tions High Com­mis­sioner for Refugees. It may not be wrong to say that you were born state­less be­cause though born in your own home­land Pun­jab, which at the time of your birth was un­der sub­ju­ga­tion.  Since you chose to chal­lenge that sta­tus, even though you have changed ter­ri­tory, your sta­tus re­mains the same.

It is a unique sit­u­a­tion, per­haps not touched so far by the UN­HCR. There is no easy so­lu­tion but in­stead of be­ing called a state­less cit­i­zen, it may not be wrong to use the nomen­cla­ture of a world cit­i­zen for you; as for you, the world is a large can­vas in which you de­sire a small chunk wherein your as­pi­ra­tions get an ex­pres­sion.

You are not alone, for your ideals live on, res­onat­ing with the beats of count­less hearts that beat for the very free­dom you speak of. Some of these beats are silent and not vo­cal but be as­sured that they are there. The verse of your rev­o­lu­tion­ary po­etry still con­tin­ues to in­spire many.

Cel­e­brate your birth­day, Gajin­der Singh Ji. Cel­e­brate -for every day is a tes­ti­mony to your courage, for every poem you wrote, for every thought you pro­voked, and for the in­domitable spirit that even the tough­est chains could not bind. You are not alone, for your ideals live on, res­onat­ing with the beats of count­less hearts that beat for the very free­dom you speak of. Some of these beats are silent and not vo­cal but be as­sured that they are there. The verse of your rev­o­lu­tion­ary po­etry still con­tin­ues to in­spire many.

May the years ahead bring you Chardikala, and may you wit­ness the dawn of your as­pi­ra­tions, for you have sown the seeds of a rev­o­lu­tion that tran­scends the con­fines of ge­og­ra­phy and time!

With deep­est re­spect, sol­i­dar­ity, and fra­ter­nal love,

Jag­mo­han Singh