Gurmeet Singh

Assam: Two Associates of Waris Punjab De’s Chief Amritpal Singh Hospitalised in Dibrugarh

Kulwant Singh and Gurmeet Singh were admitted to Assam Medical College and Hospital Dibrugarh on Tuesday, March 5, at around 10 pm due to health issues.

New Delhi: Two associates of radical sikh leader ‘Waris Punjab De’ chief Amritpal Singh Sandhu serving jail terms at a prison in Assam have been admitted to a hospital after falling ill.

Kulwant Singh and Gurmeet Singh were admitted to Assam Medical College and Hospital Dibrugarh on Tuesday, March 5, at around 10 pm due to health issues. Kulwant Singh was apparently taken ill due to epilepsy.

According to Meghalayan, the hospital superintendent said the health condition of the duo is not life-threatening.

Nine of Sandhu’s associates are currently lodged in Dibrugarh central jail, after they were booked under the National Security Act.

Radical Sikh leader Sandhu, who had been on the run, was nabbed from Moga district of Punjab last year. He was later moved to Dibrugarh central jail on April 23 last year. Sandhu is charged under sections of NSA.

The pro-Khalistan separatist and a self-styled Sikh preacher lived in Dubai for several years before returning to Punjab in September 2022. He was controversially given the title “Waris Punjab De”, which means “Heirs of Punjab”.

Leader of Nihang Group Involved in Singhu Killing Met Union Agri Minister Tomar in July

According to reports, Baba Aman Singh may have been part of efforts to end the farmers’ protest against the three Central laws.

Jalandhar: Photos of Baba Aman Singh, the chief of the Nihang group whose members have been arrested for the Singhu border killing, meeting with Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar, other BJP leaders have gone viral on social media, causing a furore.

In the viral photos, Tomar is seen honouring Baba Aman Singh with a siropa (robe of honour) and having lunch. During the meeting, they are believed to have discussed the contentious farm laws. The photos evoked sharp reactions from farmers, civil society and the Punjabi diaspora. The meeting took place in late July, when BJP leaders in Punjab and Haryana were facing mass protests over the laws.

Baba Aman Singh is the chief of the Nirvair Khalsa-Udna Dal, the group whose members have been arrested for the killing of Lakhbir Singh at the Singhu border on October 15. They executed the man, who is from a Dalit community, accusing him of ‘sacrilege’.

As The Wire had reported, he had justified the gruesome murder as “punishment for blasphemy” and warned farmer leaders to “think twice before announcing their views” on the killing.

The victim’s family has contested the desecration claim, demanding a high-level probe.

Baba Aman Singh is also closely associated with Canada based Ontario Sikhs and Gurdwara Council chairman Kultar Singh Gill.

It was learnt that the meeting between Baba Aman Singh, who is from Chamkaur Sahib in Punjab, was held at the bungalow of minister of state for agriculture Kailash Choudhary in New Delhi in the last week of July.

While Aman Singh refused to speak to The Wire, it has come to light that he was part of an ‘outer channel’ to end the farmers’ stir, according to a Tribune report. Singh, who is at the Singhu border, is likely to speak to the media later.

Also present at the meeting were Sunil Kumar Singh, an MP from Jharkhand; Saurav Saraswat from Rajasthan; and Sukhminderpal Singh Grewal, the all-India secretary of the BJP Kisan Morcha. Grewal, who hails from Ludhiana, was also looking after the Sikh community’s affairs in Jammu and Kashmir. Despite repeated attempts, Grewal was not available for comments. His phone was switched off.

Also Read: Nihang Groups Refuse to Leave Farmers’ Protest, Say ‘Didn’t Join on Anyone’s Invitation’

Former cop, convicted for murder, also present

Another controversial figure who was at the meeting was Gurmeet Singh ‘Pinky’, a former Punjab police cop who was convicted for murder.

In a video interview some years ago, Pinky had admitted that he was witness to over 50 fake encounters during the militancy in Punjab. He and Baba Aman Singh were inmates in Patiala Central Jail, during which time they became good friends.

Gurmeet Singh ‘Pinky’, between Tomar and Baba Aman Singh. Photo: Social media

The presence of Pinky in the photo has raised key questions about who set up the meeting between Baba Aman Singh and Tomar.

Pinky was allegedly close to many terrorists. During the militancy period in Punjab in the 1990s, he was a Punjab Police ‘cat’ – a militant turned undercover police agent – who helped the police in fighting terrorism. He became a police officer and rose to the post of inspector, owing to his role in fighting terrorism and his proximity to senior police officers. He was dismissed from service in 2006, subsequent to a 2001 murder case. He was convicted in the murder case and awarded a life term in 2006.

Pinky was the recipient of a gallantry medal for service in 1997, but in the wake of the criminal charges, the Union government withdrew it in 2017.

Talking to The Wire, Raja Raj Singh, the head of the Nihang group Tarna Dal from Sangrur district in Punjab, said, “I met Baba Aman Singh and asked him about the controversy surrounding his viral photos with Narendra Singh Tomar, other BJP leaders and Gurmeet Singh Pinky. I told him to clarify why and where he met the Union agriculture minister. Aman Singh said he will answer all these queries after speaking to his lawyer.”

Raja Raj Singh also said that if Baba Aman Singh is found to have “hobnobbed” with BJP leaders, the groups will boycott him from the Nihang sect. “At the same time, I want to make it clear that we [the other Nihang group] were not aware of his meetings with the BJP leaders. He never shared any such information with any of the eight Nihang groups which are camping at the Singhu border. We want the truth behind the viral photos and the alleged sacrilege of the Sikh scripture to come out,” he added.

Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar presents Baba Aman Singh with a siropa. Photo: Social media

After Lakhbir Singh’s killing, Chandigarh-based senior journalist Jagtar Singh had categorically tweeted that the killing could have many dimensions.

#SinghuBorderHorror Too well known that several Nihang groups hv earlier worked as tools of agencies during militancy. Most of them r from weaker sections, several with criminal background. Singhu killing could have many dimensions.

— Jagtar Singh (@jagtar201) October 16, 2021

Speaking to The Wire after photos of Baba Aman Singh’s meeting with Tomar emerged, Jagtar Singh – who is also the author of two important books on the Khalistan movement – said, “It is a larger design to derail the farmers’ protest. The role of the Nihangs has remained under the scanner as they had a history of serving the government.” He gave the example of the Nihangs’ clash with Babbar Khalsa before Operation Blue Star in 1984. Jagtar Singh also spoke about the role of Nihang leader Baba Santa Singh, who acquiesced to the government’s demands to reconstruct the Akal Takht after Operation Blue Star. This move drew flak from fellow Sikh bodies and another Nihang leader, Ajit Singh Poohla, who was had several cases of murder and attempted murder against him.

“While Santa Singh was excommunicated from the Sikh Panth, Ajit Singh Poohla was burnt alive by inmates at the Amritsar Central jail in 2008. The meeting between Baba Aman Singh and Tomar again hints that they [Nihangs] are up to something now,” he said.

It is pertinent to mention that when Nihang groups held a press conference at the Singhu border on Monday over the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM)’s demand that they should leave in the wake of Lakhbir Singh’s killing, Baba Aman Singh was not present.

Watch: Can the Killing at Singhu Weaken the Farmers’ Movement?

‘Suspicious’, say farmer leaders

Though the SKM leaders have not yet issued a statement on Baba Aman Singh’s meeting, BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan and state general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokari Kalan termed the entire case suspicious.

“The murder of Lakhbir Singh was highly unfortunate. The Narendra Modi government’s propaganda machinery has left no stone unturned in defaming the farmers’ protest and tried to give the movement false angles. This incident took place at a time when the government was desperately working to scuttle the protest. The presence of any religious body at the protest site not only gives the movement a religious colour but also allows the creation of conspiracies in the name of religion. Our fight is against the three farm laws and the farmers should fight this fascist government tooth and nail and should stay cautious,” they said.

Notably, Lakhbir Singh’s sister had said that her brother was keeping in touch with some ‘big people’ and someone known as ‘Sandhu’ used to call him frequently. In an interview with BBC Punjabi, she had said, “My brother would ask us to go out of the room whenever he got a call from Sandhu. But we don’t know who this Sandhu was. He was misled by someone, who took him to the Singhu border, as he could never think of desecrating a holy scripture.”

Meanwhile, it also came to light that on October 13, Lakhbir Singh was at a wedding in his village, where a man dressed in the robes of the Nihang sect came and took him along. That was the last time his family saw him.

Welcome Move to End Confessions, but NCW Needs to Be More Consistent: Swami Agnivesh

After the NCW recommended to the home ministry that confessions in church be abolished, Swami Agnivesh urged the Commission to initiate nationwide programmes to educate and alert the women.

New Delhi: After being in the news recently because of an attack on him allegedly by workers of the BJP Yuva Morcha, social activist Swami Agnivesh, while welcoming the National Commission for Women recommendation for the abolition of the practice of confession in Christian churches in the country “in the interest of protecting women from exploitation by the immoral and predatory clergy of the Church”, reprimanded the NCW for its lack of consistency in protecting women.

NCW’s recommendation has rankled the church in Kerala and other parts in the country, who have slammed the Commission’s statement as “generalised and sweeping” and “an attack on the Christian faith“.

The recommendation, based on an investigation conducted by the NCW into two sex scandals, one involving four priests of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and the second the Roman Catholic Bishop of Jalandhar Diocese, was made in a report which was submitted to Union home minister Rajnath Singh.

According to reports, the NCW move was prompted by the revelation by the Orthodox sex scandal victim that three of the four priests involved in the case had blackmailed and sexually abused her by using her confessional secret regarding a pre-marital relationship she had with the fourth priest.

“We have recommended that confession should abolished from the church. It is being misused by the priests. Many women are suffering. Women cannot share their private life with priests,” NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma told The Indian Express.

“I endorse, further, the stand of the commission that crimes committed by the clergy must be investigated urgently and in a credible and transparent fashion,” Agnivesh said in a statement. “Given the political clout of the church in Kerala, it is imperative that this task be entrusted to the CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation].”

Agnivesh urged the commission to educate women about dangers that could be present in “man-dominated religious establishments”.

“It is disappointing that even basic things like running helplines for women in distress with mechanisms for speedy response are not in place,” he added.

The full text has been reproduced below:

I welcome the stand of the National Commission for Women (NCW) that, in the interest of protecting women from exploitation by the immoral and predatory clergy of the Church, the Christian practise of confession may be abolished by law. I do so because I believe that no price is too heavy to pay when it comes to defending the honour and sanctity of our women. It is absurd that a practice meant to absolve people of their sins is used to push them deeper and deeper into degradation.

I endorse, further, the stand of the Commission that crimes committed by the clergy must be investigated urgently and in a credible and transparent fashion. Given the political clout of the church in Kerala, it is imperative that this task be entrusted to the CBI.

I am, at the same time, intrigued that the NCW has chosen to look the other way when far greater sexual offences took place in the dens of godmen like Ramphal, Asaram Bapu and Gurmeet Singh. In the latter case, some four hundred women were reportedly kept in near-slavery conditions and sexually exploited at will for years. To be consistent, the Commission needs to take a similar stand on the need to adopt measures sufficient to ensure that women are not sexually exploited in the name of any religion by any priest or godman. If this is not done, the intention of the NCW would come vitiated with bias, prejudice and politically nuanced opportunism.

I would also urge the Commission to initiate nationwide programmes to educate and alert the women of this country about the dangers that lie in wait for them in the backyards of man-dominated religious establishments. Sexual perversions have been part of the religious menagerie from time immemorial. The Commission has a duty to address this issue. It is disappointing that even basic things like running helplines for women in distress with mechanisms for speedy response are not in place.

It is not merely because women are apt to be exploited that the practice of confessing to clergymen needs to be abolished. The pretensions underlying this practice of manly pride cannot stand rational scrutiny. That priests, clothed with the authority of the church, can forgive anyone’s sins is hollow and heretical. No man can forgive anyone’s sins; for sins are committed against God. God alone can forgive sins, if at all. So, the practice of confession stands on pretentious grounds. It is only natural that it adds to the sins of the people, instead of mitigating them.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Sentenced to 20 Years in Jail for Rape, Fined Rs 30 lakh

The Dera Sacha Sauda chief was convicted of raping two female followers, after which his followers turned violent and 32 people died.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a still from <em>MSG 2</em>.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a still from MSG 2.

New Delhi: A special CBI court on Monday (August 28) sentenced Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to 20 years in prison – 10 years each for two rape cases that will run consecutively and not concurrently, as was earlier understood. The sentencing hearing was held in Sunaria jail, Rohtak. A special court was set up in the jail premises to prevent a repeat of the violence which was witnessed following the announcement of the conviction of the Dera head on Friday.

The CBI court also fined the Dera chief Rs 30 lakh for three separate offences including attempt to murder and criminal intimidation. The court allowed him a separate cell, but no attendants or special facilities After the verdict, 50-year-old Singh was seen weeping profusely as he sat on the floor outside the courtroom. He was then forcibly taken away by security personnel.

While the CBI lawyer termed it a victory for the process of justice, the defence counsel said the court had given him a light sentence in view of his work for social causes. He also said an appeal would be filed in the high court against the CBI court order.

Judge Jagdeep Singh, along with the court staff, was flown in from Chandigarh by helicopter earlier in the morning. Rohtak was placed on high alert for the hearing. Rohtak deputy commissioner Atul Kumar had earlier declared that shoot at sight orders have been issued. He added that a three-tier security ring has been put in place around Sunaria district jail, where Singh is lodged, with 4,000 security personnel manning the area.

“We will not allow anyone to create any sort of trouble in Rohtak. Anyone breaking law or indulging in acts of violence or arson will himself be responsible for his fate. Anyone creating trouble will be given a warning first and if he still pays no heed, then he will have to face the bullet,” he had said.

TV channels reported that Singh broke down in court and pleaded for leniency before the judge announced his sentence. His followers set ablaze two cars in Phoolka area of Haryana’s Sirsa while the sentencing hearing was in session, ANI reported. While the CBI asked for life imprisonment, his lawyer asked for leniency because of his social work record.

On August 25, Singh was convicted of raping two female followers. The sections he was convicted under entail a minimum punishment of seven years and a maximum of life imprisonment.

After Singh was convicted on Friday, his followers, who had gathered in large numbers outside the court in Panchkula, Haryana, turned violent, destroying property, and burning media OB vans and burning buses. Violence spread to other parts of Haryana, as well as Punjab and Delhi. Thirty one people died in the clashes that ensued with the police and over 250 were injured. The Centre and Haryana government were widely criticised, including by the Punjab and Haryana high court, for allowing crowds to gather despite knowing what may happen.

Rioters smash television trucks during violence in Panchkula, India, August 25, 2017. Credit: Reuters/Cathal McNaughton

The rape Singh has been convicted of dates back to 1999. A case was filed in 2002, when an anonymous letter written by the complainant reached the Punjab and Haryana high court and then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The complainant said in her letter:

One night, at about 10 pm, I was called by Guru Maharaj to his gufa (den). I found him … with a revolver lying next to his pillow. He told me that as I, a sadhvi, had dedicated my mind and body to the ‘seva‘ of the guru, he, the guru, wanted to claim his due. When I protested, he told me that I should have no doubt he indeed was god. ‘Didn’t Lord Krishna make love to his gopis every night? Yet people regard him as god,’ he told me. When I was still not convinced, he told me he could shoot me here and now and no one would raise a finger, not even my parents. ‘The chief ministers of Punjab and Haryana and many central ministers come and touch my feet. I can get your family members removed from their jobs and get them killed if you protest,’ he told me.

There are about 40 unmarried women between 35-40 years of age in the ashram regarded as devis. We are not allowed to even look at another man, have to keep our heads covered with a white dupatta … But our life here is worse than that of prostitutes. Even if our parents call we are not allowed to talk to them without the guru’s permission. If any sadhvi goes back home and tells her family members about what has happened to her, goondas from the deras threaten the family members with death threats, forcing them to keep quiet. If you get the sadhvis of the dera medically examined you will learn that they are not sadhvis….

Singh is also accused in the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, who exposed the rape accusations against Singh in his newspaper Poora Sachh. The police had refused to name Singh in the original FIR; the case was transferred to the CBI after Chhatrapati’s son filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana high court. The case is now being heard in the same CBI court in Panchkula that found Singh guilt of rape.

Also read: Why Do People Go to the Dera?

Dera Sacha Sauda has close to 50 million followers worldwide, according to some estimates, many of whom are from ‘lower’ caste and marginalised backgrounds. Singh is known as a ‘Rockstar Baba’ – he has produced three films about himself starring himself, where he fights bad guys, sings and rides a flying motorcycle.

As Rape Case Verdict Looms, Will BJP Come to the Rescue of ‘Messenger of God’?

Lakhs of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s followers, now camping in Panchkula and Chandigarh in support of their ‘Living God’, are most impressed with his welfare work.

The BJP came to power in Haryana with some help from the Dera Sacha Sauda. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and his followers clearly feel it is payback time.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh (left), devotees gathered in his support in Punjab and Haryana. Credit: PTI

Chandigarh: Back in 2002, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh – head of the now formidable Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS), whose followers have brought Punjab and Haryana to a standstill ahead of the August 25 judgement by a CBI court into rape charges – was a small time spiritual guru, with an appreciable following who presided over a spiritual outfit in Sirsa in Haryana. He has since become India’s ‘Rockstar Baba’, having starred in at least two films produced by himself, has several music albums to his credit and is a big attraction for politicians of all hues during elections because of the sheer size of his following.

Soon after he was booked by the CBI in 2002 and 2003, on two counts of murder and alleged molestation of sadhvis in his dera, Singh employed a twin-pronged strategy to deal with the predicament he found himself in. He launched massive public welfare programmes to counter the image of a lecherous godman preying on hapless female devotees and simultaneously began an unabashed political leveraging of his immense following among the Dalit and downtrodden masses in Punjab, Haryana and other places. Some estimates say he has a following close to 50 million.

The DSS stepped up its public welfare activities by holding mammoth blood donation camps. One such camp was on December 7, 2003, and bagged a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. The outfit’s followers claim that it is now the largest blood donor for the Indian Army, having collected over five lakh units of blood. It also claims to hold records for organ and cadaver donation by around 60,000 people, as well as mega tree plantation drives.

But the lakhs of followers who are squatting on roads, roundabouts and in open spaces in the residential neighbourhoods of Panchkula and Chandigarh in support of their ‘Living God’ today, are most impressed with his anti-prostitution campaign where the dera claims to have helped 1500 women quit sex work and get married. In 2010, a mass marriage of former sex workers was organised at Sirsa, attended by hundreds of devotees. Topping the list of welfare work in the dera now is also assistance to transgenders and homosexuals. All this is advertised within the community of followers through widely publicised functions. Even as the Baba tried to clean up his image, in 2014, the Punjab and Haryana high court directed the CBI to probe a claim by a devotee, that around 400 of his followers had been castrated to “enable them to attain a union with god”.

Undeterred, he went on to star in two self-produced films called MSG – Messenger of God. Dressed in sequinned Superman costumes, crooning songs like ‘Love Charger’, the Baba despatches bad guys with special effects and has also begun to woo youth to his musical carnivals replete with psychedelic stage effects. Of late, Singh seems to prefer his shiny rockstar clothes studded with lights and zippers, not removing them even when he is meeting politicians.

Singh’s other strategy of wielding political clout with the region’s parties is also a stellar success, given his immense following among the Dalit and oppressed masses in places like Punjab and Haryana. The dera has at least 250 branches, some in foreign countries too. Whether it is an assembly election or a general election, the dera’s political wing gets to work, touring and meeting followers to figure out which party is best placed to help it achieve its aims.

In 2007, when the UPA was in power, the dera supported the Congress in the Punjab assembly election. But in 2014, it threw its weight behind the BJP, both in the Lok Sabha and in the Haryana assembly elections. Early this year, Singh supported the Akali Dal–BJP combine in Punjab. Its hard not to see how the dera’s political seesawing is synchronised with whichever party is in power at the Centre and therefore in control of the CBI. And, just like the spectacle of public spaces being swamped by angry followers, which we see now, the dera has always resorted to similar arm twisting and intimidation of the administration during previous hearings of the case in other places in Haryana, until the court permitted Singh to appear through video conferencing to avoid inconveniencing the public.

But despite these efforts, the charges levelled by an anonymous, but very determined sadhvi, who has pursued the case until now, are serious enough to keep the DSS on edge. In May 2002, she first wrote a letter to then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the then chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana high court. In it, she alleged sexual harassment of women inmates of the DSS by its chief. This led to the CBI inquiry being ordered.

Here’s what the sadhvi’s letter alleged:

One night, at about 10 pm, I was called by Guru Maharaj to his gufa (den). I found him … with a revolver lying next to his pillow. He told me that as I, a sadhvi, had dedicated my mind and body to the ‘seva‘ of the guru, he, the guru, wanted to claim his due. When I protested, he told me that I should have no doubt he indeed was god. ‘Didn’t Lord Krishna make love to his gopis every night? Yet people regard him as god,’ he told me. When I was still not convinced, he told me he could shoot me here and now and no one would raise a finger, not even my parents. ‘The chief ministers of Punjab and Haryana and many central ministers come and touch my feet. I can get your family members removed from their jobs and get them killed if you protest,’ he told me.

There are about 40 unmarried women between 35-40 years of age in the ashram regarded as devis. We are not allowed to even look at another man, have to keep our heads covered with a white dupatta … But our life here is worse than that of prostitutes. Even if our parents call we are not allowed to talk to them without the guru’s permission. If any sadhvi goes back home and tells her family members about what has happened to her, goondas from the deras threaten the family members with death threats, forcing them to keep quiet. If you get the sadhvis of the dera medically examined you will learn that they are not sadhvis….

The announcement of the CBI probe was followed by a tale of intimidation, murder and threats resorted to by the dera management. On May 30, 2002, Poora Sach, a Sirsa eveninger, published the sadhvi’s letter. Its publisher, Ram Chander Chattarpati, was threatened and later found murdered on October 24, 2002. The .32 bore revolver used in the crime belonged to Krishan Pradhan, the then dera manager.

On July 10, 2002, Ranjeet Singh, a former member of the dera, was murdered at Kurukshetra, allegedly by the dera manager and two others, including a constable who was Singh’s gunman. Ranjeet was allegedly killed because he circulated the sadhvi’s letter.

Just like the other BJP favourite, Baba Ramdev, last year, Ram Rahim launched his own FMCG company called MSG Trading International, which is in the market with 151 products, including organic food items. On the anvil are plans to open outlets across the country and market them through teleshopping and mobile applications. Incidentally, the DSS has an organic farm where devotees are encouraged to labour on the fields in return for salvation. In addition to its 800 acres complex in Sirsa, the DSS has branches in 35 other places, estimated to be worth billions.

Ahead of the August 25 verdict, the BJP, which rode to power in Haryana with some help from Ram Rahim, is in a fix. About three lakh followers have already laid siege to Panchkula and Chandigarh and more are likely to come. The DSS clearly feels it is payback time for the saffron party and its angry followers, who have been commanded to stand by Babaji in this trying time and are not likely to back down. For the record, the DSS maintains that it has not given any instructions to its devotees and that they are only responding to media coverage that their ‘god’ is in trouble with the CBI. Odd that the man who claims to be a multidimensional dynamo, who can do just about anything on earth, is unwilling to face this crisis alone.

Chander Suta Dogra is a journalist who has covered north India for two decades. She has travelled extensively in the heartlands of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir for investigative reporting on issues ranging from caste to women. She is also a spokesperson of the Aam Aadmi Party.

Satnam, Revolutionary Author of Jangalnama, Passes Away

A committed activist and writer, he dedicated his life to working with the disenfranchised.

The Punjabi writer and leftist activist Gurmeet Singh, popularly known by his pen name Satnam, spent two months with Maoist guerrillas and adivasis in Bastar in the year 2001. Three years later, he published a remarkable travelogue called Jangalnama based on this experience, which was hailed as a unique and humane portrait of some of the most vilified people in one of the most misunderstood parts of the country – the ‘liberated zone’ of Bastar.

In Jangalnama, Satnam wrote: “People in the jungle don’t know who Nehru was, or what happened in 1947. Nor do they know about the change of rule from the Whites to the Browns. For them, “Dilli” (Delhi) is only a word associated with the government, and to them, the government means greedy contractors, repressive police, displacement and harassment.”

Satnam was found dead in his house in Patiala on the morning of Thursday, April 28. He was 64 years old. He took his own life after a battle with depression, leaving his last book unfinished. The Hindustan Times quotes his friend Bawa Singh as saying that Satnam was feeling “both personal and political despair.”

Satnam was born in Amritsar, and joined the Naxalite movement in the 1970s, and subsequently dedicated the rest of his life to radical leftist politics. He worked with marginalised communities, including religious minorities and dalits. He was involved in the work of various Muslim democratic organisations following the Gujarat riots in 2002, and was a member of the People’s Democratic Front of India and the Mumbai Resistance 2004. He spoke out against human rights abuses in Kashmir, and was one of the leaders of the movement against Operation Green Hunt, which was launched in 2009.

In his obituary for Satnam published in The Tribune, Vishav Bharti, who translated Jangalnama into English, writes that Satnam “…lived many lives. Sometimes as an underground Maoist guerrilla, sometimes as a democratic rights activist on fact-finding missions on human rights violations in Kashmir and Gujarat genocide, or as a creative writer, who would write with equal felicity in Punjabi, Hindi and English.” Bharti says that Satnam continued to write short stories and political commentary along with being a committed activist. He was a member of the editorial boards of several magazines, including Lok Kafila and Jan Pratirodh.

About Jangalnama, Bharti writes: “People were for the first time reading accounts from the jungles of Bastar that the Maoist movement was not only about Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) or killing security personnel, but it was also about how people were struggling to change their fate when the state is absent.”

Satnam, who was separated from his wife, is survived by his daughter. A gathering in his memory is being held on May 8 in Patiala.