‘We fought against Khalistanis, media shouldn’t defame us’

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 4

“It is even more painful than losing my father to Khalistani bullets,” says Harinder Kaur Bindu, first woman leader of the farmers’ movement in Punjab.

Don’t defame, check our history first

Before labelling us Khalistanis, please have a look at our history. At least show some respect to those who refused to bow down before the Khalistani Kalashnikovs. - Harinder Kaur Bindu, farm activist

Her father, communist leader Megh Raj Bhagtuana, was gunned down by the Babbar Khalsa when she was just 13. Reacting to the smear campaign by a section of media that Khalistanis are behind the farmers’ movement, she says, “Before labelling us Khalistanis, please have a look at our history. At least show some respect to those who refused to bow down before the Khalistani Kalashnikovs.”

She says their movement opposes any kind of fundamentalism, whether it is led by Hindu or Sikh communal leaders. “Our sacrifices have proved that in the past,” she says.

She is not alone. The current farmers’ uprising is being led by mainly those who fought Khalistani fundamentalists and ‘state terrorism’ with the same valour and lost many leaders in those days. “Kirti Kisan Union’s (KKU) Gian Singh Sangha and Jaimal Padda were some known faces who were killed by the Khalistanis,” says vice-president of the KKU, Rajinder Singh Deep Singhwala, who is leading the movement at the Singhu border. In those days, celebrated documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan in his famous documentary ‘In the Memory of Friends’ had documented that epic battle by the farm leaders.

Dr Joginder Dayal, former general secretary of the Punjab Kisan Sabha, says that it was mainly farm leaders who were moving in villages where Khalistanis didn’t tolerate any dissent. “Several prominent peasant leaders like Sarwan Singh Cheema, Arjun Singh Mastana and Jagir Singh Kaulsheri were gunned down by the Khalistanis,” he says.

Similar is the story of BKU Krantikari president Surjit Phul, who remained on the hit list of the Khalistanis when he opposed the murders of innocent people and police atrocities. It is a known story in peasant circles that after killing an innocent young man in Bathinda, the Khalistanis announced that the last rites of the victim won’t be allowed. Phul not only motivated the family to hold the last rites but also gave a lecture at the function.