Chandigarh: At a time when new tales of horror are emerging about the mass killing of Sikhs in Delhi in 1984, a lesser-known fact is that in just less than two months after the Delhi pogrom, a Patiala-based group translated one of the most authentic and widely quoted documents on the violence in Punjabi language.
The individuals included a paediatrician, a veterinary pharmacist, two university teachers, and an activist, The Punjabi version of the booklet was not only immediately banned by Punjab govt, but thousands of its copies were seized and a case of sedition was slapped against a nephew of martyr Bhagat Singh, who took responsibility for publishing the book.
The book, titled ‘Who are the Guilty’, was a report on a joint inquiry into the causes and impact of riots in Delhi from Oct 31 to Nov 10. It was jointly published by the middle of Nov 1984 by People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) and People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).
The booklet contained accounts that highlighted how Delhi riots were not spontaneous reactions of the majority community, but were killings executed by organised mobs. Moreover, the book also highlighted how some Hindu families saved their Sikh neighbours.
Responsibility to translate the book into Punjabi landed on the shoulders of the Patiala unit of Association For Democratic Rights (AFDR), a civil liberties outfit that had members of all Left parties and groups of Punjab on its board.
“In all, 17-18 members of AFDR had camped in Delhi after the killings, and joined PUDR and PUCL investigating teams after 1984 riots. Compared to Hindi-speaking activists, the victim families would find it comfortable to interact with our group of Punjabi-speaking activists, most of whom were Sikhs. The tales they narrated were horrible. Since Punjab was the epicentre of major political churning around Sikh issues in 1984, we, even before publication of the original, had decided to translate it into Punjabi,” said Jagmohan Singh, now a farm leader and general secretary of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Dakaunda).
“I still remember that while a few individuals contributed in their own way, the major role in translating the booklet into Punjabi was played by economics professor Dr Sucha Singh Gill, professor of linguistics Dr Surjeet Lee, noted paediatrician Dr Amar Singh Azad and veterinary pharmacist Jagjeet Papra. We came out with the first edition in Punjabi in Dec 1984,” added Jagmohan, who, apart from translating the text, also volunteered as a publisher of the book.
The first edition, published by a small-time publisher of Patiala, became an instant hit, especially among Sikh circles. To meet the demand, the Patiala group had got the 2nd edition of the book printed from the press of a popular Punjabi newspaper of the time, which had recently installed an offset printing press in Jalandhar. But by the time the second edition was published, the govt banned the book and around 10,000 copies were seized by Jalandhar police.
Jagmohan added, “While the second edition was still in the press, the authorities launched a crackdown. Police officials started visiting our homes. Foreseeing trouble, Prof Jagmohan Singh of Ludhiana, nephew of martyr Bhagat Singh, acted bravely. He rushed to Delhi and organised a press conference, where he, being general secretary of the state unit of AFDR, took responsibility for publishing the Punjabi translation of the book and criticised the Punjab govt’s move to ban it. His statement received wide coverage nationally and the state authorities relented immediately.”
He disclosed that since the booklet was not banned in Chandigarh, the third edition was published in the Union territory, and activists would use a jeep of a senior medical officer posted in a village near Rajpura town of Patiala district to smuggle it into Punjab.
While revealing that translation of “Who are the Guilty” into its Punjabi version “Doshi Kaun Han” was entirely the job of Patiala unit of AFDR, Ludhiana-based Prof Jagmohan Singh, who was then working at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, said, “Stories narrated by the victims underscored two facts: First, the attacks against Sikhs were not spontaneous but were executed by well-organised mobs at the behest of some leaders sitting on the top. Second, there were instances where Hindu families helped their Sikh neighbours. Since Punjab was trouble torn in 1984, especially after Operation Bluestar, killings of Sikhs in Delhi had the potential to add fuel to fire in Punjab and disrupt communal harmony in the state. At that juncture, we had decided that all Punjabis should read what actually happened in Delhi.”
He added authorities of the day didn’t want it to happen. “That’s why they had banned it in Punjab, despite the fact that the English and Hindi versions were freely available in the country. They even slapped charges of sedition against me,” he said.
Patiala-based Jagmohan Singh said the fourth and fifth editions were published in England. These editions were published by a Patiala-based professor of engineering, a Hindu who was a member of Akali Dal and close to top Akali leaders of the time.