The kidnapping and custodial death of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, who was picked up by the Punjab Police from his Amritsar house on September 6, 1995, completed 31 years earlier this week. Khalra had exposed the alleged fake encounters and illegal cremations of youths by the Punjab Police during the militancy period.
Two months ago in July, the Government of India-ordered ban on his Biopic Satluj led to a political storm in Punjab, with the ruling AAP and Opposition parties Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and BJP, blaming each other for failing to deliver justice to the victims’ families of human rights violations during the insurgency.
With Punjab assembly polls in 2027 a few months away, Khalra’s UK-based brother Amarjit Singh Khalra, 65, exclusively tells The Indian Express why political parties are suddenly remembering his brother after 31 years, and more. Excerpts from an interview.
How many siblings did Jaswant Singh Khalra have? Why did you not react immediately after the Satluj ban?
We were nine siblings- five sisters and four brothers. Jaswant was sixth. First, we were never in favour of any biopic, as we always felt a film can never show the reality of what actually happened. But still, Satluj is 5 per cent close to reality. The scenes portraying police brutality against my brother have been depicted as mentioned in the court documents.
We feel that the Government of India banned The film as it did not want people of other states to know What happened in Punjab during the insurgency. No one remembered him for 31 years. Why suddenly now?
Also Read | Jaswant Singh Khalra: The man who counted the missing You observed Khalra since childhood. What exactly was his ideology?
It is extremely difficult and almost impossible to describe what my brother really was. Initially, in 1968, he was active in the Naxalite movement with students, and later he formed Naujawan Bharat Sabhas in villages with the Left. He was given many tags: Leftist when he spoke for the poor, Khalistani when he spoke against fake encounters of youths by police, and even a sarkaari agent when he would condemn killings of innocents by militants.
But he had just one ideology—the one given to us by our Gurus—to speak against injustice. Khalra spoke whenever someone was oppressed. He was never associated with one particular movement. He had sat on a hunger strike when militants had killed innocent people in Patti. The labourers in Khalra grain mandi still remember him for the fight he led for their rights.
When CPI MLA Arjan Singh Mastana was shot dead by militants, Khalra was the one who had spoken against it. When he exposed fake encounters of youths by police, he never differentiated between Hindus and Sikhs. His only ideology was to stand for human rights. He had formed Punjab’s first human rights Sabha with Bhagat Singh’s nephew Jagmohan Singh.
Do you think political parties ever tried to get justice for him in 31 years?
In India, political parties are so corrupt that all of them have always tried to suppress what he endured. They never want a people’s hero to rise. The saddest part is that Khalra was a part of the SAD when he was murdered, but even then they never spoke for him for 31 years.
Even after the SAD came to power in 1997, they ruled like its predecessor, the Congress. The SAD, in fact, promoted and rewarded the police officers who had committed fake encounters. So how can we expect politicians to do anything to get justice for my brother? And now, with Punjab elections approaching, they will seek votes in his name. And even if they win, they still won’t do anything for him.
So Why Do you think theyare invoking him now?
For votes. They will now ask for votes by dragging his name into campaigning. Had the film not been made, and elections were not so close, no one would have remembered Khalra even now. Suddenly, after 31 years, the SAD, the SGPC and Akal Takht thought of conducting his bhog ceremony at Harike.