Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa Dies: Sikh Activist Who Led Punjab’s Longest Hunger Strike Passes Away at 91

Sikh activist Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa, known for his commitment to seek captive Sikh prisoners, passed away at the age of 91.Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa began his hunger strike on January 16, 2015, at the age of 82, seeking justice for Sikh prisoners who remained incarcerated despite having served their sentences. His hunger strike lasted until January 14, 2023, making his movement one of the longest and most significant non-violent protests in Punjab’s history.

Though Khalsa was an activist right from a young age, he became very popular when he started a hunger strike on January 16, 2015, at his house in the Hassanpur village in Ludhiana with a demand to release Bandi Singhs from jail. Bandi Singhs are former Sikh militants incarcerated in various jails across the country for three decades or more. From February 26, 2015, Surat Singh Khalsa was taken to Civil Hospital Ludhiana, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) and PGI Chandigarh at various times based on his medical condition. However, after he was admitted to DMCH in June 2016, he was discharged nearly seven years later on March 4, 2023. He used to receive nourishment through nasal tubes as he had refused to consume anything by mouth.

Before that, on January 14, 2023, he ended his hunger strike after he got a letter from Jagtar Singh Hawara, one of the Bandi Singhs lodged in Tihar Jail as of now. He was convicted as a conspirator in the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh. Hawara had made a plea to Khalsa stating that the Qaumi Insaaf Morcha, formed by various Sikh organisations, had initiated a protest in Mohali starting January 7, 2023. Surat Singh Khalsa was advised to end his hunger strike as a united effort to seek the release of Sikh prisoners was now underway.

Surat Singh Khalsa, who was a US citizen, is survived by one daughter and five sons, all of them also US citizens. He was a government teacher who resigned from his position in June 1984 in protest against Operation Blue Star. He moved to the United States in 1988 to live with his children but continued to visit Punjab regularly. Surat Singh Khalsa had been actively involved in human rights issues since the early 1970s. He served as the secretary of the United Akali Dal under the leadership of Joginder Singh Rode, who was the father of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Khalsa remained active in the United Akali Dal until late 1987. During a protest outside the Punjab Legislative Assembly in February 1986, he was reportedly shot in the leg, according to his supporters. Throughout the 1980s, he was detained in various jails, including those in Nabha, Patiala, and Amritsar in Punjab, as well as in Rohtak, Ambala, and Chandigarh in Haryana, for protesting various issues.