Chandigarh: Bhai Jagtar Singh Tara was sentenced to imprisonment till death by a CBI Court on 17 March (2018) in CM Beant Singh execution case. On Friday, when it became public that on Saturday Bhai Jagtar Singh Tara would be sentenced, Bhai Tara’s new picture flooded the social media.
Whereas one section of the Indian media is presenting these youths as ‘dangerous terrorists’, the Punjab’s Sikh youth is acknowledging them as the successor of the same sequence of martyrdom which started with the martyrdom of Guru Arjan Sahib and is perpetual in different forms till date. During the case proceedings Bhai Jagtar Singh Tara, in his statement to the Indian court, affirmed his commitment to the political resolve of the Sikh nation and explained his action with firmness.
Dekwala Village
To learn more about Bhai Jagtar Singh Tara, Sikh Siyasat News (SSN) visited village Dekwala, native village of Bhai Tara. There are about 100 houses in this village. Bhai Jagtar Singh was the youngest son of Mata Mohinder Kaur and father Sadhu Singh’s six sons. SSN tried to know that what do these villagers think about Bhai Jagtar Singh Tara?
Bhai Jagtar Singh Tara [File Photo]
Firstly, our team came across to some youths playing volleyball outside the ancestral house of Bhai Jagtar Singh Tara in Dekwala village. When we started talking about Bhai Jagtar Singh Tara with them, they all gathered and started sharing their heart out. One young man said that what Bhai Jagtar Singh Tara did was right and it was not a bad way to end the oppression.
Another youth said that even today Sikhs are being mistreated, Guru Granth Sahib is being disrespected, Sikhs are being killed by the police, perpetrators of November 1984 Sikh genocide are roaming free. All this provide the present generation an insights to how the Sikhs were treated in the past, that lead to the execution the them chief minster of Punjab in order to break the cycle of atrocities on civilian Sikh population of Punjab.
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♦ ਕੀ ਕਹਿੰਦੀਆਂ ਹਨ ਭਾਈ ਜਗਤਾਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਤਾਰਾ ਦੇ ਪਿੰਡ ਦੀਆਂ ਹਵਾਵਾਂ (ਖਾਸ ਰਿਪੋਰਟ)
Bhai Jagtar Singh Tara is a hero, he is equivalent to Udham Singh and Bhagat Singh for us, said another youth.
We have even set the profile picture of our social media account with his photograph, said another boy during the interaction.
Youngsters playing Volleyball at village Dekvala
Afterwards, the nephew of Bhai Jagtar Singh Tara who was among the youths playing volleyball took us along at his home.
Bhai Tara’s sister-in-law was at home. She told SSN that Bhai Jagtar Singh Tara was youngest among his 6 siblings and at the time of her wedding wedding he was studying in 8th class. She said that he was was an introvert and hardworking boy.
He was studying in 12th standard at the local government school when the police first detained him. The police tortured him during his detention period and also framed in false cases. Afterward he was released on bail he was sent to New Delhi to assist his elder brother in their taxi business.
But he was arrested after the execution of former chief minister Beant Singh in 1995, she said.
Furthermore, she said that she regularly visit the Burail Jail to see him and the family members were event present at the jail premises on Saturday when the verdict was announced against him.
Bhai Jagtar Singh Tara was in Chardikala (high spirits) on that day and he was not afraid of punishment, she added.
Subsequently, the elderly of the village while talking with Sikh Siyasat News (SSN) said “they (Bhai Tara and others) did what exactly they were suppose to do, the government had crossed all limits of tyranny as young Sikh boys were being picked up and eliminated in staged encounters by the police.”
While interacting with young boys of nearby village Burjwala one could clearly judge the amount of respect and love they had towards Bhai Jagtar Singh Tara and others.
Even after a day long interaction with the general public and intensive coverage we failed to find even a single individual to support the Indian state’s discourse that Sikhs like Bhai Jagtar Singh Tara who are outlawed by the state are “terrorist and anti-social elements”.