Deep was a phenomenon that happened with Punjab. there were many colours to his personality. When the news of his death came every one was shocked. I have never seen or heard of this kind of mass grieving taking place. Sikhs all over the world especially youth felt his loss the most. Every one felt that they have lost someone of their own. Why was that? Even people who are not very active in panthic (Sikh religious) circles felt his loss. It was because he was able to connect to every Sikh’s inner self (which even they them selves didn’t knew) when he talked passionately about issues related to Sikhs and Punjab. He took all his inspirations from Sikh history, he connected Sikh youth that had been disconnected from their own roots to their glorious past. His love and passion could be easily felt from his speeches which appealed to inner self of people. Other wise changing people just by speeches is not possible there are lots of good orators around who have good command on the speech but are only speaking through intellect, probably that is the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is defined first as the “acquaintance” with facts, truths or principles, as from study or investigation. Knowledge is intellect driven and can be gained from books, news, research etc, but wisdom on the other hand has to do more with insight, understanding and accepting of the fundamental ‘nature’ of things in life. It is full understanding to the soul and feeling fully connected. As prof Puran Singh has correctly stated that Intellectual analysis is never right, perception by the soul is never wrong. Deep had that soul perception.
Intellectual analysis is never right, perception by the soul is never wrong. Deep had that soul perception.
Existential Crisis
When Deep came on to scene during start of farmers protest he made a point that this is not only just the case of three farmers ordinances for Punjab or the case of MSP (minimum support price) this is the case of existential crisis of Punjab. Now this begs a question as to why was it the question of existential crisis or what is existential crisis ?
Answer lies in the Sikh philosophy never to dominate any one and neither to be dominated (ਭੈ ਕਾਹੂ ਕਉ ਦੇਤ ਨਹਿ ਨਹਿ ਭੈ ਮਾਨਤ ਆਨ ॥) that all human beings are created free and equal and any kind of forced domination is totally unacceptable, may that domination could be of any form physical, mental , physiological and these three bills were taking the centre’s domination over the states to next level. Sikhs and Punjab had already been the biased treatment from the centre and these three laws would take it next level. Deep represented what youth of Punjab felt but was not able to express, because of the resentment the people of Punjab had against centre. Punjab had a long history of suffering after 1947 which included:
- broken promises by Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, struggle to get a Punjabi speaking state post 1947 when rest of India was re-organised on linguistics basis at that time centre not recognising Punjabi as a language and eventually Sikhs had to suffer to pay with their blood to get a Punjabi speaking state from which states like Himachal Pradesh and Haryana were carved out and a very small Punjabi speaking province was created.
- In 1984 Central Sanctorum the very heart of Sikhs Sri Harmandir Sahib was attacked by full might of army and resulted in destruction of the temporal authority (Sri Akal Takhat Sahib), then their genocide being committed in November 1984.
- Punjab and mainly Sikhs getting subjected to draconian laws such as TADA in 1980’s which resulted in wiping out thousands of Sikhs including young and old men and women in fake police encounters. The human rights activist Sardar Jaswant Singh Khalra who exposed this internationally was also killed.
- Punjab had been going though economic genocide as no new industry was encouraged in Punjab to increase its dependency on to centre and to keep Punjab mainly agrarian economy and while keeping Punjab mainly agrarian economy Punjab’s waters were taken illegally from Punjab and was given to Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi. So Punjab’s farmers had to use ground water for their crops which caused the ground water table of Punjab to go down drastically and as a result Indian Punjab is on the verge or becoming desert.
- In 2000’s drugs were specifically introduced in Punjab, which caused most of the youth who survive the period of militancy in Punjab became drug addict.
- Lots of Sikh political prisoners have completed their jail sentences but are still languishing in jails for no apparent reason.
Deep didn’t see farmer’s bill in isolation but connected every thing together with the global picture and correctly identified that this is governments next step in the above mentioned things already done and this will the last nail in sealing the fate of people of Punjab because if these bills were to be implemented it would eventually lead to the domination of big corporates over farming and would leave farmers at their mercy and Punjab being agrarian province and majority Sikhs in Punjab are associated with farming, that is why it was existential crises for Punjab and Sikhs as it would take away even the last bit of free will that they have.
He correctly identified that people at the grassroot level are either not aware of the political rights or are not able to express them selves because of the amount of oppression in Punjab for example three Sikh youth were jailed for keeping literature that is perfectly in their democratic rights ( AFDR regrets life term to three youths) Deep stood up and became the voice for all those disenfranchised people who were suffering from State’s oppression and made them aware that this was the case for their existential crises because they are continuously going through a genocide which was going on at all fronts i.e. physical, economic, cultural etc.
Why is Deep a Shaheed (Martyr) for the people of Punjab ?
First lets see what is the definition of Shaheed as per Sikhi, as per Sikhi one who willingly want to play the game of love that person gives up their love for their own life and walk on the path of love.
ਜਿਉ ਤਿਉ ਪ੍ਰੇਮ ਖੇਲਣ ਕਾ ਚਾਉ ॥
ਸਿਰੁ ਧਰਿ ਤਲੀ ਗਲੀ ਮੇਰੀ ਆਉ ॥
As Prof Puran Singh states: Much is in sprouting and more in the seed, and all is in the Guru who made us so to love freedom as to prefer death and dissolution to slavery of the soul. Better wholesale ruination than the extinction of the Guru’s Lamp of Love, lit in the shrine of our hearts. This burning love for freedom in the Sikh soul is bound to make life on this earth full of perils, and any unjust kings and despotic potentates against him; and so it has ever been, also if we look at other Sikh Shaheeds (martyr’s) right from the Guru period till date then we see that they made a conscious decision to proceed on the path of truth shown by Guru out of their love for Guru then to waver from it in any way to save their own skin.
This burning love for freedom in the Sikh soul is bound to make life on this earth full of perils, and any unjust kings and despotic potentates against him
Now if we consider Deep. He came into Sikh struggle from his love for Sikhi & Punjab, by leaving the luxurious life that he was leading in the high rise apartments of Mumbai and driving expensive cars, and dining in the most expensive restaurants. He left his successful career as a corporate lawyer where he had worked with big corporate houses such as Sahara India Pariwar, British law firm Hammonds, and then becoming the legal head of Balaji Telefilms. He selflessly left all that to stand with disenfranchised and marginalised community (Sikhs of Punjab) who had been at the target of state’s oppression from last four decades. He knew the path that he has chosen is full of perils because by doing that he was coming directly in confrontation with state as he was talking about Sikh sovereignty and defended the democratic rights and aspirations of Sikhs for their own independent nation (which are not wrong in any sense ). Deep knew that on this path he could end up loosing his life because he mentioned the same in one of his talks. He knew clearly what he was up against. There were multiple assassination attempts made on him, but he never backed down from the cause he was passionately attached and believed in. He had full faith in Guru Sahib. That is the reason why he is a Sikh Shaheed because he full-filled the definition described about about the Sikh Shaheed that the one who chooses to follow the path of Guru purely out of their love for Guru irrespective of the dangers they might have to face.
In the end I would only say that Deep represented the character sketch of youth correctly predicted by Prof Puran Singh in his poem ਜਵਾਨ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੇ ( Youth of Punjab)
ਇਹ ਬੇਪਰਵਾਹ ਜਵਾਨ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੇ,
ਮੌਤ ਨੂੰ ਮਖ਼ੌਲਾਂ ਕਰਨ,
ਮਰਨ ਥੀਂ ਨਹੀਂ ਡਰਦੇ ।
ਪਿਆਰ ਨਾਲ ਇਹ ਕਰਨ ਗ਼ੁਲਾਮੀ,
ਜਾਨ ਕੋਹ ਆਪਣੀ ਵਾਰ ਦਿੰਦੇ
ਪਰ ਟੈਂ ਨਾ ਮੰਨਣ ਕਿਸੇ ਦੀ,
ਖਲੋ ਜਾਣ ਡਾਂਗਾਂ ਮੋਢੇ ‘ਤੇ ਉਲਾਰਦੇ ।
ਮੰਨਣ ਬਸ ਇਕ ਆਪਣੀ ਜਵਾਨੀ ਦੇ ਜ਼ੋਰ ਨੂੰ
ਅੱਖੜਖਾਂਦ, ਅਲਬੇਲੇ, ਧੁਰ ਥੀਂ ਸਤਿਗੁਰਾਂ ਦੇ,
ਆਜ਼ਾਦ ਕੀਤੇ ਇਹ ਬੰਦੇ ।
ਪੰਜਾਬ ਨਾ ਹਿੰਦੂ ਨਾ ਮੁਸਲਮਾਨ,
ਪੰਜਾਬ ਸਾਰਾ ਜੀਂਦਾ ਗੁਰੂ ਦੇ ਨਾਮ ‘ਤੇ ।
These carefree young men of Punjab,
they mock death, Not afraid to die.
To do it with love, then they will give their life
They are not enslaved by anyone, Standing up with clubs slung over the shoulders,
Just believe the emphasis of their youth
These stubborn and determined, smart and handsome
These freed (sovereign) men of Guru
Punjab neither Hindu nor Muslim,
The whole Punjab lives in the name of Guru.
– Harpreet Singh
HarpreetSingh's Blog 