Bhai Narayan Singh Chaura, who attacked Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday, has one account from the police, while the other account is from political leaders, in which the action taken by Bhai Narayan Singh Chaura is being condemned in the form of formal and formal language. Some say that he has done a very bad thing. Some think that the time and place for the attack was not right. Some claim that when Sukhbir Singh Badal had already been punished by the highest body of Sikhs and he was also suffering in humiliation and humiliation, then it is not right according to Sikh principles to attack in that situation. Some even express sympathy for Narayan Singh in a hushed voice. Therefore, various narratives are going on at this time, but the narrative of Bhai Narayan Singh, full of pain and suffering, is being drowned out in the noise and din. The channels also have their own narratives where one-sided views are being presented, while much of the information is not based on facts. The Indian Express newspaper has also brought out some important points about the personality of Bhai Narayan Singh today.
But as I have seen, understood and felt Bhai Narayan Singh Chaura for more than half a century, it is my duty as a senior journalist to make a comprehensive analysis of his personality.
While doing journalism, I have met top militant leaders by taking all the risks and going far and wide. I have tried to look deep into their hearts. I have tried to understand his immense pain. I have also been analyzing his weaknesses and great and amazing achievements. While doing so, I also had to face the then Police Chief KPS Gill.
68-year-old Bhai Narayan Singh is a resident of a village called Chaura in Tehsil Dera Baba Nanak of Gurdaspur district, which is very close to the border with Pakistan. He belongs to a simple Jat family. This family was not a financially prosperous family. Therefore, Bhai Narayan Singh could never reach college, but he had the desire to obtain higher degrees from the beginning. Therefore, very few people know that he obtained his MA Political Science and MA Punjabi education privately. He also passed Giani and the interesting thing is that he was so passionate about the profession of agriculture that this passion took him to the Agricultural University, Ludhiana, where he also obtained a diploma in agriculture. He has a deep understanding of agriculture and still does his own farming.
Bhai Narayan Singh had a deep connection with Sikhism since childhood. His desire to gain deep knowledge about religion took him to the Sikh Missionary College, Amritsar, where he read Gurbani extensively and learned the techniques of lecturing. He gives very good lectures which have a combination of ease and force. Interestingly, when he was in Amritsar jail, he used to recite Katha daily in Gurdwara Sahib and many prisoners were so impressed by his personality that the verses of Nitnem became a part of their lives. Bhai Narayan Singh also served as a preacher in the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee for a few years.
Bhai Narayan Singh Chaura also studied the institutions of Akal Takht, Gurmata, Jathedar and Sarbat Khalsa very deeply and wrote many articles and pamphlets on what should be the role of Akal Takht according to today’s conditions and presented his views in seminars. To give a theoretical form to this idea, he also established an organization called Akal Federation of which he was also the convener. These things are from before 1978.
On 13 April 1978, on the occasion of Baisakhi, the great tragedy of the martyrdom of 13 Singhs in Amritsar brought a new turn in his life. At that time, he was only 32 years old when Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale emerged in the Sikh Panth. He also remained close to Sant Jarnail Singh and played an important role in the activities of the Darbar Sahib of those days. During that period, while doing journalism, when I used to visit the Darbar Sahib often, I met him.
When the militant movement was in a way coming to an end, both of us thought that to keep the militant movement alive and vibrant, a book based on important documents related to the movement should be edited. We were afraid that if this great period of history was not preserved, then the enemy forces would bury thousands of martyrs in the dust with their narratives and clever tricks. Bhai Narayan Singh, being a conscious and serious student of history, had preserved many documents and I also had many documents. Together, both of us brought a book called Panthic Documents based on about 600 pages to the Sangat, two editions of which have already been published.
As I have tried to know and understand Bhai Narayan Singh, according to him, he is not only rich in pen and thought, but he sees and perfects this great quality by combining it with “action”. The combination of these two qualities is rarely possessed by anyone else in the militant movement. During action, the journey of high and pure character goes along with him and has always been his companion. He has also valued this quality. In an interview, he told how the then DGP Sumedh Saini used to torture him himself and various kinds of torture continued continuously throughout the day. He used to say that the Guru-Siddhan was with me at all times and in every difficultyI remained steadfast with the grace of the Guru. Bhai Narayan Singh often keeps his heart to his heart. The incident of Barail Jail was very big. This incident comes in the category of the biggest jail breaks in the world. He knew and knows a lot about it. I tried to find out about it like an investigative journalist but he always kept avoiding it. I reminded him of the Alcatraz Jail Break of 1962 in which 3 criminals escaped from the jail, but till now even the FBI has not found out where they went, died or were killed. In 1973, three revolutionaries of Ireland escaped from Mount Joy Jail, but Narayan Singh never wrote anything about Barail Jail. Perhaps these days he was even writing something about it. I have often suggested to him that he should write his autobiography, because he is an eyewitness to various struggles in the Sikh Panth, in which he himself has been a participant in many of these struggles, and this period lasts for 60 years. Bhai Narayan Singh’s personality is like a puzzle. The anger, resentment and rage within him seemed to boil when he saw how the Jathedar of the Akal Takht, Bhai Gurdev Singh Kaunke, was brutally killed and how the Badals specially decorated the golden anklet that killed him for their own protection, how they considered the incident of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib as ordinary or trivial and protected the sacrilege perpetrators, forgave them without asking for it and did nothing to release the captive Sikhs but opposed them, how they themselves carried out the Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura firing incidents, and how they themselves violated Sikh principles by taking over our Sikh institutions. He considers these atrocities as great sins committed by the Badals. This pain remains within him and he bears this pain alone. Bhai Narayan Singh has written about 15 books so far. The spirit of freedom and the thunderous sound of freedom are found in every line of his poetry books. He has even written a novel about Khalistan. His latest book is called “Khalistan लावाल साजिश” which is a solid, facts, arguments and evidence-based and appropriate response to the book “Khalistan कि साजिश” by former RAW officer GBS Sidhu. The introduction of this 400-page book has been written by renowned historian Dr. Gurdarshan Singh Dhillon. He has been in close and regular contact with prominent Sikh donors, Sikh organizations and Jathedars and many times he has been honored for his Panthic services. Maybe these donors will now remain silent in a subdued tone, but it is also true that many intellectuals used to keep their distance from him due to some fear so that they would not have to face any embarrassment in difficult times.
Bhai Narayan Singh may not have passed a formal law course, but he knows many of the intricacies of law better than lawyers. His son Sardar Jagjit Singh has done law and along with his colleagues, he researched about 10,000 militant martyrs, obtained information and even filed cases in court. He chased down police officers who made false encounters and also got them severely punished. Bhai Narayan Singh lives a simple life. He goes to the funerals of martyred militants. Most of the time he travels in buses. For many years, he had tried to buy a car with the profits from farming, but so far he has not been able to succeed. A few days ago, after selling paddy, he also threshed wheat himself. A laptop is his companion at all times during his travels, in which he keeps writing articles about his experiences, his memories, his experiences.
