Skip to main content

Gunned down by Khalistani terrorists, Baldev Singh Mann also fought state repression

By Harsh Thakor*

September 26 was the 35th martyrdom anniversary of Baldev Singh Mann, who succumbed after waging a valiant battle against the Khalistani terrorism. On the night of that day, he fell to the bullets of the Khalistani Commando force. He was the Amritsar district secretary of the CPI(ML) Chandra Pulla Reddy group and editor of party magazine 'Hirawal Dasta’.
Till this very day his memories shimmer in the revolutionary camp like an extinguishable flame, being amongst the most popular youth leader of Punjab. He was simply the epitome of the all-round skill of a revolutionary.
Mann was part of the trend in the Communist revolutionary camp that uncompromisingly challenged Khalistani terrorism and state terrorism. Later those belonging to the same group were also martyred, like Jaimal Singh Padda and Sarabjit Singh.
From his very inception into the movement in his youth, he deployed every ounce of energy towards serving the people's revolutionary cause. He made an immense impact on shaping the minds of youth in his time and after his martyrdom. His powerful voice struck a chord in the broad masses, in the most challenging times.
Baldev Mann was born on July 9, 1952. He was the son of Inder Singh. He lived in the village Bagga Kalan Tehsil Ajnala, Amritsar. He completed his primary education at the village school. He matriculated from government high school at Raja Sansi. He then went to Khalsa College, Amritsar, when, during the Emergency, he had to face detention. He graduated in 1983.
While at Day College, he came in contact with the Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) of Chandra Pulla Reddy-SN Singh. He organized young people in his village reviving the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, a left-wing Indian association that sought to instigate revolution against the British Raj by organising workers and peasant youths.
While at Amritsar he was held and tortured at Amritsar's interrogation centre, but released in 1975. Approximately two years before his death, Mann married Paramjit Kaur, with whom he had a daughter. She was one week old when he was murdered while on his way to his village, Chinna Bagga, in Amritsar.
During the Emergency, Mann was arrested, for his writing was considered seditious and conflicting with that of the government. Due to torture his eyesight suffered very badly. Following his interrogation in Amritsar he was released in 1975 and was cleared of all accusations. But he plunged into the struggle for justice led by CPI(ML) with great passion.
In 1980, Mann contested for the Punjab State Assembly, in which he won with a margin of 10,000 votes. During the communally vitiated atmosphere of 1985 he proved to be a strong contender for the Raja Saansi Assembly constituency. Again, in 1985, he contested for the MLA’s election. He won many a heart and was labelled a 'people’s man'.
From 1982 Mann joined the Kirti Kisan Union, a farmers’ organization. In 1983 Mann helped Punjabi farmers oppose increases in electricity tariffs, and led a large rally as the kisan union leader of Punjab from CPI(ML). Further rallies were organised on March 19, 1983 in Chandigarh and on April 9 a second big rally was held in Jalandhar which forced the government into action.
Mann played a vital role in the struggle of Punjab peasants against intolerable tariff raise for electricity in 1983, furthering his belief in his cause. In 1979, he helped the Punjab Police to further the process of amending the extant policies for the better functioning of the Police forces.
Sonia Mann
In 1983 when farmers of Punjab had been financially squeezed between excessive rates of power for their largely mechanized farms, a huge campaign was organized led by him as the Kisan Union leader of Punjab. He led a kisan rally in Chandigarh.
During the dark days of the Khalistan movement Mann led many a public rally and addressed many meetings, pledging for communal harmony. At many points he openly confronted or challenged Khalistani forces and played an instrumental role in building bastions of secular resistance in villages.
His powerful voice touched the very core of the soul of the Punjab farmers, taking secular spirit to a crescendo. Mann’s voice revealed the intensity of a thunderstorm, delivering a striking blow to the enemy at it’s hardest point. He was gunned down by Khalistani terrorists on September 26, 1986 in his native village Channa Bagha near Pakistan border.
A meeting staged in his commemoration had an attendance of around 20,000 people in October 1986 village Channa Bagga in Amritsar district, which remains even today an unforgettable event. A similar meeting in his memory was held in the same village in October 1989. These had representatives from all sections of the Communist and revolutionary democratic camp.
Mann was part of a contingent of Communist leaders who challenged Khalistani forces in their very hotbed as well as exposed state terrorism, fluttering the red flag of secular democracy. There was also a well attended meeting staged by Navnirmana Sanskritik Manch in Bombay in 1986. In the 1990 Anand Patwardhan and late Ashgar Ali Engineer under the banner of Ekta committee held a meeting in Mumbai to pay homage to him. The movie ‘In Memory of Friends' by Anand Patwardhan projected Mann’s martyrdom, as a part of its theme.
A letter he wrote to his daughter is one of the most inspiring ever in the Communist movement. It is heart touching that today his very daughter Sonia Mann, an actress, is resurrecting the very teachings or values of her slain father.
His letter expressed the duty he felt he had to perform in following his political and social beliefs. '"I am struggling for the birth of a social order in which the shackles that enslave human beings are broken to bits, where the oppressed can heave a sigh of relief", he wrote.
He ended his letter as follows: "My darling daughter, these few words are my message to you in this moment of your birth. I hope you will accept them and try to act according to them. These few words are the foundation of your life, to build your dreams on."
In spite of being an actress, she is devoting her utmost energy working in the Kirti Kisan Union to support the farmers’ movement. There could not have been as ripe a time for Sonia Mann intervening in the movement than today, with Hindutva fascism penetrating unparalleled proportions. Today, the need is felt for persons like like Baldev Singh Mann who could sharpen the sword to cut the growing tumour of saffron fascism.

Comments

TRENDING

'Enough evidence' in Indian tradition to support legal basis for same-sex marriage

By Iyce Malhotra, Joseph Mathai, Sandeep Chachra*  The ongoing hearing in the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage provides space for much-needed conversations on issues that have hitherto remained “invisible” or engaged with patriarchal locker room humour. We must recognize that people with diverse sexualities and complex gender identities have faced discrimination, stigma and decades of oppression. Their issues have mainly remained buried in dominant social discourse, and many view them with deep insecurities.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Victim of communal violence, Christians in Manipur want Church leadership to speak up

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ*  The first eleven days of May 2023 have, in many ways, been a defining period of Indian history! Plenty has happened in a rapid-fire stream of events. Ironically, each one of them are indicators of how crimes and the criminalisation of society has become the ‘new norm’; these include, the May Day rallies with a focus on the four labour codes which are patently against the rights of workers; the U S Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its Annual Report on 1 May stating that conditions for religious freedom in India “continued to worsen in 2022”; the continued protest by the Indian women wrestlers at Jantar Mantar for the expulsion of the chief of the Indian Wrestlers Federation on very serious allegations; the Elections in Karnataka on 10 May (with communalism and corruption as the mainstay); the release of the fake, derogative and insensitive film ‘The Kerala Story’; the release of World Free Press Index on 3 May which places India

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam*  The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

Polygamy in India "down" in 45 yrs: Muslims' from 5.7 to 2.55%, Hindus' 5.8 to 1.77%, "common" in SCs, STs

By Rajiv Shah Amidst All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) justifying polygamy, saying it “meets social and moral needs and the provision for it stems from concern and sympathy for women”, facts suggest the the practice is down from 5.7 per cent of Muslim families in 1961 to 2.55 per cent in 2006.

India joining US sponsored trade pillar to hurt Indian farmers, 'promote' GM seeds, food

Counterview Desk  As many as 32 civil society organisations (CSOs), in a letter to Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) and India joining the trade pillar, have said that its provisions will allow the US to ensure a more favourable regulatory regime “for enhancing its exports of genetically modified (GM) seeds and GM food”, underlining, it will “significantly hurt the livelihoods of Indian farmers.”

Modi govt 'wholly untrustworthy' on Covid data, censored criticism on pandemic: Lancet

By Rajiv Shah*   One of the world’s most prestigious health journals, brought out from England, has sharply criticised the Narendra Modi government for being “wholly untrustworthy on Covid-19 health data”, stating, the “official government figures place deaths at more than 530 000, while WHO excess death estimates for 2020 and 2021 are near 4·7 million.”

Savarkar 'opposed' Bhagat Singh's, Netaji's dream of India, supported British war efforts

By Shamsul Islam* In a shocking development, the student wing of the RSS put the busts of martyrs Bhagat Singh and Subhash Chandra Bose with Savarkar's on one pedestal at the University of Delhi late in the night on August 20, 2019. Bhagat Singh sacrificed his life for a socialist-democratic-secular republic and Netaji raised Azad Hind Fauj (INA) consisting of people of all religions and regions for armed liberation of India.

Undermining law, breastfeeding? Businesses 'using' celebrities to promote baby food

By Rajiv Shah*  A report prepared by the top child welfare NGO, Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI), has identified as many as 15 offenders allegedly violating the Indian baby food law, the Infant Milk Substitutes Feeding Bottles, and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act 1992, and Amendment Act 2003 (IMS Act), stating, compliance with the law “seems to be dwindling by the day.”