One incident! Two prayer meetings! First for a former Chief Minister, and the other for a human bomb who blew him and 16 others up more than two decades back! That is how the Punjab Government is observing the death anniversary of former Chief Minister Beant Singh and the panthic Sikh organisations of Bhai Dilawar Singh — the human bomb.

Beant Singh, known for his tough fight against the militancy in Punjab, was assassinated in a blast outside the state Civil Secretariat on August 31, 1995. With him, as many as 16 people were killed when the ‘human bomb’ Dilawar Singh triggered off the blast with the RDX, stuffed in his specially-designed belt.

Even as the Government authorities always appreciated Beant Singh’s efforts to end terrorism in the State, the panthic bodies hail Dilawar Singh’s ‘sacrifice’, who described him as a ‘martyr’ and awarded him the title of ‘Fakhr-e-Qaum’.

Sikh organisations including Dal Khalsa, Sikh Federation UK, and Sikh Youth of America, are organising a Shradhanjali Samagam (prayer meeting) for Dilawar Singh at the Sikhs’ highest temporal seat — Akal Takht — on Thursday at 7 am.

On the other hand, the Punjab government is organising ‘Sarv Dharam Prarthana Sabha’ (all religion prayer meeting) on Wednesday at 9 am at Chandigarh’s Beant Singh Memorial. 

It will be after a decade that the Punjab Government would hold a State-level function to observe Beant Singh’s death anniversary, after Congress party came to power in the state. For all these years, the coalition government of the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) ignored the day for their ‘political interests’.

“SAD presents itself as the panthic party, and usually play panthic card for the political gains…It has two reasons for not observing Beant Singh’s anniversary, who was considered as the symbol of peace and harmony by many for sacrificing his life for bringing peace in Punjab…One, he was a Congressman, and second, the hardliners were against it,” a political expert in Chandigarh’s Punjab University noted.

The expert, who did not wish to be named, told The Pioneer that SAD strategically let go observing Beant Singh’s anniversary on August 31, while the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), headed by it, honoured his assassins.

Notably, the SAD-led SGPC in 2012 honoured Dilawar Singh by conferring him with the title of ‘Qaumi Shaheed’.  

For all these 10 years, Beant Singh’s family, including his grandsons Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, MlA Gurkirat Singh Kotli, and others, observed his birth anniversary and death anniversary on January 6 and August 31 every year, respectively, at his Memorial.

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh is likely to attend the function. Besides him, several Cabinet Ministers, MPs and other prominent personalities will also attend the function. 

On the other hand, Dal Khalsa and other Sikh organisations has asked the people to reach the Akal Takht at Amritsar in huge numbers to pay their tribute to ‘the one who end the oppressive rule’ and ‘gave strength to the freedom struggle’.