Miffed over not giving the Punjabis, especially the Sikhs, their due recognition in the history of Cellular Jail at Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is on a fact-finding mission.
A six-member team has reached the Islands, to study the “neglect” of Punjabis in the light and sound show on the historical narrative of the Cellular Jail, popularly known as Kala Paani, and the country’s freedom struggle.
The team, comprising SGPC general secretary Amarjit Singh Chawla, interim committee member Surjit Singh Bhitewind, senior journalist Jagtar Singh, SGPC Director Education Dr Dharminder Singh Ubha, SGPC additional secretary Harbhajan Singh Manava and Gurdarshan Singh Bahia, will visit the historic Cellular Jail and study the light and sound programme.
Following, a report will submitted to the SGPC president Prof Kirpal Singh Badungar after the team returns on May 3. The matter will then be taken up with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Central Government to “rectify the distortions”.
The move came after a senior journalist, during his personal visit to the Cellular Jail, noted glaring omission of the Punjabi and the Sikhs’ role in the history of Kala Paani narrated in the show. Instead, emphasis was found more on the role of the RSS ideologue Vir Savarkar.
Taking a serious note of the matter, SGPC president Badungar first organized a seminar on the ‘Role of the Sikhs in Freedom Struggle’ with special reference to their “neglect” in the narrative of the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands at Chandigarh to bring the issue to the center-stage, and then formed a fact-finding committee. In fact, senior Akali Dal leader and MP from Sri Anandpur Sahib Prem Singh Chandumajra had raised the issue in the Parliament. Following which, the Union Minister Anant Kumar had given an assurance to “review the light and sound programme staged in the Cellular Jail” which is now a national monument attracting hundreds of visitors every day.
Badungar had claimed that the Sikhs had not been given their due place in the freedom struggle by successive governments and historians, while holding the Sikh intellectuals responsible for this sorry state of affairs. He said the community’s contributions were not highlighted at a broader level.
SGPC had also decided to bring out an anthology of freedom fighters from Punjab which would contain their brief profiles. SGPC has also decided to form a panel, having young writers with open mind and new ideas, to “rewrite” history of Punjab.