‘Musafir’ Hakim: The Great Hero of Naxalbari Movement in Punjab

Hakim Singh: The Hero of Naxalbari Movement in Punjab

(‘Musafir’ was the pen name Hakim used when he worked as a journalist in Nawan Jamana/Lok Lahar)

The book “Hakim Singh: The Hero of Naxalbari Movement in Punjab” portrays the character and life history of a comrade who has secured his name among the front-ranking revolutionaries of the glorious communist movement in the state. The book was published towards the end of last year (2004) by Tarkbharati Prakashan, Barnala of district Sangroor. The saga of the struggling life and sacrifices made by unrivaled courageous fighters that this revolutionary movement led by CPI(ML) has produced remains on the lips of the sympathizers of the movement in almost every state, and a good number of them are remembered too on the anniversary of their martyrdom, but a systematic attempt to assemble the facts, probe various aspects of their lives from the persons related to their lives has been undertaken only in rare cases. Precisely because of this reason we find rare specimen of books written on the life of those revolutionary heroes of Naxalbari movement, through which we may be able to know in detail how their words and their deeds are alive in the minds of the persons associated with them.

However, it looks that Punjab has the distinction of carefully nourishing this tradition till date. Because of this, we can find there renowned novelists like Jaswant Singh Kanwal penning “Lahu di Lor” (Blood is Required) based on the episodes of Naxalite movement in Punjab, and journalists sympathetic towards that movement like Balbir Parwana give an account of factual details of the happenings in that time span in his book “The Naxalite Movement in Punjab”, besides writing a number of story collections related to the movement. Story writer Ajmer Siddhu has penned a book “Turde Pairan di Dastan” (The Story of Wandering Feet) based on the life of another leader of Naxalite movement, Darshan Dusanjh. And these books are not confined to a select section of readers, nor do the sell only in party offices; rather, these can be found in frequently held memorial programmes, fairs and carnivals, all left and revolutionary circles and of course, in numerous small bookshops. These books often become a topic of vigorous debate discussion as well. It may be probable that this specific traditions prevails in Punjab for so long because Naxalite movement in Punjab is considered the inheritor of Punjab’s Gadari Baba (The Punjab Mutineers) rebellion and this keeps the recollections of that great anti-imperialist phenomenon. Possibly because of all this background, all the newspapers, whether English or vernacular, have in their reviews on the book acknowledged the fact that this book was being long awaited in Punjab.

Comrade Hakim Singh was born in 1941, the certificate date of birth is 1 January, which does not seem the real one. Born to Bibi Gurnam Kaur and Sardar Bachan Singh Chahal of an Akali sympathizer family at village Samoun of Patiala Estate, Hakim received his education up to higher secondary level in the nearby block town Bhikhi and then joined Khalsa College, Amritsar with an intention to study graduate course in agriculture. However, as a consequence of blatant nepotism prevailing there even those days, Hakim and his friend Ajmer both were denied that course. After some time they left Khalsa College in protest and Hakim went to Patiala in 1959. He received his bachelor degree in arts in 1962.

It was during this period that from being an Akali Hakim turned into a communist. Hakim has recollected in this book about this transition: “My family was an Akali supporter because for one, my village was not under direct influence of PEPSU Mujahira movement, and two, my own family came among the rich or well-to-do farmers. My family and a number of other families of the village did not want to join communists because there was the rumour that they will stealthily snatch away land from us Jats. However, the first conference of the Communist Party was held in my village Samou on 5 March 1953 when I was around 12 years of age. It was the time that the news of great communist leader Stalin’s death reached. In the meeting Comrade Jagir Singh Joga vigorously advocated attack on police touts of the village, and his manner of defiance was quite attractive to me. Moreover, during the conference a progressive drama was staged by Dalip Mast on peasant problems. Influenced by all this my Akali obscurantism received a deadly blow. I started to attend communist party programmes along with my friends Ajmer Aulakh and Sukhdev Siddhu. My dilemma as to who was better – Akalis or communists – ended on 18 September 1959 when I joined the CPI.”

“On 1st May 1965 I left CPI to join CPI(M) and made Bathinda district as my centre of activity on 7 June 1965. Here veteran comrades like Jagir Singh Joga and Dharam Singh Fakkar were well-known leaders of CPI. I entered into a vigorous and sharp ideological debate with these veterans. When in 1967 I became a Naxalite this conflict sharpened further. Still I had so good impression of the sacrifices made by Comrades Joga and Fakkar that whenever I met them I touched their feet.”

Comrade Hakim did his post graduate from Government College, Rohtak in 1964. And immediately after completing his education Hakim went to Jalandhar to work as a whole timer in the then CPI’s Punjabi daily organ ‘Nawan Jamana’. However, the next year saw him joining CPI(M) and working with its organ ‘Lok Lahar’ weekly. He joined Naxalite movement in 1967 and went underground on 8 December 1968 following the well-known land struggle in his own village Samoun. In 1970 he was elected secretary to Punjab-Himachal State Committee of CPI(ML). He was arrested in 1971 and was convicted to life imprisonment under which he spent the period between 1971-77 in Nabha and Patiala Central Jails. He was freed on 30 August 1977 following the lifting of Emergency and formation of Janata Party Government. In 1984 after joining IPF he became incharge of Punjab IPF unit. Later he became founder of the Punjab unit of CPI(ML)-Liberation. He was arrested in 1988, 1991 and 1993 and spent altogether more than 50 days in jail.

In this book, people from various walks of life who had association with Hakim or even had a short encounter have contributed with whatever they could write by their memory about this hero. Among the politicians there are leaders from Naxalbari stream, including CPI(ML) leader Swapan Mukherjee, who has been Party incharge of Punjab for a long duration, Darshan Singh Khatkar, late Lal Singh Kalsa. The book also carries the condolence messages sent by CPI(M) General Secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet and Akali ex-union minister Surjeet Singh Barnala on Comrade Hakim’s death on 4 June 1999. It also carries notes from the pages of ex-Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar’s diary that he wrote within the Patiala Central Jail, where he was lodged in 1975 while Comrade Hakim was there. Memoirs have been written by Jagjit Singh Anand, editor of Nawan Jamana, Prof. Gurubhagat Singh, ex-Head of English Dept. Punjabi University, Patiala, Pritam Kripal of AIR Chandigarh. Among the CPI(ML) and other left leaders are Gurudayal Singh Shital, Surjit Gill, Paramjit Singh Khatra and Jarnail Singh Acharwal.

One of the most important sections of the book is its fourth chapter, where the facts about the Naxalite movement in Punjab are described by the insiders. It needs no mention that almost the complete history so described is associated with Hakim Singh in one or another way. The leaders writing in this section include Baburam Bairagi, Abha Ram Shashtri, Roop Singh Khokhar, Amarjeet Jodhpuria, Gurdip Singh Bairoke and Sudagar Singh Rode. (Rode is the village that used to be a strong Naxalite stronghold, but later it became well-known because of Bhindranwale who hailed from this village.) Another section of the book carries letters written by Hakim Singh, mostly from within the jail, and the letters received by him. In a letter to Punjabi Tribune he has sent a rejoinder on a report published in it, carrying misleading facts regarding IPF. Another section carries some articles and documents written by Comrade Hakim for the Party or IPF. A number of articles show the vigour and alertness with which he carried on party work even after coming out of the jail after the Emergency, and joining IPF in 1984.

In the beginning of the book Hakim’s childhood and adolescent life has been described by his close childhood friends like Ajmer Singh Aulakh, who has shed light to some quite unknown aspects of Comrade Hakim. I had once read a novel about the underground resistance by the Red Army of Soviet Russia in the areas occupied by German Fascists. In the novel a veteran general while recounting his experience illustrates how people get changed in the course of struggle, from a coward to a valiant fighter, from a dull-headed obscurantist to a sharp-witted materialist, etc. It is utterly wrong to think, he asserts, that heroes show exceptional traits from the very beginning. The detailed narration of various incidents from Hakim’s childhood up to his baptism with fire amply bears testimony to the lesson the army general elucidates in that novel.

Sukhdarshan Natt, who has himself written in this book about a number of brief episodes he had encountered with Comrade Hakim as well as a long and detailed piece of memoirs spanned over two decades, took main role in compiling the articles of the work and also assiduously edited this book. Presenting this kind of a Punjabi paperback of 332 pages on a reasonable price of Rs.150 to the interested readers of revolutionary literature by Sukhdarshan Natt and Tarkbharati Prakashan is indeed a contribution that must be acclaimed.