Shaheed Bhai Angrej Singh Geja

Babbar Khalsa

 

The Sikhs who faught in the armed struggle to break the chain of slavery, are said to be uneducated, but these singhs and singhnia, who gave their lives fighting the oppression of the Delhi government were educated in gurmat and were the owners of high thinking as well as pure. In fact calling these great shaheeds uneducated is the most uneducated thing to say. To educate such negative and uneducated people, we write and translate these jeevanis of great Sikh shaheeds. Shaheed Bhai Angrej Singh Geja Babbar is counted amongst the bright and intelligent Khadku Singhs.

Bhai Angrej Singh Geja Babbar was born in the house of Sardar Gota Singh and from the womb of Mata Surjit Kaur in the village of Barnala, district Mansa. Bhai Sahib were total of five brothers and 2 sisters. From childhood Bhai Sahib was attached to Sikhi. Bhai Sahib loved to play with other children of his village and after completing his chores, Bhai Sahib would go and play with the children. As well as helping out in the house, Bhai Sahib would also help the local villagers. Bhai Sahib was a hard worker and ate healthy food. Both parents of Bhai Sahib were Gursikhs, Sikhi was put into the family from elder generations. All the local villagers loved Bhai Sahib, as he had a great sense of humour and got on with everyone. Bhai Sahib stayed with a priest at a gurudwara of Narinderpura, where Bhai Sahib did sewa and had santhaya. At the young age of Bhai Sahib the locals called him Bugga Marand. Bhai Sahib didn’t stay in one place for a long time. After staying at gurudwara of Narinderpura for a short while, Bhai Sahib stayed at his married sister’s house in village of Dharampura. Bhai Sahib didn’t stay here for long either and went to the village of Karandhi, where Bhai Sahib started doing farming.

The singhs of Babbar Khalsa would come and stay at the village of Karandhi. Bhai Sahib would always think to himself, if he came in contact with the Khadku Singhs, he would be able to do sewa for the panth. Bhai Sahib was very brave and had a great courage. Soon Bhai Sahib met Bhai Balwinder Singh Bullet and singhs of his group, from here onwards Bhai Sahib became a part of Babbar Khalsa. Bhai Sahib kept himself unknown and secretly did sewa with the singhs of Babbar Khalsa. After an encounter in the village of Golyian, the police found out about Bhai Sahib’s involvement in the Sikh Freedom Movement. The police raided Bhai Sahib’s house and arrested Sardar Gota Singh. For a long time the police kept Bhai Sahib’s father in their custody and tortured him. The male members from the family of Bhai Sahib went into hiding to avoid the police harassment. Bhai Sahib remained fearless and focused on the panthic actions. Due to Bhai Sahib going underground, his mother, Mata Surjit Kaur went through depression and soon became very ill.

Once Bhai Sahib went to the village of Dulowal, to punish a police officer that had killed one of the singhs from his group in an encounter in the village of Shahepur, district Mansa. Bhai Sahib waited not too far away from the where this police officer was to pass from along with his police team. Bhai Sahib had planted a bomb under the tarmac, in an underground tunnel and when the police vehicle passed over the bomb, Bhai Sahib pressed the button and blew the police vehicle into pieces killing everyone board. Bhai Sahib had avenged the shahadat of a fellow singhs. Now the police desperately wanted to catch Bhai Sahib. The police started targeting the family of Bhai Sahib, the police would raid the house day and night. The police officers would shout and say to Mata Surjit Kaur, “Geja came home last night.” And Mata Ji would reply, “If you know he came here last night, why didn’t you come then?” this would shut the police and then they would leave.

  1. Bhai Sahib was one of the singhs in the encounter between Babbar Khalsa and the Indian security forces in the village of Horla.
  2. Bhai Sahib was involved in the assassination of Inspector Dharam Singh, but the evil police officer survived when the Babbars tried to blow him up into pieces in the village of Bajewal. After this action the police arrested Bhai Sahib’s brother, Bhai Jarnail Singh Kalli. The police tortured Bhai Kalli and after pressure put on the police by the local panchayat, the police released Bhai Jarnail Singh Kalli.
  3. Bhai Sahib faught the battle against the Indian security forces in the village of Raipur, in which Bhai Sahib lost a very close friend, Bhai Ghukar Singh Babbar. Bhai Sahib and rest of the singhs of Babbar Khalsa managed to escape.
  4. Bhai Sahib was also involved in the action when the singhs of Babbar Khalsa stole all the weapons of police at the checkpoint on road from the village of Akalian and leads to the village of Boho.

Every action Bhai Sahib planned had never failed. When Bhai Sahib would return to the Babbar Khalsa hideouts after punishing an enemy of the panth, Bhai Balwinder Singh Bullet Babbar would hug Bhai Sahib and say, “Gejaya, if we look at the actions you do, then you are a fire.” Bhai Sahib was sent to Haryana along with fellow singhs by the Jathedars of Babbar Khalsa to carry out some actions. Bhai Sahib was staying at the village of Ghaswan. One day Bhai Sahib was waiting for someone at the farms outside a village. As this someone did not turn up for some time, Bhai Sahib moved couple of farms away from the meeting point. Soon the person Bhai Sahib w to meet turned up but he had brought the police with him. The police quickly surrounded the village and an encounter had started. The person who brought the police was, Sarpanch Bhura Singh Premi, who had teamed up with the police to earn the reward of the head of the Babbars.  Bhai Sahib was with Bhai Tarsem Singh Karandhi Babbar, Bhai Ram Singh Karandhi Babbar and Bhai Nihal Singh Barnala Babbar. The singhs faught the encounter by lying on the floor and in the dark, all of the singhs managed to break the coordination of the police and escape safely. The police were still under the belive that they have the singhs surrounded and made announcements to make the singhs surrender, but the truth was the singhs had long escaped. By the time the police started to move in, Bhai Sahib and singhs had crossed the Phakhara Dame in to Punjab. As the singhs of Karandhi were with Bhai Sahib, every villager of Karandhi faced brutal torture of the Punjab police.

To stop the armed struggle in Punjab, the Indian government had used all its machinery and forces, but nothing worked. Due to disgracing Khadku Singhs through the dirty and degrading activities of the black cats, the government managed to bring the movement down. Black cats had many Sikh warriors killed. In the end, the time came when Bhai Sahib had to leave his fellow singhs and rest in the feet of Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Bhai Balwinder Singh Bullet Babbar sent Bhai Sahib to Barnala, district Mansa to carry out some work. Bhai Sahib only had a revolver. Bhai Sahib started being followed by four black cats from the villages of Khara and Barnala and the black cats had informed the police, that Bhai Sahib is walking and is unarmed. When the police reached Barnala, Bhai Sahib had entered a neighbouring village of Narinderpura. Bhai Sahib realised that he was being followed and quickly ran into the abandoned house of Narinderpura. The black cats and the police soon surrounded the house to. The police switched the loud speaker on and told Bhai Sahib to surrender. One of the senior police officers said not to fire at Bhai Sahib as the police officer wanted to catch him alive. As a constable entered the house, Bhai Sahib shot him and seriously wounded. Bhai Sahib didn’t want the police to capture him alive. Bhai Sahib swallowed a Sy-Nyde capsule and went into the laps of Guru Gobind Singh Ji. On 26th July 1992, Bhai Angrej Singh Geja Babbar attained shaheedi and became an unforgettable hero of the Sikh nation. The police blindly fired at the house and when no return fire was received by the police, the black cats were made to go in the house first and see if Bhai Sahib was alive or dead. By the time black cats entered the house, Bhai Sahib had attained shaheedi. The police took Bhai Sahib’s body to the railway line and filled the body of Bhai Sahib with bullets. Later in a press conference, the police told the media that top Khadku Singh of Babbar Khalsa has been killed in a fierce encounter. The police of Mansa cremated Bhai Sahib and gave the ashes to the family. The house in which Bhai Sahib attained shaheedi is still the way it was, abandoned in Narinderpura. When Bhai Sahib’s group found out about the black cats and informants being the main reason for Bhai Sahib’s shaheedi, the Babbars killed all four black cats and informants in the broad daylight, on the same day as Bhai Sahib’s Ardas was being done in front of Guru Granth Sahib Ji. After killing the 4 traitors of the Sikh nation Bhai Balwinder Singh Bullet Babbar, Bhai Tarsem Singh Karandhi Babbar, Bhai Nihal Singh Barnala Babbar, Bhai Amrik Singh Biru Babbar shouted war cries of “Bole So Nihal Sat Sri Akaal” and escaped.

On the 26th July of every year, Bhai Sahib’s family hold a Salana Barsi at the village Bhai Sahib grew up in, Barnala district Mansa. The Sikh nation salutes the fallen soldier, Shaheed Bhai Angrej Singh Geja Babbar.

Tavareekh Babbar Khalsa – Karamjit Singh Sikhanwala