Shaheed Bhai Harbhajan Singh Deliyanwali

Babbar Khalsa

When god created earth and its people, the god also created warriors to defend his creation from evil of mankind. In history, whenever evil had tried to take over the world, god sends down warriors to defeat the evil and allow the people of the world to live in peace. These warriors defend the humanity with their blood and lives. The 20th century Sikh warriors picked up assault rifles to open the closed ears of the evil government of India.

In the Gurudwara of village Ganga, district Bathinda Bhai Harbhajan Singh Deliyanwali and Bhai Balwinder Singh Ganga Babbar met. Both singhs recited 5 prayers of the Sikh nitnem in the presence of Guru Granth Sahib Ji and did Ardas. In a deep Ardas, Bhai Harbhajan Singh Deliyanwali said to Guru Maharaj, “Hey Lord, please have your presence around your children and guide them too. Lord, use our bodies to do good deeds in this world. We have started on the path of freedom, please accept our shahadats.” Then Bhai Balwinder Singh Ganga Babbar read the Hukamnama. That day Bhai Sahib and Bhai Harbhajan Singh Deliyanwali donated a Manji Sahib to that gurudwara for Guru Granth Sahib Ji, this Manji Sahib is still at the local gurudwara of Ganga village. From here both singhs did not go home, instead they started their journey into the Sikh Freedom Movement. When these Babbars of Malwa started on the path to Sikh freedom, the enemies of the Sikh faith, the informers and the people who killed innocent Sikhs were sweating with fear. Whenever the police were informed of the location where these warriors were, the police stations would lock their gates.

Bhai Harbhajan Singh Deliyanwali was born in the house of Jathedar Ajaib Singh and from the womb of Mata Gurdial Kaur in the village of Deliyanwali, district Bathinda. Bhai Sahib had another six brothers. Bhai Sahib’s father, Jathedar Ajaib Singh was great Gursikh but due to health problems could not do any work. Bhai Sahib’s thinking was one that would change the world. When Bhai Sahib would be with his friends he would say, “We only have one life, if we die for the panth then the whole world will remember us or else people will just burn us and forget about us.”

The 1978 Visakhi massacre, where the Narakhdhari cult killed 13 singhs and wounded more than 150 Sikhs, changed Bhai Sahib completely. Bhai Sahib met the singhs of Babbar Khalsa at smagam in village Bhagatuana and soon joined them. Sri Harimandir Sahib’s Akaal rest house, in room number 61, Bhai Sahib met the singhs of Babbar Khalsa and started doing actions secretly.  Here Bhai Sahib met Bhai Sulakhan Singh Babbar, Bhai Kehar Singh Babbar and also Bhai Balwinder Singh Ganga a school friend through Bhai Gurpal Singh Bucho Mandi.

As Bhai Sahib walked the talk, he was elected as a member of the panchayat by the locals. Now as well as secretly doing actions with the singhs of Babbar Khalsa, Bhai Sahib also dealt with local cases. Bhai Sahib started being ill and due to this illness one of Bhai Sahib’s lungs was not fully working. For the treatment of this illness Bhai Sahib was admitted in to the TB centre of Sangrur, after which Bhai Sahib felt much better. Even with this set back Bhai Sahib carried on with the Sikh Freedom Movement.

Bhai Sahib came on to the police radar when the Khadku Singhs killed a Congressi leader in a crowded market, after this action of the Khadku Singhs, Bhai Sahib’s family started being harassed by the police. After killing the Congressi leader, the Khadku Singhs left a letter on his dead body on which the Babbar took fully responsibility of this action. The next day the newspapers printed, Babbar Khalsa’s Bhai Harbhajan Singh Mand Felori, Bhai Sangram Singh, Bhai Harbhajan Singh Deliyanwali, Bhai Jaswinder Singh Jassi and Bhai Balwinder Singh Ganga had taken responsibility for killing this leader for celebrating the attack on Sri Harimandir Sahib and for having singhs arrested.

After this action the informers, black cats, Narakhdharis and panthic traitors started to have nightmares about Bhai Sahib. The Babbars of Malwa controlled Bathinda, Mansa, Faridkot, Sangrur and Ludhiana, the police had no powers while the Babbar Khalsa was serving justice to the people of these areas. The command of the guerrilla warfare in these areas was given to Bhai Sahib. Bhai Sahib himself recited so much on the name of the true Guru, even the singhs, Bhai Sahib recruited into his group were also true reciters of Guru’s word. The Babbars had a discussion on to keep the poisoness Sy-Nyde capsules in case they were to be caught alive by the police, but Bhai Sahib and Bhai Balwinder Singh Ganga Babbar agreed not to take the Sy-Nyde capsules and o leave everything into the hands of Waheguru. The Babbars decided it’s up to an individual if they want to keep the capsule or not.

Bhai Sahib was a man of high thoughts. Bhai Sahib would take the Dasvandh from his family and inject that funding into the movement. Bhai Sahib would tell his family that they are his worldly relations, Waheguru is Bhai Sahib’s first family. The DCI Bakshi Ram of Faridkot stated in a press conference that this group of Babbars in Malwa were responsible for the killings of CID workers, murder senior Akali leader Shaminder Singh and Dr Tiagi, the killings of the Narakhdharis of Sukhna village, Jeto murders, murders of the workers of the Tehsildar in Sivia village, attack on many police stations, DCI Bakshi Ram held the Babbar Khalsa of Malwa responsible for all these actions and many more, it was also stated that out of all the singhs of Babbar Khalsa Malwa group, Bhai Sahib was the most dangerous.

To finish the group of Babbar Khalsa the police arrested near about 200 families for accommodating the singhs of Babbar Khalsa. A Gursikh from the village of Gholiay, Bhai Sukhdev Singh was arrested and blindly tortured, after some days Bhai Sukhdev Singh passed away. Bhai Balwinder Singh Ganga Babbar and singhs from his group printed a notice in the newspapers in the first week of July 1992, warning the police to stop the harassment of the police or the police should be prepared to face the consequences. Then in the Ajj Ki Awaaz newspaper Bhai Balwinder Singh Ganga Babbar told the police, that if anything happens to Bhai Harbhajan Singh Deliyanwali while in custody of the police, the responsible police officers will be killed.

When the police was harassing the innocent Sikh families, the Khadku Singhs went underground and into the jungles. The police benefited from this by unleashing the black cats to go out and harass the Sikh families in the disguise of Khadku Singhs. The harassment of the black cats left the fear of the Sikh Freedom Movement in many Sikh families which we can see even today. The memebers of families that accommodated the Khadku Singhs were dragged out of their homes and killed. In these conditions Bhai Sahib was arrested by the black cats at the bus station of Moga. When these black cats ran to pounce of Bhai Sahib, they threw a blanket over Bhai Sahib and then all of Bhai Sahib’s clothes were taken off, the black cats believed that Bhai Sahib may have been carrying a Sy-Nyde capsule.

The police were scared that they had arrested Bhai Sahib alive and were left thinking in which police station to keep Bhai Sahib in. Bhai Sahib was taken to Moga police station then to the police station of Jagravan and then to Thelon police station. Here Bhai Sahib was inhumanly tortured, but Bhai Sahib took on the torture smiling in the faces of the police officers and drank the nectar of martyrdom after the police killed him in a fake encounter. Saturday, 11th July 1992 the SSP of Moga police force gave a press conference stated, Bhai Harbhajan Singh Deliyanwali on whose head a reward of 15 lakh rupees was announced, has been killed in police encounter near the village of Thelon, a great amount of ammunition was found at the scene where Bhai Sahib had been killed.

The locals of Thelon till today say the police bought Bhai Sahib to the village and told Bhai Sahib to run, but Bhai Sahib did not run and faced the police. The police kept of saying run, but Bhai Sahib clearly shouted without fear and said, “I don’t want to run and take a bullet in the back, shoot into the chest of the Babbar is you dare.”

This Babbar of Deliyanwali took the bullets of the oppressing government into his chest and went to sleep the laps of Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Our head bows to the shaheeds of Sikh Freedom Movement. On Friday 19th July 1992, the locals Sikhs of Bhai Sahib’s village printed the article of Bhai Sahib’s shaheedi Akhand Paath Bhog and requested the Sikhs from all over Punjab to attend, but the police did not allow anyone into the village from outside. The family did the last Ardas of Bhai Sahib.

Tavareekh Babbar Khalsa – Karamjit Singh Sikhanwala