Shaheed Bhai Ranjit Singh Bittu

Sikh Student Federation/ Khalistan Commando Force

The warrior that did what he said and proved his bravery on many occasion, Shaheed Bhai Ranjit Singh Bittu was born from the womb of Mata Jaswinder Kaur and in the house of Sardar Gurnek Singh in the village of Rurka Khurd, district Jalandhar. Bhai Sahib completed his primary education at the local school of his village and went on to pass his metric from high school in the village of Barapind. As Bhai Sahib was very keen on education, his grandfather enrolled him into DAV College in Phillaur, here Bhai Sahib studied hard and passed his BA, even then Bhai Sahib progressed his studies at National College of Bunga. Straight after this, Bhai Sahib took admission into Ramgharia College in Phagwara, where Bhai Sahib got a MA in History. Sardar Gurnek Singh passed away in Bhai Sahib’s early age.

From childhood Bhai Sahib was attached to Sikhi and had taken Amrit at a young age. Bhai Sahib would never miss religious programs. Even if Bhai Sahib had important chores to do around the house, he would drop everything and go to the local Gurudwara to do sewa. Due to Bhai Sahib’s enormous amount of sewa and humble personality, they locals and relatives had great deal of respect for Bhai Sahib. Bhai Sahib was studying at college, when the Indian government under the command of Indira Gandhi was sent to Amritsar in June 1984, to destroy Sri Akaal Takht Sahib and kill thousands of Sikhs who had come to Sri Darbar Sahib to pay respect on the Shaheedi Purab of Guru Arjan Dev Ji. Not only did the Indian government killed innocent and unarmed Sikhs in their thousands, the Indian army also tried to destroy the Sikh history by setting fire to Langar Sahib, Guru Ram Das Sra, Teja Singh Samundri Hall, Guru Nanak Niwas, the Sikh Museum and the Sikh Library. Along with that another 42 historical Gurudwaras were attacked and many more innocent and unarmed Sikhs were killed at the hands of the Indian security forces. All this assault on the Sikh nation by the Indian Hindu regime left the Sikhs heartbroken.

The attack on the Sikhs by then Indian government had a deep impact on Bhai Sahib and left him in dismay. Bhai Sahib decided that his remaining breaths will be dedicated to the sewa of the Sikh panth. Following his aim, Bhai Sahib joined All India Sikh Student Federation (AISSF) and secretly started doing sewa within the Sikh Freedom Movement. Seeing the purity and honesty of Bhai Sahib, the general secretary of Sikh Student Federation, Bhai Satpal Singh Dhillon made Bhai Sahib area president of the local branch of Sikh Student Federation and Bhai Sahib started doing sewa under the name of Bhai Surjit Singh. During this sewa Bhai Sahib had to go jail many times, where the Indian butchers blindly tortured Bhai Sahib. After having enough of the police harassment and torture, Bhai Sahib left family and home to join the top Khadku Singhs of the Khalistan Commando Force (Panjwar Group). Bhai Sahib was now doing actions with singhs such as Bhai Gurdeep Singh Deepa Heran, Bhai Kulvir Singh Barapind, Bhai Harwinder Singh Lala and many more singhs had tied their Kamarkasay and jumped into the battlefield for Khalistan. Bhai Sahib always remained in Chardi Kala and punished many killers of the Sikhs, may it be police officers or informants or even corrupt politicians.

During this time the state of Bhai Sahib’s house was unbearable, every other day the police would arrest Bhai Sahib’s 80 year old grandfather, mother and younger brother, Bhai Jasvir Singh Sahota. Bhai Sahib’s family were at times kept at the police station and starved. The police always would threaten Bhai Sahib’s grandfather and mother, to have Bhai Sahib give his arrest to the police or his younger brother, Bhai Jasvir Singh Sahota will be killed. Afraid from the police, Bhai Sahib’s brother, Bhai Jasvir Singh Sahota left home and went into hiding. Even after seeing the very bad state of his home, Bhai Sahib continued to do actions for the Sikh nation. Looking at the state of Bhai Sahib’s home, fellow singhs advised Bhai Sahib to leave the Indian and start living elsewhere, but Bhai Sahib quoted, “Siir Jaavay Tan Jaavay, Mera Sikh Sidak Na Jaavay.” (I will not give my Sikhi up, may I lose my head.) Bhai Sahib remained within the Sikh Freedom Movement and continued doing sewa.

During his sewa, Bhai Sahib punished many enemies of the Sikhs. Before actually punishing the enemy, Bhai Sahib would fully investigate and satisfy himself that the person is the enemy, once that was done, Bhai Sahib would then send a warning to the enemy to change and if that also didn’t work then Bhai Sahib would resort to his last option and just kill the enemy. Like this, in relation to February 1991 election boycott by the Khadku Singhs, on 29th December 1991, Bhai Sahib and a singh went to see the candidate of Longowal Akali Dal, Amir Chand Shahpur. But the security of Amir Chand Shahpur attacked the singhs and Bhai Sahib attained shaheedi on the spot, while the singhs Bhai Sahib had come with managed to escape.

After the shaheedi of Bhai Sahib, the elderly grandfather of Bhai Sahib passed away seeing the state of the household, while Mata Jaswinder Kaur has nothing to herself and only thing she can do is call out for her only son, Bhai Jasvir Singh Sahota who has not yet returned home to support his mother.

Wangar – January 1994