Bhagat Singh’s niece leads protesters to Singhu border

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 18

“Sade buzurg larde si. Angrezan ne sadi property zapt kar lai. Andolan vele offer ditti property vapas kar denge. Par buzurgan ne keha – property rakho, desh naal gaddari nahi kar sakde. (Britishers seized our property. They offered to return it during the movement. But our elders told them: Keep the property, we won’t betray our nation.)”

Gurjit Kaur Dhatt, the 68-year-old niece of Bhagat Singh, said this, reminiscing about the rich legacy of the freedom struggle, on Mahila Kisan Diwas today.

She is leading a jatha of 150 women from Ambala Jattan, Mangarh and Garhdiwal among other villages in Hoshiarpur which set out for the Singhu border from the Ambala Jattan village as part of the nationwide initiative of women to express solidarity with the protesters.

Gurjit Kaur is the daughter of Bhagat Singh’s sister Bibi Parkash Kaur who died on September 28, 2014, the day Bhagat Singh attained martyrdom, at Toronto.

“This is a very important occasion for us. My grandmother Mata Vidyawati (Bhagat Singh’s mother) whom I lived with until I was four, used to tell us about the charged atmosphere at home during the Pagri Sambhal Jatta movement. My mamaji (Bhagat Singh) and nanaji all worked only for the country. It is after 100 years that a similar movement has risen. At that time, my family was fighting against a similar set of black laws from the British. When mamaji died, my mother was 10 years old, but until her last breath she remained passionate about the movement and sacrifices. If she were alive, mother would have been here.”

Harbhajan Singh Dhatt, the husband of Gurjit Kaur, said: “I have visited the Delhi border several times. My wife too was keen on visiting the protest sites, especially on Mahila Kisan Diwas. The revolution is in her blood.”