Shaheed Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora
Shaheed Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora
Khalistan Commando Force
Whenever there is talk of the Sikh struggle for the establishment of a sovereign independent Sikh state, Khalistan, 2 Jhujaru Singhs of village Nathana, district Bathinda, Shaheed Bhai Manjit Singh Nathana and Shaheed Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora are often mentioned. The sacrifices and services made by these heroes towards the Sikh struggle are commendable. They performed great historical feats at a young age. Their loyalty and bravery towards the Sikh nation touched the peaks. The weapons adorned in the hands of the Singhs had become a terror of death for the Indian forces. The Sikh congregations had become strongholds like forts for the freedom fighters. The Indian forces were searching every corner of Punjab to eliminate the Jhujaru Singhs. Despite being a plain area, the Jhujaru Singhs fought an unequal war with the government and attained martyrdom while fighting. Two blood brothers are also included in the series of these martyrs.
Jhujaru blood brothers of Khalistan Commando Force, Bhai Manjit Singh Nathana was born on 8th February 1970 and Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora was born on 3rd March 1971 in the house of father, Sardar Sukhdev Singh in village Nathana, district Bathinda and from the blessed womb of mother, Mata Jagir Kaur. Sardar Sukhdev Singh had 4 sons, eldest being Bhai Ranjit Singh, Bhai Manjit Singh (Shaheed), Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora (Shaheed) and youngest was Bhai Surinder Singh Shinda. After passing 6th grade in his maternal grandfather’s village Mehraj, Bhai Manjit Singh started helping his father in their farming. Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora studied till 10th grade from his own village of Nathana. Both the brothers had taken Amrit from the Panj Pyare at Takht Sri Damdama Sahib during their childhood, they would wake up at Amrit Vela and recite the prayers of Nitnem and practice Waheguru Simran for hours. They were both very agile and intelligent. Mata Jagir Kaur said that the age of her four sons was still young, when their father passed away. Then she brought up the children with great difficulties and hardship.
The Sikh holocausts of June 1984 and November 1984 left no choice for the Sikhs, but to fight for their own separate country. To fight for freedom, the sons of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji Maharaj left the love of their families and luxuries of life behind and picked up weapons to teach the Hindu government a lesson, starting the elimination of anti-Sikh elements.
In these days, Bhai Manjit Singh Nathana and Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora established contact with Jhujaru Singhs mainly of Khalistan Commando Force and slowly the Jhujaru Singhs started coming to the house, Jhujaru Singhs such as Bhai Gurjant Singh Rajasthani, Bhai Rajveer Singh Jassi, Bhai Naib Singh Rurke, Bhai Dharam Singh Dhilwan and Bhai Hari Singh Babbar. Then when Bhai Manjit Singh was more involved in actions with Jhujaru Singhs, his younger brother, Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora also left his studies and started serving the Sikh nation. Both the brothers mostly served secretly with the Jhujaru Singhs from 1986/87 along with it, they were farming in the village and did not let anyone suspect them of any involvement.
When Bhai Hari Singh Babbar’s brother, Bhai Beant Singh was going to the Gurusar fair with both Nathana brothers. On their way, they were arrested by the police and were taken to the police station, where they were blindly tortured. The police did not have much information about their Jhujaru activities, and had only arrested the 3 Singhs on the basis of suspicion. Then through the pressure of the local Panchayat the Singhs were released. After the release, the Singhs knew they had the eyes of the police on them and if the police were to find out about their activities, then the police would kill them on a fake encounter. The Nathana brothers decided to leave home and joined the Jhujaru Singhs to serve the Sikh nation.
In 1989, MLA Ajit Shant was wandering around his area for votes, he used to make very wrong statements about the Sikh struggle and Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Khalsa Bhindranwale. The Jhujaru Singhs had warned him many times but he did not stop. The Singhs had a complete plan to assassinate him in Nathana on his pre-election tour. Bhai Naib Singh Rurke, Bhai Dharam Singh Dhilwan, Bhai Hari Singh Babbar, Bhai Rajveer Singh Jassi, Bhai Sikandar Singh Bega, Bhai Kabal Singh Hirdewal along with other Jhujarus were waiting for their prey on the outskirts of Nathana. When MLA Ajit Shant reached Nathana, the Jhujaru Singhs attacked him. MLA Shant managed to with injuries but his 6 bodyguards were killed. The Singhs took possession of all the weapons of the killed bodyguards and left from there shouting slogans of Bole So Nihal Sat Sri Akaal. In the morning, the Jhujaru Singhs took responsibility in the newspapers that this action was jointly carried out by Khalistan Commando Force and Babbar Khalsa, this responsibility was taken by Bhai Hari Singh of Babbar Khalsa and Bhai Rajveer Singh Jassi of Khalistan Commando Force.
The next day police raided the house of Bhai Manjit Singh Nathana. It was during early hours of the morning; the police surrounded all four sides of the house and pointed the mouths of their rifles and guns towards the house and set up SLRs and GPS guns on the neighbouring roofs. The police forces were sure that they would arrest the Nathana brothers and take revenge for the Ajit Shant’s incident by killing both of them in a fake encounter. The Nathana brothers had left home shortly time before the police surrounded the village. The police now instead arrested the eldest brother, Bhai Ranjit Singh and blindly tortured him at the police station. The police told Mata Jagir Kaur to produce her 2 Jhujaru sons or they will burn the family house. Now the police started coming to the family house every day. The whole family started living in hiding, changing their locations regularly. The police open loose the family cattle and destroyed the family farms also. Eventually, the local Panchayat managed to bail out Bhai Ranjit Singh.
Under the command of Khalistan Commando Force’s Bhai Rajveer Singh Jassi, Bhai Manjit Singh, Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora and other companions such as Bhai Sikandar Singh Lehra Bega, Bhai Baljit Singh Bagga, Bhai Shingara Singh, Bhai Kabal Singh Hirdewal, Bhai Nand Singh Bureke, Bhai Sukhdev Singh Border, Bhai Darshan Singh Kotli, Bhai Jagga Singh Majri did many Jhujaru actions together. The police inflicted great atrocities on Bhai Sahib’s family and relatives, but the Nathana brothers did not give into the government’s pressure and nor did it break their courage.
Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora, Bhai Manjit Singh Nathana, Bhai Kulwinder Singh Kubbe, Bhai Kabul Singh Hirdewal along with other Jhujaru Singh’s ambushed the police near the village Kattu in Sangrur district, in which ASI Mahinder Singh was seriously injured and two policemen were killed. The Jhujaru Singhs of this group mainly targeted Black Cats that were portrayed themselves as Jhujaru Singhs and looted public. The newspapers were singing praises of Jhujaru actions of Nathana brothers, and the police had put a 10 Lakh Rupee reward on the heads of Nathana brothers. Both brothers were highly respected among the Jhujaru Singhs. The police were raiding the places where the Nathana brothers were known to stay and harassing the common people. The Indian government wanted no one to give food and water to the Jhujaru Singhs, but people still respected the Singhs a lot, and when the Indian security forces would raid villages, the locals would never give them any water, instead they would remove the handles from their taps.
Both of the Jhujaru brothers never looked back after jumping onto the battlefield. The desire for a Sikh homeland was in their hearts. Their steps were moving towards the freedom of the nation day by day. Whenever the Singhs had a confrontation with the police, the policemen would leave the field and save their lives and say, “What do we have to do, these militants have put their lives on the line. They will kill or die, we have to raise our children, the big officers send us and they themselves sit at home whilst we fought for our lives.”
Bhai Manjit Singh and Bhai Tejinder Singh loved the struggle with passion. In 1990, in village Chawke, Tehsil Phul, District Bathinda, along with fellow Jhujaru Singhs the Nathana brothers attacked police and CRPF vehicles with great planning. The Indian security forces were taken by surprise. In this attack, the Jhujaru Singhs killed several soldiers, including a Thanedar, and injured many more. Bhai Manjit Singh, Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora, Bhai Kabul Singh Hirdewal, Bhai Baljit Singh Bagga, Bhai Kulwinder Singh Kubbe collected the weapons of the dead Indian soldiers, put them in a blanket on their shoulders, and left the area. On the way, a little further on, the government forces surrounded the Jhujaru Singhs, and after fighting for several hours, the Jhujaru Singhs managed to break the siege and escape. In the morning, the news of the Chauke incident came in the main headlines and was printed in bold letters that, “The militants ambushed the police party, killing 12 soldiers of the forces and looting weapons and fleeing!”
The oppression of the rulers could not deter Bhai Manjit Singh and Bhai Tejinder Singh. They kept walking on the set goals for the achievement of the Sikh homeland without any hesitation. Several times the police arrested their brother, Bhai Ranjit Singh and subjected him to inhuman torture and did not allow the family to live at home, destroying everything. But the Nathana brothers did not care and kept struggling to build the home of the Sikh nation.
One day Bhai Manjit Singh Nathana along with his Jhujaru companion, Bhai Jagga Singh Majri reached village Pohla (Bathinda). Where the Jhujaru Singhs were to hold a meeting the next day. Bhai Manjit Singh stayed at Bhai Rarha Singh’s house in village Pohla and Bhai Jagga Singh Majri went to another place. On a confirmed tip-off from a police cat, the government forces surrounded Rarha Singh’s house in village Pohla on 29th October 1991 at Amrit Vela from all four sides. The forces armed with weapons captured the entire family. Bhai Manjit Singh started putting the cyanide capsule in his mouth but the police arrested him in a scuffle and threw Bhai Manjit Singh along with Bhai Rarha Singh in the police jeep. Both Singh’s were taken to CIA Staff Bathinda. Where, under the leadership of SSP Ranjit Rania Mangewal and Kirpal of Nathana, known butchers of Sikhs in the Bathinda area, started the process of brutal torture upon on the 2 arrested Singhs.
The police wanted to get all the secrets of the organisation from Bhai Manjit Singh Nathana by torturing him, but the opposite happened. The 2 policemen got drunk and surrounded Bhai Manjit Singh. Bhai Manjit Singh’s groin muscles were torn, he was electrocuted, the police tried all their brutal methods and eventually got tired. But Bhai Manjit Singh kept chanting ‘Khalistan Zindabad’ and challenging the wicked Indian establishment. The police had Bhai Manjit Singh was hung upside down for three days. Hot rods were stabbed into his chest. In the end, the police executioners broke the spine of Bhai Manjit Singh Nathana. The Jhujaru Singh faced the torture with a smile, but did not reveal the secrets of his organisation. Bhai Rarha Singh was also tortured a lot and was released after political intervention. Sometime later, during the struggle, Bhai Rarha Singh’s two sons were arrested and killed by the police.
A police officer told the mother of Bhai Manjit Singh Nathana, “Your son was very brave, he endured everything on his body, but he didn’t say anything and kept chanting ‘Waheguru-Waheguru’ while enduring the torture.” Then the police took Bhai Manjit Singh to village Chauke and killed him in a fake encounter, the same location where Bhai Manjit Singh and others Jhujaru Singh had attacked 12 policemen and also seized the weapons.
On Sunday, 3rd November 1991, a news report appeared on the front page of the Punjabi Tribune newspaper that, “Terrorist Manjit Singh was killed in a shootout between police and terrorists near village Chauke in Bathinda district this morning. When the police party was going to recover weapons from terrorist Manjit Singh, a group of terrorists ambushed the police. The police retaliated, and in the crossfire, terrorist Manjit Singh was killed. Terrorist Manjit Singh was a prize-winning terrorist. He had committed 50 murders, which including police officers. He was associated with the Khalistan Commando Force.” For the spiritual peace of Shaheed Bhai Manjit Singh Nathana, Sri Akhand Paath Sahib’s Bhog was held at a secret location. The Jhujaru Singhs gathered and paid tribute to Shaheed Bhai Manjit Singh Nathana.
After this, Shaheed Bhai Manjit Singh’s younger brother, Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora
took a vow to complete the unfinished task with the Jhujaru Singh and decided to continue the struggle until the establishment of Khalsa Raj. After the martyrdom of his elder brother, Bhai Manjit Singh, Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora remained steadfast and taught a lesson to the Indian security forces. Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora’s face was tall, fair, sharp features, small beard and moustache, big eyes, a young man with an AK47 assault rifle hanging on his shoulder, a Jhujaru Singh who challenged the enemies by going to their doors, was staying in the fields near village Kabbe (Bathinda) near Maur Mandi with fellow Jhujaru Singhs. At that time CRPF, was playing the game of hunting Sikh youth in Punjab. Jhujaru General, Bhai Kulwinder Singh Kabbe took the lead to punish the security forces. One day, when the CRPF jeeps were entering the village of Kabbe to arrest Sikh youth, the Jhujaru Singhs had laid a trap of roadside explosives and when the CRPF jeeps came into range, the explosives were detonated by the Jhujaru Singhs. Two jeeps were blown into pieces and many CRPF soldiers were killed in this action. The Singhs shouted war cries, “Bole So Nihal Sat Sri Akaal, we have taken revenge for the martyrdom of Shaheed Bhai Manjit Singh Nathana today by blowing up the vehicles of the enemies. If the Hindustani forces kill one of our martyrs, we will kill dozens in return.” After teaching a lesson to CRPF, Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora along with his Jhujaru companions, Bhai Kulwinder Singh Kabbe, Bhai Darshan Singh Kotli, Bhai Naib Singh Rureke, Bhai Baljit Singh Bagga left the area.
At that time, under the policy of the government, traitors, touts and police cats infiltrated the Jhujaru Singhs to defame Sikhi and undermine the struggle. During the struggle, a traitor from Bathinda district was helping the Punjab Police. He was determined to cause damage to the Jhujaru Singhs. The Singhs gave him three chances to quit his activities, but he did not listen. Four Jhujaru organisations made a strategy to punish him. Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora along with his companions Bhai Naib Singh Rureke, Bhai Kulwinder Singh Kabbe, Bhai Baldev Singh Bathinda, Bhai Baljit Singh joined forces and punished the traitor in broad daylight. The responsibility of this assassination was taken by the four Jhujaru organisations themselves.
Bhai Tejinder Singh and others, while serving the Sikh nation, considered it their primary task to amend police cats, thieves, robbers and rapists, hypocrites, such as Sadhu Lahir Das living in a Dera at Nathana and Bathinda via Gobindpura Road and village Dhilwan, whose actions were of infidels. People used to come to this hypocrite in large numbers because this place was because it was connected to previous saints, but the work of the lewd Sadhu was to live naked, rape daughters and sisters. Once the relatives of Bhai Jagga Singh Majri, oppressed by police atrocities, hid in this Dera in the evening. The fake Sadhu showed his actions and started doing wrong acts with the women at night, so the Gursikh family left the Dera straight away. The families of the Jhujaru Singhs on one hand were being oppressed by the government’s atrocities and on the other hand were being targeted by such fake holy men. When the Jhujaru Singhs came to know about this act of Sadhu, Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora, Bhai Baldev Singh Bathinda, Bhai Baljit Singh Bagga, Bhai Gurmail Singh Kala Poohla and others showered bullets on Sadhu Lahir Das and scattered him like a rag doll, just as Bhai Satwant Singh and Bhai Beant Singh scattered Indira Gandhi in Delhi in 1984.
SHO Mohinder Singh, who was known as the butcher at Nathana, had set fire to Bhai Naib Singh Rureke’s crops. The Jhujaru Singhs came to know that he was patrolling in Nathana area at night. So, to punish the SHO, Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora ambushed the police team with his Jhujaru companions, scared for their lives the Punjab police ran away. In this attack, SHO Mahinderpal survived, but many police officers were killed. People say that the policemen rushed into the police station, closed the gates and were fearing for their lives. The Singhs came to know after reading the newspaper in the morning that the butcher SHO had survived but 6/7 of his police officers were killed.
In village Saima Kalan, Teja Singh’s house is an old residence and a hideout for Jhujaru Singhs. Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora and Bhai Baldev Singh Bathinda reached Teja Singh’s house one morning, and Teja Singh said to them, “The police are patrolling the area, I will take you somewhere else, leave the weapons here, then I will deliver them to you later.” The Jhujaru Singhs boarded the truck with Teja Singh, armed with weapons, the Singhs did not trust Teja, saying, “What are Jhujaru Singhs without weapons?” Teja Singh had joined hands with the police, informed them that he had left both the Jhujaru Singhs near Bhucho’s Gurdwara Laverisar Sahib. The police were plotting to catch the Singhs alive by surrounding them from all four sides. When the Singhs glanced outside, only the police were visible. Both the Jhujaru Singhs prayed to God that “O True King! Give us the strength to fight and attain martyrdom in the battlefield.”
The Singhs kissed their assault rifles, shouted war cries and came out into the battlefield. The battle started at around 11 o’clock in the day with the police. On one side were government employees in the hundreds, and on the other side were two warriors of Khalistan. Firing started from both sides, Jhujaru Singhs fought with full courage, the police were on their hands and feet as they were confused how many Jhujaru Singhs there were, Teja Singh had told them 2, but judging from the bullets raining upon them it seemed like hundreds. The police officer was calling for more forces and tightening the siege. Although the Singhs had limited ammunition, they were fighting the enemies with full vigour and consciousness. Suddenly Bhai Baldev Singh Bathinda was injured by the enemy’s bullet. When Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora started picking up his companion, Bhai Baldev Singh to hide behind the mound, Bhai Baldev Singh was martyred by the second bullet of the enemies. Bhai Tejinder Singh was also injured and in the injured condition, he kept fighting while chanting the slogans of ‘Bole So Nihal Sat Sri Akaal.’ After fighting with the enemies for a long time, both Jhujaru Singhs killed a large number of enemies and attained martyrdom on Wednesday, 2nd August 1992, while serving the Sikh nation.
On Thursday, 3rd August 1992, news came on the front page of the newspaper that, “2 prize-winning fighters of Khalistan Commando Force were killed in a fierce encounter with police forces near Laverisar Gurdwara near Bhucho Mandi. Both the fighters had reward of Rs 10 lakh on their head, they were identified as Bhai Baldev Singh Bathinda and Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora Nathana (Bathinda). Bhai Tejinder Singh Gora was elected as the Deputy Chief of the organisation two months after the martyrdom of Bhai Rajveer Singh Jassi. These fighters were wanted by the police in 70 murders in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. In this encounter, 15 soldiers of the police were killed. The police killed both the fighters and recovered two AK 47 rifles, 4 magazines, one SLR rifle, two Mausers and unexploded cartridges from their possession. Police forces have eliminated Bhai Tejinder Singh by killing him from Bathinda district of KCF.”
So, the newspaper also testifies to the bravery of these 2 Jhujaru Singhs. When the news of the martyrdom of the two Singhs reached the Sikh Sangats, an atmosphere of sadness prevailed. No one cooked at home because Bhai Sahib was highly respected in the area. Sri Akhand Paath Sahib Bhog was done at various places dedicated to the martyrdom of Shaheed Bhai Tejinder Singh. Advertisements for the Bhog of Path were published in Ajit, Ajj Di Awaz, Punjabi Tribune newspapers by Bhai Paramjit Singh Panjwar and Bhai Baljit Singh Bagga, Bhai Jagga Singh Majri and many other Singhs. Sikh organisations, the residents of Nathana and surrounding villages paid homage to the Jhujaru Singhs in large numbers on 11th August 1992 at village Nathana (Bathinda) and the story of their bravery is told in every household.
Tavareekh Shaheed-E-Khalistan 2 – Ranjit Singh Damdami Taksal