Amrik Singh

Amrik Singh was born in 1948 as the son of Giani Kartar Singh Bhindranwale, the 13th leader of the Damdami Taksal.[7] Manjit Singh was his younger brother.[8]

Amrik Singh studied at Khalsa College[9] and received his MA and was on his way to completing his PhD, but never submitted his thesis as he began pursuing promotion of Sikh teachings.[10]

Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Sahib

Amrik Singh contributed significantly to opposing the Sant Nirankaris and to the building of the Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj, in B-Block Amritsar, at the spot where the 13 Sikh protesters were murdered[12] by the Nirankaris. When no other organization came forth and the government refused to sell the land to Amrik Singh and the AISSF the AISSF Sikhs began building the Gurdwara wall at night so they could claim the land by force.[13] Sikh youth would spend the entire night building the wall and it would be knocked down by the police the next day. A stand off between the police and the AISSF began and the police threatened they would shoot anyone on site, they were met with resolve from Amrik Singh who said they would do anything to raise the memorial for the martyred Sikhs. Eventually the police acceded to the demands of the Sikhs and the Gurdwara remains there today.

In the General House Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) elections of 1979, the first in 13 years,[14] Amrik Singh ran and lost to Jiwan Umramangal.[15] Amrik Singh was in the Dal Khalsa and Bhindranwale's group (who fielded about 40 candidates) running against the Akali Dal and ran for the SGPC Beas constituency.[16] Notably one of The Dal Khalsa aim included establishing an independent Sikh State. Some elements of the Congress party supported and backed Dal Khalsa's and Bhindranwale's group so they could undermine the Akalis.[17]

Amrik Singh (left) with Yogi Bhajan (centre) and Baba Nihal Singh (right), 1980

The AISSF held a strike on 25 October 1980 and another on 14 November 1980 to protest against the high bus fare increase and some other issues in such districts as Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Patiala, Ludhiana with trains not being able to operate then. This resulted in student-police clashes at numerous places causing the police to open fire at Dasuya and Jhabhal.[18] On 14 November 1980 strike against the bus fare increase organized by the AISSF there was jammed traffic in the province. The residents of the province provided full support for the Sikh students.[19] Following these agitations all political parties joined the struggle against the increased bus fares. Some reports are there of police stations being attacked.[20]

The AISSF held numerous agitations, strikes, street riots against various causes and politicians.[21] During the time of the bus fare agitations the AISSF also held numerous demonstrations against various political leaders including the chief minister of Punjab, Darbara Singh. Some notable agitations including Sikh students besieging various Punjab ministers and lock themselves inside their offices or residences during early December 1980. The students responsible were arrested and tortured and more subsequent agitations was launched for the release of these students with these agitations were so forceful that the police released the students within a couple of days.[22]

The success of the AISSF, which this time numbered to a membership of 300,000 members,[23] at one point compelled the non-government political parties to join in and hold a demonstration in front of the state secretariat at Chandigarh from making a speech, in January 1981. Thousands of AISSF volunteers joined the demonstration with more than a thousand being arrested and eventually police throwing tear-gas and also caning them, however the AISSF were successful in delaying the Punjab governor from making a speech making the government invite all the political parties for a dialogue.

This issue of banning tobacco in and other improvements to Amritsar also put leeway to get the Sikh issues to mainstream politics.[24] In May 1981 The AISSF alongside Dal Khalsa put forth to pass the bill of banning tobacco in the city of Amritsar, tobacco is forbidden in Sikhism, this bill was originally introduced in 1977 by the Akali Dal for the 400 years founding of Amritsar celebrations. The AISSF gave an ultimatum to the Punjab government to ban tobacco in the city by 30 March or there would be an agitation.[25] The Government of Punjab seemed to agree with the issue but they said that technically passing such a ban would be unconstitutional and therefore could not. Meanwhile, AISSF members forcibly started preventing merchants from selling tobacco[26] and to add to the heat Harchand Longowal also publicly expressed his support for the ban.[27]

On 29 May 1981 thousands of Hindus marched in Amritsar to protest against the AISSF ban for tobacco demand.[28] They carried sticks with lit cigarettes through the Amritsar bazaar, attacking Sikhs along the way and yelling provocative slogans.[29]

In response to the pro tobacco march, on 31 May 1981, the AISSF, Damdami Taksal, Dal Khalsa joined together led by Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and with over 20,000[30] supporters put out a procession. No major Akali leader participated in the march. The march went a route of about two and a half kilometres.[31] Following the march there were eruptions of Hindu-Sikh clashes in Amritsar with the government then initiating new laws banning non-religious processions from taking place. These events died down once the government agreed to form a committee to discuss 'holy-city' status for Amritsar.

Holy-city status was not given to Amritsar however on 27 February 1983 the Prime Minister passed a law making meat, alcohol and tobacco sale prohibited in the areas around the Harmandir Sahib and the Hindu Durgiana temple in Amritsar.[32] On 10 September 2016 Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal promised 'holy-city' status to Amritsar as well as Anandpur Sahib[33] on his visit to the city. He declared liquor, tobacco, cigarette and meat would be banned in these cities.