Sikh activist Surat Singh Khalsa, known for his fight seeking justice for Sikh prisoners, died at his son’s house in New York on Tuesday night. He was 91.
Though Khalsa was an activist right from a young age, he became very popular when he started a hunger strike on January 16, 2015, at his house in the Hassanpur village in Ludhiana with a demand to release Bandi Singhs from jail. Bandi Singhs are former Sikh militants incarcerated in various jails across the country for three decades or more.

From February 26, 2015, Khalsa was taken to Civil Hospital Ludhiana, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) and PGI Chandigarh at various times based on his medical condition. However, after he was admitted to DMCH in June 2016, he was discharged nearly seven years later on March 4, 2023. He used to receive nourishment through nasal tubes as he had refused to consume anything by mouth.
Before that, on January 14, 2023, he ended his hunger strike after he got a letter from Jagtar Singh Hawara, one of the Bandi Singhs lodged in Tihar Jail as of now. He was convicted as a conspirator in the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh. Hawara had made a plea to Khalsa stating that the Qaumi Insaaf Morcha, formed by various Sikh organisations, had initiated a protest in Mohali starting January 7, 2023. Khalsa was advised to end his hunger strike as a united effort to seek the release of Sikh prisoners was now underway.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Gurdeep Singh Bathinda, president of United Akali Dal and a member of Qaumi Insaaf Morcha. said, “Eventually, he ended his strike, and in March 2023, he was brought to his village house. But he remained on drip throughout as due to hunger strike for many years, his system was not capable of eating anything. The police never allowed him to come to the Mohali morcha and he remained in Hassanpur village as well under police supervision always.”
Bathinda said the police completed his all paperwork afterwards and dropped him off at his son’s house in New York in May 2024 at the government’s expense. Afterwards, Khalsa never came back to India and died at around 6.30 am (IST) on Wednesday.
“Though cremation and blog will be held in New York only, Qaumi Insaaf Morcha will also organise a blog at the Mohali venue of the morcha. We will announce the date soon,” said Bathinda.
Khalsa, who was a US citizen, is survived by one daughter and three sons, all of them also US citizens. He was a government teacher who resigned from his position in June 1984 in protest against Operation Blue Star. He moved to the United States in 1988 to live with his children but continued to visit Punjab regularly.
Surat Singh Khalsa’s history of activism
Khalsa had been actively involved in human rights issues since the early 1970s. He served as the secretary of the United Akali Dal under the leadership of Joginder Singh Rode, who was the father of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Khalsa remained active in the United Akali Dal until late 1987. During a protest outside the Punjab Legislative Assembly in February 1986, he was reportedly shot in the leg, according to his supporters. Throughout the 1980s, he was detained in various jails, including those in Nabha, Patiala, and Amritsar in Punjab, as well as in Rohtak, Ambala, and Chandigarh in Haryana, for protesting various issues.
After the Amb Sahib Morcha in November 2013 and the Lakhnaur Sahib campaign in November 2014, Khalsa decided to raise awareness about Sikh political prisoners and began his hunger strike in January 2015. He had previously observed a hunger strike for five days in the Hassanpur village, from April 5 to April 9, 2011, in support of Anna Hazare’s fight against corruption.
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