Cracker Culture — Part V: Amar Singh Chamkila and Biba Amarjyot
Part IV of this series introduced the late Punjabi singer Amar Singh Chamkila
Loveshinder Singh Dalewal is the author of The Assassination of Amar Chamkila on a website that purports to represent a religious and cultural assessment of the events leading to the deaths of folk singer Dhunni Ram, known by his stage name Amar Singh Chamkila, his pregnant wife and co-singer Amarjot Kaur along with several members of their musical entourage.
This short series will look at the account presented by Dalewal.
Dalewal writes:
The truth behind the assassination of Punjab’s explicit singer, Amar Chamkila and his co-singer, Amarjot. Recently, Punjabi singer Surinder Shinda gave an interview, in which he touched on the death of Amar Chamkila and made some very untruthful comments which painted a very distorted picture of what actually happened. He went as far as making fabricated claims to malign the Khalistan Freedom movement and the Jhujaru Singhs.
To his fans, Chamkila, was known as Amar Singh Chamkila. Dalewal’s account refers to “Amar Chamkila”, omitting his middle name ‘Singh’, a signifier, usually, of a Sikh male.
Dalewal continues:
Many years ago, I had already written about this very encounter and how the story into Amar Chamkila’s assassination actually unfolded. Unfortunately, you will always get individuals such as Surinder Shinda causing controversy and misinforming the people of the actual truth. It was back in 1987, that a prominent Chief General of the Sikh nation and the leader of Khalistan Commando Force General Labh Singh and the President of Sikh Student Federation, Bhai Gurjit Singh Harihar Jhok mutually agreed to set up a Smaj Sudhar Lehar (a social reform/restore movement).
Surinder Shinda (born Surinder Pal Dhammi, 20 May 1953–26 July 2023), was an Indian singer of Punjabi music. He was at one time, Chamkila’s musical ‘ustad’ (teacher). Amongst the various theories surrounding Chamkila and Amarjyot’s untimely death, one is that the murder was arranged by Punjabi singers motivated by their loss of sales to Chamkila’s rising success. This is largely contested and denied by the Punjabi music industry.
General Labh Singh (born Sukhdev Singh Dhillon, 1952–12 July 1988) was a former Punjab police officer turned militant who took command of the Khalistan Commando Force in 1986.
At the time of his death — the result of an encounter with police in 1988 — he had a Rs 100,000 bounty on his head. He was wanted in relation to the murder of a dozen policemen, a newspaper editor, attempted murder of a former Punjab Police Chief.
To his supporters, Labh Singh was a hero with tributes following his death promising revenge against those held responsible for his demise:
“In place of 7 bullets we will blow up 100 bombs. By getting revenge for Labh Singh we will show them.”
To his detractors, Labh Singh was a renegade cop turned militant who terrorised not only his enemies but those close to him. He allegedly developed a relationship with a married woman, Surjit Kaur, the wife of Gurdip Singh Thekedar. Surjit Kaur would later suffer physical abuse and have her house set on fire.
Dalewal goes on to mention:
The Smaj Sudhar would encourage/implement the following:
A ban of dowry at weddings.
Keep the guests to a minimum at weddings (Bharat).
To not serve non-veg food and alcohol at weddings. This would prevent disgraceful behaviour at weddings, and stop the groom side creating a havoc at the bride’s house.
The brides that were sent back to their parents home due to not giving groom certain dowry, were rehoused back with their husbands abolishing any kind of demands from the groom’s family.
There was also the added influence of singers who had begun to use sexual content in their lyrics which went against Punjabi community and cultural ethos, poisoning the psyche of the next generations and causing a negative influence.
Barbers were asked to stop the cutting the beards and hair of the Sikh youth.
There were eleven branches of the Smaj Sudhar Lehar under the umbrella of the Khalistan Commando Force, General Labh Singh and Lieutenant General Bhai Harjinder Singh Jinda. This initiative was spread across the whole of Punjab and all the Jhujaru groups were in support.
According to the wikipedia entry for General Labh Singh:
In late March 1987 KCF issued a 13 policy Sikh moral code which all were to adhere to. The polices were to end dancing at weddings, end music at weddings, end to the wearing of non-traditional clothing, no tweezing of eyebrows for girls, no snipping of beards for boys, no baraats that include more than 11 people, no participation in Hindu jagratas or all-night prayers, no associating with Radhasoami Sikhs, no school uniforms that are not saffron black, and white and the end of the sale and consumption of meat, alcohol and tobacco.
Those who did not respect the law were warned that they would be burnt alive. The code was largely followed. Sikh women began wearing traditional clothing and many meat, alcohol, and tobacco shops closed. Many restaurants brought in vegetarian items to the menu. Some did not follow the decree which put them in danger. Those who did not follow were forced to either pay off Sikhs or get security. Sikh leaders generally supported the decree. The enforcement of the decree in its first 2 months resulted in at least 6 killed, 60 shops burned, and complete or partial closure of 1,500 businesses.
One survey found that there were no meat or cigarette shops between Amritsar and Phagwara. Famous restaurants that served meat had removed it from their menu and denied ever serving it.
Thomas Sowell in his Black Rednecks and White Liberals outlines that the cracker culture included a ‘style of religious oratory marked by rhetoric, unbridled emotions, and flamboyant imagery’ and centred around a ‘touchy pride, vanity, and boastful self‐dramatization’ which often came with a ‘proclivity for violence’.
Dalewal’s account undoubtedly contains several of these features, however of note in Sowell’s analysis is his drawing out that ‘cultural differences led to striking socioeconomic differences…those who lived within the redneck culture lagged far behind those who did not’.
The Wikipedia entry on the economy of Punjab outlines:
Punjab ranked first in GDP per capita amongst Indian states in 1981 and fourth in 2001, but has experienced slower growth than the rest of India in recent years, having the second-slowest GDP per capita growth rate of all Indian states and UTs between 2000 and 2010, behind only Manipur. Between 1992 and 2014, Punjab’s life expectancy also grew slower than most Indian states; while rising from 69.4 to 71.4 years, Punjab’s rank amongst Indian states in life expectancy at birth fell from first to sixth.
Whether the decline in GBP per capita from the early 1980s into the 21st century is the result of cultural norms or the other way around is perhaps less than straightforward to conclude, however Dalewal’s account certainly highlights several cultural norms worthy of further analysis.
As the Indian mystic poet and saint Kabir said:
ਕਬੀਰ ਜੋਰੀ ਕੀਏ ਜੁਲਮੁ ਹੈ ਕਹਤਾ ਨਾਉ ਹਲਾਲੁ ॥
Kabīr jorī kī▫e julam hai kahṯā nā▫o halāl.
Kabeer, to use force is tyranny, even if you call it legal.