‘We want Jagmeet Singh, kin to visit, see memorials of his ancestors’

Curious and excited, residents of Canada Sikh MP Jagmeet Singh’s ancestral village in Barnala start exploring his family tree

Ancestral haveli of Jagmeet Singh’s ancestors preserved by the residents of village Thikriwal in Barnala.

ON MONDAY morning, as the news of Canadian Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Jagmeet Singh being elected the first Sikh leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) reached India, most residents of Thikriwal village in Barnala were caught unawares. Many were unaware of the fact that a Sikh man having roots in their village has become the leader of a political party in Canada and is in race for Canada’s PM.

However, soon youngsters in the village, after getting the news through social media, spread the word. Euphoria and curiosity gripped the village residents and they started to explore the family tree of Jagmeet Singh. Since it has been decades that none from Jagmeet’s family visited the village, the present generation was unaware of his family’s ancestral history. Then, a few village elders who knew Jagmeet’s ancestors were called in at the gurdwara and asked to share their memories of his roots here. A special ardaas (prayer) was also held.

Although no one from the family visited the village for decades since Jagmeet’s father Dr Jagtaran Singh had shifted to Canada, the family’s grand old haweli has been preserved by the village in the memory of the martyr Sewa Singh, his great-grandfather’s first cousin. The martyr’s statue has also been placed at a chowk known as ‘Shaheed Sewa Singh Chowk’.

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Speaking to The Indian Express, Nahar Singh, 82, a village elder said Hira Singh and martyr Sewa Singh were first cousins. Hira Singh was the great-grandfather of Jagmeet Singh. He died in Thikriwal village. “Jagmeet is from the family of the late Hira Singh. Hira Singh had three sons, including a cop, during British rule- Shamsher Singh. Shamsher Singh had a son, Jagtaran Singh, who moved to Canada after completing MBBS. Jagmeet Singh was born to Jagtaran Singh in Canada. Even today, not many are aware of the family’s history here but elders know it. We have preserved the family’s ancestral haweli and we want the family to visit,” said Nahar Singh.

As per some literature available with the village residents, Sewa Singh had started Parajamandal Lehar, a protest movement against British rule and rajwaadashaahi (princely states rulers) including the ancestors of the present Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh. “He was arrested from the haweli in our village. Earlier, the entire family of Jagmeet Singh used to live in this haweli together. Sewa Singh attained martyrdom after hunger strike of nine months against British and princely states rulers in 1938. It was a crucial part of India’s freedom struggle from Malwa of Punjab,” said Balwant Singh Thikriwal, another village resident.

The village residents added that they are “disappointed” over the denial of visa to Jagmeet and his family in 2013. “We have heard his speeches and interviews and he has expressed his desire to visit his ancestral village. We also want the family to come here and see the memorials of his ancestors. Since his father shifted to Canada, there has been no contact with them but now youths from Thikriwal have contacted him in Canada. They are in touch through social media,” added Balwant.

Divya Goyal

Divya Goyal is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Punjab. Her interest lies in exploring both news and feature stories, with an effort to reflect human interest at the heart of each piece. She writes on gender issues, education, politics, Sikh diaspora, heritage, the Partition among other subjects. She has also extensively covered issues of minority communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She also explores the legacy of India's partition and distinct stories from both West and East Punjab. She is a gold medalist from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, the most revered government institute for media studies in India, from where she pursued English Journalism (Print). Her research work on “Role of micro-blogging platform Twitter in content generation in newspapers” had won accolades at IIMC. She had started her career in print journalism with Hindustan Times before switching to The Indian Express in 2012. Her investigative report in 2019 on gender disparity while treating women drug addicts in Punjab won her the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2020. She won another Laadli for her ground report on the struggle of two girls who ride a boat to reach their school in the border village of Punjab. ... Read More

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