[Reader-list] homage to gurusharan singh

[asit das]

*COMMITTEE FOR THE RELEASE OF POLITICAL PRISONERS*

185/3, FOURTH FLOOR, ZAKIR NAGAR, NEW DELHI-110025



*The most beautiful thing*

*for those who have fought a whole life*

*is to come to the end and say;*

*we believed in people and life,*

*and life and the people*

*never let us down.*

--Otto Rene Castillo

*Gurusharanji—In Lieu of a Homage*


It is with immense grief that the Committee for the Release of Political
Prisoners (CRPP) would share the demise of Gurusharan Singh. Apart from all
other things which many of the readers might already know about him, he was
for us, at CRPP, the honorary president of the committee, a spirited fighter
who was always a source of strength and support. What was so disarming about
Gurusharanji was his unflinching commitment to the people that too, to the
oppressed, discriminated and exploited.


Whenever we met him he kept us reminding of the need to carry forward the
campaign to the vast sections of the people. As the conversation progressed
in such meetings Gurusharanji used to forget his failing health and soon
transform into his inimical thunderous and emotional self talking with a
conviction steeled in the vast and arduous experience of his work among the
masses, in the most challenging and trying circumstances—always going
against the tide. Gurusharanji was everything. An artist par excellence he
took the theatre to the common people of Punjab dealing with their problems
thus connecting with the particularities of the everyday life of the toiling
masses. Taking theatre to the common masses was no mean task. It made the
dramatist in Gurusharanji aware of the acute/minute problems faced by the
common masses of Punjab. It was through the grain of the everyday lives of
the people of Punjab as landless agricultural labourers, factory workers,
poor peasant, construction labour, peasant, dalits, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus
etc. that Gurusharanji used to open to the world where through the struggles
of the toiling masses for a better world he related himself with the
struggles of other peoples of the subcontinent.


It is this deep sensibility and commitment to the people that was the
motivating spirit for several generations of activists, young and old, not
only in Punjab but in other parts of the subcontinent. So when people
approached Bhaji—as he was fondly called—there was that unfailing faith that
he will never let them down. And it was that fearlessness, the
forthrightness in criticism, that he inculcated within himself and by
example among his comrades that he raised the bar of the activist in him in
that process egging others to move against the tide.


It is this tireless enthusiasm that made him initiate the Chandigarh School
of Drama in the late 80s inspiring an entire generation of young theatre
activists, actors and directors. He was a champion of human rights of the
most deprived and downtrodden and an outspoken supporter of the Right to
Self-determination of the people of Jammu & Kashmir. He was always ready to
go to Srinagar and stage a play there while at the same time declares that
Kashmir belonged to the people of Jammu & Kashmir. But his failing health
prevented him from travelling as he was bed-ridden for several years. But
that didn’t prevent him from sending his solidarity speech in the historic
convention on Kashmir, *Azadi: The Only Way* organised by the CRPP at Delhi
in October 2010. His daughter Navsharan read the speech on his behalf in
this historic convention which remained in the debate among intelligentsia
for several months.


The demise of Gurusharanji is an irreparable loss. It is a difficult act to
emulate. But it is certainly an act that will motivate many an activist,
theatre enthusiast, people who are fighting for life, livelihood and
dignity. It is certainly an act which primarily stands in solidarity for the
most deprived and exploited and looks at the overall well being of the
society from the vantage point of their unhindered development. Gurusharanji
will live with us forever!



*SAR Geelani*

Working President



*Amit Bhattacharyya*

Secretary General



*Rona Wilson*

Secretary, Public Relations