Fateh Singh announces fast with self-immolation threat
ਫ਼ਤਿਹ ਸਿੰਘ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਆਤਮਦਾਹ ਦੀ ਚਿਤਾਵਨੀ ਨਾਲ ਵਰਤ ਦਾ ਐਲਾਨ
Maximum escalation of Punjabi Suba demand
Who: Sant Fateh Singh.
What: From the Sri Akal Takht, Fateh Singh proclaimed that he would restart his Punjabi Suba fast from September 10, 1965, and that if his demand was not conceded within 15 days, he would commit self-immolation by burning himself alive on the 16th day.
Where: Sri Akal Takht, Amritsar.
Why it mattered: The self-immolation threat dramatically escalated the Punjabi Suba agitation. Unlike Master Tara Singh's 1961 fast (which was strict hunger-strike), Fateh Singh's 1965 declaration added the specific threat of suicide, a form of ultimate political pressure. The announcement put the Nehru (then Lal Bahadur Shastri, Nehru had died May 1964) Indian government under unprecedented pressure.
Context of the declaration: Fateh Singh had demonstrated his religious-political legitimacy through the January 1965 SGPC elections (his faction's 90-45 victory over Tara Singh's). He now deployed that legitimacy to escalate the Punjabi Suba demand to its most extreme form.
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Sources
- Fateh Singh, Sant (1911-1972), The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism (Punjabi University, Patiala). eos.learnpunjabi.org
- Punjabi Suba Movement, The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism (Punjabi University, Patiala). eos.learnpunjabi.org