Satyapal Dang

Satyapal Dang, also spelt Satpal Dang, was a Communist Party of India leader from Amritsar. Mainstream Weekly's tribute after his death on 15 June 2013 says he was born in 1920 (Khushwant Singh's A History of the Sikhs gives 1923 in a footnote), built his politics in the working-class locality of Chheharta in Amritsar, and was known for personal integrity.

1967: In the February 1967 election he won Amritsar West and beat the Chief Minister, Giani Gurmukh Singh Musafir. Khushwant Singh writes that the Chief Minister was "beaten by an up and coming young communist". The Akalis, the Jan Sangh and the Communists then formed a United Front government under Gurnam Singh, and Dang became its Food Minister. Mainstream says he did not take a ministerial bungalow and worked from the MLAs' Hostel. Gurmit Singh's History of Sikh Struggles records that Sant Fateh Singh accused him of fomenting labour agitations and strikes (volume II, p. 11).

On Punjab in the 1980s: Mainstream says he became nationally known for defending national unity against Khalistani secessionism. He wrote on the crisis in Genesis of Terrorism, which Gurmit Singh cites. Gurmit Singh calls him an opponent of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution and says even he admitted that Rajiv Gandhi had "overplayed" the resolution card in the 1984 Lok Sabha election. It also quotes him writing that three times an agreement with the Akalis had almost been reached, but each time "it was prevented by the late Prime Minister" (volume II, pp. 30 and 64). After Operation Blue Star he wrote "Now to Heal Punjab's Wounds", which Mainstream published on 14 June 1984.

Key moments

• February 1967: wins Amritsar West, defeating Musafir.
• March 1967: Food Minister in Gurnam Singh's first ministry.
• June 1984: writes in Mainstream after Operation Blue Star.
• 15 June 2013: dies.

Remembered for: Beating a sitting Chief Minister in 1967, and for a Communist's view of the Punjab crisis that Gurmit Singh cites when he writes about the failed Akali talks.