Jaipur fest dedicates session to Punjab’s Dalit icon

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 6

In 2006, Bant Singh’s courageous struggle against brutal caste prejudice and oppression made him an icon of Dalit upsurge for social justice in Punjab. Now, his tale of struggle is set to travel outside Punjab as a full session will be dedicated to the story of the Mansa-based Dalit singer at the Jaipur Literary Festival next month.

Talking to The Tribune, Singh says he will sing radical Left Punjabi poet Sant Ram Udasi’s famous poem “Aasi jar na julam di chhadni….” during the session, “Ballad of Bant Singh”, dedicated to him at the festival on January 24.

He refers to the poem: “We will uproot oppression at the cost of our roots, my people! Let’s remould our lives in the furnace of struggle…”

Festival organisers say the session will comprise singer’s conversation with Chandigarh-based writer Nirupama Dutt, who is also writing his biography.

“Bant Singh has been described by the media as “singing torso”, an epithet which is not far from truth. He has no arms and only one leg which, though saved from amputation, hangs lifelessly. He is dependent on others for his existence. Yet he sings songs of protest like never before, each as fresh as a new blossom,” says Dutt.

The organisers say Bant Singh’s resistance to the atrocities he suffered as a Dalit Indian is a tragic but inspiring story of empowerment as well as a mirror to the fault lines in a still feudal society.