Bhai Shaminder Singh

Bhai Shaminder Singh( ਭਾਈ ਸ਼ਮਿਂਦਰ ਸਿਂਘ )was twice Member of Parliament from Faridkot District in Indian Punjab. Born in a privileged family of Sidhu jatt sikhs in Muktsar in 1947. Wildly popular during the militancy days, he was known for his independent spirit and boldly kept a respectable distance from Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale which was appreciated as a dare-devil feat by the general public and largely and especially by the bureaucrats and the heavy handed Punjab Police officers, who not only allowed but even encouraged him to openly carry an AK-47 on his person, turning him into a local version of self-styled sheriff let loose to up-keep law and order in the highly disturbed Punjab in those days of militancy.

Assassination
July 18, 1991

One of his own disciples and bodyguards, Gurmeet Singh, an alleged militant who was rescued by him from the hands of law, invited him to his humble neighborhood at Jodhu Colony in Muktsar to make a public speech as preparation of the coming general elections for the seat of MLA Muktsar. Gurmeet Singh had already buried a few sticks of dynamite near the microphone stand, exactly were the Bhai was supposed to stand, and as soon as he was on the spot, Gurmeet closed the 12 volt battery circuit attached with cunningly hidden underground wiring. The severed parts of Bhai's dead-body were recovered from the adjoining roofs all around.

It is said that the murder was done to revenge the sad demise of Jagdev Singh "Khudianawala", a humble peasant whose decayed body had been recovered a few weeks ago from a canal. He had dared to oppose the Bhai in the elections.

Gurmeet Singh, who went underground after blowing up Bhai, was traced and shot dead by Bathinda police a few years later.

Family

Bhai Harnirpal Singh " Cukoo", his younger brother, later stepped into his shoes and managed to become MLA Muktsar. Younger and humble Bhai Cukoo has little in common with his elder brother from political point of view.