Paash’s legacy sparks dispute in birth village
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In Talwandi Salem, a village in the Jalandhar district of India, a disagreement has emerged over land belonging to the Paash-Hans Raj Memorial Committee.
For 26 years, the committee has maintained a memorial to the poet Avtar Singh Sandhu, known as Paash, and his friend Hans Raj on two kanals of land. The village panchayat now claims ownership of the land, leading to confrontations when committee members prepared for Paash’s birth anniversary on September 9.
The dispute began in August when the panchayat allegedly broke into the memorial and installed recreational equipment. Committee members replaced the locks, but panchayat representatives then removed part of the gate and continued installing equipment within the memorial grounds. Local officials initially sided with the panchayat but suggested a resolution was near. Villagers and admirers of Paash view the conflict as disrespectful to the poet’s memory.
The Paash-Hans Raj Memorial has grown into a cultural center with an open-air theatre and library, funded by supporters in India and abroad. Paash and Hans Raj were assassinated in 1988, and the committee believes a cultural institution should not be altered without discussion. Paash’s family is also establishing a second memorial on ancestral land, while supporters are campaigning to protect the original site.
