Pash poem saved Canadian minister

Patiala: Amarjit Sohi, the new infrastructure and community minister in Justin Trudeau-led Canadian government, could have never thought that a poem of revolutionary Punjabi poet Avtar Pash, a copy of Bhisham Sahni's novel 'Tamas' and a cold cream would rescue him from the clutches of Bihar police 26 years ago.
His tale of solitary confinement in Bihar's Gaya jail in 1988 is already well known - both in Canada and Punjab.But had it not been for these three random things, Sohi might still be languishing in an Indian jail as "Canadian-Punjabi Khalistani terrorist who wanted to train Naxalites in Bihar".
This revelation has come from a senior Bihar-cadre Punjabi woman IAS officer, who recalled while talking to TOI from Patna, what happened the day when she confronted him 26 years ago.
One of Sohi's old friends, Jagmohan Singh, who pursued his case legally in Bihar during the former's 22-month confinement under Terrorism and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA), also substantiated the story.
"Sohi was arrested by Bihar police in 1988 and then taken to Jehanabad. Nobody among top Bihar police brass believed his innocence. Bihar police were keen to establish that Sohi was a Khalistani terrorist, who had returned from Canada on an invitation from Naxalites to train their cadres," said Jagmohan, who had also met Lalu Prasad Yadav in 1988, seeking Sohi's release.
"Incidentally, a young Punjabi woman IAS officer Amita Paul was Jehanabad district magistrate then. The moment she got to know that a young boy on terror charges was held in solitary confinement by police in her district, she went to question Sohi," he recalled.
Jagmohan said, "Sohi maintained that he was a Leftist but not a Khalistani. Amita had a literary background too. She asked him to narrate a poem of any Leftist poet. Sohi narrated a few poems of Pash. When she asked police officials what Sohi was carrying when he was arrested, she was told that he was carrying a copy of Bhisham Sahni's 'Tamas', the novel set in 1947 riot-stricken Pakistan. After that, the DM was convinced that Sohi couldn't be a Khalistani terrorist."
The 1980-batch IAS officer Amita, who is now serving as chief adviser to Biahr planning board, said, "Yes, I questioned him then. Not only 'Tamas', police also showed that he was carrying Ponds cold cream. Terrorists hardly carry such stuff. Sohi also told me that he was a theatre activist. I can still recall that when I told him to recite something, he recited Pash's popular poem 'Kranti diya gallaan karan waaleyo, kranti jad aayi tuhanu vi taare vikha devegi (O you who are talking about revolution; revolution, when it comes, will knock daylights out of you)."
"I was largely convinced by Sohi's claim. Today, I am happy that he has been sworn in as a Canadian minister," she said.
Jagmohan said after the DM was convinced, she prevailed over the police to produce Sohi in a local court where he was proven not guilty.
After around two years, Sohi was released from a Bihar jail. Sohi, who migrated to Canada in 1981, went back from India at the end of 1990 after his release from jail.
Before being elected as MP for the first time from Edmond-Millwoods constituency, he was serving as councillor in Edmonton, Alberta for eight years.