Khalistan Movement Has Little Traction In Punjab But Kept Alive Abroad

Scaremongers have built up Amritpal Singh, the so-called chief of  Waris Punjab De as another Bhrindanwale kind of figure, ready to lead a new chapter of the Khalistan movement. But this is far from the truth. In Punjab there is no mass support for Khalistan, the idea of an independent Sikh homeland at the moment gets much more traction among Sikhs living in the UK, Canada, Australia and the US rather than in their home country. Unless the situation on the ground changes, the revival of the movement in Punjab appears dim. But if mishandled either by the state or the central government, it could grow into something bigger.

Amritpal Singh will take decades to come up to the level of Bhrindanwale. The family of Deep Sidhu, the activist actor killed in a car crash in February 2022, whose organization he claims to have inherited, has disowned Amritpal Singh. Deep Sindu’s brother formed Waris Punjab De after the actor was killed to carry on his work for the environment and a better deal for the people of his state. PTI quoted family sources saying that Deep Sidhu had blocked Amritpal Singh from his mobile at least ten times, indicating that the two were not close. Yet because of  Deep Sidhu’s popularity with the people of Punjab, Amritpal tried to pose as the right person to take over his mantle. He lived out of the country for 10 years and landed back just last year. Indian intelligence agencies claim that before he returned, Amritpal underwent plastic surgery in the US to make his face resemble Bhrindanwale.

People living in the state have shown little enthusiasm for Amritpal, nor does anyone in Punjab want to go back to the dark days of the ’70s and early ’80s that witnessed unprecedented violence in Punjab.

Yet the idea of Khalistan lives outside the country. The Sikh diaspora cut off from the reality of Punjab continues to fan the idea of a state founded on religion. This is not to say that all Sikhs living abroad believe in Khalistan, a few do. However,  numbers can be mobilised the minute something happens back home in Punjab. It could be an arrest, a minor protest or a major issue like the farmers' protests. Sikhs living abroad get deeply emotional whenever they perceive, the real or imagined sight of the people of Punjab.

They have kept alive the nostalgia for their Punjab home by strictly observing the religious and cultural values. The Gurudwaras provided a strong network connecting Sikhs across Canada, the US  and the UK to Punjab. With travel more frequent and easier than in the past, the connection has become stronger. Social networks have also helped to keep the Sikh diaspora up to date with events in Punjab. This has resulted in a collective identity that is rooted in Punjab, despite being nationals of another country.

Recent events in Punjab involving Amritpal Singh have therefore resonated in Gurdwaras abroad. Most are not aware of much of the events that preceded the state government's decision to arrest him. That Amritpal and his supporters attacked a police station with guns and swords and sticks and overran the police station in Ajnala and took control for a few hours. They carried a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib as a shield to ensure that the police did not retaliate. The attack was to free one of Amritpal’s close associates who had been picked up by the police. The Punjab police were heavily criticized for inaction and then decided to arrest Amritpal. The fact that he is on the run and the state police are waiting to arrest him has been exploited by Khalistani elements abroad many of whom are closely connected to several gurdwaras.

The small group of pro-Khalistani supporters abroad have seized the Amritpal incident to up the ante and spread the message. Khalistani protestors tried to bring down the Indian flag in London, windows of the San Francisco consulate were broken by another group of protesters, in Brisbane, Indian officials cancelled an event due to security concerns following threats from  Khalistan supporters and in Washington a senior Indian journalist got shoved around while covering a protest in front of the embassy. None of these events attracted large numbers of Sikhs. A referendum in Brisbane on the creation of a separate Sikh state also did not get the kind of expected response from Australian Sikhs.

"Those who profess to bleed for the Khalistan movement abroad are merely serving their self-interest and not the communities they claim to uphold. It is well known that uprooted people cling to their roots," says Ashutosh Kumar, a professor who teaches political science at Punjab University, who adds, "They try to relate to the issues happening in a faraway homeland to their brothers and sisters and get emotional. They want to show their solidarity with people they see as victims of the Indian system. The wounded psyche of the Blue Star period lingers on, though in Punjab much has changed. The story of the Sikhs as a minority community living in Hindu India, suits the narrative built around Khalistan,’’ adds Ashutosh Kumar.

The average Sikh living abroad believe what they are told by interested parties, without cross-checking and can be easily manipulated to join in a demonstration, and donate generously for funds to be sent to Punjab. He says that while the Khalistan movement no longer resonates among the vast majority of Sikhs, "there are fringe elements from the very beginning that believed in Khalistan".

Journalist Terry Milewski, who has long reported on the Khalistan movement in Canada and is the author of Blood for Blood (2021), says that the Khalistani movement abroad is built on a myth created by misinformation. The narrative dished out by the hard-core Khalistan supporters is of an ongoing genocide of Sikhs living in India that began with Indira Gandhi and is continuing under successive prime ministers including Narendra Modi. So, patriotic Sikhs need to support and donate generously to the Khalistan cause. This kind of myth-making is easy and cheap.

Pakistan has found it easy to exploit these sentiments and played a major role in supporting and funding the Khalistan movement earlier. In fact, the Hudson Institute in Washington released a report in September 2021 on Pakistan’s Destabilization  Playbook: Khalistan Separatist Activism Within the US. The paper written by Aparna Pandey, Husain Haqqani and C. Christine Fair has questioned the US government for not investigating the activities of  Khalistan groups though the paper also notes that they have not been accused of a crime in the United States. The research paper also identifies Pakistan’s role in funding the Khalistan groups abroad.

The idea of a separate Sikh state is not new. It began as the partition of India was being discussed and the Muslim League raised the demand for Pakistan, a Muslim-majority state. Sikhs then felt if India was to be divided into religious lines, Sikhs should also have their own country. But that idea did not go far.

The movement crystallised with the rise of Bhrindanwale and the storming of the Golden Temple. The assassination of Indira Gandhi and the anti-Sikh riots that followed however left a deep scar in the Sikh psyche. But for the mishandling by the government, both at the centre and the state, the movement could have died a natural death.

It is important for New Delhi to handle the Amritpal issue with care to ensure that it does not boomerang into a major movement. As of now Sikhs in Punjab have not responded to Amritpal’s shenanigans. As long as that happens neither Pakistan nor the Khalistan elements outside the country can do much. The lessons of recent history should not be forgotten, as one small mistake by New Delhi can boomerang and give fresh ammunition to those waiting to bring back the dark days of the late seventies and early eighties.