- Friday, January 24, 2025
His Khadoor Sahib parliamentary constituency in the state of Punjab is located about 3,000 kilometres from the jail in the state of Assam where he is kept. He is contesting the poll as an independent.
By: Shubham Ghosh
IN what could be a concern for the Indian authorities, a jailed Sikh separatist leader is contesting the seventh and final phase of the country’s general election which will be held on Saturday (1).
New Delhi has taken a strong stand against any revival of Sikh militancy and has lodged strong protests with a number of western nations where supporters of Khalistan, a separate Sikh state that they aim to be carved out of the Indian Punjab state, have targeted symbols or representatives of India — be it the national flag, government officials or even a former prime minister.
The 31-year-old Amritpal Singh, who is currently detained in a high-security prison in the north-eastern state of Assam, located nearly 3,000 kilometres from Khadoor Sahib parliamentary constituency in Punjab, where he is contesting as an Independent candidate. He was in Dubai to look after his family business for a decade and after returning to India in 2022, was appointed as the chief of the group Waris Punjab De (Heirs of Punjab).
Read: India’s former PM Manmohan Singh appeals to voters before final phase of polling
Villages and town in the constituency have been found to be dotted with posters showing him with swords and bullet-proof vests, a Reuters report said.
Singh, a firebrand leader, was held last year and put behind bars under a tight security law after he and several of his loyalists attacked a police station with arms, seeking release of one of his aides. As the police launched a manhunt for him, pro-Khalistan mobs allegedly attacked Indian symbols in countries such as the UK and the IK, including the Indian high commission in London and the Indian consulate in San Francisco. In London, some Khalistan supporters even brought down the Indian national flag, triggering a stern reaction from New Delhi.
Read: India to maintain its policy trajectory even if Modi loses: Rajan
Sikh separatism has made global headlines over the last many months as countries such as Canada and the United States have accused India of being involved in either killing or plotting to kill Sikh separatist leaders on their soil, charges New Delhi has strongly denied.
If Singh wins Saturday’s election from the seat which was won by the Indian National Congress in the 2019 general polls, it could give the leader some legitimacy and trigger concerns over the revival of a militancy that had killed several people in the 1970s and 1980s. Even a former Indian prime minister was assassinated by her own Sikh bodyguards in the wake of her government’s military action against a Sikh militant leader from the Golden Temple, the Sikhs’ holiest shrine.
“People will make their decision on June 1,” Singh’s 61-year-old father Tarsem said, according to Reuters, as he referred to Saturday’s polling.
“They will send an important message to those who have maligned his image, to those who are defaming our community and our Punjab.”
Tarsem Singh spoke outside a Sikh temple in a rural setting and portraits of Sikhs killed during the militancy years in Punjab, called “martyrs” by Singh’s supporters, were put up on the walls.
While Sikhs constitute a little more than two per cent of India’s 1.4 billion people, they are the majority community in Punjab. Sikh militants started agitating for their independent homeland in the 1970s but it was largely suppressed with harsh crackdowns by the early 1990s.
Amritpal Singh’s campaign has focused more on issues such as Punjab’s drug problem, freeing former Sikh militants from prison and shielding the Sikh identity in the Hindu-majority nation of India. His father and supporters are cautiously avoiding mentioning the idea of a Sikh homeland.
However, it won’t be easy for Singh as all his main rivals — all of whom Sikhs — belong to the main political players in the state — the Indian National Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal, the state’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party and prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. The Congress and AAP have made alliances in many other states of India for this year’s general elections but not in Punjab.
Analysts feel that while the demand for a separate Sikh country has more support on foreign soil, a rise in support for Amritpal Singh boosts the new legs of extremism and it is happening at a time when the mainstream parties are wrapped in their own rivalries, Reuters added.
