Demonstration of Sikhs against Khalistan supporters abroad is a very good step

In some countries, there is opposition to the protest being held at the Indian Embassy in support of Khalistan. The good thing is that the Sikh society of the protesting countries itself has come to know the story behind this movement. It is known that Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI is behind this movement. This is the reason why the Sikh society there came out against these agitators. He demonstrated in support of India and against Khalistan at the same place where demonstrations were held in support of Khalistan.

The incident of vandalism at the Indian High Commission in London last Sunday was also protested in New Delhi on Monday. A large number of Sikhs gathered outside the British High Commission in New Delhi and protested against the actions of the Khalistanis. On the other hand, the Indian Consulate was attacked in San Francisco, USA. The Indians also opposed this. Sikhs waved banners and posters and raised slogans against the Khalistanis outside the British High Commission in New Delhi. Said- India is our self-respect. According to these Sikhs – the insult of the tricolor will not be tolerated under any circumstances. This is what happened in San Francisco. There were no demonstrations against those agitating in support of Khalistan at both the places. Action was also demanded against the agitators. Sikhs who came to protest in New Delhi said- Pakistan’s infamous intelligence agency ISI is conspiring to destroy the peace and tranquility of our country. We have always respected our tricolor and what happened in London will not be tolerated.

After London, the Indian Consulate was also attacked in San Francisco, USA. Khalistan supporters also gathered here on Sunday. These people wrote Amritpal Riha Karo… with spray paints. These people broke the gates of the Consulate. Flags of Khalistan were hoisted there. In protest, Indian Americans have demanded strict action against the attackers. He expressed anger towards the insult of Indian national flag tricolor done by Khalistan supporters. Also performed.

In fact, for some time, efforts are being made to fuel the Khalistan movement under a conspiracy. A referendum was held in Britain in support of Khalistan. After this, slogans were written in support of Khalistan on Hindu temples of some places. No effective action was taken even after calling the ambassadors of these countries of India and expressing objection. This increased the spirits of the Khalistan supporters. Following the police action against extremist Amritpal Singh and his associates in Punjab, the manner in which the Indian High Commission in London and the Consulate General of India in San Francisco in the US were targeted by Khalistan supporters are not enough. Despite protests against India, the governments of Britain and America did not take any action against these miscreants. Neither the Indian High Commission in London nor the Consulate in San Francisco saw any security arrangements. The worst part is that action was not taken against the Khalistanis responsible for the attack on these two Indian bases, which was not only expected, but necessary. The disturbance and mischief of Khalistanis has been being ignored for a long time. Khalistanis targeted temples in Canada and Australia. The authorities of Canada and Australia condemned the incidents of targeting temples, but did nothing in the name of action against the miscreants.

The demand for a separate Sikh nation began after the fall of the British Empire. In 1940, Khalistan was mentioned for the first time in a booklet named “Khalistan”. After 1947, with the financial and political support of the Sikh diaspora and the support of Pakistan’s ISI, the Khalistan movement flourished in the Indian state of Punjab and reached its peak by the 1980s. The insurgency started in the decade of 1984 and continued till 1995. To crush this insurgency, the Government of India and the Army launched Operation Blue Star, Operation Wood Rose, Operation Black Thunder-I and Operation Black Thunder-II. These actions ended the militancy to a great extent. After that, due to heavy police and military action and disillusionment of a large Sikh population with this movement, this movement weakened and failed by 1990.

The special thing about the decade of 1980 to 1990 was that most of the Sikh society remained silent against this Khalistan movement. Those who opposed the Golden Temple operation did not even oppose Bhindranwala and his supporters taking refuge in the Golden Temple. As a result, the country suffered a lot. A large number of Hindus visit religious places all over the world. There was a large number of people who went to the Gurudwaras and bowed before this movement. If seen, only Sikhs suffered the maximum atrocities due to Sikh terrorism. Terrorism increased rapidly in the Terai of Uttar Pradesh. Earlier, the Sikh families who used to patronize Sikh terrorists considering them as angels, saw their wrong behavior and turned against them. Sikh extremists looted a Sikh family working abroad in Bijnor district. Kidnapped a five-year-old child of that family and demanded a ransom of five lakhs. The police released the child after killing the terrorist. Such incidents went on distancing the Sikh community from this movement.

Extremist Amritpal Singh threatened Union Home Minister Amit Shah to meet Indira Gandhi’s fate. If seen, he only knew about the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He probably does not know the condition after that. Mass killings of Sikhs became common across the country after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. More than three thousand Sikhs became victims of this massacre in Delhi itself. Their property was looted or burnt. 18 thousand to 25 thousand Sikhs were killed across the country. Slowly the Sikh society understood the truth of Khalistan. Today he is not its supporter but its opponent.

In a show of solidarity, several groups of Indian expatriates in the UK waved ‘we are with the Indian High Commission’ banners outside India House in London last Tuesday following pro-Khalistan demonstrations. In recent times, it was seen in London how Khalistani elements started dominating and an attempt was made to hoist the tricolor on the Indian High Commission. But the Indian authorities did not allow the tricolor to come down and today a bigger tricolor is flying proudly there. We saw that initially the British government was reluctant to take action against those who created ruckus outside the Indian High Commission, but when the security outside the British High Commissioner’s house in India was reduced, then immediately the security of the Indian High Commission in London was also increased. Scotland Yard police also swung into action to take action against the rioters. The issue arose in the British Parliament and the ministers had to assure the safety of the Indians. Apart from this, many UK security officers are continuously patrolling there and Metropolitan Police vehicles are standing outside ‘India Place’.

The interesting thing is that this time the Khalistan movement is less visible in India and more abroad. The anti-India activities of Khalistanis abroad are continuously increasing. Now supporters of Khalistan vandalized the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Canada and wrote slogans against India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi with spray paint on it. According to reports, the Khalistanis have also written many derogatory things on the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of India.

Those creating chaos outside India are not thinking that this is a changing India. Anti-India act will not be tolerated anywhere in the world. The Delhi Police has registered a case for the protest that took place in front of the Indian High Commission in London on March 19. The central government is also considering to arrest those Indians sitting in other countries and bring them to India and cancel their passports after identifying them. Action can also be taken against Khalistan supporters who have taken citizenship abroad.

Today it is being said on a large scale in India about those agitating in support of Khalistan that where were the Khalistani when the Sikhs were running away from Afghanistan. Gurdwaras were being attacked there. Why didn’t these agitators become active to expel the Sikhs from Afghanistan? The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi came forward as an angel for the Sikhs there including thousands of Indian citizens stranded in Afghanistan. Thanks to the efforts of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Air Force, three copies of Sri Guru Granth Sahib along with more than 250 Afghan Sikhs were also brought safely to India by Indian Air Force aircraft. Not only this, Prime Minister Modi announced to celebrate December 26 as ‘Veer Bal Diwas’ from last year to pay tribute to the four sons of 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh. This work could not have happened even if Zail Singh, a Sikh, was the President and Dr. Manmohan Singh, another Sikh, was the Prime Minister.

Union Ministry of Minority Affairs announced a rehabilitation package for Sikh riot victims on August 05, 2021. In this, a provision was made to give Rs 3.50 lakh to the dependents of each deceased and Rs 1.25 lakh to the injured. The rehabilitation package included a monthly pension of Rs 2,500 to widows and elderly relatives of the deceased. He will get this pension for life. The expenditure on pension will be borne by the state government. Earlier in 2014, the Modi government had launched a scheme to provide relief to those killed in the 1984 riots. A provision of Rs 4.5 crore was also made for this in the Union Budget for 2021-22.

After the assassination of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, 127 people lost their lives in the anti-Sikh riots in Uttar Pradesh. The victimized Sikhs allege that the FIR was not even written for several days after the riots. After 35 years of violence, the Yogi Adityanath government of Uttar Pradesh reopened the anti-Sikh riots file in the year 2019. He constituted a Special Investigation Team to investigate 1251 cases related to it. After three years, now the SIT has completed this investigation.

The Modi government made langar tax-free for the first time after independence. Now no GST is levied on Prasad distributed in Gurudwara or religious places or free food like this. Apart from this, CGST and SGST or IGST, as applicable, is nil on Prasadam offered in religious places. Not only this, the central government is also paying attention to the development of Sikh society.

A handful of extremists based outside India may say something, but former Sikh extremists have also started praising the Modi government of India. Former pro-Khalistan leader Jaswant Singh Contractor, who was a big advocate of Khalistani and founder of Dal Khalsa, who runs a separatist group in London, has recently praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Jaswant Singh believes that PM Modi has done a lot for Sikhs and Sikhism. The contractor said in a video interview to news agency ANI that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done a lot of work for the Sikh community and he loves it. He ended the blacklisting of Sikh leaders, got the Kartarpur corridor opened. Talked about Chhote Sahibzade. This statement is a big change in Jaswant Singh’s thoughts. In a conversation with BBC Hindi in London in March 2013, he had said that Sikhs are second class citizens in India and should get a separate country. However, the central government is engaged in furthering the development of the country by taking everyone along, but some miscreants settled abroad are not understanding the truth.

-Ashok Madhup

(The author is a senior journalist)