Monitoring
NEW DEHLI: Hundreds of supporters of Amritpal Singh, a controversial self-styled preacher of India, stormed a police station in the northern Indian state of Punjab last week, demanding the release of an arrested aide.
The mob of enraged young men, many armed with guns and swords, broke down barricades and only left after being assured that the aide would be released. Police later claimed they could not stop the crowd because they were carrying a shield made of a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book revered by Sikhs.
India’s attention to the incidents
The events drew national attention to Singh. He says he supports the Khalistan movement for a separate Sikh homeland.
Singh’s appearance also drew comparisons to the man he claims to be inspired by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, accused by the Indian government of leading an armed insurgency for a completely separate Sikh homeland in the 1980s. In 1984, he was killed in the army of India’s controversial Operation Blue Star.
Thousands of people were killed during the insurgency, which lasted about a decade. These included prominent leaders as well as ordinary people targeted by insurgents, while many youths of Sikhs were killed in police-led operations, some of which were later ruled to be staged by Indian courts. The scars of that violence can still be seen in Punjab. However, some argue that Singh’s popularity has been exaggerated.
According to Professor Parminder Singh, who teaches at the state’s Guru Nanak Dev University, separatism never died completely, it did lose popular support in the 1990s. Not everyone in the state agrees with Amritpal Singh’s call for a violent movement. It remains a tiny proportion of the population.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has also stated that “everyone lives in harmony” in the state and that despite attempts to destroy it, there is a “special bond” between communities. While referring to Singh’s supporters, he stated that a handfull of people do not represent Punjab.
