Police action against Amritpal Singh – What is really going on?

By Gurnam Singh | Opinion |

The sudden rise and now apparent fall of Amritpal Singh of Varis Punjab is part of a much larger strategy by the Indian deep state controlled by Hindutva ideologues. Though the Hindutva project has been taking root for decades, the current political developments to destabilize Punjab is a strategy concocted following the famous Indian farmer’s victory against Hindutva corporate capitalism in Dec 2021.

The mobilisation of the farmers across Punjab, Haryana, UP and Rajasthan between 9th Aug 2020 – 11th Dec 2021, led by Punjabi farmers and infused by Sikhi’s revolutionary spirit presented the Hindutva project with its sternest test and one of the many effects of the movement was to restore the respect of Punjab and Sikhs amongst the oppressed classes across India and to give them hope in their struggles against the BJP authoritarian neo-liberal state.

The BJP, realising that the Sikhs of Punjab have always stood against the kinds of sectarian nationalism that they were promoting, needed to develop a new strategy to break the back of Punjabi resistance. After the collapse of Congress, and Akalis in Punjab, despite the victory of Simranjit Singh Maan in the Sangrur constituency, the BJP were well aware that the main obstacle to their dreams of a one-party Hindu Nation-State (Hindu-rashtar) was the Aam Adami Party (AAP). For some years, AAP from nowhere had been gaining strength across the North, particularly in Delhi and Punjab, and against the backdrop of a collapse of Congress, was emerging as the new opposition to BJP power. Moreover, though all political parties were barred from the farmer’s protests, there is no doubt that AAP gained the most benefit through the explicit support of Bhagwant Maan and Arvind Kejriwal.

Taking a leaf out of Indira Gandhi’s political strategy in resurrecting her political career and dislodging the Akalis from power in Punjab during the later 1970s and 80s, they sought to identify and facilitate the rise of a charismatic figure such as Jarnail Singh Bhindranwala and use him to dislodge the AAP. Like Jarnail Singh, Amritpal Singh was a perfect fit. Despite allegations, there is no evidence that the Indian state was directly controlling Bhai Amritpal Singh or his predecessor, the late Deep Singh Sidhu, and the charges that the BJP plants do not stand up to scrutiny.

SEE ALSO: Deep Sidhu: How a Bollywood star became Panjab youth role model and heartbeat of the Panth

There is little doubt that Indian politics is completely infected with Machiavellian thinking where political friends and foes regularly swap places. However, it is very plausible that in Amritpal the BJP saw an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. That is to both further demonise the Sikhs and in doing so break their spirit of resistance whilst at the same time arresting the rise of AAP. It is completely plausible that in this regard, the deaths of Deep Sidhu and Sidhu Moose Wala, along with the crackdown on Amritpal and his supporters, form part of this strategy to mobilise the population in revolt against the AAP Punjab state government. Not only would undermining Bhagwant Maan and his government, by creating the impression that AAP is both incompetent and anti-Sikh would help to galvanise support for a resurrected BJP/Akali alliance in Punjab.

What lends credibility to this scenario is, since Amritpal’s arrest, the number of Sikh political figures from across the spectrum, except for those from Congress and AAP, that have sought to condemn the actions of the Punjab government, whilst tacitly praising Amritpal Singh for inspiring youth away from drugs and towards religion. Most significantly, several Dera’s – socio-religious organizations that hold considerable political influence through vote bank politics in Punjab – appear to be pushing a similar line, namely, to praise Amritpal for his religiosity, whilst remaining at best silent or even praising the BJP for their ‘respect for Sikhi’. Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) head Harmeet Singh Kalka, known to be very close to the BJP, recently made a very guarded statement that reflects this pincer move to isolate the AAP.

The BJP strategy of co-opting Sikhs was put on hold during the Farmer’s protest but it seems to be picking up a pace since. Significantly, even former Khalistanis have been lining up to praise Modi. On 17th March 2023 for instance, the founder of Dal Khalsa and former pro-Khalistan leader UK-based Jaswant Singh Thekedar was reported in the national media as praising ‘the work undertaken and accomplished by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the country’s Sikh community’ (See for example, Organiser, 17th March 2023). And one of the 5 Jathedars that we selected at the Sarbat Khalsa on 10th November 2015, at Chabba village on the outskirts of Amritsar in Punjab, Baljit Singh Daduwal, has in recent months, following the establishment of an independent Haryana Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (HGPC) been singing the praises of Modi and the BJP.

As for the Akali Dal and the recent charges and arrest warrants against father and son, Prakash and Sukhbir Badal lay down a perfect scenario of the BJP moving into Punjab to both save them from prison and resurrect the Akali Dal as a political force. Let’s not forget in the previous elections the Akalis had established coalitions with right-wing Hindu parties, such as BJP and Shiv Sena! In a further attempt to cement the Akali/BJP link has been slogans being raised that AAP are communists in yellow turbans.

Interestingly, the current Quami Insaaf Morcha organised to seek the release of Bandi Singhs (Sikh prisoners ) that began in February has been characterised by some groups associated with Sant Smajh that are sympathetic to the BJP, as a front for communists and over the weeks there has been a definite decline on support for the protest, especially following the attack on SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami after his visit to the morcha on 18th Jan 2023.

So, whilst it is always difficult to predict the likely outcome in what is a volatile situation, I think two scenarios are possible. The first is that Amritpal’s arrest may lead to a popular uprising and a resurgence of some kind of armed militancy in Punjab leading to further state violence and a reaction from newly formed militant groups. This other likely scenario is that we will see continuing state repression coupled with a massive propaganda offensive to defame Amritpal and other Khalistani activists more generally.

The BJP will likely play both sides in sustaining a low-order ferment and chaos in Punjab. The obvious reason is for political gain to defame the AAP in preparation for 2024 in India, which will be electing both members to the Central Government and State Assemblies. Whatever happy, one can only hope that the people of Punjab can see through the dirty politics and learn from the lessons of the Farmers Movement and seek to remain united.

Gurnam Singh is an academic activist dedicated to human rights, liberty, equality, social and environmental justice. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Warwick, UK. He can be contacted at Gurnam.singh.1@warwick.ac.uk

* This is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Asia Samachar.

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