Amritpal Singh
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Briefly
As in 2023 Feb
IP Singh, February 26, 2023: The Times of India
It wasn’t the first time a police station in India was attacked by a mob, but what happened at Ajnala near Amritsar has attracted much more attention as the ‘action’ was led by Amritpal Singh, who openly espouses the cause of Khalistan.
Briefly, his associate Lovepreet Singh Toofan had been arrested for allegedly abducting and assaulting a person who was strongly critical of Amritpal Singh. Amritpal and his armed supporters barged inside Ajnala police station using sticks and swords. Later in the day, the Punjab Police announced it had found evidence of Lovepreet’s innocence. Lovepreet walked free on Friday and Amritpal said he stood vindicated as his associate was wrongly implicated. The government’s handling of the case is now under scrutiny.
Meteoric Rise
Born in Amritsar’s Jallupur Khera village in 1993, Amritpal studied up to class 12, and in 2012 left India to work with his uncle’s transport company in Dubai.
He came to the notice of Punjab’s politicians and police only six months ago when he was anointed the head of Waris Punjab De, an organisation founded by actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu. Amritpal and his supporters claim Sidhu, who died in a road accident in February 2022, was murdered by the ‘state’. Amritpal never met Sidhu in person but says he was strongly influenced by him in their online interactions. On Sidhu’s first death anniversary a week back, Amritpal said he had stopped trimming his hair on the late actor’s advice in November 2021.
On September 25 last year, Amritpal went through a formal Sikh baptism at Anandpur Sahib to become an ‘Amritdhari Sikh’. Punjab observers were surprised by the turnout at the ceremony. Just four days later – on September 29 – large numbers of Sikhs again gathered to witness Amritpal’s ‘dastar bandi’ (turban-tying ceremony to indicate the taking on of a responsibility) at Rode village, the birthplace of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, whose name is inseparable from the Punjab militancy.
‘Bhindranwale 2’
Amritpal’s transformation from a clean-shaven transporter in Dubai to a separatist Sikh leader with a flowing beard has been swift. He dresses like Bhindranwale and some are already calling him Bhindranwale 2. In a recent speech, he said he was questioned by the ‘agencies’ for quite some time when he landed at Amritsar airport. A Sikh youth being questioned about returning to his homeland is a sign of ‘ghulami’ (slavery), he added.
He has been espousing the cause of Khalistan on his Facebook timeline for quite some time. Why is it wrong for a Sikh to demand Khalistan if advocacy of a Hindu Rashtra is not punished, he asks.
Unlike Bhindranwale, Amritpal did not attend a Sikh seminary and came into religious preaching after mainly expressing himself on political issues. His lack of training shows up when he speaks on theological issues. Yet, the masses flock to him for his ‘clear and courageous’ political views.
Scratching Old Wounds
Amritpal had backed Deep Sidhu when others vilified him for the Red Fort protests on Republic Day of 2021 during the farmers’ agitation, and it is Sidhu’s large following that has propelled his recent rise. But Sidhu’s own popularity was rooted in the growing restlessness of the Sikhs over the past decade. Outrages on their faith, such as the Bargari sacrilege and the Behbal Kalan police firing of 2015, have gone unpunished, they feel. And while Punjab has been calm on the surface for almost 30 years, the wounds of the 1980s and ’90s have not healed.
In an interview to a Punjabi channel, Amritpal had said he was drawn to Sikh activism after the Bargari and Behbal Kalan incidents. His strong stance, including on Christian pastors, has also added to his popularity among Sikhs.
Filling A Vacuum
There’s also a vacuum in Sikh politics as the Bargari and Behbal Kalan outrages occurred on Shiromani Akali Dal’s watch, which is the political organisation of the Sikhs. That explains the party’s rout in last year’s state elections, winning just three seats in the 117-seat Assembly.
The jathedar of Akal Takht (highest temporal authority in Sikhism) and the gurdwara management body SGPC have also considerably lost their hold on Sikh affairs as they are seen to follow Parkash Singh Badal’s diktats and agenda. In fact, former Akal Takht jathedar Gurbachan Singh was derided for pardoning dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in 2015. Similar circumstances in the 1970s had enabled Bhindranwale’s rise. Sikhs at that time were disenchanted with the Akali Dal, especially after 13 of them were killed in clashes with Nirankaris in Amritsar on April 13, 1978, under Badal’s government. Now, another power vacuum is making it easy for Amritpal to capture the community’s imagination.
Popular But Divisive
In his new avatar, Amritpal initially said Sikhs should bury their internal issues to unite for the larger political goal. However, with a not-so-veiled dig at a missionary Sikh preacher, he revived the first fault line and bitterness between Sikh missionaries and traditional groups, who have differences on the interpretation of Sikh texts and issues of ‘maryada’ (code of conduct).
Some actions of his supporters, such as burning chairs kept in a Jalandhar gurdwara for the old and disabled last December, have also divided opinion. Now also several Sikhs are raising questions on his taking the Bir of Guru Granth Sahib to Ajnala police station. Some said his camp used it as a shield.
While the Ajnala violence was not communal, the incident has given rise to apprehensions. Sikhs and Hindus have no major social and religious contradictions and are seen together at Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple), but at the political level a fault line exists that makes Hindus wary of radical Sikh politics.
Official Dilemma
With his growing clout, Amritpal has acquired the trappings of power. Armed supporters guard him round the clock. His words are lapped up on social media and his interviews push up Punjabi channels’ viewership. When word got out that he was marrying a Sikh woman from Britain, TV crews rushed to the gurdwara and he had to change the venue to escape the cameras. Does Punjab’s officialdom have a plan to “contain” Amritpal?
“We find ourselves in a tricky situation: If we act against him without any solid ground, he can become even bigger, and if we just watch, he has the potential to grow more. We are waiting for him to commit blunders which will reduce his base in the community,” said a senior police officer on the condition of anonymity. Sources said the political establishment is on the same page.
His politics
2024, July: Bhindranwale 2.0 or anti-drug crusader?
July 6, 2024: The Times of India
He is no more our son. He is now the son of Punjab, son of the panth,” Tarsem Singh, father of MP Amritpal Singh, had told TOI while he campaigned in the heat and dust of May as his son, slapped with NSA, contested as an independent from the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat from jail in faraway Assam.
The 31-year-old pro-Khalistan preacher, who heads Waris Punjab De, won by a margin of close to 2 lakh votes. His popularity surprised political pundits.
It’s been a turbulent phase with law enforcing agencies for Amritpal after returning to Punjab two years ago from Dubai, where he went when he was 19 to join his uncle’s business. After being on the run, he was finally arrested on April 23 last year after a 37-day chase.
“He came back to Punjab and began working with the youth to start an anti-drugs campaign. He got lot of love and support from youth for this. The younger people heeded his call. Many began shunning the habit and following the path shown by our Gurus once again. When he was arrested, there was angst among people, particularly youths, across Punjab,” Tarsem said.
Amritpal also raised a range of issues — from “Guru sahib ki beadabi” (sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib) to water issues and Bandi Singhs (Sikh prisoners) — that drew people to him. It was the daring act by Amritpal on Feb 23 last year — laying siege to the Ajnala police station along with thousands of supporters against the arrest of his aide and injuring six cops with swords and sticks — that got him behind bars. He was arrested from Rode, the village of Khalistani leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
Barely nine months before his arrest, after his return from Dubai in August 2022, Amritpal got formally baptised at Anandpur Sahib to become an Amritdhari Sikh (pure Sikh). It was a complete transformation for a person who was earlier seen dressed in western clothes. Sporting a flowing beard, he began wearing a turban and robe similar to that of Bhindranwale. Some even started calling him Bhindranwale 2.0.
Even his ‘dastar bandi’ (turban-tying ceremony to bestow responsibility) in Sept 2022 was held at Bhindranwale’s village. It was then that he began espousing the cause of Khalistan. In Dec 2022, Amritpal’s supporters vandalised two gurudwaras in Kapurthala and Jalandhar, pulling out chairs and sofas and setting the furniture ablaze. “Can we sit at the same level as Guru Sahib?” Amritpal said.
On Feb 10, 2023, Amritpal tied the knot with UK-based Kirandeep Kaur in a simple ceremony in his native village, Jallupur Khera, in Amritsar.
A little over two months later, he was taken to Dibrugarh jail post his arrest after being slapped with NSA. He has been incarcerated along with nine of his aides since then. His detention was extended by Punjab govt for another year, till April 22, 2025, on the ground that he has continued to indulge in “subversive and separatist activities prejudicial to the security of the state and maintenance of public order even in Dibrugarh central jail”. TNN
YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS
2024
Rebuffs mother on ideology, after being sworn in as MP
Yudhvir Rana, July 8, 2024: The Times of India
Amritsar : Jailed Punjab MP and radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh on Sunday rebuffed his mother Balwinder Kaur’s purported defence of his ideology, saying he was “deeply hurt” by her remark that “speaking up for the state and its youth does not make my son a Khalistan supporter”.
“While I believe what my Mataji said was unintentional, such remarks should not come from my family or anyone who supports me,” Amritpal, who had been granted parole for his swearing-in last Friday, said in a statement put out by his team.
“Dreaming of ‘khalsa raj’ isn’t a crime but a source of pride. We cannot forsake the path for which lakhs of Sikhs sacrificed their lives.”
Amritpal, who won the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat, said if he ever had to “choose between the Panth and my family”, he would pick the former.
The Waris Punjab De chief recounted a historical event where Sikhs accompanying Banda Singh Bahadur were martyred. “To save her 14-year-old son, a mother disowned him by saying he was not a Sikh. In response, the youth said, ‘If this woman says I am not a Sikh, then I say she is not my mother’,” he said.
Balwinder wrote on social media that her remark about Amritpal being referred to as a “pro-Khalistan” preacher had been “extracted” out of her by the media. “I am not a politician. I only sought to say that Amritpal has taken oath under the Constitution and the onus is on him to decide his next course of action,” she said.
Balwinder and her husband Tarsem Singh met the jathedar of Takht Damdama Sahib, Giani Harpreet Singh, earlier in the day to discuss, among other things, how to fight for his release from jail in Assam’s Dibrugarh.
Giani Harpreet objected to the extension of Amritpal’s incarceration under the National Security Act and the manner in which he was sworn in while on parole, sources said.
