Amritpal Singh Sandhu Arrested, Khalistan Revives

 Here is some news from India. 

Amritpal Singh Sandhu - Bhindranwale's successor? 

Fugitive Sikh separatist Amritpal Singh arrested: Indian police

Khalistani separatist Amritpal Singh 30 yrs, surrenders in Moga
Singh handed himself in early Sunday in Moga, Punjab
(OSTB : Moga is the home district (Rode village) of Jarnail Singh BHINDRANWALE)
Amritpal preached creation of Khalistan, a separate Sikh homeland

Singh raided police station in Feb after his aide was arrested 
Singh on the run since March 18 after escaping from police
Authorities cut off internet in Sikh-majority Punjab for days 
police also arrested 100 followers, banned gatherings 
Singh called police operations "attack on Sikh community"

1980s-90s Punjab (58% Sikh, 39% Hindu) rocked by pro Khalistan violence 
protests by Sikhs outside Indian consulates in Britain, Canada, US
Sikh demonstrators smashed windows in San Francisco, Ontario
prominent Sikh Canadians criticised crackdown, including MP Jagmeet Singh
India summoned foreign diplomats to press for security at Indian missions 
India complained to foreign govts about Sikh hardliners among Indian diaspora
Amritpal Singh's videos on Twitter accounts from UK, Canada 
Sikh diaspora reviving Khalistan insurgency with massive financial push - AFP

My Comments : Punjab in India is home to about 16-20 million Sikhs. In the 1980s the Sikh people (not all) had a charismatic leader called Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale who led the Khalistan movement in Punjab. Jarnail Singh was born in the village of Rode in the district of Moga in the Punjab. He was killed at the age of 37 yrs during the siege of the Golden Temple at Amritsar.  

A critical actor involved at that time was Ajit Doval who went undercover as a government spy to infiltrate the siege. Ajit Doval is now National Security Advisor to the Indian PM with the rank of Cabinet Minister.  He has handled many separatists, insurgencies, independence movements from Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Kashmir, Punjab, the Maoist Naxalites etc.

Is Khalistan a separatist movement, an insurgency or an independence movement? These are debateable by the people involved.

These separatist movements, insurgencies etc are never ending. The Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam insurgencies (north east India) are never ending. The Maoist Naxalites are perhaps the only trans-Indian separatists who are still active across eight states in central and southern India. 

Once in a while they get thrashed or defeated by the central government. For example the Khalistan movement sort of died with the death of Bhindranwale in 1984. But since the underlying grievances or differences are not repaired (or cannot be fixed) then these movements flare up again. Amritpal Singh was not even born when Bhindranwale was killed in 1984.

The same for independence movements elsewhere like in Scotland and Northern Ireland which have never gone away permanently.

India is even more complicated. Firstly there is no real 'country' called India. Today's India is a republic that is a 'union' of different peoples who are of different languages. The people in the northern part of the country refer to India as Bharat. The Urdu speaking Muslims in the north refer to Hindustan. These names are not common in the southern end of the country where people identify more as belonging to Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Kerala etc. I have never heard my Tamil relatives refer to a Bharat or Hindustan. Of course when they apply for passports, speak to foreigners etc they refer to India. But that is a more modern usage - perhaps amplified by the British. In its etymology India, Hind, Indus, Sind appear to come from the word Sindhu. And so on).

But the bottom line is the nation is too diverse. Plus 'India' has been 'breaking up' for a long time.

The Indian sub-continent stretched from Afghanistan in the west to the Myanmar coast in the east (where the Rohingyas live)  and Sri Lanka in the south. Before Islam, Afghanistan was Hindu and Buddhist. The Sikh Maharaja Ranjit Singh ruled Kabul in the early 1800s (and I think he was the last). 

But over the centuries 'India' has broken up. 

Afghanistan has become quite identifiably different from India but there are old historical links that can never be broken. 

Pakistan broke away from India and became West Pakistan (Punjabi dominant) and East Pakistan (Bengali). But the Bengalis in East Pakistan did not like the "hegemony" of the Punjabis from West Pakistan. So in 1971 East Pakistan broke away and became Bangladesh and West Pakistan became just Pakistan. 

After the arrival of the western colonisers (Portugese, Dutch) Sri Lanka was 'lost' to Tamil Nadu whose kings once ruled Sri Lanka.  Plus the Sinhalese majority was racially, linguistically and religiously different from the Tamils.

There are also 'intra-State' splits in India. The eastern state of Assam was forced to split internally when the Mizo people wanted to be 'independent' of Assam "hegemony". Hence in 1972 Mizoram became a separate state but still within the union of India. 

So through history the 'region of India' has not been able to hold on to its territory on a permanent basis. Because the people who inhabit this region are different from each other. Especially linguistically and religiously. 

This is what is going on now with the Khalistan revival in the Punjab.  This story is not going to end anytime soon.

Conclusion : But why now? The answer is the BJP. The Bharata Janatiya Party of prime minister Narendra Modi which has invoked the ideology of Hindutva.  That has to be discussed another day. 

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.