The Facts
On Sunday, Amritpal Singh, a Sikh separatist preacher who has been on the run since March 18, was arrested in the northern Indian state of Punjab.
While Singh claimed he had courted arrest, police said he surrendered after being surrounded in Rode village in the state's Moga district and was subsequently taken to Dibrugarh Central Jail in the northeastern state of Assam, where several of his aides are already being held.
The Spin
Narrative A
Amritpal Singh is backed by Pakistan-based Islamist groups and Kashmir-centric terrorist groups. It’s no secret that the Khalistan agenda has primarily been kept alive from foreign soil by Sikh hardliners attempting to revive insurgency in Punjab — India’s only Sikh-majority state — with a massive financial push. The Indian government must come down heavily on all anti-national elements.
Narrative B
Traditional political parties in Punjab have failed to solve long-standing socio-economic crises such as unemployment and drug addiction. The erosion of faith within political parties, and not Amritpal Singh, has revived the demand for a larger religious and social transformation in Punjab. However, Amritpal’s radical posturing and the recent increase in activities of pro-Khalistani forces reflect a dangerous trend that may once again destabilize the state and the country.
Narrative C
Sikhs have faced increasing discrimination in India, especially with the growth of Hindu nationalism. The current treatment of Sikhs in Punjab is nearly identical to that which preceded the 1984 genocide — no wonder the demand for Khalistan has spread over the Sikh diaspora. The longer governments worldwide continue to let India treat a minority community oppressively, the more fervent Sikh protests are likely to become.
