Chandigarh: Breaking his silence on the Punjab Police’s statewide hunt for Khalistan activist Amritpal Singh as the operation entered its fourth day, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann Tuesday said his government has firmly acted against those who intend to spread hatred and violence.
In a video message, Mann said his government would support all efforts aimed at improving education facilities in the state, but will not allow anti-social elements to cause disharmony in Punjab.
ਸਾਡੇ ਲਈ ਪ੍ਰਾਥਮਿਕਤਾ ਕਿਤਾਬਾਂ, ਲੈਪਟਾਪ ਤੇ ਕੰਪਿਊਟਰ ਨੇ, ਨਾ ਕਿ ਕੋਈ ਹਥਿਆਰ…ਅਸੀਂ ਪੰਜਾਬ ‘ਚ ਜੋ ਸਾਡੇ ਨੌਜਵਾਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਗੁੰਮਰਾਹ ਕਰਕੇ ਗਲਤ ਰਸਤੇ ‘ਤੇ ਤੋਰਨ ਦੀ ਕੋਸ਼ਿਸ਼ ਕਰੇਗਾ, ਕਿਸੇ ਕੀਮਤ ‘ਤੇ ਬਰਦਾਸ਼ਤ ਨਹੀਂ ਕਰਾਂਗੇ…
ਸਾਡੇ ਲਈ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੇ 3 ਕਰੋੜ ਪੰਜਾਬੀਆਂ ਦੀ ਸੁਰੱਖਿਆ ਪਹਿਲਾਂ ਹੈ… pic.twitter.com/AHzifi0H3u
— Bhagwant Mann (@BhagwantMann) March 21, 2023
While the CM is now patting his back over the police action on Amritpal, until Saturday — the day the search began — his government appeared to be a silent observer of the preacher and his radicalised supporters’ free run in the state.
Amritpal first came into the spotlight on 29 September last year, after he became the new head of ‘Waris Punjab De’, a social organisation founded by late Punjabi actor and lawyer Deep Sidhu. During his dastarbandi (turban tying ceremony) in Rode village, he had made a speech about the idea of Khalistan, a separate Sikh state.
In his subsequent speeches, media interactions and interviews, he made it very clear that he was not just working for social reformation through drug de-addiction or the spread of Sikh religion through Amrit Sanchar (baptisation), but also for the self-determination of Sikhs in the form of a separate Sikh state, Khalistan.
A series of law and order incidents and subsequent demands for police action followed. However, cops did not act against Amritpal until a complaint of assault was lodged against him and his men last month, which resulted in the latter laying siege to Ajnala police station.
ThePrint reached Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Headquarters Sukhchain Singh Gill, who is also the spokesperson of the Punjab Police, via phone calls and messages but both offices were unavailable for a comment. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
Also Read: Khalistan ideologue Amritpal’s onward march in Punjab, guns & all, aims to ‘spread Sikhism’
From remarks on Christ to Ajnala police station siege
The long rope given to Amritpal is evident from several instances involving the radical preacher since last October. On 17 October, members of the Christian community took to the streets of Jalandhar to protest against his remarks about Jesus Christ. Speaking at a religious function, he purportedly said: “The lord of the Christians could not save himself from the cross.” He even asked people not to allow pastors preaching Christianity to enter their villages.
Hamid Masih, president of the Punjab Christian Movement, had demanded registration of an FIR against Amritpal on grounds of hurting religious sentiments and trying to disturb communal harmony.
Despite the day-long protest at Jalandhar, the police did not act against Amritpal, who went on to reiterate his comments about Jesus Christ. “I do not care if an FIR is lodged against me but I will speak what I believe in,” he said at another religious function shortly after the Jalandhar protest.
That same month, the police had also received a written complaint from freelance journalist Bhagat Singh Doabi, who alleged that Amritpal and his men had threatened him with dire consequences and had also been stalking his family. Doabi had in his complaint attached what he said was audio evidence of Amritpal threatening and verbally abusing him. Later, during an interview, Doabi claimed that the police were not taking any action against Amritpal.
After the daylight murder of right-wing leader Sudhir Suri in Amritsar on 4 November, a car that allegedly belonged to the accused and carried a poster of a rally of Amritpal, was found. The arrested attacker had allegedly met Amritpal and had attended his samagams, according to the police. Even as the family of the victim blamed Amritpal, demanding action against him. However, the police did not question him.
Days later, the police put Amritpal under house arrest in Singhawala village near Moga to avoid a clash between his and Suri’s supporters in Jalandhar.
The police also failed to act against Amritpal when he and his men vandalised gurdwaras during the first Khalsa Vaheer, or religious march, in November-December. Throughout the Vaheer, Amritpal, through his speeches, asked Sikh youth to prepare to lay down their lives for the cause of Sikhism. He also encouraged them to carry weapons.
On 9 December, Amritpal’s men removed furniture from the sanctum sanctorum of a gurdwara in Kapurthala district and set them on fire, saying that no member of the sangat (congregation) is allowed to sit on a raised seat or platform in the presence of the Guru Granth Sahib (considered a living Guru by the Sikhs).
On 13 December, they removed chairs and benches and set those on fire at the Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha at Model Town in Jalandhar citing the same reason. On 18 December, Amritpal and his supporters destroyed memorial structures (marhi) at a gurdwara in Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar district. He said that there was no place for any individual setting up a structure in the gurdwara in the memory of his ancestor.
However, despite growing demands from opposition leaders that action be taken against Amritpal and his men, the police did not act.
The first action of some sort against Amritpal came on 18 January this year, when his bodyguard Varinder Singh Johal alias Fauji was arrested for firing a weapon in the air. The video of the act had gone viral.
Amritpal, who had just been discharged from a hospital in Amritsar, visited the police station along with a handful of his supporters to demand Fauji’s release. Fauji was released from jail on 24 January, according to a Facebook post by one of Amritpal’s supporters.
No action was taken against Amritpal when, during an interaction with mediapersons on 21 February, he appeared to threaten Union Home Minister Amit Shah, saying he would meet the same fate as former prime minister Indira Gandhi. Indira was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984 to avenge Operation Blue Star, as part of which she had ordered Army personnel to enter the Golden Temple in Amritsar to clear it of militants.
That same month, the Waris Punjab De chief, according to an ANI report, said he did not believe in the Constitution, nor was he a citizen of India, and referred to the Indian passport as merely a “travel document”.
The first known FIR against Amritpal Singh was lodged at Ajnala on 16 February on the complaint of Varinder Singh, a resident of Chamkaur Sahib, who claimed that the radical preacher and his men had kidnapped and assaulted him for speaking against them. Apart from Amritpal, another 25 supporters were also booked in the case. Although Amritpal was not arrested, his associate Lovepreet Singh alias Toofan was picked up by the police.
All hell broke loose after that and Amritpal went on a major offensive against the Punjab Police, issuing an open threat that he would storm the Ajnala police station if Toofan is not released within the deadline set by him.
On 23 February, Amritpal and hundreds of his supporters laid siege to the Ajnala police station, taking the sacred Guru Granth Sahib with them. His supporters clashed with the police and left only after a written assurance was given to them that Toofan would be released and the FIR against Amritpal and his men would be reviewed.
Toofan was released from jail the next day, and Amritpal led a “victory procession” to his village.
During a press conference following the incident, DGP Gaurav Yadav promised that action would be taken against Amritpal and others, but the statewide search for them only began Saturday.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
Also Read: Asked about Amritpal & Khalistan, Punjab CM Mann speaks of mohalla clinics, schools & steel plants