Rise of Amritpal Singh and rants on ‘Clubhouse’: From getting ladies concerned, to farmers’ protest and establishing ‘lone wolf’ cells working for Khalistan

In September 2021, Deep Sidhu laid the muse of Waris Punjab De, intending to connect with the lots and propagate his agenda to a memento nation, i.e. Khalistan. Amritpal Singh and several other others joined palms with him in his mission. With his loss of life in an accident in February 2022, there was a right away have to take management of the organisation, and that is the place Amritpal Singh rose to fame.

He was introduced as the brand new chief of Waris Punjab De quickly after Deep Sidhu’s loss of life. At that point, he was in Dubai and moved again to India in September 2022. Since then, he has been actively following the footsteps of Khalistani terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. From apparel to ideology and points to speeches, all the things that Amritpal Singh is doing reminds one in every of Bhindranwale. Interestingly, Deep Sidhu might have walked on the identical path had he not died within the accident final 12 months.

When Bhindranwale began propagating his ideology within the late Nineteen Eighties, it took him years to connect with the lots. However, in comparison with him, Deep Sidhu and after him, Amritpal Singh are shifting at a a lot sooner tempo. One essential facet of Amritpal Singh’s recognition that Bhindranwale lacked in his time was social media and the web. At that point, the media was the one approach for Bhindranwale to propagate his concepts to the lots. Otherwise, his ideology was restricted to those that got here to take heed to his speeches. His followers did propagate his concepts, however it was not as broadly influential as social media might be.

If Bhindranwale wished to have 10,000 individuals to come back and take heed to his speech, he would have wanted not less than a few weeks and sort out with the native administration to make all of the preparations. However, if Amritpal desires to connect with 10,000 individuals, all he has to do is go dwell on Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, Instagram or another platform, and he can do it inside hours.

During a dialogue, whereas talking about bringing the Sikh diaspora throughout the globe collectively, he stated, “We are 800+ people here in this discussion. It would have required months of preparations if we wanted to do this a decade ago.” He emphasised utilizing know-how to convey the diaspora collectively and urged his followers to construct native cells of Waris Punjab De. He stated, “You will run those cells. We will help you initially, but you will play a major part in running the cell successfully and raising the issues of Sikhs.” He urged to open such cells throughout the globe. “If a Sikh is facing a problem in France, all Sikhs [linked to cells across the world] will be able to raise their voice,” he stated. He additionally urged everybody to maintain the ‘Panth’ or Sikh faith above all the things and plan their lives and life selections accordingly, together with marriage.

Every chief and activist is aware of how essential it’s to connect with their followers. Amritpal Singh isn’t any totally different. When Deep Sidhu was alive, he used to have Facebook dwell periods, discussions on Clubhouse and perhaps on Twitter areas. Similarly, after Amritpal took over Waris Punjab De, he has been related to the Sikh youth by way of social media.

Recently, OpIndia got here throughout Clubhouse replays that shed some gentle on Deep Sidhu and Amritpal Singh’s discussions with their followers beneath the Waris Punjab De banner. We tracked 4 replays. One had Deep Sidhu because the speaker and Amritpal Singh because the moderator. The dialogue occurred on November 19, 2021, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced that the Three Agriculture Laws can be repealed. The different three replays had been of the discussions that came about after the loss of life of Deep Sidhu. The replays might be checked right here (with Deep Sidhu as the primary speaker moderated by Amritpal Singh dated November 19, 2021), and right here (with Amritpal Singh as the primary speaker dated March 22, 2022, April 19, 2022 and June 16, 2022). Deep Sidhu was killed in a highway accident on February 15, 2022. By the primary dialogue in March, Amritpal Singh was declared the brand new chief of Waris Punjab De.

‘Hund da masla – It is a matter of the existence’

In all of the conversations that we scanned, one factor that each Deep Sidhu and Amritpal Singh stored saying was that it was a matter of existence. They talked about maintaining their identification and faith on the highest and different points like MSP, migration, the so-called imposition of Hindi within the state and many others., as sub-issues. Hours after PM Modi repealed the Agriculture Laws, Sidhu stated that crops and farmer points weren’t the highest precedence for his ‘jathebandi’ or ‘group’. He wished the farmer unions to mix group points with the calls for.

Sidhu identified that Sikhs had been the frontrunner of the farmer protests. Thus, creating a plan that primarily talked about group points was important. Looking on the previous, there was a time when farmer leaders objected to the requires Khalistan throughout protests. Furthermore, Deep Sidhu and his associates weren’t allowed to speak from the stage. Sidhu was not happy with how he was handled, as evident in his tackle on the Clubhouse dialogue.

He stated, “faslan da masla nahi, ae nasal da masla haiga”, which roughly interprets to “it was not about the crops (farmer issues), but it was about the existence of the community”. The thought course of was based mostly on calls for put ahead by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his likes.

Sidhu stated the demand of Khalistan was made a taboo publish January 26 incident at Red Fort in Delhi. He stated the Sikh management was with them until that date. However, Deep Sidhu and his associates had been remoted after the Republic Day menace they created. Notably, after arrest warrants had been issued towards him, Sidhu got here dwell on Facebook on January 28 and threatened to disclose secrets and techniques of farmer union leaders. However, he didn’t communicate a lot about them until his loss of life.

During the dialogue, each Sidhu and Amritpal stated there have been a number of possibilities through the farmer protests to attain what they wished. However, the management working the protests did not take full benefit.

Deep significantly talked about that in discussions with the Singhu Morcha (the farmer leaders sitting on protest on the Singhu border), his group made it clear that their struggle was for the existence of the Sikh group. As the farmer protests moved ahead, their ideology bought extra profound among the many protesters. However, the management was not in sync with their calls for. Post January 26, they sidelined Deep Sidhu and his group to maintain the protests restricted to farmers’ points. “They created propaganda against me,” he claimed.

He additionally focused the Left saying that Sikhs sided with them as they had been towards the central authorities. However, in that course of, Sikh leaders couldn’t adhere to the truth that although the Left was towards PM Modi or the central management earlier than the Modi-led authorities, they’ve all the time been towards the dominance of faith in state issues. The ideological variations with the Left or communists are the explanation Deep Sidhu and Amritpal Singh each expressed disregard in the direction of Bhagat Singh, who allegedly adopted Left ideology all his life.

Speaking about Bhagat Singh, in one of many discussions, Amritpal Singh stated the lifetime of Bhagat Singh was not as glorified because the media and Indian authorities have proven it. “The aim to bring a national hero is always to put your heroes behind, and making Bhagat Singh a national hero had the same aim,” he stated. Singh additional added individuals like Jinda and Sukha ought to be heroes for the youth, not Bhagat Singh, who talked about one nation, one language and one nationwide group. He stated, “If you believe he is your hero, you don’t have any fight with the centre as what Bhagat Singh wanted is the same the central government is aiming at.” He added the explanation Sikhism was fashioned was to do away with ‘Brahmanvad’, which idolising likes of Bhagat Singh can’t obtain.

The hate for Hindus was seen within the discussions at times. At one level, Amritpal stated, “If it is only about ‘roti’, wear Janeu (religious thread worn by Brahmin Hindus), and you will get ‘roti’ and ‘water’ (hinting towards the water issue between Punjab and other states)”.

‘Punjab needs a religion-oriented religion political party’

Sidhu stated that the primary difficulty with the state political events, whether or not Akali Dal or another celebration, was that the management concentrated extra on moving into central politics. He emphasised forming a religion-oriented celebration. He stated that farmers’ moving into politics would by no means achieve momentum in politics as they do no matter their nationwide leaders inform them to do.

‘Create an ecosystem or local cells exclusive for the state’

One of essentially the most thrilling elements of the discussions was the format Deep Sidhu and Amritpal Singh mentioned following relating to the enlargement of Waris Punjab De. Many individuals have requested them on social media platforms how they will help unfold Waris Punjab De’s presence throughout Punjab, India and overseas. The plan to create an knowledgeable group and native cells that Deep Sidhu mentioned is being adopted by Amritpal Singh.

In the dialogue with Deep Sidhu after which within the discussions with Amritpal Singh, it’s clear that they’re getting specialists in each discipline to extend their presence in each part of media and society. For instance, each of them talked about getting specialists in authorized, leisure and training onboard to scale back their dependency on the state.

Speaking about spreading the roots of Waris Punjab De, Amritpal Singh urged everybody to kind small teams of their cities, cities and villages. He stated, “Get at least five interested people onboard. Make a list of them with names, mobile numbers, occupations and expertise and send it to us. Our team will review it and, if suited, will give you recognition under Waris Punjab De. Remember, sending us names will not guarantee a reply from us. However, once you have joined the group, you will be contacted whenever we plan an event in your area.”

Interestingly, Amritpal Singh categorically identified that at one level, these smaller teams can be accountable for managing occasions independently with out the intervention of the primary management. That means the smaller teams can be form of “lone wolves”.

Now, it is very important perceive that these discussions had been months previous. They may need already fashioned a number of teams in villages, which is able to clarify how straightforward it was for Amritpal Singh to name a big group of his followers to Ajnala Police Station. It additionally explains how individuals joined him in giant numbers throughout his march in Punjab and the way hundreds reached Golden Temples solely hours after the Ajnala incident.

Speaking concerning the ideological division between those that search Khalistan, in a dialogue, Amritpal Singh stated it’s laborious to vary the ideology of previous teams. “We can ask them to join us, but we should concentrate more on developing our structure and invite [target] youth to join,” he stated. Amritpal stated calling everybody to work collectively typically results in an absence of curiosity in the direction of the trigger ensuing within the demoralisation of the brand new group members. “Youth is not a property of any ideology. They should be guided to stand with the right,” he added.

Amritpal additionally talked about creating Hindu cells of Waris Punjab De and bringing these Punjabi Hindus beneath its umbrella who facet with the demand of Khalistan.

Amritpal Singh hinted at a roadmap to Khalistan with out revealing particulars

During a QA session, when Amritpal was requested concerning the roadmap to attain Khalistan, he categorically denied revealing any particulars. He stated to struggle for “independence”, maintaining the roadmap and plans secretive is crucial. Only the continued actions ought to be within the gentle. Furthermore, he expressed his dismay in the direction of the organisers of farmer protests towards Agriculture Laws and stated those that tried to boost their voices for Khalistan had been banned from the stage. He claimed the difficulty with farm legal guidelines was solely a part of the numerous issues that include “slavery”. “To achieve the dream of an independent state, we must see the problems collectively. If we see and try to solve them individually, the root cause [slavery of India] will remain intact. It is essential to look for the signs of slavery and work collectively to eliminate them,” he stated.

‘State leaders are puppets of central leadership’

When requested concerning the revival of ‘Akali Dal, ‘ he raised two points. First, he said no matter what party comes, it will not solve the problems of Sikhs politically as whoever sits as CM of the state is only a puppet of the central government. Giving examples of the current and previous Chief Ministers, he said none could solve the problems of the Sikhs, and the state’s assets continued to get stolen. Secondly, he talked about reviving the Akali Dal that spoke about ‘Panthak Politics’. He stated for the reason that current Akali Dal has began speaking about Punjabiyat and left Panth behind, it has seen a decline to a degree of non-existence. He emphasised the revival of ‘Panthak politics’.

‘Capitalism is customer-oriented, not region-oriented’

Speaking concerning the new world order and its impact on Sikhs, he stated although capitalism and the brand new world order have an effect on minorities essentially the most, however it’s going to have an effect on everybody to some extent. While majorities will bear the impact, Sikhs shouldn’t have any defend to guard themselves. For instance, KFC Pakistan was pressured to take away the publish in favour of unbiased Kashmir, he stated that company corporations solely take into consideration the shopper base. They don’t care about “morals and ethics”.

He used this concept to oppose the industrialisation of Punjab. According to him, if corporations set up factories in Punjab, it’s going to adversely have an effect on the group.

‘Migrants established in Punjab as part of conspiracy’

Speaking concerning the migration of Sikh youth to different international locations and the so-called “conspiracy” towards Punjab of migration of individuals from different states to Punjab, he steered not talking towards the migration however settling them within the state. He stated, “There is no harm in letting them come from Bihar, Haryana, Himachal and other states to work here. But giving them aadhaar, ration card, and voter card is an attempt to change the state’s demography, and it should be protested.” He claimed that if extra Hindi-speaking individuals settle in Punjab, the federal government will get an excuse to show Hindi and different languages, ultimately harming Punjabi. “We are not against Hindi but the imposition of Hindi on our language. It can be Urdu or any other language,” he claimed.

Later through the dialogue, actor Daljeet Singh Kalsi talked about his expertise as a Sikh worker at a retailer, probably at Elante mall, speaking in Hindi at Elante Mall. When requested, Kalsi claimed there was a clause in his contract with the corporate that he couldn’t communicate in Punjabi. He demanded strict motion towards such orders in Punjab.

‘Get Sikh women involved in the movement’

Speaking concerning the lesser involvement of girls in Sikh politics, he stated Sikh ladies should urge different Sikh ladies to affix the motion. “They have phones. They know how to use social media and the internet. They can at least do social media activism,” he stated. Kalsi additionally talked concerning the difficulty and stated the group wants Sikh lady leaders that may assist in rising involvement.

‘Demand reservation’

Speaking concerning the reservation for Sikhs, he stated the group feels responsible after they speak about a reservation. “It is our right, and we should demand it in education and jobs,” he stated.

‘Support everyone who demands Khalistan’

During a QA session, when requested if Sikhs ought to help the terrorist organisation Sikhs For Justice’s Referendum 2020, Amritpal Singh categorically stated that everybody who’s demanding Khalistan ought to be supported however with warning. He noticed no drawback supporting deemed terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu’s SFJ because it calls for a separate nation for Sikhs.

Not to neglect, SFJ primarily requires hoisting Khalistani flags on authorities institutions. Its followers are notorious for defacing authorities buildings in India and temples in international nations. Even although the federal government of India has declared SFJ a terrorist organisation, Amritpal Singh urged his followers to help them. Furthermore, Amritpal Singh categorically referred to as for help to Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) leaders who opened demand for Khalistan.

The difficulty of Bandi Sikhs

During discussions, Amritpal prolonged help for releasing Sikh prisoners, generally known as Bandi Sikhs. These prisoners had been jailed for involvement in numerous anti-India incidents, together with the assassination of former Chief Minister of Punjab Beant Singh. OpIndia will quickly publish an in depth report on Bandi Sikhs.