Maybe some misguided youth who were born in the 1990s and who do not know what it was to live and grow up in Punjab in the 1980s. The movement in the 1980s lost o because Sikhs never identified themselves with the movement for a separate homeland. Mind you, even after Operation Bluestar many Sikh Generals in the Indian Army only resigned in protest, imagine what would have happened had they revolted? Their protest was against the Indian States and authorities but not the Indian Nation.
Congress was always unfair to Sikhs since the pre-independence era but the anger against
them has almost faded in the struggle of choosing a lesser enemy. They prefer to vote for
secular political parties rather than trusting communal politics. Punjab is mostly ruled by
the Congress. Captain Amarinder Singh former Chief Minister was once a scion of Patiala
state and former Indian army officer. He was the first Indian parliamentarian; who
resigned as a mark of protest after Operation Blue Star operation in Punjab. But later on
until early 2021 he was Congress veteran and Chaired as CM of Punjab.
Decade old Aam Aadmi Party made their political debut from Punjab, and Sikhs across the globe kept a lot of hopes from them as they thought this new party may deliver some justice to them by releasing political prisoners from Jail. The Aam Aadmi Party turned out to be the biggest disappointment. Instead of sticking to its anti-corruption agenda, AAP got into unwanted politics.
Now Punjab wants peaceful governance and Congress has managed to do so. Above all some political motivators were successful enough in creating a perception in urban voters that AAP is being supported by fringe elements like Khalistani supporters. Some unfortunate events also led to this like the Sucha Singh Chhotepur event. Chotepur was Punjab AAP convener and biggest leader of AAP in Punjab but he was caught selling tickets. In India being good and doing everything right doesn’t guarantee you electoral success. Even those who considered AAP to be a reasonable alternative did not vote for AAP, in apprehension that Akalis may return to power hence those irritated with Akalis and supporters of AAP also voted Congress.
Apart from political dilemmas and social stigmas, India Sikhs are still fighting for their
religious and traditional identity. Why are they not allowed to disassociate with all other
beliefs and adhere to Sikhism? Why do we try to establish their ancestry in Hinduism?
Why is the Indian media also mostly biased against their faith? Why is their descent
translated as Khalistan?
To some extent, the politically motivated media houses hardly have anything to offer when
it comes to the Minorities of India. Hindu supremacy is the prime agenda of mainstream
media channels. Spewing venom against minorities, and creating disturbing narratives about
them is routine assignments of some sold-out media houses. And in this race recent
victims are Sikh farmers; their protest was deduced as Pakistan-sponsored and Khalistan
sympathizer’s event. There are many Sikhs who proudly serve India, they belong here and
calling them terrorists was disgraceful.
During farmer’s agitation one old farmer said on the allegation of extremism, मै अपने जमीर
और जमीन दोनों से ईमानदार हु, कैसे यकीं दिला दू? (I am honest with both my conscience and
my motherland; how can I make one believe?) The right to protest against the
establishment is a fundamental right in Democracy. We all Indians have equal rights in
this democratic country. Thankfully some parallel media houses were bold enough to echo
farmers’ voices and gather support across the globe. These are the people who are holding
democratic values against authoritarian elements.
India’s Sikh population stands at 20.8 million, which is 1.72 per cent of the country's total
population. Sikhism is the fourth largest religion in India contributing 1.7% of the
population and has existed since the late 15th century. The Sikhs are present in all over the
parts of India and their contribution is equally huge to all the state’s economy and welfare.
During Farmer’s agitation, the headlines were made to project Sikh farmers as Khalistani
terrorists’, showing one viral video of a Sikh man threatening Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, the entire agitation was branded as an anti-BJP protest. To counter this bias and
menace, the agitating Sikhs came up with their own social media page called Kisan Ekta
Morcha. Facebook temporarily shut down that page, and then they printed their news and
circulated amongst farmers. Kisan Ekta Morcha' was the official update on the agitation,
and was restored in three hours following social media outrage.
Social media played an important role in Farmer’s agitation. While all kinds of media
either refused to show them initially, and later on to demoralize farmers they were
peddling fake news. Likewise, YouTube gave voices to agitating farmers. The powerful use
of social media and the strong will of farmers finally forced our PM to repeal the farm Laws.
Some see it as a political gimmick ahead of elections in crucial states. Some farmers are
still agitating for a complete conclusion.
Till today no media person was made accountable for making those derogatory statements
and running those schemes. No media dared to talk, about what has forced the Modi
government to repeal those laws? Some Media anchors were seen crying in their
programmes questioning Modi’s soft approach, some went on tomtoming how kindhearted
Modi is but none of them were absolutely responsible for drawing accurate conclusions.
The seva by Sikhs was translated as picnic, the voices of Sikhs were anticipated as voice
of Khalistan extremists and the participation of Sikh women was fated as sold-out
protesters. Film actors, media channels, anchors, IT cells and celebrities were unleashed
against one community, and finally, most of the common citizens started believing that the
protesting Sikhs were terrorists.
This is not the one and only issue, be it of releasing political prisoners or Sikh agitators,
the media either remained mute or displayed their double standards. When Sadhvi Pragya was
released from jail for health reasons Congress leaders coined a term called “Hindu
Terrorists.” Entire media, social media, political leaders, Hindu religious preachers and
Sanyasis all took to the prime-time debates with rabble-rousing media anchors by calling it
‘Hindu-phobia.’ Some went on cursing the fate of other minorities in India. I am not
passing any judgement here, but if we feel bad to be coined as terrorists then why the
minorities of India had to be tagged arbitrarily?
