Hello, friends! Punjab police began the chase to arrest Khalistani separatist Amritpal Singh on 18th March. Since then, the National Security Act was invoked And more than 150 people have been arrested. But Amritpal and his associates have gone into hiding. A filmy, Dhoom-style chase has been going on for the last several days. Amritpal Singh changes his rides, From Mercedes to Maruti to motorcycles. He changes his outfits. From a long kurta to shirt-pant and black goggles. Imagine Dhoom’s music playing in the background. Uttarakhand’s police conducted several search operations at the Indo-Nepal border After the Intelligence report that he might be trying to flee the country. But the question is, will catching Amritpal Singh end this problem? It’s difficult to answer. Because if you remember the film Dhoom 2, Where Hrithik Roshan plays a thief. Even so, after the film, some considered Hritik to be the hero. Something similar is happening in the case of Amritpal Singh. Several journalists and media organisations interviewed Amritpal Singh, supposedly, to counter his propaganda, But the effect of the interview backfired. Look at the comments on the interview by India Today. “Totally different that what I thought. He’s really intellectual. Finally, some great discussions on sensitive topics. Long live Amritpal Singh Ji." Some people believe that Punjab should be sovereign. “I’m not frightened of Amritpal Singh, rather I like his thoughts and he is an admirable person, my respect for him has gone up. being Hindu, I’m saying this." Amritpal has been quite successful in misguiding some people. This isn’t limited to online comments only. Its effect was seen in real life and outside India as well. We witnessed how in London, some Khalistanis took down the Indian flag from the Indian High Commission to put up the Khalistani flag. In San Fransico, some pro-Khalistani protesters attacked the Indian Consulate. And there were some pro-Khalistani protests in front of the Australian Parliament as well. However, the Australian and Canadian envoys have explicitly stated that Australia and Canada do not support the demand for Khalistan or any referendum, they stand for a united India. But in India, we saw some politicians who openly support the demand for Khalistan. For example, Simranjit Singh Mann. A sitting Member of Parliament from Sangrur. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwat Mann Singh became the MP from this seat But when he was appointed as the Chief Minister
the seat became vacant. Elections were held and Simranjit Singh Mann defeated the AAP candidate Gurmail Singh, with a narrow margin of 6,000 votes. I’m not that the majority of Sikhs are pro-Khalistani. In fact, it's the opposite. Most Sikh people have openly opposed the demand for Khalistan. "You know, Sikhs living outside India a large, major, majority of Sikhs, support Punjab, support development of Punjab. within the framework of India." "Sikh community is staging a protest outside the UK High Commission. enraged over pro-Khalistani protestors who pulled down the national flag." But at the same time, it cannot be ignored that people like Amritpal Singh have been successful in misleading a section of people. Very few people have tried to counter these arguments in a factual and logical manner. One way of delegitimising Amritpal can be To call it a Pakistani conspiracy backed by ISI. It won’t actually be wrong, Because intelligence agencies report that Amritpal has links to the SFJ, And was trained by ISI in Georgia. But does this mean that had there been no links between Amritpal and ISI His demand would have been legitimate? In this video, come let’s look at an undeniable, factual counter to the Khalistan propaganda. "After hundreds of his supporters overran a police station, near the state's Amritsar city in a demonstration against his arrest." "Amritpal Singh is the person who has been adamant in his demand for Khalistan." "Today, in Delhi, outside the British Consulate, a large crowd from the Sikh community, protested against Britain." "The Sikhs say that India is their pride, and the tricolour national flag is their dignity." "The idea to demand Khalistan emerged in 1920. During the discussion of dividing the country into India and Pakistan. Then the idea and the name Khalistan emerged." Some months ago no one knew Amritpal Singh. His popularity skyrocketed suddenly after the Ajnala incident. To some extent, I will credit the Indian media for this. The media played this incident for days, Discussed it repeatedly And then started interviewing Amritpal. In Punjab’s Amritsar district, lies Ajnala police station That was attacked by Amritpal’s supporters about a month ago. His supporters carried swords and weapons and barged into the police station and Told the police that they were wrongfully imprisoning Amritpal’s associate Lovepreet Singh. Amritpal claims that the violence lasted only 8 seconds. In his opinion, his supporters didn’t do anything wrong. They were there to free Lovepreet Who was imprisoned on false charges. But it is clear that either Amritpal has no idea about law and order Or he doesn’t respect law and order. Here, not only Amritpal, But most Indian public, know very little about it. Bollywood films or Tamil films, Indian cinema as a whole is full of vigilante films. Amitabh Bachchan in Shahenshah, Nana Patekar in Kranti Veer. Sunny Deol in Big Brother. Akshay Kumar in Gabbar is Back. Salman Khan in Kick and Jai Ho. Rajnikath in Shivaji. Kamal Hassan in Indian. Audiences are shown that if there’s injustice somewhere Then a so-called hero should come forward and take the law into his hands And that doing so is absolutely justifiable. Outside cinemas, people follow this vigilantism. Whether it's some thugs beating up couples on Valentine’s Day, Or violence in the name of protecting cows. So it is not surprising that Amritpal’s followers believed that since something wrong was happening to someone, it would be the right thing to barge into the police station and attack them. I’m not saying that our police or our court system works spotlessly. Obviously, we hear news like this: Vishnu Tiwari, a resident of Agra spent 20 years in jail, after which he was declared innocent by the Allahabad High Court. Three Kashmiri men were found innocent after being imprisoned for 23 years. Bala Singh, a man from UP, was imprisoned for 10 years for a murder committed by his brother. These aren’t some minor exceptions. You can find such cases quite often. On top of it, statistics on Indian prisons show that more than 68% of prisoners in India, haven’t even been convicted. Often they have to remain in jail for years awaiting their trial. Does that mean the solution is to attack police stations? Should we attack the police?
Absolutely Not! If everyone starts doing this the law and order system in the country would crumble to the ground. Every person would bring in thousands of supporters to attack police stations. The correct solution to this problem is increasing the strength of the police, training them better, increasing the strength of the courts, appointing more judges. The solution is to improve the administration. Not vigilantism and vandalism. Second point, Amritpal and his followers knew that it wouldn’t be a peaceful protest. Even then, they carried the holy scripture Guru Granth Sahib and used Guru Granth Sahib as a shield. In response, Amritpal claims that it has been a long-standing tradition that warriors would carry Guru Granth Sahib with them. As you can see in this photo, Sikh soldiers are carrying Guru Granth Sahib during the first World War for the Mesopotamian campaign. But was this a World War? Is it okay to compare the vigilantes to warriors and soldiers? Were Amritpal’s followers going to fight a foreign army? No, they were clashing with the Punjab Police. They were fighting their brothers. Had the police not been careful, There might have been unintentional disrespect to Guru Granth Sahib, And just imagine the violence that would have begotten in Punjab. Amritpal says that he feels disturbed about the recent incidents in Punjab involving the scriptures. But he carries a holy book with him during a violent protest. Pubjab’s Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann
said that those who use Guru Granth Sahib as a shield do not deserve to be called future generation of Punjab. Sikh preacher Baba Ranjit Singh said the same thing. Can a robber take the Guru Granth Sahib with him on a bank robbery? "It hurt the Sikh community when they took Guru Granth Sahib there. Had Guru Granth Sahib been hurt, the hearts of all Sikhs would have been wounded. If our revered Guru Granth Sahib were hurt in any way. They shouldn't have done this. They should have fought their battles,
they could've staged protests, they shouldn't have used Granth Sahib as the shield." Third point, Amritpal claims that people need to be ‘Shashtradhari’. "The weapons are our leaders. They are our gods and goddesses." People need to carry weapons with them at all times. Why? He reasons that the rate of gun possession in Punjab is high. But the rate of gun violence is lower than compared to other states. Friends, if you take into account the NCRB figures, this has some truth in it. While Punjab has one of the highest number of gun licences, The crime rate in arms and explosives related cases is much lower in Punjab than compared to Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi,
Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Haryana. But this is only a half-truth. This is a method of misdirection. Apart from the licensed firearms, You need to account for illegal firearms as well. Uttar Pradesh is India's hub for illegal weapons. More than half the cases of illegal possession of arms in India occur in UP. With Madhya Pradesh on the second rank. And the rate of murder with unlicensed weapons Is much higher than that of licensed weapons. Furthermore, even though gun violence in Punjab is lower than in UP and MP, Punjab doesn’t have the lowest gun violence in India. In fact, Punjab is among the top states in terms of gun violence. Or even the rate of murder. Weapons aren’t used for gang wars only. People die of accidental firings as well. In 2021, Punjab was at 4th rank for deaths due to accidental firearm injuries. Amritpal uses America as an example. He says that he asked a man living in Texas What was the need to carry a gun, when the police would be there to maintain safety? Allegedly, the man replied that the police might save him from criminals. But who would save him from the police? "Why should you not carry weapons? I asked a man from Texas, they have the Second Amendment there." This might sound deep But this makes no sense. Why would the police randomly attack anyone? Police is tasked with maintaining law and order. Such bizarre arguments are often used in America by the right-wingers who support gun possession. As a result, every few days, there’s a mass shooting in America. In 2022, there were 647 mass shootings in America. Apart from these, there were more than 40,000 gun-related deaths last year. America encourages carrying weapons the most. But what did that get them? Every other day, some enraged person murders people. The fourth point by Amritpal is that they would use the weapons only to fight the drug mafia. "Carrying Kirpan was mandatory in the religion. But not automatic rifles." "A weapon is a weapon." "Tens of people are with you carrying guns." "The guns aren't for shooting at people." "So why carry them?
Is there a threat to your life?" "I'll tell you all about the threats facing us. Punjab is infested with drug problems. -Do you agree that drugs are a billion-dollar industry?
-Yes. The smugglers are quite influential. There are drug lords even. They have the capacity to commit all types of crimes. We have started a movement against them. So the government isn't the only threat we face. We face threats from all sides." "So your men carry weapons only for self-defence?" "-Yes, that's the case.
-Alright." Once again, this might sound convincing to those people who do not have much information about this. But if you research it a bit, you would see that In most of the countries where vigilantism was practiced, Where these kangaroo courts were established, Where people went on “War Against Drugs” Those countries have failed. After experimenting and trying repeatedly, we have seen that The system of police, court, and trial,
is the best system for everyone. If Amritpal is truly interested in fighting the drug mafia, Why doesn’t he join the police force? He can be the hero after he becomes an SP. Or he can contest elections And fight the drug mafia as a politician. Amritpal uses the example of Sikh leaders who had to take up weapons and fight. But first of all, as I told you, we are not living in those eras. And secondly, if you look at history, In the history of the Sikh gurus Nowhere will you find an example where the leader fought to create their new country. Their fights weren’t for personal revenge or territory. Their fights were for justice, religious freedom, And to defend innocent people. I will talk about this in detail in a future video when I will show you the entire history of the Sikh Empire. But if I get into the details in this video, it’ll be too long. But it’s necessary to debunk 1 thing. Time and again Amritpal claims how Sikh scriptures advocate violence. Friends, it’s the same argument used by many WhatsApp University graduates for Hinduism. You might have heard many people say that The shlok “Ahinsa Parmo Dharma”
[Nonviolence is the ultimate service to religion] That this hymn is incomplete. They claim that the complete hymn is “Ahimsa Paramo Dharma Dharma Himsa Tathaiva Cha”
[So too is violence the ultimate service in the cause of religion] But these same people will not tell you that the Mahabharat calls for non-violence many times. It advocates non-violence repeatedly. But you will find no mention of the second part. “Dharma Himsa Tathaiva Cha” [violence in the cause of religion] "“Dharma Himsa Tathaiva Cha You will be delighted to know that this is written in any holy scripture. And this should be a red flag for you. What is this centralised conspiracy unit that is deploying such large-scale conspiracy, things that aren't even mentioned in any scripture, they've written it in Sanskrit, and spread it all over through WhatsApp and other sources." Don’t get angry at me for telling you this. Be enraged at the ones who fooled you Saying that Hinduism advocates violence. Similarly, Amritpal Singh claims the same thing for Sikh Gurus. Even though Guru Gobind Singh fought several wars In verse 22 of Zafarnama, you will find, “One can resort to armed combat, Only when all other means of the settlement have been exhausted.” Taking up weapons should be the last option after all other methods have failed. Guru Nanak said “No one is my enemy, no one is a foreigner. With all I am at peace. God within us renders us incapable of hate and prejudice” You can find people like Amritpal in all religions Who use their religion to spread their propaganda. Amritpal uses Raja Ranjit Singh and the Sikh Empire under his governance as a template for Khalistani propaganda. He says that it is time to reclaim the Sikh Empire. Does this have any logic? Because the Sikh empire existed once, does it mean that it should exist again? By that logic, Gurjar Pratihar Dynasty existed once. Should Gurjars come together and demand a new country? At one point, under Raja Surajmal’s reign, Jatt State of Bharatpur also existed. Should the Jatts come together and form a new country? Samrat Ashok believed in Buddhism, So should the Buddhists demand for a new country? But an even more important point is that the Sikh Empire wasn’t like what Amritpal Singh wants people to believe. In 1801, Ranjit Singh consolidated 12 Sikh confederacies into a single empire and became the Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He ruled till 1839, And he was a brave ruler. We have irrefutable historical evidence that he was a secular ruler. People from various religions lived in the Sikh Empire happily. You won’t believe this, in this Sikh Empire, The Sikh population was only 9%. Their generals weren’t exclusively Sikhs. They had Hindu generals such as Diwan Chand and Mokham Chand Nayyar, And Muslim generals as well like Ilahi Baksh and Mian Ghaus Khan There were even Nepali Gorkha generals Balbhadra Kunwar And European generals Jean Francois Allard. In Ranjit Singh’s Empire, Police, judiciary, government ministry Were all appointed based on merit. Their religion or social group played no role. He donated gold for Harmandir Sahib’s gold plating, But at the same time, donated gold to the Kashi Vishwanath temple as well. Additionally, he built two mosques in Lahore. And the law treated all religions the same. In 1839, after the atrocities on Jews in Iran, Many Jewish refugees fled their country and came to the Sikh Empire And were given the right to settle here. This is why, you will find several Jewish communities in Rawalpindi and Peshawar. Overall, it can be said that the Sikh Empire obeyed the principles of Sikhi. Egalitarianism and Syncretism. And you will find the same values in the Preamble to the Indian Constitution. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, and Justice. After hearing about all this, you would be wondering, How does Khalistan fit in all this? Interestingly, the Khalistan movement Is connected to neither the Sikh Gurus nor Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Khalistan’s history began in the 1940s. When Punjab was partitioned on religious lines. After this a revolution demanding a separate Punjabi-speaking state began. The Indian government rejected this in 1955 But this demand was later accepted in 1966 When the states of Punjab and Haryana were separated. In 1973, Akali Dal brought the Anandpur Sahib resolution Wherein they demanded more autonomy for Punjab and a right to frame its internal constitution. Then came Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale. He projected himself as the authentic voice of Sikhs. Bhindrawale’s popularity among the youth increased When he preached against alcohol and consumerism. That was a good thing. But what wasn’t good was that he took up arms while demanding Khalistan. By 1984, the situation had turned serious. There was violence against local government officials. And religious polarisation in society deepened. During this, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi directed the Indian Army to launch Operation Blue Star. To eradicate the militants from Harmandir Sahib And to neutralise Bhindrawale. If you want to know more details about it, you can listen to this audiobook on KUKU FM, Operation Blue Star in Hindi. It explains in detail this audiobook is more than 1 hour long, and in case you don't know, KUKU FM is a brilliant platform for audio learning. On it, you can listen to many such audiobooks across a multitude of topics. Since KUKU FM has sponsored this video, there's a special discount for you, you will get 50% off by using the coupon code DHRUV50. So that the cost for the first month, is only ₹49 instead of ₹99. The link to it is in the description below. Do check it out but first, let's get back to this story. In this operation, the militants were dispersed But this damaged Harmandir Sahib. This hurt the religious sentiments of many Sikhs. Due to this, Indira Gandhi was assassinated By two of her Sikh bodyguards. When this news went public, Anti-Sikh violence erupted all over the country. More than 8,000 Sikhs were killed. In response, Khalistani extremists targeted random Hindus. There were several massacres such as the Hoshiarpur Bus Massacre of 1986 And some flights were also hijacked. Punjab Police’s DGP KPS Gill played a major role in controlling this violence. The situation finally became peaceful after 1995. Demanding Khalistan falls into the category of religious nationalism or ethnic nationalism. The idea is quite toxic on its own. But apart from that, it is a stupid idea too, This is because, all across the world, it has been proven time and again That religious nationalism is a flop idea. Take Pakistan for example. A country created for Muslims. Look at the situation there now. Afghanistan used to be a modern country in the 1960s, But it has regressed into the Dark Ages. Iran was a secular country with a booming economy in the 1970s, But after the so-called Islamic Revolution in 1979, You can see the condition of their economy now. In countries like Ethiopia, Christian nationalism is tearing apart the country. This Christian nationalism destabilised America to an extent. Jewish nationalism is the biggest hurdle in Israel-Palestine relations. A hurdle that if overcome, would allow both countries to exist peacefully. In contrast, look at the most successful countries now. All of them are secular countries. Whether it is the European countries like Sweden, Norway, or Germany, Or Asian tigers like Japan, South Korea, or Singapore. Or countries like Australia or Canada. In these countries, there’s no ideology of religious nationalism or ethnic nationalism among the majority. The ideas that were born during the French Revolution, Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity Can be grouped into liberal nationalism or inclusive nationalism. A country where the citizens live harmoniously. This is the dominant ideology in the most successful countries. It’s important that people who demand for a Hindu nation understand this. Or those who demand for Ghazva-e-Hind. Do not be a Hindu nationalist or a Muslim nationalist. Be a Nationalist Hindu or a Nationalist Muslim. Similarly, do not be a Sikh nationalist who demands for Khalistan. Be a Nationalist Sikh. There’s an ocean of difference in between the two terms Based on the placement of the word ‘Nationalist’. Amritpal Singh compares the Khalistan struggle to the Zionist struggle for Israel. A grossly incorrect comparison. Jews were persecuted in Europe for centuries. During World War II under Hitler’s reign The persecution reached its climax With hundreds of thousands of Jews being killed. Only then did they try to look for a place where they could live peacefully. By comparison, India has always been the home to Sikhs. I’m not saying Punjab. Rather, the entirety of India. Sikh Gurus like Guru Nanak and Guru Tegh Bahadur, Travelled and preached all across the country. This is why two Panj Takhats exist outside Punjab. One in Patna, Bihar and the other in Maharastra. The truth remains, that Sikh history is incomplete without India. And the Indian history is incomplete without Sikhs. Sikh politicians like Dr Manmohan Singh, Sikh army generals like General Bikram Singh, Sikh entertainers like Jaspal Bhatti. Sikh sportspersons like Milkha Singh. Sikh painters like Amrita Shergill. Sikhs are everywhere. To justify his separatist demand, Amritpal talks about several real issues. Issues that Punjab is currently facing. Such as the water dispute for the Satluj-Yamuna Link Canal. Or the drug problem. Or the increasing unemployment. These are genuine problems. But these problems are faced by nearly all states. In Maharashtra, there is a disproportionately high number of farmer suicides. Bihar, UP, and Jharkhand are among the poorest states of the country. In some states, Dalits have to face discrimination. But does this mean that the states should simply demand to be a separate country? Should the Dalits demand a separate country? These problems do exist. And it is important to solve them. We have to solve them. But Khalistan is not the solution to these problems. It is another problem in itself. Write your opinion in the comment section. And I’ll see you in the next video. Thank you very much!
