Behind Amritpal’s Startling Rise: Ghosts of Punjab’s traumatic past, and an equally troubled present

Amritpal Singh. (Screengrab from ANI)

Even as large sections of concerned Punjabis have been watching the incidents of recent times and asking themselves whether history was repeating itself, a crowd led by a 29-year-old Dubai-returned youth responded to such queries in affirmation at Ajnala town of Tarn Taran district of Punjab, last week.

They tossed over police barricades, laid siege to a police station, and their leader Amritpal Singh dictated to Punjab police what to do and what not to. A spontaneous mass build-up followed by a tactical retreat by the police can easily be dismissed as an incident that occurs “once-in-a-year-or-two” in a state like Punjab.

For, the state has witnessed more or less similar such events during various militant agitations organised by almost every socio-political group – Sikh radicals, ultra-Left parties, Dalits of central Punjab, and even moderate Akalis. However, what is worrying this time is not the incident itself. Instead, it is the fraught conditions in the state and the quick rise of Amritpal.

Amritpal’s Meteoric Ascent

Settled in Dubai since 2012, Amritpal, who belongs to Jallupur Khaira village of Amritsar district, had reportedly posted some online messages supporting Punjabi actor Deep Sidhu’s actions during the farm protests. He was little known even then. After Sidhu died in a road accident, Amritpal landed on Punjab’s socio-religious-political landscape just six months ago to take over Waris Punjab De.

Till then, Amritpal was not a baptised Sikh. After returning to Punjab last year, in September Amritpal turned himself into a baptised Sikh at Shri Anandpur Sahib, a Sikh holy city. Surprisingly, his baptism ceremony witnessed high turnout and it was widely reported.

His anointment ceremony (dastarbandi) was organised four days later at Rode village in Moga district. Rode is the village of slain Sikh militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was killed by the Indian Army during Operation Blue Star in 1984 and who is seen as a symbol of resistance among Punjab’s rural folk.

The story of Amritpal’s rise began immediately after his anointment.

Styling Himself On Bhindranwale

When visuals of his anointment found their way to public imagination through the “never-gets-tired” tool called social media, Punjabis woke up to see someone, who reminded them of Bhindranwale.

“I will walk the path shown by him. I want to be like him because that’s what every Sikh wants, but I am not copying him. I am not even equal to the dust of his feet,” he was quoted as saying.

Be it physique, attire, mannerism, aggression, argument and courage to dare the Indian state, the character of Amritpal resembled Bhindranwale in most aspects. For many in Punjab and abroad, he is literally Bhindranwale 2.0.

A tack used by Amritpal to fire up his followers is to say Sikhs are ghulam (slaves) and that they are facing a “silent genocide”. He then goes on to urge them to fight – peacefully or otherwise – to get rid of their slavery. This is where he espouses the creation of Khalistan as a solution.

His rhetoric finds mention on every platform – be it news stories in mainstream media, debates of Sikh scholars and Punjabi intellectuals on social media and even in routine conversations in homes of both Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs.

Therefore, everyone is wondering –  Is history repeating itself? Even the events involving Amritpal are bringing back memories of horrific tales of pre-1984 Punjab.

Till 1978, Bhindranwale was also a lesser-known Sikh preacher. A Sikh-Nirankari clash took place at Amritsar on April 13, 1978, on Baisakhi day, wherein 13 Sikhs died in a violent clash. The State hesitated to bring the culprits to justice. Anger among the Sikh masses against that “injustice” fuelled the rise of Bhindranwale as a cult figure. His writ ran so large that the state police would prefer to politely retreat instead of confronting him – much like what Punjab police did on February 23 at Ajnala.

Discredited Clergy, Akalis

Today, the collective Sikh psyche is injured again, albeit for different reasons. In 2015, the Shri Guru Granth Sahib was desecrated at Bargari town of Faridkot district. Protesting against desecration, two Sikhs were killed in police firing at Behbal Kalan village in Faridkot. The community feels betrayed as justice and closure is elusive, even seven years after these incidents. Both these incidents occurred under the rule of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) government in Punjab.

As if this was not enough, the Sikh clergy committed another blunder by offering pardon to Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim in a case where he imitated the 10th Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Sikh. As Sikh clergy and SAD lost their credibility after such acts, Punjab’s political landscape was eagerly waiting for someone to arrive and fill the panthic-political space.

It is in this scenario that Amritpal landed among the Sikh masses of Punjab, who, besides a discredited clergy and political class, are also bearing the brunt of stagnation in agricultural economy, problem of drug addiction, unemployment and gangsterism, all of which is leading to mass migration of Sikh youths to foreign shores.

Upon his arrival, he reminded Punjabis of their woes. Offering a solution, he encourages Sikh youth to baptise, return to the fold of Sikhism and shun drugs. But this is also where his message takes a political turn with refrains of ghulami, victimhood, separatist rhetoric, and exhortations that the salvation of Sikhs lay in the creation of Khalistan.

AAP Govt Stumped

Disillusioned with the political class, hopeless Sikh youth were yearning for the arrival of an icon for the past several years. At one point or another, individuals like Deep Sidhu, Khalistan-supporter politician Simranjeet Singh Mann, and even singers like Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu alias Sidhu Moosewala became icons for them. A new name in the list is Amritpal Singh.

Given the complex socio-religious fabric of Punjab and behaviour of its electorate, it will be still premature to assess as to which political outfit will gain from Amritpal’s actions and rhetoric. However, with his dramatic emergence, the newly formed Aam Aadmi Party government has found itself dealing with a crisis it had never dreamt of.

Hearing Amritpal’s rhetoric every day and witnessing the State's reluctance to deal with him, people of Punjab are again revisiting the age-old question – Is history repeating itself?

Surprisingly, even after the Ajnala incident, Amritpal, in a TV interview, asserted that “real violence is yet to come”. The future will reveal the credence of this assertion. But both past and present are clearly manifesting that history is certainly repeating itself. At least, so far.

Amaninder Pal is a journalist who has worked for major English dailies in Punjab. He has been tracking Punjab as a reporter since 2009. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.