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Propaganda Stereotype
Kanwar Pal Singh, spokesperson, Dal Khalsa:
The timing of your cover story, Panth and the Foreign
hand, coinciding with the Canadian PM’s trip to India,
expected to start on February 17, leaves none in doubt
that Outlook has aimed to embarrass Justin Trudeau. The
latest issue of your magazine is a well-planned propaganda
sheet containing stereotyped anti-Sikh propaganda, akin
to what the Indian establishment has been doing for
decades—refusing to acknowledge the sovereign character
of the Sikh people and their aspirations for independence.
This is nothing new. It has been going on since the
seventies. In December 1971, when Dr Jagjit Singh
Chauhan ran an advertisement in The New York Times
introducing the mission for Khalistan, India ran a
propaganda piece which said that the CIA was behind
the move. In August 1982, after Sant Jarnail Singh
Bhindrawale launched the ‘Dharam Yudh Morcha’ and
the subsequent armed resistance by Sikh freedom fight­
ers against Indian repression, India blamed Pakistan for
perpetuating the struggle in Punjab.
This time around, as the Outlook cover story shows,
the language is similar; only, the focus of India and
the media has changed. The new target is the Sikh
community in the UK, Italy and Canada, courtesy of
Punjab police framing charges against a few Sikhs
residing in these countries for funding the independence
struggle in Punjab. Unfortunately, Punjab chief minister
Captain Amarinder Singh, with his new-found love for
neo-nationalism (read Hindutva) and Narendra Modi,
has corroborated these accusations.
By carrying the photo of Canadian PM Justin Trudeau
on the cover page with the title Khalistan-II (Made in
Canada), the magazine has offended the political sensibil­
ities of Canada—a Commonwealth friend of India—and
started a fresh tirade against the Sikh diaspora, which as
part of the Sikh nation has been making the right moves
on Canadian soil—raising human rights concerns and
endorsing the call for the right to self-determination.
The Sikhs settled in Canada, the UK, Europe and
elsewhere need no certification or clearance to stand up
Watch: Modi’s ‘Ramayan’ jibe at MP
Renuka Chowdhury’s laughter
for the rights of the Sikhs in Punjab, who are suffering
under the jackboot of Indian hegemony. They are well
within their social and political rights to lend voice to the
true destiny of the Sikhs and to highlight human rights
abuses in Punjab.
Who are these Sikhs? India perceives all diaspora Sikhs
supporting the right to self-determination as agents
out to create mischief in India. The reality is that they
are Punjabi-born Sikhs who have migrated to foreign
countries, and who want to see their homeland free from
India’s political stranglehold.
With India facing embarrassment as many of its officials
have been debarred from Gurdwara premises due to
their malicious campaign against Sikh activists, Outlook’s
cover story looks like India’s response to the movement
brewing in Canada.
We are grateful to Canada for its multicultural ethos and
the space that it provides for the free expression of the
political will of the Sikhs and others. India will never be
able to digest that Canada and other countries are much
more vibrant democracies. While in India, the right to
freedom of expression is only on paper, in countries like
Canada, it is being practised in letter and spirit.
New Delhi is in denial mode as far as Sikh aspirations
for independence are concerned. They never accepted
that the Sikh liberation struggle is indigenous in charac­
ter and that the aspiration for nationhood is rooted in the
Sikh religio-political doctrine. Ever since the Sikhs lost
their self-rule in 1859, they have been longing to regain it.
Indeed, as the Outlook reporter has mentioned in the
concluding paragraph, the original issues—the attack on
Darbar Sahib, the November 1984 pogrom and the failure
of India’s justice delivery system have further strength­
ened the Sikh resolve to be free from the Indian yoke.
Pressures of survival, the gradual assimilation of the
Sikh ethos and culture and economic interests may have
gained some leverage in today’s times, but at heart, the
Sikh spirit is free. This free spirit will continue to seek
support, assistance and even recognition for the right
to self determination from the United Nations and the
international community including Canada, notwit­
hs tanding Indian propaganda.
These are the states that made
the 2014 BJP victory possible
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26 February 2018 Outlook 7