In Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh’s Punjab village, mother says doing ‘amrit sanchar’ but sense of disquiet over cause

Last Thursday, some of these inmates were part of the two busloads of protesters from the village that joined a mob led by Amritpal which stormed the Ajnala police station, about 70 km away, demanding the release of his associate.

The protesters, many of them armed with swords and guns, dispersed after being assured by officers that the associate, who had earlier been arrested on charges that included kidnapping, would be released the next day. The incident and the release triggered alarm bells within the security establishment.

A visit to Jallupur Khaira shows that while there is clear personal support for Amritpal, whose uncle Harjit Sandhu was a popular Sarpanch for 10 years, there is also a sense of disquiet about the demands for Khalistan.

At Amritpal’s house, with a giant gate, three yellow flags (now called “Sikh flags”) and vigilant cameras, his bespectacled mother Balwinder Kaur admits she and her husband were taken aback when their son first announced his return from Dubai last year. “We wanted him to be successful in business, but for the past six-seven years he used to remain glued to his phone.”

Standing at the gate, she says Amritpal has told her not to give any interviews but she’s “very proud” of her son and his sewa. “We are glad that he is doing amrit sanchar (baptism) and weaning people away from drugs.’’

On her part, she is doing her bit by cooking for the 15-16 youngsters who accompany her son and live in the house with them. Her son, she says, enjoys full family support. “His chacha (uncle) accompanies him everywhere.’’

Is she scared of the consequences of his actions? She shrugs. “Not at all, the sangat is with us.” Kaur, too, has an opinion on Khalistan. “There has always been discrimination against the Sikhs. Why are Bandi Singhs (Sikh prisoners who were convicted for involvement in militancy in Punjab and are still in jails) not being released?’’?

The village of 1,500 voters has five gurdwaras, one for each caste — Baba Kala Mehar is of the Sandhus, Amritpal’s clan. The village is also home to 15 priests, and has its fair share of men in the Army and paramilitary. “There must be 30 of us,’’ says an Armyman who is home on leave. “Our boys join the police, too.’’?

There are also different interpretations of Amritpal’s cause.

“Khalistan means the land of the pure, it doesn’t imply a separate state,’’ says the Armyman. “Amritpal is making Khalsas (through baptism), he is not making Khalistan. Guru Nanak said the whole word was his,’’ says another local resident.

A couple, who did not endorse the call for Khalistan, said it’s mainly outsiders who frequent Amritpal’s “darbar” at the gurdwara. Outside the village, an elderly man says that while those who support Amritpal are vocal, those who don’t remain silent.

In his tent pitched next to the gurdwara and rehab centre, sewadar Lovepreet, who speaks English with an accent and is an admirer of the Dalai Lama, gives it another twist. “We are not seeking separation from India, we just want more power to make our decisions, for instance on our river waters,’’ he says.

Another sewadar says, “Khalistan is only about getting the same rights as the others.’’ A teacher from Bathinda, who claims he’s now cured of his chitta (heroin) addiction and has got baptised, says it’s not about Hindus and Sikhs.

However, amid the outrage over the storming of the police station and the use of Guru Granth Sahib as a shield by the protesters, local residents also view any criticism of Amritpal with mistrust.

“The media is misrepresenting the situation,” grumble four white-bearded men sitting on benches outside a row of shops as an OB van speeds past. “The police commissioner himself said Toofan (the associate who was freed) was innocent… He (Amritpal) took Guru Granth Sahib in a palanquin, there was no disrespect. Amritpal does amrit sanchar, so they are out to get him.’’

Just a stone’s throw away from Amritpal’s house, an out-on-parole Gurdeep Singh Khaira, who has been interned for 32 years after being arrested for two blasts, refuses to comment on the Ajnala incident. “There are certain rules of parole, I don’t want to break them,” he says. He’d rather dwell on President Droupadi Murmu’s speech he heard on TV. “She said often it’s the poor who go to jail, for they have no one to defend them.”

Ask him about the growing rhetoric around Khalistan, and he shrugs. “I never fought for it. And even Jagtar Singh Hawara (convicted for assassinating ex-CM Beant Singh) has asked the people not to raise any pro-Khalistan slogans.”