Sociological Analysis of the Khalistan Movement

Why in the news?

• After the Punjab police launched a coordinated crackdown against the Dubai returned radical preacher, Amritpal Singh, and his associates on March 18, 2023 there is rising concern about the revival of the Khalistan movement in Punjab.
• Many pro-Khalistani groups have taken their struggle to the international stage, seeking support from the Sikh communities in other countries.

What is the Khalistan movement?

• The Khalistan movement is a separatist movement seeking to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing a sovereign state called Khalistan (land of the Khalsa) in the Punjab region (mainly the entire Indian Punjab state).
• Dipankar Gupta in his book “The Context of Ethnicity: Sikh Identity in a Comparative Perspective“ presents Khalistan as an example of Ethno-nationalism as opposed to communalism, as it seeks to create a sovereign political entity.
• In David McCrone’s classificatory scheme, the Khalistan movement can be seen as based on Primordial Nationalism where nationalism is inspired by sentiments of sharing common cultural heritage and language.

Reasons for emergence and consolidation of Khalistan movement

• The fight for separate identity: Sikh historian Harjot Singh Oberoi argues that the territorialisation of Sikh Identity began in the 1940s when Sikh leaders started to mobilize meta-commentaries and signs to argue that Punjab belonged to Sikhs and Sikhs belong to Punjab.
• Religious subjugation of Sikhs: Article 25 of the Constitution of India describes Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism as parts of the Hindu religion. Sikhs have long been seeking amendment to this article to grant Sikhism an independent identity under the law.
• Political antipathy: Delay in creation of the Punjab state and acceptance of the Anandpur Resolution on division of canal waters, lurking status of Chandigarh etc. crystallized the political disillusionment among Sikhs and this ultimately created a Crisis of Legitimacy.
• Dipankar Gupta (1996) exemplifies that the Punjab agitation, which began with some secular demands like Chandigarh as capital of Punjab, water sharing between Punjab and Haryana and territorial tribunal to settle the dispute was ethnicised by the central government and the Congress party for political gains.
• Rise of charismatic leader: Atul Kohli comments that inability of the Akali Dal to wrest control of power from Congress created a political vacuum which was filled by extremist charismatic leader Jarnail Singh Bhidranwale who convinced the sikhs that only militancy could preserve sikh interests.
• The change in economic structure: The Green Revolution and mechanization of agriculture altered the rural social structure differentially creating a vast class of pauperised small farmers and unemployed youth who provided a social base to the movement.
• Manifest violence by the state: The state resorted to violence in the form of series of military operations like Blue Star, Woodrose etc. which further fuelled the discontentment.
• External support: The movement received cross-border support in the form of logistics, finance, weapons etc. by a state actor - Pakistan and non-state actors such as Babbar Khalsa, Khalistan Zindabad Party etc.

Reasons for the failure of the Khalistan movement

• Use of repressive state apparatus: Many scholars credit the decline of this movement to the change in the policies of the state towards use of police and security forces to deal with the militancy instead of talks.
• Lack of a clear political concept of 'Khalistan': Even the extremist supportersof the movement were not clear about this concept. Thus the name which was wishful thinking only represented their revulsion against the Indian establishment and did not find any alternative to it.
• In the later stages of the movement, militants lacked the ideological motivation.
• Loss of sympathy and support from the Sikh population of Punjab further de-legitimized the movement.
• The divisions among the Sikhs also undermined this movement. For example, Jat urban Sikhs did not support the demand for Khalistan.
• The dominance of traditional political parties was reasserted over the factions associated with militancy. Moderate factions of Akali Dal led by Prakash Singh Badal reclaimed the political positions in the state through all three assembly (namely parliamentary) and SGPC elections.
• The increased surveillance by security forces in the region against the rise of separatist elements.
• The confidence building measures adopted by the Sikh community reinforced the collective effervescence and helped in rooting out the Khalistan movement.
• Simrat Dhillon (2007), writing for the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, noted that while a few groups continued to fight, the movement had lost its popular support both in India and within the Diaspora community by the 1990s.

Causes behind Resurgence of the Khalistan Movement

• Sociological Propaganda by parts of the Sikh diaspora: There is a threat of a resurgence of the ideology of Khalistan due to dissemination of the propaganda by parts of the Sikh diaspora in Western countries, efficiently exploiting the social media. It is reshaping the social imagination of some new generation Sikh youths.
• Sociological propaganda is a phenomenon proposed by Jacques Ellul where a society seeks to integrate the maximum number of individuals into itself by unifying its members' behavior according to a pattern, spreading its style of life abroad, and thus imposing itself on other groups.
• Sikh Transnational Economy: According to Arthur Helweg, the Punjab state developed an external economy where the economic survival of the Sikh community is dependent on the influx of outside capital. This led to the decline of the middle class, more economic polarization and wider inequalities of development between areas with overseas connection and others. This led to the disillusionment of the youth and rejection of traditional leadership.
• Attack on Sacred: The deep rooted anger over Operation Blue Star and the desecration of the Golden Temple continues to resonate with some in the newer generations of Sikhs.
• Use of New Media: A virtual community based on ideological convergence is being formed to manufacture consent for the Khalistan cause on social media like YouTube and Instagram. The newer leadership are also media stars like Deep Sidhu and Amritpal Singh.
• Infodemics: Organizations like Sikhs for Justice, Khalistan Liberation Force, and Babbar Khalsa International act as conveyor belt to run misinformation campaigns on social media. The most recent campaign, which attracted enormous attention, was the “Referendum 2020”.
• Identity consciousness among the youth: It also symbolizes a pattern of identity consciousness among the youth inhabiting the west especially Canada and in Punjab. This consciousness is being framed based on the social background of violence. Thus they have become potential recruits for the movement.
• Analyzing the Instrumentalist approach of ethnic movement: Khalistan movement is created and maintained by the politicians and groups with vested interests to obtain social, political and material advantages.