Canada Charges Three in Nijjar Case

Canadian police have charged three members of an alleged hit squad for their role in the assassination of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the first arrests in a high-profile killing that officials believe was masterminded by India. Nijjar was killed in the parking lot of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara on 18 Jun 2023 in Surrey, British Columbia. The three Indian citizens Karanpreet Singh, 28, Kamalpreet Singh, 22, and Karan Brar, 22, have been charged with first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. Arrested on 3 May, they were living in Edmonton, Alberta, and will face charges in British Columbia. The arrests coincided with the release of a public inquiry report into foreign interference. In her report, Canadian judge Justice Marie-Josée Hogue noted that Indian officials depend on networks of proxies to ‘liaise and work with Indian intelligence officials in India and Canada, taking both explicit and implicit directions from them.’ Canadian media states the proxy in this case could be Indian gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, currently in prison in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. In March 2023, in two interviews from jail, Bishnoi stated he is now a Hindu nationalist. Noticeably, the internet has been wiped clean of Bishnoi interviews and all related stories on their content. Canadian politician Jagmeet Singh alleged the Indian govt. was behind the killing, which India continues to deny. Indian high commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma declined to comment on the arrests, calling them an ‘internal’ matter for Canada. Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar reiterated India is awaiting credible evidence (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 18, Story 1).

On 30 Apr, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported that Indian spies had been ‘kicked out of Australia’ for trying to steal secrets about sensitive defense projects and airport security as well as classified information on Australia’s trade relationships. The Australian and The Sydney Morning Herald also said two Indian spies were asked to leave. The so-called foreign ‘nest of spies’ disrupted by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) in 2020 was also accused of closely monitoring Indians living in Australia, including the Sikh diaspora, and developing close relationships with current and former politicians (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 13, Story 4). ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess first alluded to the spy ring in his annual threat assessment delivered in 2021, but he did not disclose which country was behind the activity, saying to do so would be an unnecessary distraction. ‘The spies developed targeted relationships with current and former politicians, a foreign embassy and a state police service, Burgess said in his speech inside ASIO's Canberra headquarters. ‘They monitored their country's diaspora community.’ Burgess also detailed how the nest of spies cultivated and recruited an Australian govt. security clearance holder who had access to ‘sensitive details of defense technology.’ Australia has not confirmed or denied those reports but says it is keen to counter foreign interference. ‘I don't propose to get into those stories,’ Treasurer Jim Chalmers told the ABC on 1 May. ‘We have got a good relationship with India ... It's an important economic relationship. It's become closer in recent years as a consequence of efforts on both sides.’ Australia not denying the allegations may be characterized as their acceptance.

Last week saw a surge of international responses, interviews, and editorials to The Washington Post story on the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) officer involved in Gurpatwant Singh Pannun’s assassination plot. Indian media continued to demonstrate its bias, saying Indians can’t wait to see Canadian PM Justin Trudeau go. Indian PM Narendra Modi led the charge from the front saying, ‘We do not give foreign governments dossiers on terrorists. New India kills them on their home turf.’ His tweets used to gather hundreds of thousands of Likes and Reposts and are now barely getting into double digits. Modi’s desperation shows as he continues to lash out at INC, stating that after jewelry and extra rooms in homes, they will even snatch the second buffalo from dairy farmers, or Muslims are rallying to commit ‘vote jihad.’ The media in Pakistan praised Rahul Gandhi and it gave PM Modi another chance to insinuate that INC was being sponsored by the neighboring nation. The INC has decided Rahul will opt out of contesting from Amethi and will fight the elections from Rae Bareli. Last time, Rahul lost from Amethi, and INC president, Rahul’s mother Sonia Gandhi, won from Rae Bareli. Now Sonia has joined the Rajya Sabha (Upper House). The move has deflated Rahul’s contender Smriti Irani and the corporate media which was looking forward to the contest. Kishori Lal Sharma, a Gandhi family loyalist who has managed Amethi for forty years, will fight from the constituency. After Ajay Mishra Teni whose son was accused of mowing down farmers in Oct 2021 was given a ticket from Lakhimpur Kheri, BJP has given a ticket to Karan Bhushan Singh from Kaiserganj. Karan is the son of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of wrestler infamy who had to resign from the presidentship of the Indian Wrestling Federation.

Like farmers protesting against the BJP in the state, now government employees are protesting against AAP over unfulfilled promises. Around two hundred thousand government employees across Panjab have started pasting posters or flex boards outside their residences asking AAP candidates to declare their stand on the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). AAP had notified the implementation of OPS on 18 November 2022, but it remained on paper. On 13 Apr, Panjab’s chief electoral officer Sibin C sent the Election Commission of India his report on two complaints against state minister Laljit Singh Bhullar — AAP’s candidate from Khadoor Sahib — that he made casteist remarks against certain communities while campaigning at Patti. SAD and INC protested and CM Bhagwant Mann had to apologize. On 2 May, disgruntled INC leader Dalvir Singh Goldy joined AAP and will be their candidate from Sangrur. While INC declared its remaining seats on 7 May, the day nominations start, BJP has still not declared four seats in the state. Even in the seats they have declared, they have taken their urban Hindu voter for granted by not offering Hindu candidates in any of the major seats. Controversy erupted when the wife of state INC chief Amrita Warring likened the INC symbol to Guru Nanak’s hand as portrayed in most images. Giani Harpreet Singh, Jathedar (head) of Takht Damdama Sahib reprimanded Warring. Meanwhile, Jeevan Singh Malla who was earlier Jeevan Kumar Malla from Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu is contesting elections from the Hoshiarpur reserved seat. He embraced the Sikh religion in January 2023. (SDW Vol 2, Issue 15, Story 2).

On 27 Apr, BJP President JP Nadda presided over a special event in the national capital where 1,000-1,500 members of the Sikh community, along with those from the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, joined the party. On 28 Apr, Delhi INC chief Arvinder Singh Lovely announced his resignation from his post over the INC alliance with AAP and issues with ticket distribution in seven Delhi seats (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 18, Updates). On 4 May Lovely formally joined back the BJP from the INC. On 1 May, two other senior leaders — Neeraj Basoya and Naseeb Singh — also quit INC. The leaders blamed the INC-AAP alliance for their resignation. The Delhi INC now faces a challenge in asserting its place in the city's Sikh community. Before the 1984 Sikh genocide, Sikh voters used to vote for INC. But after 1984 because several INC leaders were involved in the genocide, the party took years to woo the Sikh vote bloc in Sikh-dominated West Delhi and significant pockets of East and South Delhi. In 1998, then Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit appointed a prominent Sikh and former Mayor of Delhi Mahinder Singh Saathi as finance minister. While Sikhs have joined the BJP recently, regardless of the present-day BJP's top leadership sending out messages of solidarity with the Sikhs, the community remains skeptical, especially after the anti-Sikh rhetoric that echoed during the farmers' protest. The overall Sikh voter population in Delhi is estimated to be 3% of the electorate, while West Delhi alone has the largest concentration of approximately 8%. 

On 4 May, farmers were protesting against the sitting MP and BJP candidate from Patiala, Preneet Kaur, at Sehra village near Rajpura. In the melee, 50-year-old Surinderpal Sigh of Akkri village collapsed. Farmers took him to a nearby building and tried to revive him, but he died. According to farmer leader Tejveer Singh Toor, no effort was made either by the police or by the MP’s supporters to rush the farmer to the hospital. Toor said that the post-mortem examination would not be performed till the police record the statement of the victim’s family. Preneet Kaur expressed condolences and stopped her campaign for 48 hours. In Haryana, former CM Manohar Lal Khattar, the BJP candidate from Karnal, was at the receiving end of the farmers’ ire on 30 Apr. He faced protests in at least five places during the campaign. Bhartiya Kisan Union (Sir Chhotu Ram) president Jagdeep Singh Aulakh said: ‘The farmers wanted to ask questions from Khattar in connection with the injustice meted out to them during the past nearly five years. When police did not allow them to meet Khattar, the farmers staged protests and showed him black flags.’ It has been 84 days since protests began and as the weather turns hot, the Shambhu border dwellings have become semi-permanent structures. As the rail blockade at Shambhu railway station completes 20 days, the Panjab industry is unhappy with over 200 trains being affected and 65 trains being canceled daily. The stalemate is an acute instance of national and state govt. and administration’s apathy towards farmers.

In the 2024 wheat harvest season, Panjab’s grain markets have witnessed a surge in the private purchase of wheat, with private players registering a 47% increase compared to the same period last year. Until 1 May, Panjab’s grain markets received 10.9MMT of wheat, compared to 11.3MMT in 2023 on the same date. Out of this, 10.7MMT has been already purchased — 10.1 MMT by government agencies, and 0.6MMT by private players like flour millers and flour processors. Last year, private purchases stood at 0.4MMMT on 1 May 2023. There are about 70 roller flour mills in Panjab, with a daily processing capacity of 6,400 tonnes of wheat (although they operate at around 50% capacity). This translates to an annual processing capacity of approximately 1.2MMT. Millers primarily focus on supplying wheat flour, granulated wheat and refined wheat flour within the state and to other states. According to the Punjab Market Board (PMB), Panjab millers procure only 25-30% of wheat from within the state. The remaining 70-75% are procured from the Food Corporation of India’s (FCI’s) e-auction under its Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS), and other states such as Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, which supply wheat at a cheaper rate than the FCI. Last fiscal FCI undertook the sale of a record 100 lakh tonnes of wheat and reduced its borrowings by $2.5B. For FCI lower borrowings translated into an annual interest saving of around $45M. However, anticipating an increase in wheat prices, farmers are holding on to wheat stocks more than their requirement for sowing in the upcoming season and for their personal use. Due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, global wheat supplies are hit, leading to stress on Indian markets (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 17, Story 4).

An Indian film Farming The Revolution which follows the 2020-21 Farmers’ Protest 1.0 against three controversial farm laws, won top honors at the Hot Docs — a prestigious international festival. The feature by Mumbai-based filmmaker Nishtha Jain was the winner of the Best International Feature Documentary Award and a $10K cash prize at the largest documentary film festival in North America on 4 May. The jury statement read, ‘For its slow study on the poetics of labor organizing, its regal treatment of atmosphere, and intimate embeddedness in a legendary encampment (that has recently begun again this past February due to unfulfilled promises by the reigning government), the International Feature Competition Jury awards Best International Feature Documentary to Nishtha Jain’s Farming the Revolution, co-directed by Akash Basumatari. With endurance, clarity, and purpose, Jain and Basumatari take audiences inside the full dynamic range of India’s over one-year-long farmers’ protest between 2020 and 2021. Today, as encampments spring up on university campuses around the world, including here in Toronto, the jury commends the filmmakers’ commitments to providing a grounded perspective on the communities of care that encampments produce. Farming the Revolution spotlights the power of ordinary people with an enduring cinematic sophistication and an indomitable lyrical presence.’ Hot Docs is an Academy Award qualifying festival and Farming The Revolution will be in the running for consideration in the Best Documentary Feature category of the annual Oscars without the standard theatrical run, provided they comply with Academy rules.

Virsa Singh Valtoha, the SAD candidate contesting from Khadoor Sahib, has challenged the Waris Punjab De head Amritpal Singh contesting independently to an open debate on issues of the Panth (Sikh Collective) and Panjab. ‘Pick any one person from your side (Amritpal) opposite me to have a face-to-face live discussion. It should be telecast unfiltered. During the debate, if the weight tilts towards the other side and I am proved to be a liar or weak, I will withdraw,’ he said. Valtoha said he was once close to Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and did time in jail under National Security Act. The SAD leader questioned the alleged links of Amritpal Singh’s legal counsel and former Member of Parliament Rajdev Singh Khalsa with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).  Khalsa was the first to announce Amritpal Singh's candidacy (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 18, Story 3). On 4 May, a 19-year-old was allegedly beaten to death in Ferozepur district. Bakshish Singh is a resident of Talli Gulam village and allegedly tore some pages of a sacred religious text after entering a place of worship in Bandala village. Bakshish’s father Lakhwinder Singh claimed his son had been suffering from mental illness and was receiving treatment. A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against the 19-year-old under Section 295-A of the Indian Penal Code at the Arif Ke Police Station, based on a complaint lodged by Lakhvir Singh, chairperson of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Committee. Bakshish's father said the ‘police should also register an FIR against those who killed his son.’

It has been 100 years since chapati (unleavened flatbread), the staple food of Sikhs, became a favorite dish of Malayalis in Kerala. The origins of the chapati in Kerala go back to the Vaikom Satyagraha. The satyagraha from 30 Mar 1924 to 23 Nov 1925, was a nonviolent agitation for access to the prohibited public environs of the Vaikom Temple in the Kingdom of Travancore. Fresh from their victory in the Gurdwara Movement, the Akalis arrived in Kerala under the leadership of Sardar Lal Singh and Baba Kripal Singh from Amritsar on 29 Apr 1924. They set up a langar (communal free kitchen) and distributed free chapatis. Instead of mustard oil, Malayalis used coconut oil, ghee, dalda, and palm oil. Malayalis enjoyed the food and continue to do so. However, the langar was interrupted. MK Gandhi opposed protesters accepting free food from the Sikhs, stating it was improper for those who could afford to eat. He considered it akin to beggary. The Akalis insisted they would not close the langar without the Gurdwara Committee's order. Historian KM Panicker reports that the Gurdwara committee members agreed to shut down the langar. The Akalis returned to Panjab but the chapati has remained a mainstay on Malayali dinner tables. Story writer K K Sudhakaran is the president and Reji Parappuram is the secretary of the Katha Literary Organization, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of chapati's arrival on 29 Apr. It is ironic that while the whole world today accepts langar as one of the greatest contributions of Sikhs, Gandhi did not understand the tradition.