Police Thwarts 3rd Attempt by Farmers to Delhi, Dallewal Critical

On 14 Dec, a group of 101 farmers launched their third attempt at a foot march to Delhi, starting from Shambhu on the Panjab-Haryana interstate border. The Haryana police thwarted their attempt with tear gas and water cannons. 17 farmers were injured, one critically (SDW Vol 2, Issue 50, Story 1). Farmer union Kisan Mukti Morcha vice president Sarvan Singh Pandher has made another appeal to the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (collective of farmers unions) to support the march for legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP). Pandher has given a call for tractor march in all Indian states on 16 Dec. The march was partially successful. Meanwhile at the Khanuari interstate border, Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) (Non-Political; NP) chief Jagjit Singh Dallewal’s fast-unto-death for legal guarantee to MSP has entered Day 22. To prevent police from forcibly picking up Dallewal again, SKM (NP) cadre has set up a 5-tier security ring around him. The Supreme Court of India (SCI) has asked the administration to provide Dallewal with medical aid. The Panjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav and a senior officer from the Ministry of Home Affairs met Dallewal, but he has refused to give up his fast until his demand is met. On 14 Jan, the SCI asked farmers ‘to go the Gandhian way’ by temporarily shifting their venue from Shambhu. This is strange advice because in both Farmers Protest 1.0 in 2020-21 and Farmers Protest 2.0 in 2024, the farmers protested peacefully and non-violently; close to 750 farmers have died. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has upheld the farmers ‘right to protest’; saying it is not farmers, but police and administration are blocking the roads.

US President-elect, Donald Trump, has nominated Chandigarh-born attorney Harmeet Kaur Dhillon as the Assistant Attorney General. While nominating Dhillon, Trump said, ‘(Dhillon) is a respected member of the Sikh religious community.’ Dhillon is among several other high profile appointments by Trump before he takes his oath of office on 20 Jan 2025 as the 47^th President of the US. The other appointments are Tulsi Gabbard, from European-Samoan descent who practices the Hindu religion, as Director of National Intelligence, Indian origin Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy who will head a newly created Department of Government Efficiency along with Tesla owner Elon Reeve Musk, and Indian origin Kashyap Pramod Vinod “Kash” Patel as the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Usha Bala Chilukuri Vance, wife of US vice president-elect JD Vance is also of Indian origin. Usha will assume the role of Second Lady of the US, becoming the first Indian and Hindu-American to hold the title. Indian media has been praising the nominees except Dhillon, where they remain critical. Dhillon has been an ardent critic of the BJP-led Indian govt. In September 2023, when Canadian PM Justin Trudeau revealed India’s role in the June 2023 assassination of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, Canada, Dhillon accused India of operating ‘death squads’ (those posts have now been deleted on X). Even during the Farmers Protest 1.0, she had posted to X, ‘My heart breaks to see Punjabi farmers assaulted for protesting Indian gov’t.’s pro-big-corporation Farm Bill that will destroy their farms, way of life, and culture,’ asking Indian PM Narendra Modi to meet farmers.

To mark 75 years of the Constituent Assembly of India adopting the Constitution on 26 Nov 1949, the Union govt. planned two-day sessions each in the Lok Sabha (Lower House) and Rajya Sabha (Upper House). The INC lined up a fairly representative list of speakers on 13-14 Dec in the Lok Sabha. INC MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa recounted Panjab’s immense contribution to India’s freedom struggle, its current vulnerability as a border state, and the fact that no leader had mentioned Panjab or Sikhs in their speeches. He also criticized the Haryana govt. for police action and brutality unleashed on farmers and was joined by the Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi. Both the Treasury and Opposition benches clashed over Constitutional values with the BJP often repeating the INC’s Emergency, 1975-77, and first time MP INC’s Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asking the BJP to also learn from the Emergency and not repeat those mistakes. On 17 Dec, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal introduced two significant bills in the Lok Sabha. These include the One Nation, One ElectionBill, officially titled The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024, and The Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill. The bills mandate that the whole nation—28 states and 8 union territories—must vote on the same day along with General Elections to the Indian Parliament. Several Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee and MK Stalin have opposed the idea, calling the bills ‘anti-democratic’ and an authoritarian move designed to ‘undermine India’s democracy.’ The BJP needs a two-third majority to make an amendment to the Constitution but they do not have those numbers.

On 10 Dec, the INC-led Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc filed a no-confidence motion against Rajya Sabha (Upper House) Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar. They accused him of biased conduct in overseeing the House. Sixty opposition MPs, including members from the Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, and AAP—parties often at odds with INC—have supported the motion. The move, unprecedented in India’s parliamentary history, has been initiated under Article 67(b) of the Constitution, which provides for the removal of the Vice President, who also serves as the ex-officio Rajya Sabha Chair. The INDIA bloc particularly objected to Dhankar’s acceptance of BJP speeches linking Sonia Gandhi to George Soros, while dismissing 11 previous notices from opposition MPs. They also criticised Dhankar’s refusal to allow debates on pressing issues like communal violence in Uttar Pradesh, cyclone damage in Tamil Nadu, ethnic clashes in Manipur, and the prolonged Farmers’ Protest. The BJP’s accusations stemmed from a French news report Mediapart suggesting connections between INC and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), partly funded by Soros, and the US govt. Mediapart has said it ‘firmly condemns the instrumentalization of its recently published investigative article about OCCRP by the BJP […] in order to serve BJP’s political agenda and attack press freedom.’ On 11 Dec, Patiala INC MP Dharamvira Gandhi said, ‘After hijacking institutions, BJP is now out to undo democracy in the highest institution, the Parliament itself.’ The motion is not likely to pass. The Rajya Sabha has 245 members, of which 14 seats are vacant. The opposition has 85 seats, far below the 116 needed. The opposition views the motion as a symbolic protest against the ruling party.

The National Green Tribunal clarified its earlier 12 Aug orders that three major Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETP) of dyeing units cannot release waste water into the Buddha Nullah. The Punjab Pollution Control Board had not enforced the orders. On 16 Dec, activists from the Kale Pani Da Morcha (Black Waters Front; KPDM) went to the Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner (DC) Jitendra Jorwal’s office and physically handed him the clarification to the orders. It must be noted that on 3 Dec—when KPDM and 23 organizations had gathered in Ludhiana to stop the discharge of waste water into the Buddha Nullah—the DC had promised to implement them within a week (SDW Vol 2, Issue 49, Story 4). Two weeks on, orders remain unimplemented. KPDM has announced if orders are not implemented soon, they will start a state-wide protest. The NGT has also decided to club all the petitions on Buddha Nullah and hear them together on 23 Dec. Meanwhile, on 14 Dec, in the Parliament, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary, Kumari Selja, said that the water of Ghaggar river was neither fit for drinking nor irrigation. Against an acceptable Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) range of 150-300 mg/l for drinking water, the levels range from 198-1068 mg/l and 248-2010 mg/l in Haryana and Punjab, respectively. In another case, for almost a year now, sewage has been overflowing from a drain onto the Ambala-Chandigarh National Highway at Singhpura Chowk. The National Highway Authority of India officials have not taken any action against the culprits.

Union Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, informed Rajya Sabha (Upper House) that Panjab cooperative banks, with a mere 0.91% gross Non-Performing Asset (NPA) percentage as of 31 Mar, rank third in India in terms of the lowest NPA in this sector. Jammu and Kashmir recorded the highest gross NPA percentage at 55.52%, while Telangana reported the lowest at 0.08%. At the same time, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) launched a money laundering investigation against Mohali-based Vuenow Group in connection with the ‘cloud particle scam,’ uncovering a new modus operandi where over 25K investors from Panjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh collectively invested USD 259M in cloud particles, which were leased back to end users at high rental rates despite the absence of any corresponding physical infrastructure. The ED found Vuenow Group deceived investors by selling cloud particles without proper digital infrastructure. Meanwhile, Panjab’s Water Supply and Sanitation Minister, Hardip Singh Mundian, on 10 Dec urged Union Jal Shakti (water resources) Minister CR Patil to release the pending first installment of USD 18.9M for the 2024-25 fiscal year under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). Mundian stated that these funds were crucial for enhancing the implementation of the JJM in Panjab. Amid this, groundwater fluoride contamination has been detected beyond permissible limits in over 62% of districts in Panjab and Haryana, posing serious health risks such as infertility, skeletal cancer, and organ damage. The Ministry of Jal Shakti highlighted fluoride's health risks in the Rajya Sabha.

UK Labour MP, Preet Kaur Gill, has raised concerns that British Sikhs are being stopped and extensively questioned at UK airports about their views on India, suggesting undue influence from Delhi over British security checks. In a letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper sent in September, Gill highlighted cases where Sikhs were detained for hours at airports, subjected to inappropriate questions about the Sikh religion, the Partition of India in 1947, and the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. There are reports of rough handling and attempts to remove turbans. These allegations reflect growing anger within the British Sikh community over perceived harassment linked to the Indian govt.’s apprehensions about Sikhs advocating for Khalistan. Sikh community leaders in the UK, including Gurpreet Singh Anand of the Khalsa Jatha (Group) British Isles Gurdwara, report increased targeting under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act,2000, where Sikhs are detained and interrogated without clear suspicion, often asked broad questions about their identity and beliefs, and required to surrender mobile phones and social media passwords. The UK Home Office has declined to comment on these allegations. Meanwhile, as US President-elect Donald Trump prepares to assume office in January 2025, stricter immigration policies are already surfacing, with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement data showing that of the 1.45M people slated for deportation, nearly 18K are undocumented Indians including Panjabis. While India ranks 13th on the list for Asian countries with undocumented immigrants. Over the past year, 90K Indians have been apprehended trying to cross into the US illegally, many from Panjab, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh. Last year the number was 97K (SDW Vol 1, Issue 8, Story 10).

Following a directive from the Punjab and Haryana High Court (PHHC), on 7 Dec, Sikh preacher Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale, who leads a prominent dera (socio-religious organization) in Panjab, was booked for the alleged rape and murder of a woman that took place in 2012. Patiala police registered a First Information Report under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (new Indian Penal Code), acting on a complaint originally filed on 24 May 2012 by the victim’s brother. The officer who ignored the complaint at the time, then Station House Officer Ashok Kumar and then Deputy Superintendent of Police Sewa Singh, have been issued show-cause notices for their negligence. According to the petitioner’s submission before the PHHC, his sister was raped and poisoned inside the Dhadrianwale dera, and although her postmortem report indicated the presence of poison, the police took no action for 12 years. Dhardianwale has a history marred with controversies; amid traditionalists, he is seen as a reformist who is breaking conventions. In August 2020, the Akal Takht (Eternal Throne) ordered a boycott of his congregations worldwide until he apologized for remarks deemed offensive to Sikh Gurus and principles. Meanwhile, through a letter dated 10 Dec 2023 confirming that earlier permissions granted in August and September suffice, the Union govt. has informed the PHHC that it has approved the installation of advanced V-Kavach (armour) jammers in Panjab jails. Additional Solicitor General Satya Pal Jain announced the move as PHHC monitors Panjab’s efforts to curb cell phone use by jailed gangsters. Proceedings began after gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s jail interviews aired on 14 and 17 Mar 2023 (SDW Vol 2, Issue 45, Story 4).

On 6 Dec, King Charles III officially revoked the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) awarded to Conservative peer Rami Ranger following findings that he harassed an Indian journalist and made derogatory comments toward Sikhs and Pakistanis. The removal of his CBE honor was announced in the London Gazette, after the Forfeiture Committee determined that his actions ran counter to the spirit of the award he received in 2016 for services towards business and community cohesion. Ranger, who has donated approximately GBP 1.5M to the Conservative Party since 2009, had been briefly stripped of the Conservative whip in 2023 following a House of Lords Standards Commissioner’s ruling that he harassed journalist Poonam Joshi. Although he apologized, the Forfeiture Committee also considered his social media posts and comments targeting Sikhs and Pakistanis. Despite Ranger’s apology and his team’s insistence that he committed no crime and was exercising free speech, the committee concluded that the combination of his behavior warranted the withdrawal of his honor, given that it was granted for promoting community harmony. Meanwhile, King Charles III honored 103-year-old Havildar Major Rajindar Singh Dhatt with Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) at Windsor Castle on 10 Dec for his distinguished services to the South Asian Community in the UK. Born in 1921 in pre-partition Panjab, Dhatt joined the British Army in World War II and moved to Hounslow, UK, in 1963. Dhatt co-founded the Undivided Indian Ex-Servicemen’s Association to unite and support British-Indian veterans.

International hostilities, economic crises, and escalating living costs in Europe have severely impacted the export of woollen apparel, including shawls and stoles, from Panjab to Europe, the US, and Canada. Panjab’s manufacturing hubs, Ludhiana and Amritsar, have seen a decline in woollen apparel exports—classified under the readymade garment category by the Union govt.—from USD 121M in 2014-15 to USD 90M in 2024, marking a roughly 40% drop. Although some short-lived recoveries occurred, the long-term trend remains downward, forcing many shawl manufacturers to diversify into suits, sarees, or knitwear. India’s global trade routes have also been disrupted by extended shipping lanes, particularly due to hostilities in the Middle East, forcing ships to reroute via the Cape of Good Hope (SDW Vol 2, Issue 42, Story 7). Ludhiana currently leads exports with over USD 117M annually, while Amritsar exports sit at around USD 59M. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal recently acknowledged that these elongated routes affect India’s exports. Major buyers from Europe and Australia once drove significant demand for Panjab’s shawls and stoles. The hosieries collectively produce items worth USD 706M, with combined exports hovering around USD 176M. In the Gulf region, the UAE remains a key market. According to Amritsar-based manufacturer Gaurav Jain, restoring pre-Covid export levels is a distant dream due to international conflicts and recessionary pressures. Amid conflicts and economic woes, Panjab’s woollen industry struggles to regain global market share (SDW Vol, 2 Issue 19, Story 7).