Chandigarh: Jailed Sikh separatist Amritpal Singh will be contesting from Khadoor Sahib parliamentary seat in Punjab, his mother Balwinder Kaur announced Friday.
At a press conference, Kaur said that her son had taken the decision on the asking of the Sikh ‘sangat’ (community).
“I appeal to the Sikh ‘sangat’ to support Amritpal as much as they can,” Kaur said, adding that although Amritpal was not keen on contesting elections, he took the decision to help his other associates incarcerated in the jail with him.
“Had he been alone he said he would have continued to stay in jail, but he feels that the families of those associated with him and are in jail are suffering.”
Apart from Amritpal, his nine associates, including paternal uncle, are detained at the Dibrugarh jail in Assam. The Waris Punjab De head was arrested in April last year by the Punjab Police and detained under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) for indulging in activities “prejudicial to the security of India and the maintenance of public order”.
On Wednesday, Amritpal’s advocate Rajdev Singh Khalsa had announced the move but the decision was taken following a meeting between Amritpal and his father Thursday evening. Voting in Punjab will be held in the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections on 1 June.
Amritpal was expected to be released after the end of a one-year jail term under NSA this month. However, following the recommendations of the Punjab government, Amritpal’s detention has been extended by at least three months.
Talking to the Print, Amritpal’s other advocate Simranjeet Singh said that there is no bar on a person who has not been convicted of a crime to stand as a candidate in elections, even from jail. “If he is not able to campaign himself physically with his supporters, we can carry out a full fledged canvassing on his behalf,” he said.
Before returning to Punjab in August 2022, Amritpal was working in the transport company of his uncle in Dubai. Later, he took over the reins of Waris Punjab De, an outfit set up by actor-turned-Sikh activist Deep Sidhu. Sidhu died in a car accident in February 2022 and a section of his supporters declared Amritpal as the next head of his outfit.
While claiming to be a Sikh preacher undertaking social and religious reforms, Amritpal started openly promoting the cause of Khalistan. He even challenged the validity of the Constitution declaring himself above it.
After his arrest, the police claimed to have found that Amritpal was trying to raise an armed unit, the Anandpur Khalsa Fauj, as part of which he was training his followers in the use of weapons.
Prof. Kanwalpreet Kaur of the Department of Political Science, DAV College, told ThePrint that Amritpal contesting the election will not only be a significant test of his popularity and that of Khalistan sentiment, but will also bring him into the mainstream of the democratic electoral politics. “Someone who shunned the Constitution, will be participating in a process that is central to the Indian Constitution and democracy,” she said.
Amritpal is not the lone Sikh separatist preparing for electoral fight as Sangrur MP, Simranjit Singh Mann, who heads the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) has been espousing the cause of Khalistan for decades, will be contesting from his seat again.
Mann has fielded Bhupinder Singh Bhullar as the Khadoor Sahib candidate. Bhupinder Singh, a former Punjab policeman, is the father of the slain militant Jaipal Bhullar.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded its minister Laljeet Singh Bhullar from Khadoor Sahib, while the BJP has announced Manjeet Singh Manna Mianwind as its candidate.
Considered to be a Panthic seat comprising predominantly rural and traditional Sikh population, Khadoor Sahib is currently held by Congress MP Jasbir Singh Dimpa, who defeated Bibi Jagir Kaur of the Shiromani Akali Dal and Bibi Paramjit Kaur Khalra of the Punjab Ekta Party in 2019.
Paramjit Kaur is the wife of Sikh activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, who went missing in 1995 during the peak of militancy in Punjab. He was working on a project to ascertain the number of extra judicial killings by the state police during those years.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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