Punjab Sends Jailed Sikh Radical Amritpal Singh To Lok Sabha

Voters in Punjab have elected two hardcore Sikh radicals to the Lok Sabha. One of the two radicals is pro-Khalistan Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh, 31, who is lodged in Dibrugarh jail (Assam) under NSA and contested from Khadoor Sahib. The other radical to win the elections from Punjab, which has 13 Lok Sabha seats, is 45-year-old Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, the son of Beant Singh, one of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassins.

The two, who contested as independent candidates, won by huge margins. Khadoor Sahib is traditionally a Panthic seat with the highest percentage of Sikh voters (about 75%). Campaigning for Amritpal was primarily done by his parents. Besides, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) incumbent MP from Sangrur seat, Simranjit

Singh Mann, who is also a proKhalistan leader, had withdrawn his candidate in support of Amritpal. Supporters of Amritpal portrayed him as an “anti-drug crusader” and recalled the campaigns against drug abuse that he had conducted across the state. They also lauded the “amrit sanchar” (Sikh initiation ceremony) conducted by the radical Sikh preacher but did not comment on his stance on Khalistan or distrust in the Constitution of India.

Amritpal had hit the headlines after he, along with a score of his supporters, stormed Ajnala police station in Amritsar on February 23 last year, demanding release of one of his aides who had been booked in a case of assault and abduction. The radical preacher surrendered before police on April 23 last year, after Punjab police launched a hunt to nab him and his aides.

Amritpal faced Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD’s) Virsa Singh Valtoha, who was also close to Khalistan ideologue Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale. Others who were in the fray for the seat included the ruling Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) transport minister Laljit Singh Bhullar, Congress MLA Kulbir Singh Zira and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Manjit Singh Mianwind. In Faridkot, Sarabjeet Singh faced the BJP’s Hans Raj Hans, a noted sufi singer, cine actor, as well as singer Karamjit Singh Anmol, SAD’s Rajwinder Singh Dharamkot, and Amarjit Kaur Sahoke of the Congress Sarabjeet, during his campaign, highlighted Panthic issues and also spoke of how his father, Beant Singh, had avenged the attack on the Golden Temple in 1984.

Sarabjeet also had the support of Sikh leaders, including former Akal Takht Jathedar Jasbir Singh Rode and former AAP leader Justice Jora Singh, who were part of 2015 Bargari protests against sacrilege. Sarabjeet’s mother Bimal Kaur Khalsa had won from the Ropar Lok Sabha election and his grandfather Such Singh had won the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat in 1989, both as SAD candidates. However, this time, SAD had fielded its own candidate against him.