For a millennial who has been raised in Punjab, a trip to the UK's staunch Khalistani Gurudwaras will be both shocking and confusing. The Khalistani organizations have not only proliferated across the UK, they have also emerged as a profitable business venture for those who do not have any other source to earn a living. Most of these organizations have joined hands with umbrella organizations of Federation of Sikh Organizations (FSO), Sikh Council UK (SCUK) or World Sikh Parliament (WSP) to remain in the limelight.
Though these organizations may not have the support of most of the Sikh population in the UK but they keep on competing among each other to wrest the control of the management of Gurudwaras in the UK.
“But one should not ignore the fact that they wrestled among each other to control the management of Gurudwaras. It serves them multiple purposes like easy funding in name of sewa and charity, captive audience to listen to their propaganda from the stage, availability of ready-made venues for various meetings and events and the garb of a charitable organization to carry out their ulterior tasks," said a officer working in a security establishment.
Radical Sikh groups in the United Kingdom are trying to revive the Khalistan movement and are involved in spreading fake propaganda against India. Large posters of Jarnail Singh Bhidranwale can be seen hanging in all these Gurudwaras, eulogizing him as a martyr for Sikh homeland. There are some Gurudwaras like Ramgharia, Ravidassia and International Bhat Society in the UK , which have moderate views. But their voices are not heard in the din and cry of a handful of highly proactive pro-Khalistan Gurudwaras.
"Once established, these organizations diversify into media, university unions and politics, to create a larger base for Khalistan cause. And for the survival of these few individuals and Gurudwaras, the need to keep Khalistan alive is essential for their own benefits. Midland Langar Seva, Sikh2inspire, British Organisation of Sikh Students are few of the benign forms that these tendencies have brought forward and are actively engaged in attracting youth to their perception of Sikh values," another officer said.
Recently, a former drug peddler Deepa Singh and his sister were charged by the West Midlnads Police Counter Terrorism Unit for alleged fraud offense of donated charitable funds. Deepa Singh alias Kaldip Singh Lehal is the leader of Sikh Youth UK (SYUK). In November 2018, SYUK and Sikh Channel raised funds worth GBP 0.35 million to create a Sikh Mediation and Research Centre (S.M.A.R.T). How these funds were utilized are a matter of investigation.
In January 2020, the Charity Commission started an inquiry into the financial management of Sikh Channel and Philip Watts and Sarah Tomlinson of Anthony Collins Solicitors were appointed as interim managers of the charity on March 19. As per the Charity Commission UK, the two Interim managers are appointed to take over the running of a charity where the Commission has identified misconduct and mismanagement.
Another Sikh TV channel KTV Global is seen actively promoting the Khalistani cause in the UK, One inquisitive check into the records of the channel, shows that it was dissolved by a compulsory strike off Gazette Notice this March 31st, as the company had failed to file financial returns since 2018. Its sole Director Jasbir Mandair, is also an active director of Khalsa Television Ltd., a dormant company, but has wife of Amrick Singh Gill, the Chairman of Sikh Federation UK as one of its Directors.
Amrick Singh Gill and SFUK are also leading another legal battle over Sikhs to be identified as a separate ethnic group. Well, if it were asking for a separate ethnic group from the UK’s Caucasian majority, it could be well understood. But the organization claims that Sikhs are of different ethnicity from Indians, which includes Punjabi Hindus. Dabinderjit Singh, the spokesperson of SFUK has in a media interview claimed that the legal costs will be atleast GBP 0.1 million and one gurudwara has agreed to bear the whole cost. The question is whether money collected by Gurudwaras as charitable organizations can be used for such legal battles. Amrick Singh Gill and Debinderjit Singh have been members of International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), which was until 2016 a proscribed organization in the UK.
Another new entrant into the murky Khalistan politics in the UK is National Sikh Youth Federation (NSYF) and its leader Shamsher Singh. NSYF’s website openly supports Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), another proscribed organization in the UK terror list. The organization openly asks for support in the form of direct debit of monthly payments of GBP 10,30, 50 or one-off payments in return for the membership to this organization. What is interesting is that this organization is slowly making inroads into the universities and colleges of the UK. Aston University’s Khalistan society openly invited others like him to preach on Khalistan issue and its legitimacy.
Recently, several Tamil student groups have been contacted by NSYF, informing them of the Khalistan demand and telling them that the Sikhs support the Tamil demand for separation. One Tamil Student jokes “I think they are confusing us with Sri Lankan Tamils”.
Compatriot of World Sikh Parliament is another organization Sikh for Justice, which is a recent phenomenon in the UK and gives platform to militants like Paramjeet Singh Pamma, who is a wanted in the murder case of Rashtriya Sikh Sangat (RSS) head Rulda Singh and was released after a failed extradition bid by India to Portugal in 2016. The organization has been actively pursuing registration for “Sikh Referendum 2020” for a Sikh homeland. What is not clear as to what areas of India and Pakistan come under the Sikh homeland that they are seeking.
“As their angst seems to be only against the Indian side of Punjab just like most of the other Khalistani organizations. The important question is that if they are seeking for Indian state of Punjab to be liberated as the Sikh-homeland, then will it be a theocratic state? What about the people of other religions living in this region, will they be exterminated, or do they have a say in such a referendum? Also, even if this were to happen, how sustainable is an independent landlocked country, which is dependent on India for their air and land passage and customs regime. The SFJ seems to have forgotten that the Capital of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s kingdom was in Lahore (now in Pakistan) and it expanded up to Kashmir.’’ said an analyst.
The proliferation of such organizations and their active presence in the social media, Gurudwaras and university campuses is cause of concern. There are several Indian students also from Punjab who enroll themselves in UK universities are fed into such secessionist thoughts in the garb of freedom of expression and political belief. The Gurudwaras they visit again reinforces these beliefs.
The words ‘Kharku’ and ‘Sher’ (can be related to BKI) are in fashion amongst the Sikh youth in UK, indicating that it is fashionable to be a hardliner. The money these organizations have collected have helped these organizations to sell T-shirts, sweatshirts, caps, books espousing Khalistan cause and to make music videos of singers like Chani Nattan..
Whether any portion of such collected money has reached the real beneficiaries is debatable, but it has definitely filled the coffers of individuals who are running these organizations.
