Reports from Indian media outlets on Monday highlighted the Khalsa Day festivities in Toronto, Canada, where slogans in favor of the Khalistan movement were raised during a speech by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The festival of Vaisakhi, also known as Baisakhi, commemorates the founding of the Sikh community known as the Khalsa in 1699. It also signifies the start of a new solar year and the beginning of the harvesting season.
According to India’s New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV ),”loud chants” supporting the Khalistan movement were heard during Sunday’s celebrations, which were attended by “thousands” of people, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, and prominent Canadian Sikh leader Jagmeet Singh, who is the chief of the New Democratic Party.
Trudeau, in a firm assurance to the Sikh community, stated that the government is committed to safeguarding their rights and freedoms at all costs. He was quoted as saying, “To the nearly 800,000 Canadians of Sikh heritage across this country, … we will always defend your community against hatred and discrimination.”
Furthermore, the Canadian prime minister mentioned initiatives to enhance security and infrastructure by increasing security measures at community centers and places of worship, such as gurdwaras, reported IndiaToday.
Understanding the Khalistan Movement
The Khalistan Movement advocates for an independent Sikh state carved out of India and traces its origins back to the negotiations preceding the partition of the Punjab region between India and Pakistan in 1947.
Founded in Punjab in the late 15th century, Sikhism currently has approximately 25 million followers worldwide. Although Sikhs constitute a majority of Punjab’s population, they are a minority in India, comprising only two percent of the country’s 1.4 billion population.
Sikh separatists seek the creation of their homeland, “Khalistan,” meaning “the land of the pure,” from Punjab.
The demand for Khalistan has resurfaced multiple times, notably during the insurgency of the 1970s and 1980s, which disrupted life in Indian Punjab for over a decade.
Considered a security threat by the Indian government, the Khalistan movement witnessed its bloodiest chapter in 1984 when then-prime minister Indira Gandhi ordered the military to remove separatist leader Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his supporters from the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs in Amritsar, Punjab.
In retaliation, Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards a few months later. The army conducted operations in 1986 and 1988 to eliminate Sikh militants from Punjab.
Sikh militants were also held responsible for the 1985 bombing of an Air India Boeing 747 flying from Canada to India, resulting in the deaths of all 329 people on board off the Irish coast.
Although the Khalistan movement has limited support in India today, it retains pockets of backing among segments of the Sikh diaspora in Canada, which hosts the largest Sikh population outside Punjab, as well as in Britain, Australia, and the US.
