The Punjab Issue and the Sikh Diaspora

Calls for Secession in the XXI Century

Bibliographic Data

ID21527285
AuthorsAnna Bochkovskaya (0000-0001-6666-4246, Lomonosov Moscow State University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Issue11
Pages32
Publication date2023-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAsia and Africa today (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0321-5075 • E-ISSN: 2782-2389
PublisherThe Russian Academy of Sciences (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.31857/s032150750028610-3
OpenAlexW4388952485
LanguageEN
Citations received1

The article discusses the role of Punjabi-Sikh diaspora in supporting and heating up secessionist ideas in contemporary India. In focus are specific features of the most visible non-governmental organizations based beyond South Asia, which advocate an idea of setting up an independent Khalistan state in the north-west of India (Punjab); activities of the “Sikhs for Justice” group aimed at launching the Khalistan Referendum / Referendum 2020; and 2022–2023 developments in Punjab related to the performance of Amritpal Singh Sandhu, a present-day “successor” of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale (1947–1984) – a charismatic leader of the Sikh separatists in the late 1970s – early 1980s. Since the 1990s, the Punjab issue has cooled down, but the idea of establishing a sovereign Sikh state has not become a thing of the past. The Khalistan proponents and, in particular, Bhindranwale who was killed in the 1984 “Operation Bluestar” in Punjab, have been proclaimed martyrs for the Sikh faith. International pro-Khalistani groups have been using their images both for self-advertising and for destabilizing India in general and Punjab in particular

Charisma · Diaspora · Economic Justice · Political science · Politics · Referendum · Secession · Sociology · Sovereignty · Gender Studies · Law · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · South Asian Studies and Conflicts · South Asian Studies and Diaspora

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