Radical preacher Amritpal Singh was arrested from Punjab’s Moga district on Sunday, police said. “The Punjab Police have arrested him,” a senior police official told PTI. Read LIVE Updates here
Police further said he would be sent to Assam’s Dibrugarh jail.
“He is an NSA subject and will be taken to Dibrugarh,” said the officer.
The Punjab Police has already invoked the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against the Khalistan sympathizer. Singh had been on the run since March 18 when a police crackdown was launched against him and his aides. The police on March 18 had launched a major crackdown against Amritpal Singh and members of his outfit ‘Waris Punjab De’.
He and his associates were booked under several criminal cases related to spreading disharmony among classes, attempting to murder, attacking police personnel, and creating obstructions in public servants’ lawful discharge of duty.
A manhunt had been on to nab the radical Sikh preacher and Khalistan sympathizer after the Punjab government had launched a major crackdown against Amritpal, with police arresting 78 members of an outfit headed by him.
The elusive preacher himself, however, gave the police a slip and escaped their dragnet when his cavalcade was intercepted in Jalandhar district.
Police Op Against Amritpal?
Police in March had launched a “massive state-wide cordon and search operations (CASO)” in the state against the members of the ‘Waris Punjab De’ group, headed by Singh, against whom several criminal cases have been registered. Seventy-eight persons have been arrested so far, while several others have been detained for questioning, they said.
The police action came a day ahead of the start of Amritpal Singh’s ‘Khalsa Wahir’ – a religious procession – which was to start from Muktsar district. During their state-wide operation, police seized one .315 bore rifle, seven 12 bore rifles, one revolver, and 373 live cartridges of different caliber, they said.
So Who is Amritpal Singh?
Donning a flowing white chola and a navy blue turban and often escorted by armed supporters, radical preacher and Khalistan sympathiser Amritpal Singh has been quite active in Punjab for some time. Read more on this here
In 1993, he was born in Amritsar’s Jallupur Khera hamlet. He completed Class 12 and then left India in 2012 to work for his uncle’s transport company in Dubai, according to Times of India. He was appointed the head of Waris Punjab De, an organisation formed by actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu, only six months ago, bringing him to the attention of Punjab’s lawmakers and police.
Amritpal and his friends believe Sidhu was murdered by the ‘state’ when he died in a car accident in February 2022.
As per the report, Amritpal never actually met Sidhu in person, but he thinks their online exchanges had a big influence on him. When others criticised Deep Sidhu for the Red Fort protests on Republic Day 2021 amid the farmers’ struggle, Amritpal stood by him. Amritpal claimed on the one anniversary of Sidhu’s death a week ago that he had stopped trimming his hair on the late actor’s advise in November 2021. He became a ‘Amritdhari Sikh’ on September 25, last year, after undergoing a formal Sikh baptism at Anandpur Sahib.
Just four days later, on September 29, Times of India reports, with massive crowds gathered to see Amritpal’s ‘dastar bandi’ (turban-tying ritual to show the acceptance of responsibility) at Rode village, the birthplace of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, whose name is inextricably linked to Punjab militancy. Amritpal has gone from a clean-shaven transporter in Dubai to a separatist Sikh leader with a flowing beard. He dressed like Bhindranwale, and others are referring to him as Bhindranwale 2.0.
In a recent address, he stated that when he arrived at Amritsar airport, he was questioned by “agencies” for quite some time. He went on to say that questioning a Sikh teenager about returning to his homeland is a symptom of ‘ghulami’ (slavery).
He has been promoting Khalistan’s cause on Facebook for quite some time. He questioned why it is wrong for a Sikh to advocate Khalistan while advocating for a Hindu Rashtra is not penalised. Amritpal told a Punjabi news channel that the Bargari sacrilege and Behbal Kalan police shooting in 2015 drew him to Sikh activism.
What is Waris Punjab De?
WPD was founded by Pollywood actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu, a supporter of Simranjit Singh Mann, who died in a road accident in Haryana earlier while driving to Punjab from Delhi along with his Indian-origin American girlfriend Reena Rai.
Sidhu laid the foundation of ‘Waris Punjab De’ in Chandigarh eight months after the Republic Day incident, said a report by Free Press Journal. During his launch event, he stated that the organisation would “fight for Punjab’s rights against the Centre and raise voice anytime there is any attack on Punjab’s culture, language, social fabric, and rights.”
Soon after establishing his organisation, Sidhu expressed his support for Simranjit Singh Mann’s extremist pro-Khalistan party SAD (Amritsar) and campaigned for them ahead of the Punjab elections.
Sidhu, on the other hand, died in a car accident on February 15, 2022, just five days before the state elections. Simranjit Singh Mann has requested a judicial investigation into Sidhu’s death.
Once Amritpal Singh assumed control of ‘Waris Punjab De’, Sidhu’s family distanced themselves from Amritpal, claiming that he was never nominated as the leader of their son’s organisation.
Why in Limelight?
A police spokesperson told PTI that the followers of WPD are involved in four criminal cases relating to spreading disharmony among classes, attempt to murder, attack on police personnel, and creating obstructions in the lawful discharge of duties of public servants.
An FIR dated February 24 stands registered against WPD elements for the attack on Ajnala Police Station.
In February, Amritpal and his supporters, some of them brandishing swords and guns, broke through barricades and barged into the Ajnala Police Station on the outskirts of the Amritsar city, clashing with police for the release of one of Amritpal’s aide.
After the incident, in which six policemen including a Superintendent of Police rank officer had suffered injuries, the AAP government in the state had faced severe flak and was accused of kowtowing to extremists.
With inputs from PTI
Parts of this report were originally published on March 19, 2023.
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