New Delhi: Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh opened up about his ideology in a recent interview. The Khalistani activist came into highlight recently with the Ajnala incident and the arrest of Lovepreet Toofan. Amritpal Singh also called violence in name of Khalistan ‘unjustified’ and said that he does not use violent means for his movement.
Talking to India TV about his return from Dubai, Amritpal said that he saw things happening in Punjab that he could not while living there. He added that the 2015 Bargari incident was a life-changing moment for him.
About the Ajnala incident, he said that we have to look at the highlighted moments in this kind of incident like in the farmers’ protest, the breaking of barricades cannot be called the highlight, but the highlight was taking back the bills. He added that an innocent person was arrested and there was enough evidence for it, so only the breaking of barricades cannot be highlighted. We should see that the police admitted and the court released him.
On stone pelting and violence, he said that police initiated the lathi-charge and detained many of their people, which should be noticed.
When asked if he believes in the Indian constitution, he countered by saying whether the constitution believes in his identity or not. He added that the constitution defines Sikhism as a branch of Hinduism, but our Guru said that we are neither Hindu nor Muslim.
On atrocities on Sikhs in India, he cited the example of Punjabis being denied a state on a linguistic basis and thereafter Chandigarh being a Union Territory. He said that Punjab is seen as an unsafe state while there is violence in UP and Bihar and nobody talks about that.
Amritpal condemned the Moga bus incident and also condemned the encounter of the accused. He also went on to say that in the attack on Air India, there was a conspiracy as people from the embassy came out just before the attack. The Khalistani leader called the migration and drug issues as the consequences of genocides.
He alleged that giving threats to Sikhs has become a phenomenon to rise in power. He said that the power of revoking Article 370 lied with someone else and not Kashmiris, similarly, our fight is for the power.
Clarifying his statement, Amritpal said, “The Home Minister said that they will crush the Khalistani movement and I just said that there will be consequences.” He added that the consequences were not just Indira Gandhi’s death but the genocide and what followed. He even said that the Home Minister cannot say the same for people demanding Hindu Rashtra.
Defending keeping weapons, he said that he is not only fighting the government but big drug lords too.
