Khalistanis baring their dangerous fangs again! Can Centre rely on Arvind Kejriwal to fight this menace in Punjab?

At a toll booth in Karnal, Haryana Police detained four persons carrying three IEDs each weighing 2.5 kg. Khalistan flags were spotted mounted to the Himachal Pradesh Assembly Complex’s main gate in Dharamsala.

The use of made-in-Pakistan weapon in the rocket-propelled grenade attack on the Punjab Police Intelligence headquarters in Mohali was reported on 9 May, a day after state police recovered an IED filled with RDX wrapped in a metallic black box weighing approximately 2.5 kg from Naushehra Pannuan village in the Tarn Taran district.

The fact that these developments took place so soon after a religious clash between Sikh and Hindu groups in Patiala on 29 April raises serious security concerns. Both assaults were in reaction to calls made by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the US-based founder of separatist organisation ‘Sikhs for Justice’. The revival of the Khalistan narrative is undeniable.

A former Punjab DGP said that these developments should be seen in the context of a new government coming to power in Punjab. “The rash of incidents in Punjab within days of the change of guard should have been expected,” he said.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), headed by Arvind Kejriwal, has won Punjab, the most talked-about border state, and has become the fastest-growing political party in the country, but the results should not have surprised any logical political observer. According to his critics, Kejriwal gained an edge in the state elections by catering to separatist elements in Punjab. Pro-Khalistan outfits backed Kejriwal’s party during the Lok Sabha elections.

During the Punjab polls, Kumar Vishwas, one of the founding members of the AAP, had accused Kejriwal of having ties with Khalistani separatists for winning elections. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi too criticised Kejriwal in February this year, stating that the AAP chief had spent a night at the ancestral home of a former Khalistani terrorist in Moga in 2017. Even Gul Panag warned Kejriwal and the AAP in the run-up to the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections about their infatuation with radical fringe groups and separatist movements.

In 2018, Gul Panag, a former AAP leader and actress, stated: “That was a clumsily planned flirtation. I warned you about this one. Repeatedly. It’s because they don’t comprehend or ‘get’ Punjab. The K gang was said to have political clout. We all knew better in Punjab. But alas!”

Kejriwal fails the ‘Vishwas’ challenge, but he then goes on to declare himself the “world’s loveliest terrorist" and compares himself to Bhagat Singh, alleging that Bhagat Singh was once considered a terrorist and that his follower is now suffering the same fate.

Even if one discounts Vishwas’ claim as a typical “he said, she said” scenario, how can one forget that this is the same Kejriwal who tried pollicising the Pulwama assault by alleging that it was carried out at the behest of the Modi government in order to bolster the BJP’s electoral prospects in the 2019 general elections.

“Everyone is asking whether Pakistan murdered 40 of our brave guys in Pulwama on 14 February, just before the polls, to promote Modi ji,” Kejriwal said, promoting the conspiracy theory.

In fact, in the aftermath of the Indian military’s surgical strikes to avenge the death of the brave souls who died in the Uri attack, the AAP leader cleverly crafted a video congratulating the Indian government while simultaneously demanding confirmation that the surgical strikes took place.

The first rule of Gobbelsian propaganda, according to popular opinion, is to “accuse others of what you have done”. Kejriwal recognises the importance of good public relations and plays it safe to maintain his image as a muffler-wearing regular man who is completely honest. According to an RTI answer dated 8 April, the Kejriwal-led AAP government in Delhi spent about Rs 150 crore on public advertisements in only three months, from January to March 2021. In addition, in the preceding two years, the Kejriwal government spent over Rs 800 crore on advertising. He’s been dubbed “ad-man” for obvious reasons.

Kejriwal is good with public relations, which might work in a semi-state like Delhi, but in Punjab, a border state with a history of militancy, it is a different ballgame.

Kejriwal’s hypocrisy is further exposed when in Punjab he is vigorously pushing for a drug-free society, but in Delhi his stand is just the opposite. The AAP is building a spate of liquor shops in the National Capital, expanding the number from 250 to 850 on the one hand.

Furthermore, Delhi’s new proposed liquor policy cuts the number of dry days from 21 to three each year, and also clears the proposal for home delivery of liquor.

The Khalistanis are baring their fangs again.

Keeping this in mind, the state government should form an “Anti-Terror Advisory Group” comprised retired police officers who were in the forefront of anti-terrorist operations in the 1980s and 1990s. Former police officers also recommend that, in the face of new dangers, the Monthly Intelligence Review (Pink Book), which was formed at the height of terrorism by former DGP Intelligence, OP Sharma, be relaunched and distributed to all districts.

Given the state’s insurgent past and its strategic border status, and with allegations of Kejriwal being soft on Khalistanis, it’s time for the nation to be on high alert. While the Central government should follow the spirit of federalism, it should equally avoid becoming a sitting duck. This border state can’t be allowed to go back to the eighties, and for this whatever is necessary, the Centre, in coordination with the Punjab government, should do.

The author is an independent journalist and columnist. Views expressed are personal.

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