Sikh Activist Bhajan Singh Bhinder Interview
In the ongoing investigation into the toolkit tweeted by Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, among those targeted by Delhi police is a 61-year-old Sikh activist based in the United States, Bhajan Singh Bhinder. , aka Iqbal Chaudhary. He spoke to The Indian Express about his background and the allegations against him.
When did your family leave India?
My family hails from the Gurdaspur district of Punjab. My grandfather, Sultan Singh, was a normal guy who fought against British rule, faced harassment and had to leave the country under duress. He settled in Malaya like many other people who opposed the British and never returned. We were born and raised there. Then I moved to the United States in 1980 at an age of 20-21 and now I live in the northern part of California. I have run my insurance business for the past 22 years. I was the youngest president of the largest gurdwara, Fremont, in the late 1980s, I created a new gurdwara building and established the Khalsa school, where now between 400 and 500 children learn the basic Punjabi language. I visited India once in the mid-1970s. I also worked in Silicon Valley in 1984-85. Besides founding the Sikh Information Center (SIC) in 1988, I also founded the Organization of Minorities of India (OFMI) in 2006.
Delhi police have called him one of the main advocates of the Pakistan ISI’s “K2 (Kashmir and Khalistan) desk”. What do you have to say about it and why do they call you Iqbal Chaudhry?
K2 has been created by the government and a section of the media. I have no idea what K2 is. The Indian government’s own report says that from 2000 onwards Bhinder has changed the strategy of his work; now it is waging an information war. When I am fighting a ‘Kaghji ladai’ (a paper war), which is uniting all those who are repressed and victimized, for the last 20 years, then how can you call me an ISI militant or agent? ”.
Also my name was there on the blacklist until 2011 but after that my name was removed, that’s what they told me
Now when the Indian government has released several of those who participated in the militancy in all aspects, including assassinations, bombings, the government has started a new chapter. So targeting people who support farmers in that way is unnecessary and gives farmers’ protest a bad name.
My name is Bhajan Singh or Bhajan Singh Bhinder only, as to why they call me that (Iqbal), that is a question that the Delhi police can better answer.
What do you have to say about being called Khalistani?
I do not deny it. There was a time in 1984 when I, like any other Sikh, was angry about the situation with the attack on the Golden Temple and then the riots in Delhi killed thousands of Sikhs. It was traumatic for all Sikhs in the world and more painful because it was committed by our own people on our own people. At one point, full of anger, we supported the militants by providing medicine, food and aid to them and their families for humanitarian reasons. But I am not a militant and I have never participated in any act of violence.
Also, we wanted to act against state oppression and atrocities against people, not against India. I am not involved in any kind of violence.
SIC was founded after the 1984 massacre to raise awareness in the world about the plight of Sikhs during the dark days of militancy when several young men disappeared. Now even people are apologizing for the 1984 attack, but we wanted to speak for those who could not speak for themselves during those dark times of militancy.
OFMI was formed to promote individual freedom for minorities in South Asia by fostering secularism.
Time changes and everyone evolves. We also evolve and even the Indian government is now releasing ex-militants and I have been educating people about their human rights and I am not supporting any kind of militancy in any way.
How does the American human rights activist Pieter Friedrich relate to you?
I met him in 2006 while working against the persecution of Christians. We wrote two books: Kite Fights: The Proxy Wars Behind the Kabul Gurdwara Massacre and ‘Cautivating’ The Simple-Hearted: A Fight for Human Dignity in the Indian Subcontinent. It includes multiple reports on the Sikh religion, the history of Mulnivasi. Pieter, I and a number of like-minded human rights workers are protesting together. They are doing lectures, meetings, writing, etc. together.
Pieter is a freelance writer who has a huge following as he was never my employee and we may not see each other for years, but our line of work and activism is along similar lines.
What do you have to say about the Toolkit episode?
Toolkits are not a crime. It is a knowledge enhancer even during the Covid era, it was widely used to raise awareness. The government is using it. Everybody is using it. I would love to be a part of this toolkit (Greta Tweet), zoom meeting to help farmers because farmers are the backbone of India. I wanted to help farmers. But I’m not part of any Zoom toolkit or meeting, but the government can blame us.
People laugh at us because the toolkit is presented as an atomic bomb. If the Indians from the north, south, east, and west are supporting farmers, it is like universal support from the Indians and much more Indian.
The government of India has been targeting the farmer’s movement on behalf of Khalistani backed China, Pakistan and now this ISI and K2 agenda has arrived. They are digging all the old records and putting people there to cloud the farmers’ protest.
Nobody wants to face the real problem. The world is going through one of the most challenging times and here we are playing with this kind of thing.
Do you support the 2020 Referendum movement?
I am not against the term “referendum” as it is happening all over the world. But having said that I am not part of SFJ, my work concerns the welfare of minorities in India and focuses on the philosophy of icons such as Dr. BR Ambedkar, Shaeed Bhagat Sing and educating people to live with dignity. and self-respect.
She is a freelance blogger, writer, and speaker, and writes for various entertainment magazines.