Khalistan Explained: How A Sikh Independence Movement Tore India and Canada Apart

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Published 2023-12-20
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Few threats have devastated India like the Khalistan insurgency of the 1980s and 1990s. A dark chapter that left tens of thousands dead, unleashed tanks on one of Earth's holiest places, orchestrated the most chilling terror attack in Canadian history, and silenced India's most formidable Prime Minister this movement appeared extinguished by the mid-90s, only to rise again from the ashes fueled by unresolved tensions and leap into headlines in 2023.

So what is Khalistan? Why has it resurfaced? And can fertiliser be blamed for it all?

Well, let’s find out!

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SOURCES:
Anandpur Sahib Resolution

J. S. Grewal - The Sikhs of the Punjab

TERRORISM IN PUNJAB Understanding Grassroots Reality

Deol, S. S. Militancy and Counter-Militancy Operations: Changing Patterns and Dynamics of Violence in Punjab, 1978 to 1993.

Singh, K. Sikh Ethnonationalism and Its Contested Articulation During Militancy in Punjab.

Sekhon, J. S., & Singh, N. Rise, Dynamics, and Decline of Violence in Punjab: A Critical Reassessment of Existing Explanations.

Singh, G. Sikh Nationalism From a Dominant Minority to an Ethno-Religious Diaspora.

Bakke, K. M. Decentralization and Intrastate Struggles: Chechnya, Punjab, and Québec.

Tatla, D. S. The Sikh Diaspora: The Search for Statehood.

Wolpert, S. SHAMEFUL FLIGHT: The Last Years of the British Empire in India.

Axel, B. K. Beyond the Land of Five Rivers: Social Inequality and Class Consciousness in the Canadian Sikh Diaspora.

Juergensmeyer, M. When God Stops Fighting: How Religious Violence Ends.

Jetly, R. THE KHALISTAN MOVEMENT IN INDIA: The Interplay of Politics and State Power.

Shani, G. Sikh Nationalism and Identity in a Global Age.

Sidhu, G. B. S. The Khalistan Conspiracy.

Chima, J. S. The Shiromani Akali Dal and Emerging Ideological Cleavages in Contemporary Sikh Politics in Punjab: Integrative Regionalism versus Exclusivist Ethnonationalism.

Hultquist, P. Countering Khalistan: Understanding India’s Counter-Rebellion Strategies during the Punjab Crisis.

Webb, M. J. Khalistan & Kashmir: A Tale of Two Conflicts.


Music by Epidemic Sound: epidemicsound.com/creator

Video/Images provided by Getty Images and Archive.org

Maps provided by maptiler/Geolayers

All Comments (21)
  • the story of the Sikhs over the last 50 years is probably one of the best examples of how political manuvering by dividing the people is possibly the worst possible decision any politician could make in the longterm for everyone involved.
  • @swervrizzle
    As someone from south India this really opened my eyes, now i know why my father used to tell me to look up to the sikhs.
  • @himankkr7060
    People today don’t realize how bad the discrimination against Sikhs following Indira Gandhi’s assassination had become in the country. Celebrities who are household names today like Amitabh Bachchan himself were openly giving speeches advocating for more violence against them back then. They have never been held accountable for any of it.
  • @Jai_BharatMata
    One of the rare International YouTubers showing respect to and digging into the stories of the Indian Subcontinent
  • @vishwakat8743
    Its absolutely crazy how much damage Indira Gandhi did to India. I still can't believe we have places and government schemes named after her. As a relatively young Indian, learning all of this for the first time.
  • This video is very well researched. As a Hindu, I really feel sorry for our Sikh brothers and sisters for what they have gone through.
  • @gillgar417
    As a Sikh, this is one of the best things I’ve seen. You captured the tragic history of Sikh people in India in the last 200 years so phenomenally well!
  • I am a Malaysian. Malaysia also has a very big Sikh community. They are very important part of our country before and also after Malaysia's independence. I learn a lot from this video about Sikhs in India. Thanks a lot.
  • @videobooks3
    My partner is a Sikh and when I told her about this, she said, "We don't talk about that..." 😅😅😅
  • Your channel has improved a lot, you went from being a single guy drawing stick men and telling a story to having a team with a scriptwriter, illustrator, more elaborate investigations, Your channel has definitely improved a lot, my sincere congratulations to you and everyone who helps in the creation of these videos
  • @Gareeb1997
    Punjab and Bengal had the most contribution in India's freedom movement and both of us suffered the most due to partition..... But, now Hindi belt people lecture us how to be a proper patriot and contribute to the country.....
  • @Memelander
    As an Indian Hindu, Sikhs are our brothers in blood and nation, and I hope the government solves these issues that led to such violence in the first place. Sikhs are an unalienable and proud part of India, and I offer my condolences to them to the horrors they faced in the past at the hands of the Congress government. In the light of such atrocities, let us work together to punish the perpetrators, right the wrongs of the past, and stay united for the future. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat, Jai Shri Ram, Waheguru ji ki fateh ❤️🇮🇳
  • @ashishranjan8071
    Indians have deep respect for our sikh people. They are hardworking hence second richest community in India. India is theirs as much as it is someone's else. All the wrong that has been done should be brought to justice. Long live sikhism and India.
  • @joylipumano
    "There is even a new migration wave of British Sikhs moving to Canada to flee the horrors of... living in Britain." I will always live for you dunking on Britain.❤
  • @DieNextInLINE
    I find it personally embarrassing that I didn't know any of this information until watching this, despite Sikh's being the reason I can make this post today. When I became homeless in my teens, I wandered the streets until I passed by a Sikh temple and was invited in for a meal and to rest. I shared my story with them and since I had nothing else to do, I found myself going back time and time again, less often for a meal and more just to spend more time with the people who I felt had 'saved' me. It is incredibly heartbreaking to hear the history of hate directed towards a group of people thought of as, in your own words, "The sword of the Nation".
  • @twotrucks5263
    "Preaching equality for all" "An empire comprised of Sikhs, Muslims, and Hindus" "Protect those who cannot protect themselves" I had no idea Sikhs were the coolest mfers on the planet. Even Akbar the Great can't touch them.
  • Thank you Cogito for informing about this Horrible story of the Sikhs of my country. As a Bengali Hindu I can't deny the contribution of Indira Gandhi for giving shelter to many Hindus during 1971, she is like Mother for us. But what she had done with Sikh is inhuman, I as an Indian Hindu can't believe that this is done by our beloved PM Indira. How could we know when nobody told us about this dark chapter, nobody gave us full information, in school we are taught about Green Revolution but nobody told us that the harmful affect of this and Punjab lost its 90% ground water, nobody told us about the harmful affects of Green revolution and nobody told us that Punjab fed the Whole India by making their own land barren, nobody told us about the Genocide of Sikhs in 1984, nobody taught us about the Killings of Sikhs during Emergency. I am urging to my Sikh brother and sisters please don't misunderstand the Hindus of this country, we have really no knowledge about this Dark chapter, we were not taught about this things in School or College, whatever we know is in bits and pieces. Those Sikhs Lives Lost Can't be Returned But Atleast We Indians Should Provide Sikhs Justice and Reconciliation. It's time for Hindus to repay with interest for what Sikhs had sacrificed in the past to protect Hindus.
  • @shaan14954
    this is a genuine work of art. from the sikh community, thank you for speaking up about this and educating us all on what’s going on. really love the way you did it ❤
  • Talwinder Singh Parmar was never convicted of any crime in Canada. However he was extrajudicially executed by India. Shows you the real villain.