Introducing the Sikh Nation Podcast

Examining the Khalistan movement in the west. The Sikh diaspora demands a separate nation for Sikhs broken out of the Indian state of Punjab. Will they force a third partition in South Asia?

New episode now out on the Sikh Nation Podcast: on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen.

Last year, Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot and killed in a parking lot in Surrey, Canada. Not long after, the Canadian prime minister accused India of having murdered him, gangland style.

For most westerners, this episode stood out as incongruous. The notion that the government of a billion-strong nation would go after a middle-aged plumber, a father of two, in a suburb half way around the world seemed…inexplicable.

But Hardeep Singh Nijjar was a Sikh separatist. He, along with many other Sikhs of Indian origin who have emigrated to western countries, demand a separate nation for Sikhs carved out of India’s northwest. They call it “Khalistan”—the land of the pure.

Forty years ago, the Khalistan insurgency had its peak in India. Thousands of people died: some killed by militants, some by the Indian government as they tried to control the insurgency with brutal tactics.

» Listen on Spotify

Now, this movement is seeing a revival in the west, driven by a new generation of Sikhs steeped in the language of civil rights and self-determination. A non-binding referendum in which Sikhs can vote on secession has seen massive attendance across western cities.

In India, on the other hand, the memory of the insurgency of forty years ago still burns, especially for those who lived through those times, as I did. There were hijackings, assassinations, and revenge killings. The country nearly tore itself apart.

The South Asian subcontinent has seen two partitions. The India-Pakistan partition of 1947 was bloody and violent with a death toll in millions. The formation of the country of Bangladesh was just as bloody. Will there be a third?

India does not want a third partition. Many in the Sikh diaspora do. They see it as rectifying a decades-old mistake.

» Listen on Apple

In this podcast series, I will be examining the Khalistan movement in the west. I will talk to Sikh activists and South Asia experts. I will be visiting referendums and exploring history.

Follow along.