Simranjit Singh Mann, Lok Sabha member from Sangrur, wants to open the trade routes between India and Pakistan
| Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP
Sitting in his living room with a portrait of extremist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale by his side, Sangrur Lok Sabha member Simranjit Singh Mann of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) talks about Sikh identity and Khalistan. A hard-liner, Mr. Mann, 79, who won the seat vacated by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in the 2022 by-election, has been speaking about the release of Bandi Sikhs, who were convicted for being involved in militant activities, opening of trade routes between India and Pakistan, and Sikh pride in his 2024 Lok Sabha poll campaign.
Mr. Mann had won the 1989 Lok Sabha election from the erstwhile Tarn Taran seat in absentia and from Sangrur in 1999. The former IPS officer’s campaign has been built on identity, the drug menace in the State, death of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala and Khalistan, with the views of Bhindranwale, killed in Operation Bluestar in 1984, being a leitmotif of his electioneering. New-age Sikh icons, popular among the youth, such as the late actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu, Moosewala and radical Sikh leader Amritpal Singh, imprisoned in Dibrugarh, feature in posters.
Moosewala’s death is being cited by Mr. Mann’s supporters as a consequence of a gangster culture that has spread terror in the State. Khushpreet Singh, 27, a dairy farmer from Bhasaur, said Moosewala had done a lot for the people. “He raised concerns about ordinary people like us. Here, no politician is ready to address the problem of gangster culture. Mr. Mann has put Moosewala’s photo in his campaign material. The world should not forget Moosewala’s contributions,” he said.
Campaign demands
Mr. Mann told The Hindu that he wants opening of the borders with Pakistan for trade and commerce, and religious tourism. He said many holy shrines for the Sikh community are across the border. “It will boost employment opportunities for people. With more trade between the two countries, more people will be able to feed their families. It will benefit farmers, manufacturers and those in the transport business,” he said. Mr. Mann said India should stop trade with China “till it frees all Indian land occupied in 1962, 2020 and 2022.”
The leader said he is fighting for the “freedom of Sikhs”. “Our community has been oppressed for more than 30 years, Sikh prisoners are languishing in jails, our Sikh identity is being eroded,” he said.
Mr. Mann said he has plans to highlight farmers’ issues for which protests took place in 2020-2021 near New Delhi. “The Sikh identity got eroded further during the protests. All the farmers needed were assurances that MSP would be provided, loans would be waived off and the MS Swaminathan report would be implemented. But instead, farmers were called terrorists. I am going to address these concerns as most Sikhs in Punjab practise farming,” Mr. Mann said.
Sandeep Singh, 35, a farmer, said the leader has worked for the Sikh community. “I have heard about his work as a police officer. He was active against the drug menace. Since then, my family has supported him. When he became an MP, he helped villagers with their finances. We want a leader to address our concerns in the Parliament,” he said.
Last year in July, the Indian consulate in San Francisco was allegedly set ablaze by supporters of Khalistan. There have been incidents of protests by Khalistan supporters against the crackdown on the Sikh group, Waris Punjab De, and its head Amritpal Singh.
Asked about the attacks of the Indian consulate, Mr. Mann said, “Those were peaceful protests and demonstrations, not attacks. It is a fundamental right of every individual, nobody was killed or hurt. There have been multiple reports of Sikh individuals being assassinated on foreign lands, but nobody has looked into those concerns raised by us.”
Mr. Mann joined the Punjab Cadre of the Indian Police Service in 1967. On June 18, 1984, he resigned from service in protest of Operation Blue Star and, a month later, he was dismissed from service. After Indira Gandhi’s assassination, he was charged with conspiracy, arrested in November 1984 and imprisoned in Bhagalpur for five years.
But he won the Tarn Taran Lok Sabha seat in absentia and in November 1989 was released, with all charges dropped. Forty years later, Mr. Mann said the scars of Operation Blue Star have not healed. He said he will continue advocating separatism because the “country has betrayed Sikhs”.
