The Caravan — February 2018

42 THE CARAVAN

model minority · reportage

Singh Bajwa, a minister in the Punjab cabinet,

argued that relatively younger members of the

Sikh diaspora were too far removed from India

to understand “the real situation in Punjab.” He

noted that their parents had, in many cases, immi-

grated to Canada almost half a century ago. “They

are misinformed,” Bajwa said. “There’s more than

a generation gap.”

Canadian activists I spoke to bristled at the

notion that they should not comment on Punjabi

politics. “If one of us raises our voice and says,

‘India is making human-rights violations,’ then

a finger gets pointed and it’s like, ‘Oh, well, you

know, no one in India—no one in Punjab—has a

problem with it,’” Dhaliwal said. “The reality is it’s

only foreigners that can speak up about it, because

if locals speak up about it, there’s this very serious

threat of being killed or attacked.”

Dhaliwal argued there is little daylight between

Indian and Canadian Sikhs, including on attitudes

towards India and Khalistan. “The notion that this

is a Canadian sentiment is false,” he said. “This is

a sentiment of people that are oppressed. These

are people who have the boot on their throat that

are suffering, that once they escape the suffering,

they speak out about it. This is a ground reality of

people in Punjab.”

the village of thikriwala—Jagmeet Singh’s

ancestral home—lies roughly 165 kilometres east

of Chandigarh, inside Punjab’s Barnala district.

The family is related to Seva Singh Thikriwala—

an early-twentieth-century resident of the vil-

lage who became famous for fighting against the

British.

Thikriwala has taken pride in Jagmeet’s suc-

cess. Posters of the NDP leader adorn various

buildings, and after he won the party election, vil-

lagers gathered in the town’s gurdwara to hear the

news and be congratulated by local leaders. “We

are very happy to know that Jagmeet Singh is an

elected member of parliament. Jagmeet Singh is

respected here,” Jagdit Singh Aulakh, an 89-year-

old who has lived his entire life in Thikriwala,

said. “We hope in one or two years he will take the

place of prime ministership.”

Excitement around Jagmeet has not been lim-

ited to Thikriwala. Though Punjab’s government

is critical of Jagmeet, some of the state’s citizens

celebrate his success just as they do that of many

Sikhs who live abroad. “What I hear about him

is in a positive sense, that he is doing well for the

people of Canada,” Karanbir Singh Randhawa, a

22-year-old student at Panjab University, told me.

“It’s very powerful for us.”

below: Khalistani

flags and other

symbolism are not

uncommon at Sikh

events in Canada.

keith beaty / toronto star / getty images