FALSE PROPHET

Amritpal's sudden rise follows a script from Punjab's past

- JATINDER KAUR TUR

IT WAS AROUND 2 PM on the afternoon of 23 February. A contingent of the Punjab Police, almost eight hundred strong and armed with lathis, stood behind barricades placed outside the Ajnala Police Station, near Amritsar. On the other side, a crowd of equal size was gathering. Scores among them were armed with kirpans, flanking a converted bus that held a palki sahib-a consecrated seat for the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book. Walking alongside the vehicle, surrounded by men armed with rifles, was Amritpal Singh, a 30-year-old self-styled preacher. He had been travelling up and down the state for the past six months, calling for the establishment of Khalistan, an independent state for Sikhs, and urging a return to Sikh orthodoxy, which he often redefined on his own terms.

Within minutes, the front line of the crowd, which had several Nihang Sikhs, an armed warrior order, broke down the barricades and pushed towards the police station. Media footage shows the police moving to the sides and giving way to the crowd accompanying the bus without any resistance. Simultaneously, Amritpal and his armed gunmen moved behind the bus, using it as a shield as they pushed towards the police station. Soon, the crowd surrounding the bus attacked the police, who, again, did not retaliate. At least six police personnel, including a superintendent, were injured in the melee. Amritpal and his supporters then occupied the station for the next several hours, using a microphone to give speeches from inside and to address the media thronging the site. The bus remained parked outside the station and the police stood on the side lines.