Indian Sikh Separatist, Kashmir Leader Elected from Jail

News Desk

New Delhi: An Indian Sikh separatist and a vocal critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the disputed region of Kashmir were both poised to be elected as lawmakers from behind bars on Tuesday.

Firebrand preacher Amritpal Singh, 31, a Sikh separatist leader arrested last year following a month-long police manhunt in Punjab, emerged victorious in the Khadoor Sahib constituency. Singh, who became known for advocating a separate Sikh homeland called Khalistan—a cause that fueled deadly violence in the 1980s and 1990s—defeated 26 other candidates, including 17 independents.

Singh’s mother expressed her gratitude to the voters for their support and “love” for her son, who won nearly 200,000 more votes than his closest competitor as an independent.

 “I sincerely thank all the supporters from the bottom of my heart,” Balwinder Kaur told reporters. “Our victory is dedicated to the martyrs.”

Weeks before Singh’s arrest in April 2023, he and his armed supporters had raided a police station after one of Singh’s aides was detained for assault and attempted kidnapping.

Singh has modeled himself after Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a prominent figure in the Khalistan movement who was killed during the Indian army’s storming of the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984.

Later that year, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her bodyguards in retaliation for ordering the attack on the temple.

In a surprising turn of events, the son of one of Gandhi’s assassins was also elected to India’s parliament on Tuesday from another constituency in Punjab.