Punjab ’95, a movie based on the true story of the late Jaswant Singh Khalra, isn’t being released in India or in the diaspora because of objections from the Indian film censor board.
Many attribute this to the controversial subject of the film. It brings alive the reality of enforced disappearances of Sikh political activists and innocent Sikh youths by Punjab police during the insurgency for Khalistan, which is an imagined independent Sikh homeland. Since Hindus were frequently targeted by death squads in that period, Hindu nationalists were very vocal against Sikh militants back then and often justified police repression in the name of a so-called “war on terror”.
Khalra (played by Diljit Dosanjh in the movie) investigated those disappearances. He also travelled to Canada to raise awareness about gross human rights abuses in Punjab. After he returned home, he was abducted and murdered by police in September of 1995.
Although the current ruling Hindu nationalist BJP government in New Delhi is creating roadblocks for releasing the movie, the Sikh wing of the Hindu supremacist organization Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS)—of which the BJP is a part—has glorified Khalra in one of its publications. Sangat Sansar can be described as the mouthpiece of Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, an RSS offshoot. In one of its pieces, the magazine blames the previous Congress regime for Khalra’s murder and equates him with Sikh martyrs who were tortured to death during Mughal rule. Notably, the RSS won’t ever give similar treatment to a Muslim hero as it treats Islam as foreign religion, but they view Sikhi as part of the Hindu fold.
https://youtu.be/_TTt6sCg4IA?si=5jSnK9CGU7DQcOfP
The official trailer for Punjab ’95 was released last December.
Punjab ’95 path differs from Chamkila biopic
In spite of these efforts to rope in the Sikh community under the garb of anti-Congressism, the government isn’t willing to release the movie anytime soon. On the contrary, a Hindi-language movie based on Amar Singh Chamkila, a singer who was believed to be assassinated by the Khalistanis, was not only released last year but promoted widely. Interestingly, Dosanjh played Chamkila in that film.
Apparently, those in power have no objection to seeing Dosanjh playing as a victim of Khalistanis, but won’t tolerate him performing for an investigator working for those victimized by the other side. This is despite Dosanjh paying a visit to Indian prime minister Narendra Modi early this year, an event he has proudly pinned on his X account.
A fantastic start to 2025
A very memorable meeting with PM @narendramodi Ji.
We talked about a lot of things including music of course! pic.twitter.com/TKThDWnE0P
— DILJIT DOSANJH (@diljitdosanjh) January 1, 2025
For the record, BJP and RSS supporters have continually accused the rival Congress party of being anti-Sikh. Yet they openly and subtly endorsed the high-handedness of Congress during the 1984 Sikh genocide. In addition, the BJP and RSS have also repeatedly advocated for draconian laws and special powers for police in Punjab to fight Khalistanis.
Moreover, they even distributed sweets when the Golden Temple complex, the holiest shrine of the Sikhs, was invaded by the Indian army in 1984. And they later voted for Congress candidates following the anti-Sikh massacre in the aftermath of the murder of then Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. Congress, which proclaims itself as a secular alternative to the BJP, took advantage of Hindu majoritarianism back then in winning a massive majority.
Gurpreet Singh is a B.C. author and co-founder of Radical Desi. In addition, he hosts a daily news and current affairs show on YouTube called Navin Taazi. Follow Gurpreet Singh on Bluesky @gurpreetradical.bsky.social. Follow Pancouver on X @PancouverMedia and Bluesky @pancouver.bsky.social. The publication is also on Instagram @PancouverMedia.
