The farmers’ protest, spearheaded by Khalistanis seems to have brought out the worst shades of the Indian democracy. At the heels of the attempted insurrection and unbridled violence that took place on the 26th of January, the nation saw political parties, who are meant to protect. The fabric of the nation, shred it to tatters because petty political gains were far more important than the truth. While Congress fanned a protest with clear Khalistani roots, Aam Aadmi party too, it would seem, was inextricably involved with the global conspiracy against India.
After the rampant violence on Republic Day, Greta Thunberg, a young ‘activist’ whose organisation has resorted to violence and illegal means to supposedly fight for the climate, accidentally tweeted a ‘toolkit’ which contained the entire plan to destabilise India using social media, physical protests in front of embassies and either digital or physical presence in Delhi on the 26th of February.
In the ‘toolkit’, several names were mentioned as reliable sources – some were media outlets, other, journalists and propagandists. The names of Indian media houses and journalists included The Wire, The Scroll, The NewsLaundry, AltNews, Faye D Souza and several other propagandists who were extending support to the rioters of 26th January and also, spreading fake news regarding the farm laws passed by the Modi government.
As soon as the ‘toolkit’ was tweeted by Greta Thunberg, several individuals on Twitter started taking a back-up copy of it. Instinctively, people knew that perhaps this toolkit would be the key to unravelling the conspiracy against India. However, while netizens downloaded the toolkit, it was being edited in real-time by certain individuals. Two individuals who were seen editing the toolkit in real-time to remove all problematic references (including the names of media houses, references to Khalistan etc) was one Shantanu and one Nikita Jacob.
It was later reported that Nikita Jacob was an active part of the Aam Aadmi Party. Currently, Nikita Jacob has applied for anticipatory bail, after the Delhi Police issued a non-bailable warrant against her. She is reportedly absconding from the law.
Interestingly, an old interview of Disha Ravi that we reported on, Ravi had categorically declared her support for AAP.
The lady taking the interview questioned what Disha Ravi thinks about the “progressive party which got elected in Delhi and then faded out”. The activist helps the interviewer by giving her the name of Aam Aadmi Party. Ravi seconds the interviewer’s opinion. She agrees that the AAP is “definitely progressive”, but the issue is that it is only central to Delhi and not in any other city, so they are not being able to make a political shift in all the cities and states across the country. “There are a few issues with the Aam Aadmi Party, but they are definitely better than the others”, says the activist putting her weight behind AAP.
It was also reported that Nikita Jacob (absconding), Shantanu and Disha Ravi (a climate ‘activist’ directly linked to Greta Thunberg) had created and distributed the toolkit. It was Disha who had asked Greta to delete the toolkit after it was tweeted with the active participation of Nikita Jacob, who is alleged to be an AAP activist too. Further, Jacob and Disha were present at a Zoom meeting with Khalistani Mo Dhaliwal of Poetic Justice Foundation where they had hatched the entire plan to create unrest. Mo is also intricately involved in the formulation and distribution of the toolkit that detailed how to break India.
For the purpose of this article, however, it becomes essential to focus on the alleged AAP link of Nikita Jacob. It has been widely reported that she is connected with AAP, however, the involvement of AAP itself in this entire conspiracy has to be seen under the microscope. We had already reported earlier that Congress had tweeted content directly from the Toolkit, using the exact hashtag that the toolkit had asked people to. However, AAP was not left behind either.
The role of AAP in fuelling Khalistani unrest and the ‘toolkit’
As soon as Disha Ravi was arrested, an activist who works closely with Greta Thunberg, heads her Indian chapter and, created and distributed the toolkit which had the blueprint to break India, Arvind Kejriwal, AAP supremo, came out in support of her.
He tweeted that the arrest of Disha Ravi was an attack on democracy itself.
Arrest of 21 yr old Disha Ravi is an unprecedented attack on Democracy. Supporting our farmers is not a crime.
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 15, 2021
It is important to reiterate that the toolkit was made by and distributed by Khalistani organisations like Poetic Justice Foundation and Disha Ravi worked very closely with PJF. Poetic Justice Foundation co-founder Mo Dhaliwal was heard in a video saying, “If the farm bills get repealed tomorrow, that is not a victory. This battle begins with the repeal of the farm laws. It does not end there. Anybody who tells you that this is going to end with the repeal of the farm bills is trying to drain energy from the movement.”
He further requested the youth to not dismiss the idea of ‘Khalistan’ and instead learn about the movement and embrace it. While addressing the gathering, the Khalistani supporter that their ultimate objective is the same, irrespective of whether they are holding a ‘Khalistani flag’ or a ‘farm bill flag’ or a ‘Kesari flag’. “We are being fed language that is separating us from each other,” he alleged.
On the 29th of January, the official account of AAP further fanned the narrative that the toolkit wanted it to further.
कथनी 👇🏼 करनी 👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/8Id2W3mIgg
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) January 29, 2021
It was on the 3rd of February, that Greta had tweeted the toolkit. Interestingly, it was also on the 3rd of February, much before the toolkit was tweeted accidentally by Greta and then, was asked to be deleted by Disha Ravi, AAP had held a press conference saying exactly what the Toolkit wanted it to say.
𝗕𝗝𝗣 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) February 3, 2021
80 years old farmer Gurmukh Singh who’s an ex-armyman has been jailed by the BJP Govt : @SanjayAzadSln #FarmersProtest pic.twitter.com/qrTigDpVoA
This, is not all. Several AAP accounts had used the phrase “Stand with Farmers”, something mentioned in the toolkit and also tweeted with the hashtag “Modi planning farmers genocide”. A phrase used by several accounts fanning the insurrection. In fact, the government of India had given a list of 250 accounts and tweets using this hashtag, to be withheld in India by Twitter. An order that was defied in the name of freedom of expression.
In line with the pro-Khalistani toolkit narrative, AAP social media accounts were pushing the hashtag ‘Stand with Farmers’. Not only that, AAP social media accounts tried to accuse the government of fomenting genocide. With an incendiary hashtag like ‘ModiPlanningFarmerGenoicde’, there can be no doubt that AAP accounts on social media attempted to create a narrative which could lead to severe violence at a sensitive time.
They were also using the hashtag ‘#FarmersProtest” which was specifically mentioned in the toolkit.
However, AAP’s support for Khalistani elements goes beyond the virtual world. Even as ‘protesting farmers’ were vandalizing and destroying cell towers in the 1000s, with lakhs worth of property damage on record, AAP still facilitated them. AAP gave the disruptive ‘farmers,’, who were causing damages worth lakhs and crores, free Wifi at their protesting site on Singhu border. This free Wifi could be the catalyst through which online accounts utilized the pro-Khalistani toolkit narrative on social media. Until a complete investigation reveals anything, we will not know.
AAP’s History of embracing Khalistanis
In 2014, a number of pro-Khalistani outfits declared their support for AAP ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha election. In that same year footage emerged showing, Jarnail Singh, a prominent AAP leader who has contested Lok Sabha elections for the party, addressed a crowd of cheering Khalistan supporters in London. This rally took place in June, 2011. Jarnail Singh is still a part of AAP and reportedly received no backlash within the party.
In 2015, AAP’s Member of Parliament from Patiala, Dharamveer Gandhi himself warned the party leadership against “playing a dangerous game” by supporting the protest for the release of radical Khalistani Sikh militants which was happening at the time. Gandhi cautioned his own party to not ‘play into the hands of certain hardliners’ talking about militancy, saying, “We do not want to go down that road again. We have suffered enough in the past.”
AAP Punjab State Convenor Sucha Singh Chhotepur had visited Sikh activist Surat Singh Khalsa, who was on a hunger strike since January 2015, seeking the release of Khalistani prisoners. Former AAP leader Yogendra Yadav, too, had endorsed Khalsa’s protest.
In 2016, AAP sought an apology from Capt. Amrinder Singh for rightfully referring to some Punjab-origin Canadian minsters as Khalistani sympathizers. Capt. Amrinder hit back at AAP saying, “When the Canadian MPs and ministers did not object to what I said, what makes you act as their spokespersons? Is it to keep the flow of money (from abroad)? Capt. Amrinder Singh further added, “I am surprised by the pain and hurt caused to you by my saying that some of the Canadian ministers are Khalistan supporters, which they are openly.”
In 2018, in their most overt support for Khalistan yet, AAP MLA and Leader of Opposition Sukhapl Singh Khaira released a statement in support of Referendum 2020. Referendum 2020, for those unfamiliar, is a Khalistani terrorist plot seeking a ‘referendum’ to determine the future of Punjab i.e. separation from India. The idea of Referendum 2020 is the hallmark sign of a Khalistani who us against the territorial integrity of India. Criticism of this statement was aplenty across political lines, with Capt. Amrinder Singh strongly condemned Khaira’s statement.
As we can observe, in its extremely brief and nebulous political journey, the one thing which has remained consistently a part of AAP, even when leaders like Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav left, is their support towards Khalistani elements. Ever since its inception in late 2012, Khalistani sentiments have been accepted and tolerated within the AAP. Therefore it is no surprise that AAP provided logistical support in the form of free wifi to the ‘farmers’ during their agitation. The sum total of this mainstream acceptance of Khalistani elements within a mainstream political party is now what we see before us in the form of hundreds of Khalistani sympathizers breaching the Red Fort and replacing the Tricolour with the Nishaan Sahib on Republic Day. That is not an isolated incident. Rather, it proves that the tolerance of a hateful ideology like Khalistan by mainstream political figures like Kejriwal will only push India down a path of instability and destruction.
