On January 29, the banned Khalistani terrorist organisation Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) organised the so-called Referendum 2020 voting in Melbourne, Australia. At the voting centre, a pro-India group went to peacefully protest against the voting. However, the pro-Khalistani Sikhs present at the scene hackled and assaulted them with batons and fists. The social media platform TikTok, which is banned in India, was flooded with videos of pro-Khalistani Sikhs making tall claims about the success of the voting.
OpIndia accessed a few videos that are being shared widely on TikTok. A London Based reporter from Pakistan named Murtaza Ali Shah was one of the most active TikTok users to share the videos of the voting on social media.
Notably, his Twitter account MurtazaViews has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand. It is well-known fact that Pakistan supports Khalistani elements and Sikhs For Justice has approached and favoured Pakistan on many occasions.
Murtaza published the videos not only on TikTok but also on Instagram and other platforms. One of the most viewed videos was of a Sikh woman in Australia who claimed that over 60,000 Sikhs went for voting in Melbourne. In the video, she said, “We came to vote for Khalistan Referendum. Around 60,000 Sikhs comprising men, women and elders voted for the Referendum. Around 15,000-20,000 people could not vote. They were heartbroken but there is nothing to feel that way. We will conduct a second voting round. Everyone was excited starting from 6 AM till 5 PM. It was a great feeling.”
In a post debunking the claims, Dr Amit Sarwal, co-founder of The Aus Today, said, “Gems of TikTok – 60k #Khalistanis came to vote at Federation Square in #Melbourne where max capacity is 10k people due to safety – bogus referendum, bogus ideology, supported by Pakistani media.”
Gems of TikTok – 60k #Khalistanis came to vote at Federation Square in #Melbourne where max capacity is 10k people due to safety – bogus referendum, bogus ideology, supported by Pakistani media @EthnicLinkGuru @Pallavi_Aus @SarahLGates1 @amenksingh @prince_saurabh @HinduHate pic.twitter.com/X3Wxdt3k70
— Dr Amit Sarwal 🇮🇳 🇦🇺 🇨🇦 (@DrAmitSarwal) January 31, 2023
In another tweet, he said, “In just 28,800 seconds 80,000 Khalistanis voted in Melbourne ie 2.77 khalistani voting per second at a venue that officially can cater to only 10k – Flash has some competition.”
Gems of TikTok via @prince_saurabh in just 28,800 seconds 80000khalistanis voted in Melbourne ie 2.77 khalistani voting per second at a venue that officially can cater to only 10k – Flash has some competition @EthnicLinkGuru @Pallavi_Aus @SarahLGates1 @rishi_suri @HindolSengupta pic.twitter.com/misF4ziDV1
— Dr Amit Sarwal 🇮🇳 🇦🇺 🇨🇦 (@DrAmitSarwal) February 1, 2023
In another video, a woman wearing Turban claimed Sikhs face discrimination in India. She said, “The thing is, Indians are being unfair to Sikhs because we don’t have the rights. Like in the metro, we don’t have the right to wear Kirpan more than 9 inches, that’s the main thing. There are other things like Turban… In India, we are bullied due to Turban. In Punjab it is fine, but all over India we are bullied due to Turban.” The claims made by the woman are highly objectionable. Across India, Sikhs are respected for their contribution towards nation-building and are often trusted for their zeal and dedication towards the work culture.
The funny thing was Australians and people of other ethnicities were hired by Sikhs For Justice to insinuate these communities were in favour of the so-called referendum.
In one of the videos shared on TikTok, an elderly woman claimed that when partition happened and the British left India, the Indian leaders promised Sikhs that they would get an autonomous state but later Nehru denied it. She further claimed Sikhs are facing atrocities and discrimination in India. “This is why we are demanding Khalistan”, she said. Interestingly, Murtaza largely avoided posting the videos on Twitter.
The hashtags that were used in such posts were #KhalistanReferendum2023 (3.1 million views), #KhalistanReferendun (2.9 million views), #Khalistan (128.4 million views) and more. All the views mentioned here are from TikTok. Notably, the Khalistan hashtag has many videos of controversial pro-Khalistan Sikh leader Amritpal Singh as well.
