The New Khalistan Conspiracy
The government is playing the same game that once led Punjab to disaster
27 January 2021
There is a familiar pattern to the right wing’s spin on the events of 26
January: condemning the farmers who reached the centre of Delhi,
labeling them “extremists,” “Khalistani,” or simply “anti-national.”
Perhaps it suits everyone to now find a scapegoat in people like the
actor Deep Sidhu, who is accused of instigating protesters to hoist a
flag at the Red Fort, and the supposed extremist elements who farmer
leaders claimed had hijacked part of the protests. But what happened was
predictable. The government and the farmer-union leaders would surely
have seen this coming, and yet, they did little to forestall it.
[ . . . ]
