Intelligence agencies had shared a report with the MHA about the media firm’s actitivies.
New Delhi: The banned “Punjab Politics TV” operating from the United Kingdom (UK) had been spreading hate against India and propagating pro-Khalistani sentiments in the country and in Punjab for the last one year.
Sources from the intelligence agencies have confirmed that this social media channel and application was launched by pro-Khalistan sympathisers just ahead of the Punjab elections, and was being widely circulated in the hinterlands of Punjab with the agenda of keeping some political party out of power in the state and to spread Khalistani sentiments among the people of Punjab.
The digital platform “Punjab Politics TV” bears the company name “Politics Punjab Broadcasting Ltd” and is registered in the UK with the Companies House, under the government of the United Kingdom. The company was incorporated in March 2021 and since then, it has been active both in the UK and in Punjab. Intelligence agencies have said that they were tracking the activities of this digital media since the last six months when it became quite active in Punjab, keeping in mind the recently held Assembly elections in the state. The intelligence agencies had shared a detailed report with the Ministry of Home Affairs about the activities of this media company and how they had been propagating hate, fake news against Sikhs in India. Following the inputs generated by intelligence agencies, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting went ahead and blocked all the digital assets of the company in India earlier this week. “Politics Punjab Broadcasting Ltd” was incorporated by two individuals—Sukhchain Singh and Baljinder Singh in March 2021. While Sukhchain Singh is a British citizen, Baljinder Singh, the other director of the company, is an Indian citizen. Both Sukhchain and Baljinder are believed to have links with the Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) and are considered as close associates of secessionists and Khalistani leaders like Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and Jagjeet Singh.
However, Baljinder Singh had resigned from the directorship of the company in July 2021, just three months after incorporating the company. “Punjab Politics TV’’ is run from a quiet suburban neighbourhood in West Bromwhich’s Guns Lane, in Birmingham, UK. The office-cum-studio-cum-residence of this digital platform and its founder is located at unit 2, Plymoth House on the Guns Lane, which is predominantly a quiet residential area.
The Sunday Guardian carried out detailed research on the digital platforms of the banned “Punjab Politics TV” and it has come to the notice of this newspaper that this media company was incorporated just with the intention of propagating Khalistani sentiments in India, where various individuals linked with the SFJ and other pro-Khalistani groups have been regular guests at the shows hosted by this platform on the free video streaming application YouTube.
Activists with the SJF like Jagjeet Singh, (former resident of Jammu and Kashmir, now residing in the US), who has been booked for sedition by the Punjab government, Bikramjit Singh, Ranjit Nagara, among many others, have been regular guests and hosts for this channel and its platform, both visual as well as digital print. Further search into the details of this platforms YouTube channel also showed that “Punjab Politics TV” just four months back hosted a programme on “Referendum 2020”, with clear banners of “Punjab Khalistan” with a slew of guests discussing how the Sikhs in India have been marginalised, how “genocide” on Sikhs is being carried out and that Khalistan was the ultimate answer and solution for the freedom of Sikhs.
The channel had also run several programs on the politics of Punjab during the election phase in Punjab, where SFJ sympathisers coming as guests were trying to influence voters to vote in one way or the other. Shows like “Punjab Bolda”, “Politics Punjab Da” were being run regularly on their digital channel during the elections.
Such programs and discussions are a regular part of the channel’s propaganda and all this propaganda is still being run live on YouTube and can be accessed through a VPN server on the internet.
The channel has also been propagating “Justice for Deep Sidhu”—the Punjabi singer who recently passed away in a road accident— claiming that his “accident was a conspiracy” and that it was a murder.
This stand has also been taken by SFJ and SFJ has taken a provocative stand against the Indian government and went to the United Nations demanding that the UN investigate the death of Deep Sidhu. Both the channel and SJF are claiming Deep Sidhu as “Saheed Deep Sidhu” and have also launched a separate website Saheeddeepsidhu.net. All this comes after the Indian government banned “Punjab Politics TV”.