“Anti-Sikh” Indira Gandhi biopic “should be banned immediately” say leading Sikh body

Leading Sikh body the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) have released a statement calling for a new biographic film based on former India Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to be “banned immediately” for being “anti-Sikh”.

The SGPC made the statement (21st August) after recently released clips show Sikh characters as bloodthirsty terrorists attacking the Indian public. Indira Gandhi was famously assassinated in 1984 by her own bodyguards who are now revered Sikh Shaheeds (martyrs) for ordering India’s infamous attack on holy Sikh site Sri Harmandir Sahib.

The film “Emergency” (to be officially released on 6th September) depicts periods of Gandhi’s rule which includes when she declared “a state of emergency” across India in 1975 after she was convicted of election fraud. The film also covers her tyrannical overseeing of the beginning of India’s Sikh genocide, when India sent over 100,000 troops to Sri Harmandir Sahib in an effort to crush growing Sikh activism and dissent against India’s ruling regime in what became the “Battle of Amritsar”.

The film stars and is directed and produced by notorious anti-Sikh actor Kangana Ranaut, who has become known for spouting hate against Sikhs and Punjabis (those of Punjab, the motherland of Sikhi) since the 2020 #FarmersProtest. In their statement the SGPC call for Kangana – who plays Gandhi herself – to be cited with an FIR (First Incident Report – criminal report) for furthering hate against Sikhs, noting that “Kangana Ranaut has often deliberately made expressions that provoke the sentiments of Sikhs”.

The timing of the film’s release has also prompted comment from many Sikhs. There have been mass global Sikh efforts to mark the #SikhGenocide this year (2024), as it is 40-years since the 1984 Sikh Genocide. Thus, the release of a film glorifying its lead instigator is seen as efforts to whitewash Indira Gandhi as Sikhs continue to raise awareness of her most heinous act.

Reasons various other communities also feel the glorification of Indira Gandhi is hiding the truth of her tyranny include how she:

• forced sterilization on millions of mainly “lower-caste” (according to Indian caste hierarchy which is against the Sikh faith) people
• plunged freedom of press in India to a new low level
• arrested countless opposition, including leading politicians
• attacked trade unions, further destroying the rights of India’s lower classes

The SGPC statement, coming via President Harjinder Singh Dhami, also highlighted how a film on revered Sikh Shaheed (martyr) Jaswant Singh Khalra is facing issues in getting released in India due to its depiction of the state’s genocide of Sikhs, whilst this film faced no such barriers in projecting anti-Sikh sentiments. The statement ends with a call for India’s Central Board of Film Certification to include Sikhs as right now it is making “biased decisions” in favor of Hindu nationalist positions and not the minority Sikh community.

As build up to the film’s release continues, the situation is likely to yield more direct objections from Sikh groups across the world.

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