The cancellation of nearly a dozen Overseas Citizen of India or OCI cards in recent weeks marks the possible end of an initiative launched in 2015 to woo Khalistani elements abroad who had moderated their stand over the years.
That initiative started following the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Canada in 2015 and featured backchannel discussions between Indian intermediaries and former votaries of Khalistan in the country as well some in the United Kingdom
New Delhi had also simultaneously pruned a blacklist of Khalistanis, who had earlier been prevented from entering India, with some being allowed to get the OCI cards, a lifelong visa.
However, as Khalistani elements in Canada hijacked the anti-farm law protests in the country, New Delhi has resorted to a harder line by cancelling some OCI cards, which a senior official said totalled a dozen across several countries, including the United States.
Among those who played a part in the introduction of the leniency initiative was then high commissioner to Canada Vishnu Prakash. He told HT that the effort had “mixed results” even as the government had “been reaching out and responding to the overtures of former Khalistani sympathisers”.
The trigger for the change of course and starting a new blacklist was the surge in pro-Khalistan sentiment in countries like Canada after anti-farm law protests started in India. The new measures, a senior Indian official said, were meant as a “warning” to those indulging in anti-India activities in countries like Canada. “The behaviour and false propaganda of the Khalistani elements against agricultural reforms in India is pretty disappointing,” Prakash said.
{{/usCountry}}The trigger for the change of course and starting a new blacklist was the surge in pro-Khalistan sentiment in countries like Canada after anti-farm law protests started in India. The new measures, a senior Indian official said, were meant as a “warning” to those indulging in anti-India activities in countries like Canada. “The behaviour and false propaganda of the Khalistani elements against agricultural reforms in India is pretty disappointing,” Prakash said.
{{/usCountry}}The new measures were discussed following the surge in such activity from December 2020. Other than the cancellation of the OCI cards, there is greater scrutiny when it comes to granting emergency visas to travel to India, as a senior official said, there were “strong checks put in place and diligence so that only those genuinely in need” were issued these documents.
While the original blacklist featured names of Khalistanis, who had been openly involved fomenting violence in India during the 1980s and 1990s, the new regime includes those funding and providing material support for a resurgence of pro-Khalistan sentiment in India under the guise of backing the anti-farm laws movement.