By MD Mesha 

NEW DELHI (TSAT) - Several people were wounded in clashes between the Hindu nationalist groups and Sikhs in the Indian state of Punjab, bordering Pakistan, which is the heart of India’s Sikh community

Clashes erupted when a Hindu nationalist group, shiv Sena called for Khalistan Muradabad March in Patiala that causing huge clashes as Sikhs resisted the March.

“Actually what happened/shiv Sena called for Khalistan Muradabad March in Patiala today on 29 April/which changed into Pro Khalistan zindabad March by Sikh organisations thousand of Sikhs took street’s,all this happened due to high provocation of Shiv Sena organizations,” according to Angad Singh Khalsa, a writer, and poet. 

The videos that got viral on social media show that many people were wounded in the clashes after Sikhs hoisted their “Khalistan flag” in the main center of the city. 

Indian main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi called the visuals from Patiala “disturbing.”

“I repeat, Peace & Harmony are most imperative in a sensitive border state like Punjab. This is not the place to carry out experiments. Earnestly appeal to the Punjab govt to ensure law and order is maintained,” he Tweeted. 

A prominent Indian professor and rights activist Ashok Swain said the Khalistan movement now spread to western countries as Sikh demand a separate state in India.

“Open call for Khalistan in Patiala, Punjab! Hindu Nationalists and Khalistan supporting Sikhs have clashed today in India and the Khalistan movement is not anymore limited to a group of Sikhs in Canada or UK!,” he wrote on Twitter. 

The Khalistan movement is a Sikh separatist movement seeking to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing a sovereign state, called Khālistān.

The movement launched in 1940 during the British era and continue till the separation of the Indian sub-continent. 

In 1980 it spread across the Sikh majority areas in India but in 1990, the Indian government launched an operation against the group and arrested most of its leaders.

However, still, their leaders who are living in Canada and other western countries are holding their gatherings and demanding a separate state. 

- British MP condemns violence against minorities in India

The British opposition MP on Thursday condemned the ongoing violence against minorities in India and questioned why Prime Minister  Boris Johnson visited a British-owned bulldozer factory in Gujrat during his recent visit to India last week, while those bulldozers using by the Modi government against the Muslims. 

“As we know that during the Prime Minister's visit, he was photographed leaning out of a digger in a JCB factory. And just days before the BJP used JCB, diggers to bulldoze Muslim shops and homes and the gates of a mosque in New Delhi, local governments and a number of other Indian states have also carried out similar demolitions,” he told the parliament.

“So I asked again, did the Prime Minister raise this with Modi? If not, why not? And does the minister accept that the Prime Minister's visit to India has helped to legitimize the actions of Modi's far right government?,” Nadia questioned, according to a video she posted on her Twitter timeline. 

 Responded to her question, the British foreign secretary Elizabeth Truss said, “We condemn any instance of discrimination.”

However, she avoided to spoke about ongoing discrimination and violence against Muslims and Sikhs in India. 

“The BJP (Modi’s governing party) is using JCB diggers to bulldoze the homes and shops of Muslims. Boris Johnson posed with JCB diggers on his recent visit to India, but his minister wouldn't say whether he even raised these demolitions with Modi.” Nadia Whittome later tweeted. 

She was referring to the Hindu nationalist ruling party BJP government operation between April 15 to 20 against the Muslim community in the capital of New Delhi and other several states, demolished dozen of their properties including damaging a mosque. 

The authorities had launched operation after attacks carried out by the  RSS affiliated groups in the Muslim community areas in Rajasthan, Madya Pradesh, and Gujrat during the Hindu celebrations of their new year, Ram Navami, when held rallies across the country.

During rallies, the Hindu militant organization RSS, and affiliated groups attacked Mosques in different areas that causing violence in several states. 

The ruling BJP party is the political wing of RSS.