The resurgence of the Khalistan movement in the west, agitating for a separate Sikh homeland to be carved out of India, has raised some serious questions about the role played by a section of people who originated in India and who now live abroad, especially the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.
According to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the US has consistently been one of the top destinations for Indians to migrate to.
And Canada is known to be home to the biggest Sikh population in the world outside the Indian state of Punjab: there are more Indian migrants arriving to live in the country than people from any other nation each year.
According to the 2021 UK Census, India remained the most common country of birth for the minority population, constituting 1.5 percent of residents.
Since last week, New Delhi has raised strong objections to increased attacks by pro-Khalistan supporters who have targeted Indian diplomatic missions and personnel in foreign countries.
At a recent event in Bengaluru organized by the BJP's youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), India's External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that only a “small number” of Indian migrants living abroad harbor adversarial attitudes against their native country.
However, he expressed concern about some sections of the Indian diaspora who are “misusing” the civil liberties afforded to them by the host governments to “espouse radicalism, violence and terrorism”.
“Sometimes they are misused by adversaries. And that is what is happening today,” Jaishankar warned, adding that “there is a difference between having rights and misusing rights… And when the other governments don’t appreciate these differences, I think they need to be reminded.”
Who Among the Diaspora is ‘Misusing’ India’s Interests and Why?
According to Vijay Jolly, a former convenor of BJP’s foreign policy cell and a member of the party’s National Executive, a “minuscule minority” of Indian-origin people in western countries have long played into the hands of India's adversaries.
“It is a tragic situation that some brothers and sisters overseas - who were probably brought up in the Western hemisphere - have been misled. Their ancestral moorings are in India… But they have been influenced by some people with a core anti-India agenda,” Jolly told Sputnik.
The Indian government has repeatedly faced western criticism over its handling of religious affairs, especially incidents involving the Muslim community.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has regularly criticized New Delhi for its treatment of the Muslim minority in Jammu and Kashmir -- accusations that the Indian government has repeatedly dismissed as bias.
Jolly primarily blamed Islamabad's “failed military and political establishment” for trying to humiliate the Indian government to conceal its own economic and political shortcomings.
According to some media reports, the pro-Khalistan movement in the West has a direct backing from Islamabad’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Jolly highlighted that some entities in the Western establishments have also been envious of New Delhi’s growing economic and strategic clout in global affairs, referring in particular to vandalism at the Indian High Commission in London last week, when Khalistan supporters tried to bring down the Indian flag and even tried to break into the mission's premises.
New Delhi has questioned the British authorities over a complete absence of security to protect the Indian mission, as instructed in the Vienna Convention.
”The weak posturing of the UK metropolitan police in protecting the Indian mission is baffling. Why were the demonstrators allowed to climb up the Indian mission?” Jolly questioned.
"India's growing clout would be a matter of concern for some in the Western world. But these disgruntled parties can't ignore India’s resolve to become a major global power under Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” the BJP politician declared.
Majority of Indians Overseas ‘Loyal’ to Motherland
Jolly said that most of the Indian diaspora in the West and elsewhere have remained “loyal to the motherland”.
He noted that the Indians living abroad are not only making political and economic “contributions” to their host countries and communities, but also to India.
He cited the growing remittances into India from foreign countries. According to the World Bank, remittances from India hit a record $100Bln in 2022 which is more than the overall Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India.
The World Bank claimed that the US was the country which made the biggest remittances, and that the Gulf region also constitutes a significant share.