Was the 2020 to 2021 farmers' protest a 'Khalistani' movement?

The claim: The protest was infiltrated or driven by Khalistani separatists. On 28 November 2020 Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said his government had “inputs” on Khalistani separatists in the agitation and clips of protesters shouting slogans that invoked Indira Gandhi’s assassination (Scroll). On 12 January 2021 Attorney General K. K. Venugopal told the Supreme Court that “Khalistanis” had infiltrated the protest (LiveLaw; The Tribune). The BJP general secretary Dushyant Gautam said it had been hijacked by “extremist and pro-Khalistani” elements (reported by ThePrint, 19 February 2024).

The sourced facts:

• Khattar gave no further details and said he would disclose them “once we get some solid evidence” (Scroll).
• The Attorney General spoke after an intervenor supporting the laws alleged that Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) was involved (LiveLaw names it as the Consortium of Indian Farmers Associations; The Tribune, as the Indian Kisan Union). The Court’s order recorded that the farmers had so far protested peacefully, and an averment that SFJ was financing the agitation, which it noted the Attorney General supported. It asked for an affidavit with Intelligence Bureau inputs the next day (The Tribune, PTI).
• The BJP’s own farmer leaders objected: Surjit Singh Jyani said “This type of language should be avoided”, and Sukhinder Grewal, “On the one hand, we are talking to them and on the other, we are branding them as Khalistanis”. ThePrint’s report cites no evidence for the claims (15 December 2020). A BJP leader later said the branding “backfired” (ThePrint, 19 February 2024).
• The NIA registered a case against SFJ on 15 December 2020. In January 2021 it sent notices to about 40 people, to be examined as witnesses, among them the union leader Baldev Singh Sirsa and Deep Sidhu (The Quint). The NIA said seven protest-linked people were questioned as witnesses, not suspects, and on 10 February the Centre told the Rajya Sabha it had not summoned protesting farmers (The Quint).
• SFJ did try to attach itself: ThePrint reported that it offered Rs 10,000 to anyone who joined and urged protesters to raise a Khalistan flag at India Gate. Balbir Singh Rajewal replied “those who want to create Khalistan can do so in the country where they are”, and Dal Khalsa’s Kanwar Pal Singh called Khalistan and the agitation “two distinct issues” (22 January 2021).
• The Quint reported that the only proof cited was “a handful of protesters” with posters of Bhindranwale and one protester’s remark on Indira Gandhi’s assassination, and that none of about 30 organisations behind it had spoken in support of him (30 November 2020).
• Red Fort, 26 January 2021: Alt News found the tricolour on the Lahore Gate untouched and the flag raised on an empty mast a Nishan Sahib. Author Amandeep Sandhu: “They are not Khalistan flags.”
• Its demands were repeal, a legal guarantee of the minimum support price, withdrawal of cases and compensation (Down To Earth).

The Panthic answer: Sikh institutions say it was about the laws, not religion, though most protesters were Sikhs. Akal Takht acting Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh said on 19 November 2021 that “Majority of the protesters were Sikhs as their sentiments were hurt with the passage of laws”, and that it was a pity people with “vested interests” tried to pitch it as Sikhs against the Centre and Sikhs against Hindus (The Tribune). SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur said in January 2021 that “the ongoing crisis is no way related to religion” (The Tribune).

Bhai Ajmer Singh argues that it was an economic struggle in form whose character changed: the demands were kisan demands, but actually Punjab was fighting. A morcha about three farming laws became Punjab’s enormous andolan, he says, because Punjab rises over the grievance it has stored up inside: the pain of 1984 and the crushing of the movement lay open inside people, and when it became a matter of challenging Delhi at its own doorstep, Punjab could not forget. He backed the kisan leaders at Delhi, but says they failed completely because they see “Punjab minus Panth”. On the Red Fort he says a minimum of discipline should have been kept (Pro Punjab TV; Adbi Baithak).