Hindustan is an ancient term (coined by Islamic rulers, actually) to refer to India, not a Hindu rashtra. Guru Nanak Dev Ji himself uses the term in Gurbani, as did Sikhs who were fighting in anti-colonial movements.

Please don’t obscure the protests with stupid BS like this. https://twitter.com/japnam_kaur/status/1335717855665459205

On my other thread regarding why the RW media groups are spinning up the Khalistani story so much, some people were saying “weeeell what about the diaspora shouting Khalistan, isn’t that a sign for concern???”

This tweet illustrates everything you need to know.

Which is that, Khalistan for some in the diaspora is basically a year-round issue. When a war in India breaks out, said people cry “Khalistan”. When a Sikh falls off a bike, said people cry “Khalistan”. When separatist parties fail in votes, they cry “Khalistan”.

That is to say, many of said folks (can’t say all) are Khalistan by default - which is why they have no qualms with ignoring and attacking fellow Indian Sikhs, and even nihilistically erasing their own history to achieve said end.

To that end, said folks are a fringe. Even in the diaspora protests, the majority of those were speaking for kisaans and not Khalistan.

When Indian RW stalwarts didn’t highlight said Khalistanis mocking the Indian Sikh soldiers who died in September at Ladakh border...

...why are they now using said folks as a means to direct their propaganda against the kisaan movement in India?

Because the “Khalistan” bogey of the media is one being pushed on its own, which they can fuel with ammo they get from diaspora but also from stuff they make up.

Which ultimately comes to my main point: as members of the diaspora, I think it’s important to show solidarity, but by listening to voices from the ground from the actual protests. Instead of performing 2 second stunts for attention on unrelated issues that fundamentally distract

Nobody’s “demonizing” the word (I’d be more than happy to debate it some time after all this is resolved) so much as recognizing what media narratives in India are trying to push, and not giving them free ammo for that purpose