The film Satluj has stirred intense controversy for dealing with the life of activist Jaswant Singh Khalra. Earlier titled Punjab 1995, the film was quietly released on an OTT platform before being taken down. It touches upon one of the most sensitive chapters of Indian history: the Punjab insurgency, but has also sparked controversy over what it leaves out. To understand the debate, Chakra News spoke to prominent activist, aviation expert, author, and a man with a deeply personal connection to both the Punjab insurgency and the Air India Kanishka bombing, Mr Sanjay Lazar.

Speaking about the backdrop to the film's release, Mr Lazar said that during the Trudeau government's tenure in Canada, support for the Khalistan movement had grown significantly. "If you recall over the last five or six years, we've seen Justin Trudeau's government that was in power, a resurgence of the Khalistani forces, starting from Canada, then spreading with Sikhs for Justice over the US, Australia, New Zealand, and even the UK. The Khalistani narrative had begun to grow and change direction. There was also a lot of funding, whether from people, from gurdwaras, from drugs, and a whole lot of arms and ammunition deals. A lot of this was being channelised into lobbying and propaganda in the US and Canada."

The film remained unreleased for nearly three years after the Central Board of Film Certification sought cuts. However, once it was eventually released under a new title, it quickly began circulating on social media after being removed from the platform. Recalling this, Mr Lazar said, "I found that it had been stuck with the censors. It was released under a new name. As soon as I heard it was released, I wanted to see it, and then it was taken down. But the strange thing is that videos of this movie were being circulated on WhatsApp, Gmail, Drive, and YouTube. What was being circulated with it was a very strange message. I got it from a Sikh friend of mine, let me be honest. It said, 'Let people learn of our history. Diljit Punjab 1995. Please forward to all your friends and family. Everyone must know our hidden history now.'"

According to Mr Lazar, the main reason for the controversy is that the film presents only one side of the conflict while ignoring the other. Referring to the Air India bombings and other acts of violence during the insurgency, he said, "It only looks at one side of the problem. It actually leads one to believe that the other side never existed. We forget that a few years before this movie, they bombed Air India Flight 182, killing 329 people in the Kanishka bombing, and two people in Tokyo. We forget that they tried to bomb another Air India aircraft the next year. We forget that there were killings of Hindus in buses. We forget that almost 20,000 people were murdered in Punjab because of Khalistani terrorists. So this movie shows a very dry-cleaned image, number one, of Mr Khalra, and number two, of the entire struggle. It doesn't tell you about the ethnic cleansing of Hindus, getting them off buses and killing Hindu men and women."

The film also refers to the disappearance of 25,000 people. When asked about this figure, Mr Lazar said, "There was a CBI investigation, there was an Amnesty report, there was an NHRC report, and there was INSAF, which is a Sikh organisation based in New York. None of them exceed 4,000 to 5,000 killings, deaths or disappearances. So the 25,000 figure is fake."

Mr Lazar also discusses KPS Gill's book The Knights of Falsehood, which provides a detailed account of the counter-insurgency campaign in Punjab. He explains how the insurgency drew in a variety of actors—some driven by ideology, while others joined simply shaukhiya taur pe (for the thrill of it).

Towards the end of the conversation, Mr Lazar cited a passage attributed to Jaswant Singh Khalra to argue that Khalra's political views should also be considered while assessing his legacy. He quoted: "The unique situation we are facing is that the Sikh community has been waging a relentless war for independence. In response, India's Hindu state is waging a war against Sikhs in the name of the unity and integrity of India. We can release political prisoners, seek political prisoners and gain other concessions, which will further strengthen the Khalistan movement. If we are willing to adopt the immoral standards of Hindu Brahmanism to win the election, we should immediately accept that we are not living up to the high standards of Sikhi."

"This is Mr Khalra in 1990, three years before he started looking for bodies. This is from Issue One of the Khalistan Liberation magazine, of which he was the founder. I just wanted to leave that with you because people should understand that this is a symbiotic movement that has been going on, that is deeply embedded in many people. I hope peace returns after completely."

Chakra Desk

Chakra News is a specialised digital media platform committed to in-depth coverage of India’s defence, national security, geopolitics, and critical technologies.