The Indian government blacklisted Sikhs involved in anti-India propaganda and vandalism following the infamous Operation Bluestar of 1984. The Indian army at that time stormed the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of the Sikhs in Amritsar, Punjab, to flush out the armed religious extremists, who had fortified the place of worship.

The operation infuriated Sikhs across the world, compelling idealistic, emotional youths to join militant ranks. There were angry protests in Vancouver as well, where hotheaded men vandalized the Indian consulate office. Subsequently, the government of India blacklisted Sikhs involved in separatist activities, citing security concerns.

Rajinder Bhandari, a leader of the Hindu nationalist party of India, BJP, sparked the issue again on his recent visit to Metro Vancouver. He has assured Canadian Sikhs that he will press his party high command to get the blacklists of the Sikhs reviewed. In fact, a few Sikh journalists are also blacklisted. Harkirat Singh of the Punjab Guardian was forced to return recently from India, the country of his birth, despite having a valid visa. Bhandari joked during a photo session with the Sikh journalists that, "either your names will be removed from the list, or my name will also be added to it."

One such review was undertaken during the regime of the previous BJP-led coalition government in India. Since Operation Bluestar and the blacklisting of the Sikhs were steps taken by the Congress government, the BJP government tried to take advantage of anti-Congress feelings within its ranks and allow 22 Sikhs in Canada to visit India in 2003.

Ironically, a Sikh Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, heads the Congress-led coalition government but has outright rejected a demand to scrap the list.

The government should scrap this list as it is alienating Sikhs and only helping the separatists’ cause. Not only has the situation normalized in Punjab with the end of terrorism, but also some prominent separatist leaders have already been allowed to visit India. A few of them participated in the elections but were badly defeated by the voting public of Punjab. If the separatists have lost popular support, what possible danger can these people pose to security and peace?

South Asian Post columnist Gurpreet Singh is a talk show host with Radio India (1600 AM). His program airs each weekday from 10 a.m.-noon and every Sunday’s from 8:30 a.m. - 10 a.m.