In a country where people are arrested for social media posts, it is astonishing that Amritpal Singh should publicly extol the idea of Khalistan, celebrate violence, disparage communities, and lavish praise on Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the militant leader who, along with the Indian state, scarred Punjab in the 1980s. Amritpal’s audacity suggests he enjoys impunity, courtesy the backing of powerful patrons operating incognito.

Amritpal Singh who? Twenty-nine years old, he came to Punjab last year, from Dubai, to take over the Waris Punjab De, an organisation late actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu had floated in 2021. In Dubai, Amritpal was clean-shaven and wore denim jeans. He now dresses in a white gown and blue turban, with a sword dangling by his side. You could dismiss his carefully cultivated Bhindranwale-like demeanour as a pantomime act but for his divisive politics.