California bill against foreign hits on diaspora splits Indian Americans

Sacramento, California – On a sunny August morning, 60-year-old Gurtej Singh Cheema performed his greeting prayers astatine his location successful Sacramento. Then, the retired objective prof of interior medicine made his mode downtown to articulation much than 150 different Sikh Americans astatine California’s State Capitol.

He was determination to talk successful enactment of a authorities measure that, to galore Sikhs, represents a substance of information for the community.

California is location to an estimated 250,000 Sikhs, according to the assemblage advocacy group, Sikh Coalition. They correspond 40 percent of the nation’s Sikhs – who archetypal made California their location much than a period ago.

But a spate of attacks and threats against assemblage activists successful North America implicit the past 2 years, which United States and Canadian officials person accused India of orchestrating, person near galore Sikhs connected edge, fearing for their information and questioning whether instrumentality enforcement tin support them.

That’s what a caller anti-intimidation measure seeks to address, according to its authors and advocates: If passed, it would necessitate California to bid officers successful recognising and responding to what is known arsenic “transnational repression” – attempts by overseas governments to people diaspora communities, successful practice. The grooming would beryllium developed by the state’s Office of Emergency Services.

“California can’t support our astir susceptible communities if our officers don’t adjacent admit the threat,” Anna Caballero, a Democratic authorities legislator and writer of the bill, said successful the connection shared with Al Jazeera. “The measure closes a captious spread successful our nationalist information strategy and gives instrumentality enforcement the grooming they request to place overseas interference erstwhile it happens successful our neighborhoods.”

But the draught legislation, co-authored by California’s archetypal Sikh Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains, and Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria, has besides opened up heavy divisions wrong an Indian American assemblage already polarised on governmental lines.

Several influential American Sikh advocacy groups – the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Sikh Coalition and Jakara Movement among them – person backed the bill. Groups representing Indians of different large faiths, specified arsenic Hindus for Human Rights and the Indian American Muslim Council, person besides supported the draught legislation, arsenic has the California Police Chiefs Association.

But successful the other country basal Hindu-American groups similar the Hindu American Foundation and the Coalition of Hindus of North America, arsenic good arsenic a Jewish group, Bay Area Jewish Coalition and adjacent a Sikh group, The Khalsa Today. The Santa Clara Attorney’s bureau and Riverside County Sheriff’s Office person besides opposed the bill.

Critics of the measure reason that it risks targeting sections of the diaspora – specified arsenic Hindu Americans opposed to the Khalistan movement, a run for the instauration of a abstracted Sikh federation carved retired of India – and could extremity up deepening biases against India and Hindu Americans.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office said that it had “concerns regarding the bill’s imaginable implications, peculiarly its interaction connected instrumentality enforcement practices and the inadvertent targeting of diaspora communities successful Riverside County”.

But arsenic Cheema stood with different Sikh Americans gathered astatine the authorities legislature connected August 20 to attest earlier the Assembly Appropriations Committee, the urgency felt by galore successful the country was clear: Some had driven each nighttime from Los Angeles, 620km (385 miles) distant from Sacramento. Others took clip disconnected from enactment to beryllium there.

“Any efforts that assistance a assemblage consciousness safe, and you are a portion of that assemblage – naturally, you would enactment it,” Cheema, who besides represented the Capital Sikh Center successful Sacramento astatine the hearing, told Al Jazeera.

Gurtej Singh Cheema successful beforehand of the State Capitol analyzable successful Sacramento [Gagandeep Singh/Al Jazeera]

‘Harassment by overseas actors’

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines transnational repression arsenic the acts of overseas governments erstwhile they scope beyond their borders to intimidate, silence, coerce, harass oregon harm members of their diaspora and exile communities successful the United States.

The measure marks the 2nd large authorities successful caller years that has divided South Asian diaspora groups successful California. A 2023 measure that specified caste arsenic a protected class nether California’s anti-discrimination laws was vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom aft respective Hindu-American groups lobbied against it. They argued that the state’s existing anti-discrimination laws already protected radical from caste-based bias, and that specifying the caller class was an indirect onslaught connected Hinduism.

The California Assembly has present passed the caller anti-intimidation bill. It volition present instrumentality to the California Senate – which had passed an earlier mentation of the authorities – for different vote, expected this week. If it passes successful the precocious location of the California legislature, the measure volition caput to Newsom’s table for his signature.

Thomas Blom Hansen, prof of anthropology astatine Stanford University, said the measure addresses concerns astir online trolling, surveillance and harassment of individuals based connected their governmental beliefs oregon affiliations – often influenced by overseas governments oregon governmental movements.

“The measure doesn’t sanction immoderate circumstantial state – it’s a wide model to supply further extortion to immigrants and diaspora communities from harassment by overseas actors,” Hansen told Al Jazeera.

But the backdrop of the measure does suggest that concerns implicit India and its alleged targeting of Sikh dissidents person been a large driver. Hansen noted that Senator Caballero comes from the 14th State Senate district, which has a important Sikh population.

In 2023, Canada officially accused India of masterminding the assassination successful June that twelvemonth of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar successful British Columbia. India has rejected the accusation, but relations betwixt the 2 nations plummeted arsenic a effect – and stay tense, arsenic Canada continues to prosecute the allegations against individuals it arrested and that it says worked for New Delhi.

In November that year, US prosecutors besides accused Indian quality agencies of plotting the assassination of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a New York-based Sikh activist. That crippled was exposed aft an alleged Indian cause accidentally ended up hiring an FBI informant for the deed job. Pannun leads Sikhs of Justice, a Sikh separatist advocacy radical that India declared unlawful successful 2019.

Several different Sikh activists successful Canada and the US person received warnings from instrumentality enforcement agencies that they could beryllium targeted.

Even Bains, the co-author of the caller bill, has faced intimidation. In August 2023, aft California recognised the 1984 massacre of thousands of Sikhs successful India – pursuing the assassination of past Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards – arsenic a genocide, 4 men, seemingly of Indian origin, visited her office. They allegedly threatened her, saying they would “do immoderate it takes to spell aft you”.

Harman Singh, enforcement manager of the Sikh Coalition, said the measure was timely.

“If a gurdwara committee person calls the constabulary to study a antheral who claims to beryllium from the authorities of India coming to the gurdwara asking astir different committee members’ migration status, the trained officers volition respond to that precise otherwise than those who aren’t,” Singh told Al Jazeera.

Vivek Kembaiyan of Hindus for Human Rights echoed Singh. The bulk of transgression is investigated astatine the section level, helium said, and section instrumentality enforcement needs grooming to analyse transnational crimes.

Worshippers commune astatine the Karya Siddhi Hanuman temple successful Frisco, Texas, October 22, 2022 [Andy Jacobsohn/ AP Photo]

Could ‘institutionalise biases’

But not everyone agrees.

Some groups reason that the measure is chiefly meant to people India and Indian Americans, and particularly suppress absorption to the Khalistan movement.

Samir Kalra, the 46-year-old managing manager astatine the Hindu American Foundation, has emerged arsenic 1 of the bill’s astir vocal opponents.

“I judge that they person not gone acold capable successful providing capable guardrails and safeguards to guarantee that instrumentality enforcement does not institutionalise biases against groups from circumstantial countries of root and oregon with definite viewpoints connected geopolitical issues,” Kalra, a autochthonal of the Bay Area, told Al Jazeera.

Kalra pointed to the supporters of the bill.

“The immense bulk of supporters of this measure who person shown up to aggregate hearings are of Indian root and person focused connected India successful their comments and property statements astir this bill. India is listed arsenic a apical transnational repression government,” helium said. “It’s precise wide that the existent people of this measure is India and Indian Americans.”

Many Hindu temples, helium said, had been desecrated successful caller months with pro-Khalistan slogans.

“How tin the Hindu American assemblage consciousness harmless and unafraid reporting these incidents without fearfulness of being accused of being a overseas cause oregon having instrumentality enforcement downplaying the vandalisms?” helium asked.

But Harman Singh rejected the proposition that the measure was dividing the Indian American assemblage on spiritual lines. “The conjugation of groups supporting includes some Sikh and Hindu organisations arsenic good arsenic Muslim, Kashmiri, Iranian, South Asian, immigrants’ rights, quality rights, and instrumentality enforcement organisations,” Singh said.

Some critics person expressed fears that activists grooming officers successful recognising transnational attacks could institutionalise biases against circumstantial communities.

But the Sikh Coalition’s Singh said those worries were unfounded. The training, helium said, “will beryllium created by professionals wrong those organisations, alternatively than ‘a tiny radical of activists,’ truthful this disapproval is not based successful reality.”

People stitchery astatine Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, tract of the 2023 execution of Sikh separatist person Hardeep Singh Nijjar, successful Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, connected May 3, 2024 [Jennifer Gauthier/ Reuters]

‘My dependable is being heard’

Rohit Chopra, a prof of communications astatine Santa Clara University successful California, said critics of different governments “are each excessively routinely harassed, threatened, oregon adjacent assaulted by overseas governments oregon their proxies wrong the US”.

“Even if the measure has immoderate deterrent effect, which I judge it will, it volition beryllium good worthy it,” Chopra told Al Jazeera. He emphasised that the measure does not restrict its ambit to immoderate 1 state oregon a peculiar radical of nations.

To Stanford University’s Hansen, that successful effect raises questions astir wherefore immoderate groups are opposed to the bill.

“When an organisation comes retired powerfully against specified a bill, it astir feels similar a preemptive admittance – arsenic if they spot themselves arsenic being implicated by what the measure seeks to prevent,” Hansen said.

Back successful Sacramento, Cheema remains hopeful that the measure volition pass. For him, the measure represents thing acold much important than argumentation – designation and extortion connected US soil.

“I could beryllium the adjacent unfortunate if the instrumentality enforcement successful my assemblage is not capable to recognise overseas interference,” Cheema said. “It doesn’t substance who is indulging successful it oregon which country, I would people similar my constabulary officers to beryllium alert of the threats.”

“If immoderate radical feels threatened, past each sections of nine should marque efforts to support their people. This reassures maine that my dependable is being heard”, Cheema said.