On Monday, May 22, a video from the village Samadh Bhai in the district of Moga, Punjab, went viral on social media in which a few men were seen threatening a migrant food cart owner in Punjabi. Looking at the details of the video, it appeared that the person speaking in the video accused the migrant cart owner of touching a Sikh youth’s Turban during an altercation. The exact date of the incident is unknown. OpIndia tried contacting the concerned police station but could not connect.
Going by the details of the video, there was an alleged altercation between a Sikh youth and a migrant food cart owner. During the altercation, the migrant may have accidentally touched the turban of the Sikh youth. For those who are unaware, Turban is considered an auspicious and religious symbol in Sikhism. It is considered disrespectful if someone touches or tries to remove a Sikh’s turban.
ਪਿੰਡ ਸਮਾਧ ਭਾਈ ਜ਼ਿਲ੍ਹਾ ਮੋਗਾ,
— Jagroop ਸਿੰਘ Sidhu🇨🇦 (@JagroopsinghS20) May 22, 2023
ਬਈਏ ਵਲੋਂ ਇਕੱਲੇ ਸਰਦਾਰ ਮੁੰਡੇ ਦੀ ਪੱਗ ਨੂੰ ਹੱਥ ਪਾਇਆ ਗਿਆ। ਪਿੰਡ ਦੇ ਲੋਕਾਂ ਨੇ ਇੱਕ ਵਾਰ ਪਿਆਰ ਨਾਲ ਸਮਝਾ ਦਿੱਤਾ। ਜੇ ਇਹੋ ਕਿਸੇ ਸਰਦਾਰ ਬੰਦੇ ਨੇ ਬਈਏ ਨਾਲ ਕੀਤਾ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਤਾਂ ਬਈਆਂ ਨੇ ਉਸ ਦਾ ਕੁੱਟ ਕੁੱਟ ਕੇ ਬੁਰਾ ਹਾਲ ਕਰ ਦੇਣਾ ਸੀ।#Punjab #ਪੰਜਾਬ pic.twitter.com/tj6THy0ghQ
Following the altercation, a group of Punjabis approached the migrant food cart owner and confronted him. The person who is threatening the migrant said, “There have been incidents in our village where miscreants of your [migrant] community removed Turbans of our Sikhs. If I come across one more instance like that, I will take away your food cart.” He further threatened that if any migrant was found indulging in any crime, his group would deal with them on a personal level and then hand them over to the police.
When the migrant defended himself saying he was not involved in any such case previously, the aggressor said, “Those are from your community only. You all are the same. Give them my message.” The details of the video including the date, exact location, and persons involved could not be verified independently by OpIndia.
Series of threats and anti-migrant sentiments
This is not the first time a video from Punjab against migrants from UP and Bihar surfaced on social media. On May 20, a video of India News went viral on social media in which an elderly Sikh was seen dousing a sugarcane juice cart owned by a migrant woman with diesel. The incident allegedly took place in Sunny Enclave, Kharar, near Chandigarh.
The text on the video that was written in Punjabi read, “The owner of the Prime Hospital doused the sugarcane juice cart with diesel. As the man who was accompanying the migrant woman started making a video of the person throwing diesel on the cart, he went away without setting it on fire. It is unclear what led to such an altercation.”
In the sunny enclave of Kharar Mohali Punjab , a Sikh tried to set fire to a poor migrant woman by throwing diesel on her sugarcane stall.
— Punjabi News Portal π (@newsportal88) May 20, 2023
Hatred toward immigrants from UP BIHAR is at its peak in Punjab .#Punjab #UttarPradesh #Bihar pic.twitter.com/vhQ09gjGQS
OpIndia tried contacting the police for further details. Kharar police confirmed that they were aware of the incident but no official complaint was filed in the matter by any party.
Attack on migrant dhaba owner
On May 17, Ashu, a resident of Loko Shed, came back to his food joint Mitran Da Dhaba located at Satiyawala Railway Crossing, after buying vegetables from the market. Within minutes, three men came on a bike at around 5:30 PM. Ashu asked them how can he serve them. They did not answer and instead attacked him unprovoked. They tried to assault Ashu’s wife Renu Devi too but she managed to escape. The attackers left after ransacking the dhaba. As nothing was stolen, Ashu said it was not about the robbery.
फिरोजपुर में प्रवासी के ढाबे पर हमला
— #जयश्रीराधे 🚩🙏 (@gayatrigkhurana) May 23, 2023
At "Mitra da Dhaba" in #Ferozepur 5 days ago, 3 youths came on a motorcycle who ransacked the Dhaba and attacked the owner of the Dhaba, Ashu Vasi Loco Shed, badly injuring him.#Punjab pic.twitter.com/ifENyRHSZn
The incident was captured on CCTV. Ashu said he had no enemies and did not have any altercations with anyone. Notably, there have been three incidents of robbery at the food joint earlier. OpIndia tried connecting to the concerned police station for details but could not connect.
Campaign against migrant chaat seller
A few days back, a campaign was launched by social media users from Punjab to support a Sikh food cart owner who sells chaat. Though it could have been a simple request to encourage people to visit him and try his food, the social media users made it a matter of “Punjabiyat”. A photograph was published online where a migrant food cart owner selling chaat was full but the food cart owned by Sikh next to it had no customers.
This picture says it all…………. No caption needed | And by the way it's Amritsar Sahib Punjab . pic.twitter.com/eVGvlyNYS3
— Baba GurpreeT Singh Udaasi (@GyaniGurpreetS) May 8, 2023
The person who published the photograph urged his followers and fellow Punjabis to visit the Sikh food cart owner. The photograph was shared by many with a demand to stop giving business to migrant food cart owners. The campaign worked and more and more videos and photographs were made viral on social media. In those videos, the Sikh food cart owner had a lot of customers but the migrant had none.
— ਦਿਲਗੀਰ ਸਿੰਘ (@Dilsandhuu45) May 9, 2023
While both of them could have enjoyed the business, the social media users made it a community issue and snatched bread and butter from a migrant working in Punjab.
