Amarjit Singh

Amarjit Singh living in Edmonton, Canada and 19 years old in June 1984. He was in high school at the time of the attack. He talks about Canadian media covering the attack extensively, however with bias, and showing that the Sikh community was divided: moderates against extremists. “This is totally false. I tried to explain [to fellow students] that this was a fight by the Sikhs to be recognized as a distinctive religion,” he says. “Political autonomy and recognition as a distinct religion were promised to the Sikhs at the time of Independence from the British. Which we never got. This was the basic fight that we were having.”
“The whole idea of moderates against extremists was invented…”
He also talks about November 1984 massacres. By that time, he had started studying at the University of Alberta. “I remember, from the time the Golden Temple was attacked, there were mass protests in Canada and Sikhs tried to vocalize and raise their concerns with the media,” he adds recounting what he calls “a nightmare.”