BJP, Congress members share dubious ‘Sikhs For Justice’ letter supporting AAP in Punjab

A letter written in Punjabi has been widely shared on social media with the claim that US-based ‘Sikhs For Justice’ (SFJ) has extended support to AAP ahead of the Punjab elections. SFG, founded by US-based Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, was banned by the Indian government in 2019 as an unlawful association as it supports the secession of Punjab from India and the formation of a separate Khalistan.

The viral letter was tweeted by lawyer Shashank Shekhar Jha. This tweet gained over 1,000 retweets.

Surprising:
Khalistan group “Sikhs for Justice” declares support for Aam Aadmi Party. pic.twitter.com/qRpw5gElun

— Shashank Shekhar Jha (@shashank_ssj) February 17, 2022

It was also posted by multiple verified social media users such as BJP’s Haryana IT cell head Arun Yadav, National Media In-charge at BJP’s youth wing BJYM Amandeep Singh, BJP leader Anirban Ganguly, National President Indian Youth Congress Srinivas BV, and author of the book ‘Narendra Modi Censored’ Ashok Shrivastav. It was also tweeted by Twitter handle @PollUpdateInd and CapitalTV India chief editor Manish Kumar.

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Several Twitter and Facebook users have shared this document. Using CrowdTangle, a social media monitoring tool, we found that at least 20 Facebook users made this claim.

We used Google Lens to translate the viral letter to English. The letter allegedly declares that SFJ has extended full support to AAP and their Punjab candidate CM Bhagwant Mann. It says if AAP is elected, SFJ’s goals will be revived. It is worth noting that in the second part, the letter claims SFJ also supported AAP in 2017, during the previous Punjab assembly polls.

Fact-check

Zee News reporter Shivank Mishra uploaded a video of Pannun stating that SFJ hasn’t issued the viral letter. Pannun even alleged that AAP is behind circulating this letter.

Fact Check : सिख फ़ॉर जस्टिस के नाम से वायरल किया जा रहा आम आदमी पार्टी को समर्थन देने वाला पत्र फ़र्ज़ी है…

खुद गुरपतवंत सिंह पन्नू ने इसके फ़र्ज़ी होने का ऐलान किया है. @BhagwantMann @ArvindKejriwal @AamAadmiParty @raghav_chadha pic.twitter.com/100ptq2nVr

— Shivank Mishra (@shivank_8mishra) February 17, 2022

The viral letter was shared on social media on February 17. Punjab-based journalist Taruni Gandhi tweeted that SFJ had released only one letter on February 17 that called for a ‘Rail Roko’ protest to honour late actor-activist Deep Sidhu. She also pointed out that there are differences between the viral letter and the genuine ‘Rail Roko’ letter.

I think Sikh for Justice released only one letter today saying #RailRoko. So far this letter regarding AAP is concerned from SFJ, it needs factcheck. Anyhow here are two letters, anyone can make out the difference. @AamAadmiParty @AartiTikoo @srinivasiyc pic.twitter.com/k5Rkktrnxs

— Taruni Gandhi (@TaruniGandhi) February 17, 2022

Taruni told Alt News, “Pannun sent an email to me and several journalists from Punjab where the February 17 letter regarding late Deep Sidhu was attached along with a video. Based on the letter in the email, we can say that the viral letter targeting AAP is not authentic. To the best of my knowledge, his letters are in English.”

The screenshot below was shared by Taruni. It highlights Pannun’s email ID as the sender (top left), the date of the email sent (top right) and the attached letter about the ‘Rail Roko’ protest (arrow). We have omitted personal details from this screenshot.

We found two more SFJ letters – one from June 2020 which was tweeted by Congress leader Ravneet Singh Bittu, and the other from last year which was posted by The Hindu’s Jatin Anand.

Upon comparing the viral letter with the three genuine SFJ letters (2022, 2021, 2020), Alt News noticed abnormalities in:

1. Letterhead
2. Left margin

Letterhead

SFJ letters included three links — sikhsforjustice.org, referendum2020.org, facebook.com/sikhsforjusticepage — just beneath the addresses mentioned in the letterhead. However, that’s not the case with the viral letter.

Left alignment

The body of the letter is misaligned in the viral letter. It goes beyond the green line. In all the three genuine letters, the body of the letter does not cross over to the left of the ‘Sikhs For Justice’ logo.

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It is worth noting that the second part of the viral letter claims SFJ supported AAP in 2017, however, Hindustan Times had reported just the year before that SFJ had lodged a formal complaint against AAP with the Canadian foreign affairs minister asking the federal government to intervene with respect to AAP’s election-related activities within Canada and block the proposed visit of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to the country.

To sum it up, a dubious letter alleges that banned outfit ‘Sikhs For Justice’ extended support to AAP. It was shared on social media by several users, including BJP and Congress leaders and members.