Chauhan, Jagjit Singh

▪ 2008

 Indian Sikh separatist leader

born 1927 , Tanda, Punjab, British India

died April 4, 2007 , Tanda, Punjab state, India

as a prominent figure in the movement for an independent Sikh state (called Khalistan) in Punjab, organized a government-in-exile in London. After serving as Punjab's finance minister in the 1960s, Chauhan moved to London in 1971. That year he took out a full-page advertisement in the New York Times proclaiming the formation of the Republic of Khalistan, a Sikh theocracy, and attempted to set up a government-in-exile in Pakistan. Back in London in the early 1980s, he declared himself president of Khalistan, appointed a cabinet, issued passports and currency, and opened embassies in several countries. By then the separatist movement in Punjab had turned violent; some 20,000 people died in the struggle over the next decade. Armed Sikh separatists occupied (1982–84) the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and Indian security forces stormed the temple in June 1984, killing hundreds of Sikhs. Chauhan promptly announced his government-in-exile and said that Sikhs would “behead” Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. After Gandhi was assassinated in October by her Sikh bodyguards, however, the separatist movement began losing support. In 2001 Chauhan was permitted to return to India, where he founded a charity hospital.

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