The Sikhs for Justice has announced that voting for the Australian chapter of Khalistan independence referendum will be held at Federation Square in Melbourne today, January 29.
Melbourne’s Ravi Inder Singh, a representative of the Miri Piri Gurudwara (Sikh temple), told Australian media that the voting exercise, known as the Khalistan referendum, would be a significant step towards self-determination for millions of Sikhs around the world.
Australian Sikhs, along with millions of others around the world, will vote on January 29 in a referendum to establish a separate Sikh state in India, Australian Broadcasting Corporation posted on its website.
Sikhs have faced increasing discrimination in India, especially with the growth of Hindu nationalism. In 1984, thousands died in communal violence, after the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi.
Singh said the main goal of the referendum was to seek a consensus among Sikhs to establish a separate homeland within India and to determine the extent of the demand for this separatist state that would be known as Khalistan (land of the pure), SBS Punjabi, an Australian news outlet quoted him as saying.
The voting in the referendum, which tion of then prime minister Indira Gandhi.
Singh said the main goal of the referendum was to seek a consensus among Sikhs to establish a separate homeland within India and to determine the extent of the demand for this separatist state that would be known as Khalistan (land of the pure), SBS Punjabi, an Australian news outlet quoted him as saying.
The voting in the referendum, which started in October 2021, had so far been held in the UK, Switzerland, Italy and Canada.—AFP
