‘INFILTRATING AUSTRALIA’
17 JUNE 2024
Four Corners
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: For two and a half years I was the ABC’s South Asia correspondent. One of the first things that hit me when I arrived in India was the passion for this man Narendra Modi.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: I mean, look at this popularity that Narendra Modi has. The crowd is going absolutely crazy and it feels like the biggest rock star in the world has just arrived.As Prime Minister of an emerging superpower, Modi’s courted like a God.. including in Australia.
PRIME MINISTER ANTHONY ALBANESE: Prime Minister Modi is the Boss.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: But Modi does not tolerate accountability.
MEGHNA BALI, ABC SOUTH ASIA CORRESPONDENT: He’s gone square, looked at us in the face and said, you are the most hostile foreign organization in India right now.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: They’re not going to extend my visa. And his government’s accused of assassinating dissidents overseas.
MONINDER SINGH, SIKH ACTIVIST: I heard a panicked kind of voice on the other
side saying… home right away. They’ve shot Hardeep.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Now we’ve uncovered the long arm of the Indian state here in Australia.
DAVID SHOEBRIDGE, GREENS SENATOR: It’s not the conduct you’d expect from a friendly nation.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Waging a secret war and threatening Australia’s national security.
MATTHEW CAMENZULI, FORMER LIBERAL PARTY: Insane.
MAJOR GAURAV ARYA, COMMENTATOR: Australia is nothing. Nothing. Do you know the size of India? So next time, shut up and show respect.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Over six hundred million people in India are about to vote for their Prime Minister. It’s a story I’ve always wanted to cover. But my partner and I are leaving.
Well, we are packing up our house in Delhi. It’s gotten to this point where we’re running out of time. Now it’s just two days before my visa expires and it’s a real struggle to get any answers about what’s actually going on. And we just have no choice now but to actually pack up our lives and and and leave the country
Last month, I got a call from a government official saying my reporting had crossed a line. He said a story I’d done was “beyond extreme”. It was a shock. But when I really interrogate what’s happened to India in the past decade under Narendra Modi, I’m not surprised. During Modi’s ten year reign, India’s middle class has grown. He says he’s lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty.
NARENDRA MODI, PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA: The tribal dominated districts which were backward and left behind before, there is now new hope of development in those places.
MAN AT RALLY: Wherever you go you find spick and span roads, good infrastructure.
WOMAN AT RALLY: We want Modiji to continue working like this and we do not want to see anyone other than Modiji as the Prime Minister.
CROWD: Modi, Modi
NARENDRA MODI, PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA: Bharat Mataji!
CROWD: J’ai!
NARENDRA MODI, PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA: Vande! Vande! Vande!
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: At age 8, Modi joined the far right Hindu nationalist organisation the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or the RSS.
PRIYA CHACKO, ACADEMIC: The RSS is commonly described as a far-right paramilitary organization. It was formed in the 1920s and it was inspired by German Nazism and Italian fascism.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: The RSS rejects secular India and wants it to be a Hindu state. It’s the largest far right organisation in the world with millions of members. Modi’s ruling party the BJP grew out of the RSS.
PRIYA CHACKO, ACADEMIC: Modi was, uh, a long time RSS member. Most of the BJP’s top leadership have a history in the RSS. So he went through the paramilitary training, the indoctrination.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Supporters say these organisations are reclaiming a lost Hindu identity others criticise them for politicising the religion.
PRIYA CHACKO, ACADEMIC: The BJP seeks to conflate a very, uh, a very pluralistic religion… into a very narrow form… India’s a very diverse country… Modi’s ideology wants to diminish all of that.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Modi’s pushed Hindu supremacy and ultra nationalism but claims democracy is still strong in India.
NARENDRA MODI, PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA: Democracy is the spirit that supports equality and dignity… India is blessed to have such values from times immemorial. In the evolution of the democratic spirit. India is the mother of democracy. Thank you.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: But he’s hardened his stance against minorities, dissidents, and freedom of speech.
MANDEEP PUNIA, JOURNALIST: See this, this is a wound. They lathi charged me here.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Mandeep Punia is part of India’s enormous media landscape.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Hello how are you? Mandeep?
MANDEEP PUNIA, JOURNALIST: Yeah
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Avani nice to meet you.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: In 2021, he was jailed after reporting a story claiming a BJP worker and affiliate attacked protesters with a petrol bomb. Police accused Mandeep of obstructing an officer at the protest.
MANDEEP PUNIA, JOURNALIST: I was sent to Tihar jail and I was beaten in custody and they broke my camera and they broke my camera, my phone, everything and they beat me thrice. I was able to understand that this clip is not an attack on me, it was an attack on journalism.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Minorities like Sikhs and Muslims also say they’re being targeted. Modi’s party’s been accused of supporting demolitions of Muslim homes, and mosques like Shabana’s place in north Delhi.
SHABANA HASAN, DEMOLITION VICTIM: Modiji, tell me one thing, who has a hand in all the demolitions that are taking place? Modiji has already ruined me. I have nothing to lose.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: I quickly learned holding Modi to account can land you in hot water. When I started reporting on the death of a Sikh separatist, things started getting difficult.
OFFICER: I have been directed to inform you that your permission was cancelled.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: You need to give us a reason why you’ve suddenly decided not to allow us.
OFFICER: The reason I can’t explain you that.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: The Indian Government blocked my story on YouTube and Facebook and it was quick to act against me. They’re not going to extend my visa. Honestly, pretty crazy. It feels weird and it’s disappointing. Actually can’t quite believe that they’re doing this and it sets a really bad precedent for India.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: The Australian Government started lobbying on my behalf. At the same time, my colleague Meghna and I were trying to organise our access passes for the election…
MEGHNA BALI, SOUTH ASIA CORRESPONDENT: [IN HINDI] Hello? Australian broadcasting sir. Sir? Elections start on Friday. We need the passes.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: So what did he say?
MEGHNA BALI, SOUTH ASIA CORRESPONDENT: what they’ve said is that the ministry has given them a directive not to release the ABC’s passes. He said Australian broadcasting is not to receive passes.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: So he directly said that to you?
MEGHNA BALI, SOUTH ASIA CORRESPONDENT: So he directly said that to me this morning.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Meghna spoke to the BJP about our coverage.
MEGHNA BALI, SOUTH ASIA CORRESPONDENT: We finally end up in a room with someone who’s a BJP spokesman. We said, we’re from the ABC. And he sort of just looked at us and he’s gone square, looked at us in the face and said, you are the most hostile foreign organization in India right now. You are after us and you have the most biased reporting.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: How do you feel about covering it after that conversation?
MEGHNA BALI, SOUTH ASIA CORRESPONDENT: Getting that confirmation straight from the horse’s mouth, I’m not gonna lie, I was like, for a second, we were sort of like, how are we going to get through the next six weeks in a balanced, factual way if one half of the team isn’t talking to us and that’s the team that’s in power.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Eventually Meghna got her pass, but mine didn’t come through. The night before our flight home to Australia, I got a short visa extension, but it was clear I wasn’t getting access to cover the election properly. So I decided to leave.
Well, I’m in the terminal in Delhi, made it through security and immigration. I don’t like that this intimidation is getting to me, but the last few weeks have been so stressful. it’s been so unsettling. And, I’m ready to go home. I arrived home to a media storm outlets sympathetic to the Modi Government started discrediting me.
TV HOST: Government sources say that all these allegations made by Australian journalists are baseless and misleading.
TV HOST: This ABC journalist also has a track record of peddling anti Hindu propaganda.
MAJOR GAURAV ARYA, COMMENTATOR: Australia is nothing. Nothing. Do you know the size of India? So next time, shut up and show respect. You’re talking about the Prime Minister of India. Yeah. You can go and abuse the Prime Minister of Australia for all you like. I don’t care. When you talk about the Prime Minister of India, you do so with respect and don’t give me this nonsense about media freedom. What you’re writing is lies.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: The Australian Government response was muted. It said it appreciated India’s assistance in eventually granting me a visa. As I settled in back home, I discovered the Modi Government’s tentacles stretch into Australia. To understand it, you need to know two of the main organisations that hold up the Hindu nationalist movement – the RSS, described as a far right paramilitary group. And Modi’s more mainstream political party the BJP. I found out these groups have sister Hindu nationalist organisations operating in Australia. I’ve come to a part of western Sydney, where many Hindus practise their faith.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: So what would you usually do at the river here?
ARJUN NIDIGALLU, FORMER HSS CAMP INSTRUCTOR: Well, we’d have the conclusion of the Ganesha Festival.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Arjun Nidigallu was an HSS camp leader. His parents signed him up when he was a kid.
ARJUN NIDIGALLU, FORMER HSS CAMP INSTRUCTOR: My parents, like most migrants were concerned that I wasn’t getting like a cultural upbringing and so they’d send me to the camps.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: The HSS has at least thirty branches across Australia. Arjun says, for years it felt harmless.
ARJUN, FORMER HSS CAMP INSTRUCTOR: There are people you meet who go through similar issues around racism and bullying… and you come back feeling like you’re not alone. And, and that was a big thing.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Eventually he helped run the camps.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: What was the final straw for you that made you want to leave all of these organizations?
ARJUN NIDIGALLU, FORMER HSS CAMP INSTRUCTOR: It was a festival event. A lot of young children, um, and children as young as seven were playing tug of war as part of the games they were playing for the festival. And they were instructed to shout a slogan repetitively as they played tug of war. Um, and in Hindi it goes like this, it goes Hindustan, Hindu, and which means Hindustan or India belongs to the Hindus. And you’ve got young kids who, and I knew and I knew these kids, they didn’t speak anything but English. And that image just didn’t sit well with me. And no matter how hard you try, the, the, the toxicity eventually trickles down to the children. And, and that was my last, uh, event and I had to walk away after that.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: It’s been almost 10 years since Arjun left the Hindu nationalist movement in Australia.
ARJUN NIDIGALLU, FORMER HSS CAMP INSTRUCTOR: These organizations have more or less taken a monopoly on what it is to be Hindu you don’t hear that the voices of, of those who are secular Hindus.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: So we’ve found a few videos on social media of the HSS Shakas and the camps and I just wanted to understand them a bit more. So there’s this one there’s all these kids. So do you wanna play this one?
ARJUN NIDIGALLU, FORMER HSS CAMP INSTRUCTOR: Yeah, sure.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: We’ve analysed dozens of videos and photos of Australian Indian kids and adults at HSS camps… It looks normal… but there’s another side. At the camps, there’s a tribute to two influential historical figures in the Hindu nationalist movement. One of them, MS Golwalkar said minorities like Muslims were a threat to India and the country could learn from the Nazi’s killing of Jews.
ARJUN NIDIGALLU, FORMER HSS CAMP INSTRUCTOR: I think the way the history is told to the children, and, and the way the narrative is structured is that these are our heroes. It’s clear that there, there Hindu race is seen as the dominant race one that is, that matters, and more importantly, one that actually has ownership of the Indian land.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: In parks and halls across Australia, the participants are also being taught an Indian martial art called danda.
ARJUN NIDIGALLU, FORMER HSS CAMP INSTRUCTOR: The large, um, and heavy bamboo sticks. And this is, to inculcate a sense of self discipline, self defense. And, uh, the way they frame it is to be prepared for any invaders, and attacks,
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Arjun, this does look a bit like a normal martial arts class. What makes it dangerous?
ARJUN NIDIGALLU, FORMER HSS CAMP INSTRUCTOR: The way it plays itself out in the real world, um, in India when it comes to, uh, minority treatment, when it comes to, uh, tearing down the places of worship of minorities, this does play itself in a, in a violent way.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: As you can see in this footage danda is used by Hindu nationalist devotees in deadly riots against Indian Muslims. We’ve also found Australian HSS volunteers have attended RSS training camps in India and held talks for RSS leaders in Australia. A spokesperson from HSS Australia told us danda is like other self defence training. They said the organisation does charity work. And that it takes inspiration from the RSS. As one of the largest diasporas in the country, Indian Australians now hold huge political power. It’s something Australian politicians are keenly aware of.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Together we are building a better world.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: For several years, our politicians have been cosying up to the Indian Government keen to position us to benefit from this emerging superpower’s growth.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Prime Minister Modi and I discussed the increasingly uncertain global security environment.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: India’s also an important bulwark against China’s increasing power in the region. Some watching the Australia-India relationship are asking… at what cost.
PRIYA CHACKO, ACADEMIC: The Australian government has been very quiet in terms of commenting on or criticizing India’s turn toward authoritarianism. It’s embraced Narendra Modi. So a lot of the authoritarian features of the Narendra Modi government simply have been swept under the carpet by the Australian government, unfortunately.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: The last person I saw on the stage here was Bruce Springsteen and he didn’t get the welcome Prime Minister Modi’s got. Prime Minister Modi is the Boss. I want you to give a big Australian welcome to my deal friend Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Hindu nationalist groups in Australia helped organise this stadium event during Modi’s Sydney visit last year. One of the groups is called the Overseas Friends of the BJP.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Would you classify the Overseas Friends of BJP as a political party?
YADU SINGH, CARDIOLOGIST & COMMUNITY LEADER: They are actually branch a type of equation with the Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP from India. The, their job is to promote the policies and views of, uh, BJP here. There’s no other, uh, purpose. And in fact, their global head is, uh, in New Delhi and is is called Global Overseas Friends of BJP. So they are linked with BJP.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Yadu Singh was a BJP supporter.
YADU SINGH, COMMUNITY LEADER: They presented themselves as the saviour, as the people who would do good thing for India.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: He’s a cardiologist and community leader in Sydney.
YADU SINGH, COMMUNITY LEADER: I’m a Hindu. I’m a practising Hindu, but Hindu who does not discriminate or hate anybody else.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Why did you feel the need to say that?
YADU SINGH, COMMUNITY LEADER: I think it’s important. I believe in Hindu, uh, Hinduism or Hindu dharma.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Are you worried that Mr. Modi and the BJP are promoting a narrow version of what Hinduism is?
YADU SINGH, COMMUNITY LEADER: Well, there have been some commentaries in rallies which were not very good.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Sources have told us the overseas friends of the BJP wants to infiltrate politics. It wants to get elected into local council first, then state government and ultimately federal parliament. So we started looking for patterns of the organisations influence here in Australia and it led us here to the Hillshire in the northwest of Sydney, which is also the federal electorate of Mitchell held by Alex Hawke. We’ve discovered one of Alex Hawke’s closest deputies, Rahul Jethi, is a founding member of the Overseas Friends of the BJP in Australia.
OFBJP MEMBER: J’ai Shri Ram!
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: He’s seen here chanting a slogan co-opted by Hindu nationalists and was seen at organisation events with senior Indian Ministers this year.
OFBJP MEMBER: J’ai Shri Ram!
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: He also holds a powerful position in Alex Hawke’s seat supervising his branches. Sources say Alex Hawke and his allies lobbied Councillors in the Hills Shire to get Rahul Jethi’s wife Reena, the position of deputy mayor in 2019. Hawke has told us he wasn’t involved. We’ve linked Rahul Jethi to a fundraising warchest for Alex Hawke called The Mitchell Club. Four Corners has found this flyer with an email address accessed by Jethi he and Mr Hawke deny Jethi’s connected. It seems this political alliance continues to deliver. We’ve been leaked data from Alex Hawke’s seat. We’ve analysed the last five years and in more than half the branches Indian-Australians make up a substantial proportion of the new members. It’s almost impossible to get Liberal members to speak about this.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Hello, I’m Avani. Thanks for having me.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Long time Alex Hawke rival, Matthew Camenzulli was a senior member of the party until he was expelled a couple of years ago.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: So I just want to show you some of these numbers that we’ve been given.
MATTHEW CAMENZULI, FORMER LIBERAL PARTY: Insane. Insane.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Why it’s so insane?
MATTHEW CAMENZULI, FORMER LIBERAL PARTY: I mean that’s that’s nuts. And the further up and down the list you go, the more you’re seeing it, it’s it’s out of control.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: We’ve been told by several recruits that Rahul Jethi signed them up.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Jethi denies it all. He says he’s just like any other Liberal party office bearer.
MATTHEW CAMENZULI, FORMER LIBERAL PARTY: It’s entirely possible that he could tell Alex Hawke that, that that he can roll him in his next preselection which means he won’t be the MP anymore. I think the Liberal Party should be doing a significant investigation. The member for Mitchell has to answer to this. It doesn’t look good. It doesn’t look good.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: In a statement, Alex Hawke said he complies with all liberal party and electoral rules. A Liberal Party spokesman said that Overseas Friends of the BJP Australia isn’t registered as a foreign agent. That’s true, the organisation is operating here without scrutiny. In this video they’re drumming up votes for a candidate in southern India. In the US, it’s been declared a foreign agent and has to disclose all political activities.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: I’ve heard that the Overseas Friends of the BJP is having an event here in Parramatta. I really want to know what they think about these accusations that they’re trying to infiltrate Australia. So let’s go and ask them.
We’re greeted by one of the group’s office bearers Ankur. At first, we’re not allowed inside.
ANKUR PATEL, OVERSEAS FRIENDS OF THE BJP (OFBJP): OK, You gotta turn off. You gotta turn off. OK? Sure.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: So are we able to go inside?
ANKUR PATEL, OFBJP: No, you’re not.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: After some convincing, we’re invited in.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: What’s your aims of your group here?
ANKUR PATEL, OFBJP: Nothing. Nothing. Just, just we, we we are a fan group. It just like, you know, Manchester United, there is a lot of Aussies. They might be supporting those particular, uh, teams, right? It’s the same thing.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: I ask him if the organisation is trying to infiltrate Australian politics…
ANKUR PATEL, OFBJP: Not at all. No, we are Indian diaspora, you know, we are Indian diaspora. Obviously being a citizen, obviously we exercise our rights here, but other than that, there is nothing. There’s nothing there.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: The BJP has a head of Foreign Affairs who says his role is to coordinate with the party’s global outreach platform, the Overseas Friends of the BJP.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: And do you kind of, um, obviously you work with the BJP in India to kind of organize your events and how you sort of function here?
ANKUR PATEL, OFBJP: No. No, not really. Not really. No.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: No connection at all?
ANKUR PATEL, OFBJP: No, no. Look, sometime, obviously if, uh, major event like Modi, you know, reception and all, alright. As a community we join hands together with help together with the community and we just help them. Nothing else other than that is nothing. Look, our organization is a non-profit organization. So please respect.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Then we’re told we’ve overstayed our welcome. India’s not just accused of covert forms of foreign interference. The most shocking allegations against the Indian government involve assassinating dissidents on foreign soil.
Moninder Singh’s just stepped off a flight from Vancouver. What other passengers don’t know is he is in grave danger.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Nice to meet you. How’s the flight?
MONINDER SINGH, SIKH ACTIVIST: Long. A few hours into the flight I started getting notifications that there’s been a duty to warn that’s been provided to another member of the community these duty to warns which are imminent threat of assassination.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Mondinder’s in Australia to sound an alarm. He says Canadian authorities have told him and eight others they could be killed at any moment including a Canadian Sikh Federal MP.
MONINDER SINGH, SIKH ACTIVIST: We know the risks when you leave your house to the moment you get back. Uh, and even when you’re in your house, uh, everything from the doorbell ringing to everything, everything is coordinated.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Moninder is part of a global movement calling for the state of Punjab to breakaway from India and become a separate Sikh nation called Khalistan.
MONINDER SINGH, SIKH ACTIVIST: Like basically what we, we think is that like either we’ll seek Khalistan or we will die trying.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Last year, Moninder’s close friend Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead outside their local temple in Vancouver. Canada has accused the Indian Government of orchestrating the assassination. The Modi administration denies it, and has accused Nijjar of being a terrorist.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Can you tell me about that day that Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed?
MONINDER SINGH, SIKH ACTIVIST: It was actually Father’s Day, 2023. We had dinner, and then just like any other family, my kids were playing in the next room. I got like multiple calls after the third call I picked up and I heard a panicked kind of voice on the other side saying, uh, bhaji, which means, brother, come right away. They’ve shot Hardeep.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Moninder rushed to the Sikh temple or Gurdwara where Hardeep was killed…
MONINDER SINGH, SIKH ACTIVIST: I would oddly say to you, I’ve shed two tears, uh, since he’s died. Uh, and both of them were, I leaned into to kiss his forehead in his casket. But it’s one of those things that, um, if it starts, it’s probably not gonna finish. So you just don’t allow yourself that type of emotion. You focus on the bigger fight, you focus on what the community needs
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Two months before Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s assassination, the Indian Foreign Secretary sent a secret cable to Indian consulates across North America. We got a copy of the memo. And it orders a sophisticated crackdown on pro Khalistan groups that have been designated as terrorists by the Indian government. It also calls Nijjar an extremist against whom concrete measures need to be taken. And it instructs Indian consulates to work with India’s foreign spy service RAW. The Indian government has called this document a fake. After the execution in Canada, the Indian Government allegedly didn’t stop there. It’s accused of going for a much more ambitious target in New York City: This man, Gurpatwant Pannun, the leader of pro Khalistan group Sikhs for Justice.
GURPATWANT PANNUN, SIKHS FOR JUSTICE: This did not come as a surprise to me. Or even if there is going to something is going to happen to me tomorrow or if I get killed, um, in future, that would not be a surprise to anybody. The only thing we all must know that… this is the Indian system that is trying to suppress the freedom of speech and expression of Pro Khalistan Sikhs.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: As President Joe Biden welcomed Narendra Modi to Washington DC, the murder plot against Pannun was ramping up.
GREG MILLER, WASHINGTON POST: Several hundred miles to the north in New York City, you had an assassination plot unfolding. You had an Indian, uh, intelligence officer in India urging what he thought was a hit team to rush ahead and take care of this targeted killing.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: It failed dramatically.
GREG MILLER, WASHINGTON POST: It was penetrated from the start. The Indian government when it tried to hire a hitman in New York, ultimately turned to somebody who was working as an enforcement, an informant for the US Drug Enforcement Agency. So from the very outset the United states was able to see right into this operation as it unfolded.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Indian authorities told media the assassination could have been orchestrated by a rogue operative. Washington Post reporter Greg Miller revealed India’s top spy chiefs were implicated in the plot against Pannun.
GREG MILLER, WASHINGTON POST: The way the Indian security system works, it just seems very unlikely that you would have an intelligence chief and a national security advisor who would, who would set plots like this in motion, um, without a pretty clear understanding that ultimately, uh, the Prime Minister would be okay with it.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: The Indian Government has justified cracking down on the Khalistan movement, because it sees it as a terror threat. It points to the 80s and 90s when the movement turned into an armed militancy and an Air India flight was bombed, killing more than 300 people. The Sikh bodyguards who assassinated the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984 were incensed by her decision to order the Indian military to storm Sikhism’s holiest site.
TV HOST: Smoke billowing over New Delhi.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Thousands of Sikhs were then killed in reprisals. Today, authorities say Gurpatwant Pannun’s social media posts are threatening India’s safety, especially when he draws on the past.
GURPATWANT PANNUN [IN PUNJABI]: Sikh community, after 19th November, you should not travel by Air India. Your life could be in danger.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: He denies he’s a threat.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: So what did you mean when you said that it could be life threatening?
GURPATWANT PANNUN, GLOBAL LEADER, SIKHS FOR JUSTICE: I’m stating over and over again, if anybody flies here, India, you will be funding a Sikh genocide, which will be life threatening for your future generations. So whether they wanted to assassinate me or whether they want to kill me, I will not stop. I will continue to campaign for Sikhs right to self-determination even if the destiny, uh, is a death, our destiny is a bullet, I’m ready to take it.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Sikhs who’ve migrated to Australia continue to worship in temples like this. The fraught history in India led many to migrate here, including separatists. Moninder fears even Australia isn’t far enough removed from the Indian state.
MONINDER SINGH, SIKH ACTIVIST: I think in Australia it’s, it’s brewing. Uh, they’re already here, they’re already interfering. Um, and it’s very dangerous for the Sikh community here.
MONINDER SINGH, SIKH ACTIVIST: I got a warning in July, you must all be thinking, ‘you’re constantly being warned’.
MONINDER SINGH, SIKH ACTIVIST: if something isn’t checked soon that, you know, a country like Australia could be in the same position as Canada in a few years.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: So I’ve heard that Sikh separatists are feeling the pressure of the Indian government all the way here in Australia. It’s a really sensitive issue for these guys, but one of them has agreed to speak to me on camera, so I’m heading to meet him down. Harjinder Singh lives in suburban Melbourne with his family…
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: So what’s out here?
HARJINDER SINGH, TAXI DRIVER: I’ll show you the car.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: By day he’s a taxi driver. His real passion is his activism in the Australian chapter of Sikhs for Justice. The same group as executed leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
HARJINDER SINGH, TAXI DRIVER: I love Khalistan. Makes me proud to be a Khalistani to put a Khalistan sticker all on my car. So that’s why I put over there so big so boldly over there.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Harjinder’s an Australian citizen he says he’s been the victim of an intimidation campaign. At a key moment in the Khalistan movement, Harjinder got a threatening call from a private number. A couple of months later, his phone rang again.
HARJINDER SINGH, TAXI DRIVER: I got a call at midnight and I was, I was scared. Well why, who calling me this time with the no caller ID… And I got a call on that time. You are not listening us in Punjabi. You’re not listening us now. So be careful.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Harjinder wasn’t deterred. He kept speaking out about Khalistan. Then he says Indian authorities sent people to his parents’ home in Punjab.
HARJINDER SINGH, TAXI DRIVER: Some people visited my place, we told you to stop him and we got orders from the Indian authorities, if anyone’s doing opposite like, uh, against the country. Yeah, we got orders to kill them. And we, he don’t know. He’s not sure. Is it from the police, is it from intelligence?
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: How did your parents react?
HARJINDER SINGH, TAXI DRIVER: They got scared. They got scared.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: How did you feel hearing that authorities are going to Harjinder’s parents’ house and saying all these things?
SIMERDEEP KAUR, WIFE: If they’re targeting him, obviously they’re targeting me as well. I don’t know if something happened, it’s scary. I feel so scared sometimes.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: We’ve found more than six other Australians in the movement who say they’re also being threatened by Indian authorities.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: The next part of my investigation brings me to the Australian capital and the nerve centre of the country’s intelligence services. It’s here in 2021, that the Head of ASIO, Mike Burgess, announced a serious incursion on our sovereignty.
MIKE BURGESS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF SECURITY: One of our investigations focused on a nest of spies, from a particular foreign intelligence service, that was operating in our country. These spies developed targeted relationships with current and former politicians, a foreign embassy and a state police service. They monitored their country’s diaspora community. We confronted the foreign spies, and quietly and professionally removed them from Australia.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Burgess didn’t name the country. But the Washington Post did.
GREG MILLER, WASHINGTON POST: that was a, I think also quite troubling that, that India, uh, a presumed ally, uh, another democracy would be trying to get at information at that would apparently identify vulnerabilities in Australia.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Greens Senator David Shoebridge has been following this case closely.
DAVID SHOEBRIDGE, GREENS SENATOR: I was shocked. It’s not the conduct you’d expect from a friendly nation. But remember this is a, this is an administration, the BJP administration that has been involved in the assassination of a Sikh leader in Canada. So, you know, when, when you reflect upon that very recent history, it doesn’t seem at all out of character. It, it’s part of what I think is a very disturbing trend.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: This is the Indian High Commission in Canberra where the Modi Government’s representatives in Australia work. And this is where some of the Indian spies were pretending to be unsuspecting diplomats. Through my investigation, I’ve found out information that’s surprised me. It was previously reported that only two Indian intelligence operatives were kicked out from Australia. We’ve confirmed there were at least four who were asked to leave. The expulsions were done secretly, and the intelligence operatives were asked to leave one by one. the Modi Government thought it got away without any public embarrassment.
DAVID SHOEBRIDGE, GREENS SENATOR: Australia should have
condemned it publicly at the time that not only would’ve been good to have a, an honest baseline for our relationship with India, but it would’ve also sent a message to the diaspora communities here that we’ve got your back.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: The Indian Government didn’t get back to our requests for a response. Australian ministers declined an interview. In a statement, a spokesperson said the Government is deeply concerned by these allegations. They said the government doesn’t tolerate threats of violence.
PENNY WONG, FOREIGN MINISTER FOR AUSTRALIA: I think the Indian diaspora has a range of views, and we have made clear in relation to democratic debate in Australia that the non the peaceful expression of different views, is a key part of Australia’s democracy.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Unlike Canada, Australia hasn’t put substantial brakes on the relationship with India.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Isn’t it fair though that Australia is pursuing this relationship with India considering it’s becoming such an economic and technological powerhouse?
DAVID SHOEBRIDGE, GREENS SENATOR: Well, I think it’s absolutely a good strategy to forge close ties with India to, to, to reach out as a friend to India. But it’s bloody fool hardy to do it and not protect yourself when you know there’s an active threat in play. We have a very recent case study in Australian history about what happens when all you see is money and trade and a growth economy and you don’t see any of the kind of concerns. And it’s, we did with China. It turns out we are repeating many of the same mistakes with India and, and that’s just setting us up for trouble.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: It’s judgement day for Narendra Modi and across Australia and the world, people are glued to screens watching election results roll in.
NARENDRA MODI: Vande!
CROWD: Matram!
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: Modi said he’d win this election in a landslide, but he could barely make a majority.
POONAM: It’s very neck to neck. It was very shocking, I would say, because, you know, that is not what we expected.
AVANI DIAS, REPORTER: It’s a defeat for this leader who once seemed invincible.
Maybe the result will take Modi down a notch and force him to respect India’s strong democratic foundations. Or he could crack down even more, changing India forever and testing Australia’s desire to stay close even at the expense of its own citizens.