Sukhwinder Singh Gill, a 40-year-old farmer union leader and president of the Bharti Kisan Union (Totewal), found himself in the spotlight on Wednesday when the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided his residence and 10 other locations in Punjab and Haryana. The searches were carried out in connection with Gill’s alleged role in the ‘dunki route’ racket, a term used for illegal immigration networks that send people abroad through unsafe means.
At the time of the raid, Gill, a resident of the Tota Singh Wala village in Punjab’s Moga district, was not at home but at the protest site of the ‘Qaumi Insaaf Morcha’, which is demanding justice in sacrilege cases, in Mohali. Sources said during the raid, which began at 5.30 am and continued until 8.30 pm, ED officials seized and photocopied several documents. The investigation remains ongoing.
Gill’s outfit BKU (Totewal) was part of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body under which the 2020-21 agitation against the three now-repealed farm laws was carried out. Gill claims the BKU (Totewal) has units in 10 districts, including Moga, Ferozepur, Muktsar, Tarn Taran, Fazilka, and Barnala.
Controversy has dogged Gill since an FIR was registered against him on February 19 at the Dharamkot police station. In it, a deportee and a resident of his village alleged that Gill took Rs 45 lakh to send him to the United States via the illegal dunki route. The complainant was deported from the US on February 13.
But Gill claims he is the victim of “vendetta politics”.“This FIR has now been quashed by the High Court. I was not involved – someone else was. The ED raids now are nothing but harassment at the behest of another farmer leader, Farman Singh Sandhu, president of BKU (Punjab),” Gill told The Indian Express.
A farmer by profession, Gill says he owns about six acres of land. Before his journey into activism, in his college days, Gill was an avid bhangra dancer who represented his college at various competitions. “About 12-15 years ago, I even worked with a bhangra orchestra group, performing at weddings and other functions,” he said. Gill also performed as a background dancer in a few Punjabi movies.
His brief stint in politics began when he joined the Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) youth wing, in the footsteps of his grandfather. However, Gill distanced himself from the party in 2015, citing the Guru Granth Sahib sacrilege cases under the SAD-BJP coalition government.
In 2016, he transitioned into journalism, reporting for local TV channels and interviewing local politicians.
“I continued working as an electronic media journalist for several years. When the agitation against the farm laws erupted in Punjab, I reported from protest sites, eventually joining the BKU (Punjab) in 2020 as protests intensified along the railway tracks,” he said. “Later, I went to Delhi’s Singhu border and reported from there. I, along with a colleague, even slept in our vehicle for months together. That’s how I got attached to farmer unions.”
Gill went on to become a member of the BKU (Punjab)’s youth wing and later its Punjab general secretary after the farm laws were repealed in late 2021.
During the 2022 Punjab Assembly election campaign, Gill actively supported late SAD leader and former state minister Jathedar Tota Singh, citing his own family’s deep Akali roots. After Tota Singh lost the election from Dharamkot to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Gill detached himself from the SAD.
By the end of 2022, Gill launched an immigration services company, Fateh Immigration, which he claims is now shut down. “I am myself in deep losses because of this business – how can I cheat anyone? I closed it after about a year,” he said.
Gill then founded the BKU (Totewal), which along with Farman Sandhu’s BKU (Punjab) faction, became part of the SKM. But after the FIR in February, the SKM suspended Gill in March. Since then, members of the BKU (Totewal) have stopped participating in the SKM’s meetings.
Farman Singh Sandhu, president of BKU (Punjab), under whose union Gill initially worked during the 2020-21 farm agitation, shared a different perspective. “I saw him as a journalist and thought he was intelligent, so I gave him big responsibilities in the union. But after he opened the immigration company, many complaints came to me from people who claimed he duped them. By early 2024, people were protesting at my house. That’s when I asked him to resign,” Sandhu said.
According to Prem Singh Bhangu, president of the All India Kisan Federation and head of the SKM’s inquiry committee, Gill’s suspension remains in force. “We are conducting an inquiry. The main complainant, who was deported, hasn’t appeared before us yet. Although, as per Gill’s claims, the FIR against him has been quashed, we want a statement of the complainant. Till then, the suspension will continue,” Bhangu said.
Gill insists the allegations are politically motivated. “Because Farman is the brother of a BJP MP, he is using his connections to get raids conducted on me and fake FIRs registered,” Gill alleged.
Amid the controversy, Gill remains active with the Qaumi Insaaf Morcha. “Justice will prevail for sure,” he said.