SFJ ADVOCACY COORDINATOR ARRESTED IN INDIA OVER PRO-AMERICA SLOGANEERING DURING BRICS

U.S.-Based Sikhs For Justice Says Punjab Coordinator Preetpal Singh Charged Under UAPA for "America First," "Pro-Trump" Campaign in Delhi

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Preetpal Singh, the Punjab-based Advocacy Coordinator of U.S.-based secessionist group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), has been arrested by Delhi Police over an anti-BRICS political sloganeering campaign that openly supported President Donald Trump and the United States as Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted leaders of China, Russia, Iran and other BRICS nations in New Delhi.

Singh, 31, was arrested along with two other Punjab-based activists and charged under UAPA after slogans appeared near Delhi's Singhu Border in the days immediately preceding the September 12–13 BRICS Leaders' Summit.

Original video footage released by SFJ documents the Delhi campaign, in which slogans describing "Modi + BRICS" as "Anti-Trump, Anti-America" were painted alongside calls to "Dismantle Modi's BRICS" and the message "SFJ — Khalistan — America First."

The sloganeering represented a direct political challenge to BRICS at a summit where Modi hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian as the expanding bloc sought greater economic and geopolitical coordination outside the U.S.-led international order.

PREETPAL SINGH — SFJ'S PUNJAB-BASED ADVOCACY COORDINATOR

Preetpal Singh holds an M.A. and an LL.B., is a close associate of SFJ General Counsel Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, and has been associated with SFJ's Punjab advocacy campaign since 2018.

As SFJ's Punjab-based Advocacy Coordinator, Singh has worked on political campaigns advocating the Khalistan Referendum — a campaign seeking Punjab's independence from India through the right to self-determination.

Singh was previously arrested in 2023 after Khalistan Referendum slogans appeared across New Delhi ahead of the G20 Summit, and he was released on bail earlier this year.

His latest arrest came as New Delhi was transformed into a security fortress for the BRICS Summit, with tens of thousands of police and paramilitary personnel deployed across the Indian capital.

Despite those extraordinary security measures, SFJ's anti-BRICS political campaign surfaced in Delhi days before Modi welcomed BRICS leaders.

PANNUN: "PREETPAL WAS ARRESTED FOR A PRO-AMERICA POLITICAL MESSAGE"

"Preetpal Singh is a political advocate whose message during Modi's BRICS Summit was unequivocal — Pro-Trump, Pro-America and Pro-Khalistan."

"While Modi was hosting China, Russia and Iran under the BRICS banner, SFJ's activists were putting an opposing political message on the streets of Delhi: America First."

"Modi cannot claim India is America's strategic partner while leading a BRICS bloc that is increasingly positioning itself against American economic and geopolitical leadership."

SFJ maintains that its campaign against BRICS and for an independent Khalistan is based on political advocacy and the exercise of the Sikh people's right to self-determination through a referendum.

SOURCE Sikhs For Justice