Once Denied Entry Into India, US Sikh Billionaire Gets Pravasi Bharatiya Samman
In October 2021, Darshan Singh Dhaliwal was sent back from IGI Airport for "organising a langar at Singhu border."
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US-based businessman Darshan Singh Dhaliwal, who was sent back from Delhi’s IGI Airport in October 2021 for allegedly organising a langar for farmers protesting against the farm laws at Delhi borders, has now been honoured with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award (PBSA).
The award was announced a week before Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, scheduled to be held from 8 to 10 January in Madhya Pradesh's Indore.
The jury-cum-awards committee comprises of vice president as the chairman and the external affairs minister as the vice chair. Dhaliwal’s name is listed under the field of business and community welfare.
His brother, Surjit Singh Rakhra is a leader of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab and served as a minister in the previous Prakash Singh Badal government.
‘Honoured to Receive Award’
Speaking to the newspaper, Dhaliwal said he was “very honoured and excited” with the award and also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Since the repeal of the three farm laws in December 2021, the Narendra Modi government has launched a rapprochement exercise for the Sikh community in India and abroad. Dhaliwal also hosted a few events in the Chicago area as part of the exercise, The Indian Express reported.
Asserting that he was “not involved in the farm laws [protests], Dhaliwal said he had decided to organise the langar for farmers after “watching what all they were going through.”
‘Targeted for Organisaing Langar’
A US citizen, Darshan Singh Dhaliwal arrived in India on 23 October 2021 on a Chicago-Delhi flight to attend his niece’s wedding. He was, however, denied entry by immigration officials and was sent back five hours later on the same flight.
Dhaliwal claimed that it was done “as a punishment for organising langar for agitating farmers at Delhi borders.”
Speaking to The Wire after his return to the US, Dhaliwal said, “When I asked why I was being denied permission to enter India, the immigration officials asked the same questions that they had been asking earlier too – why I organised the langar at Singhu border and who is paying for it. They said if I wanted to enter India, I should stop funding this langar.”
The immigration officials told him that they had “orders from the top,” Dhaliwal claimed.
Self-Made Billionaire
Dhaliwal, whose family hails from Rakhra village in Patiala district, moved to the US in 1972 at the age of 21 to study engineering. Upon graduation, he did some odd jobs before entering petroleum retail business in 1977. He bought his first gas station for $3,700 and now his company, Bulk Petroleum, owns and operates over a 1,000 gas stations in the US.
He is the younger brother of Surjit Singh Rakhra, who was a minister in the previous Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) government in Punjab. Their father, Subedar Kartar Singh Dhaliwal, was in the British army and had fought in World War II.
According to Rakhra, his brother carries out numerous charity work, both in India and the US. Dhaliwal supplied relief material and sent a team of health workers to Tsunami-hit Tamil Nadu in 2004, has donated $1 million to build a soccer ground in Milwaukee, and is a regular donor to the University of Wisconsin, Rakhra claims. Dhaliwal has also installed a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Milwaukee, according to The Indian Express report.
(With inputs from The Indian Express, The Wire.)
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