Chandigarh: In the virtual land of Punjab, two Facebook pages–Fans of Deep Sidhu and Soojhwan Punjab–seem harmless at first glance. One invokes the name of a Sikh youth icon who died young. The other fly the flag of Punjabi pride and identity.
But these pages hide something problematic. An investigation by The Reporters’ Collective reveals how these pages, alongside a “news” platform called The Punjab First, have been weaponised to push state government propaganda and target critics of the AAP-led government.
Since their creation in March 2023, these pages have run more than 5,900 advertisements till December 2024, spending nearly ₹14 lakh on sponsored posts, memes, and videos that target farm leaders, anti-drug crusaders, and Sikh activists, glorifies the Bhagwat Mann administration and lionises Punjab police, particularly the Director General of Police (DGP).
Each of these groups that were targeted had rubbed the state government or its police the wrong way: The anti-drug activists have accused Punjab police of being hand in glove with drug smugglers; Sikh activists have criticised the police for allegedly supporting gangsters; and the Punjab’s farm unions, emboldened by the farm law protest victories, have protested against Bhagwant Mann government for its failure in fulfilling its promises to farmers.
What emerges is a troubling picture: an online propaganda operation by Facebook pages and covert media outlets that are deeply in sync with the AAP-led government’s narratives.
In Punjab, where the scars of insurgency and political manipulation run deep, the weaponisation of social media by friends of state to push state propaganda represents a troubling escalation. The Facebook pages Fans of Deep Sidhu (FODS) and Soojhwan Punjab, alongside platforms such as The Punjab First, have tried to manufacture consent for government policies, justified police excesses, undercutting the unsaid rule of democracy that the state shouldn’t target its people with proxy propaganda.
The Campaign
The influence operation began in March 2023 as a reaction to the embers of Khalistani separatism given wind by Amritpal Singh, a fiery Sikh preacher.
Amritpal, a college dropout who worked in Dubai, had come to Punjab in August 2022 to head Waris Punjab De, a pressure group set up by actor-turned activist Deep Sidhu that later metamorphosed into a pro-Khalistani outfit, and recently into a political party under Amritpal.
In nearly six months, Amritpal’s rhetoric garnered massive following among Sikh youth who were angry over Hindutva push, anti-farmer policies, incidents of sacrilege of holy book of Sikhs, delay of justice in 1984 genocide, and comfortable with the language of violence. The near-vacuum in Sikh political leadership helped his rise.
On February 23, 2023, Amritpal and his associates stormed a police station in Amritsar to free one of his accomplices. This enamoured him to the radical section of Sikhs but embarrassed Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government with BJP blaming it for being soft on Khalistanis.
To curb the secessionist movement, the state police launched a crackdown on Waris Punjab De on March 18, 2023. Within 24 hours of the crackdown, FODS and Soojhwan Punjab were created. Their immediate focus was a relentless campaign against Amritpal and his associates. Over the next two months, these pages ran over 560 advertisements targeting Amritpal and his associates, portraying him as a puppet of Pakistan and equating him with disgraced spiritual leaders such as Nityanand, Asaram, Ram Rahim, Radhe Maa and Nirmal Baba.
In one particularly striking advertisement, Amritpal was shown being chased in an open jeep by Punjab’s DGP Gaurav Yadav, with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann riding shotgun. Another advertisement claimed that Amritpal’s wife had links with the banned Khalistani terror group Babbar Khalsa.
But Amritpal’s case was just the opening act. Once he was detained under the National Security Act (NSA) and shifted to Assam’s Dibrugarh Jail in April 2023, the pages turned their attention to other critics of the government and advertising the deeds of the police.
Whenever the government and police faced criticism from activists and people, these pages deployed flares as countermeasures to confuse or deflect the incoming salvoes.
In July 2023, Bhagwant Mann government was facing backlash as videos of youngsters dying from drug overdose were going viral. It was embarrassing for the AAP-led government as it had come to power promising to end drug menace and corruption.
Anti-drug crusader Parminder Singh Jhota had launched his campaign against drug smugglers in AAP strongholds of Mansa and Bathinda districts. Jhota, a former boxer and drug survivor who had quit boxing due to addiction, organised grassroots committees to combat Punjab’s rampant drug crisis. He was forcing drug smugglers and drug victims to apologise.
FODS and Soojhwan Punjab launched a campaign against Jhota. Between July 17 and 23, these pages ran over 40 advertisements portraying him as a fraud, extortionist and a criminal. Both pages had similar advertisements and video on their pages. He was later arrested, which led to protests from farm unions.
Both of these pages started putting up and sponsoring videos blaming former Congress and Akali governments for drug smuggling. These videos were from a channel named The Punjab First.
Similarly, when farm unions protested for flood relief in August 2023, a farmer’s death during a clash with police became fodder for the pages. The Punjab government faced criticism for heavy handedness in its crackdown on farmers.
Sponsored posts in the form of graphics in the pages blamed farm leaders for the incident, accusing them of playing politics and endangering farmers’ lives. “Ran a tractor over a farmer and injured a policeman,” read one advertisement.
“For how long real farmers will keep losing their lives for politics of fake farm leaders,” “Is it right to put your own life in danger for the political objective of these fake farm leaders,” “Before following these fake leaders we need to introspect,” read graphics sponsored by these Facebook pages.
The propaganda campaign escalated in February 2024 during farmers’ protest for MSP. To stop farmers from reaching Delhi and spoiling BJP’s chances of coming back to power, Union and Haryana governments blocked Punjab’s routes to Delhi, with paramilitary and Haryana Police dropping tear gas shells using drones to stop their march.
On February 21, 21-year-old farmer Shubhkaran Singh was allegedly shot dead by paramilitary forces during the protest march. Farm leaders refused to cremate Shubhkaran until the Punjab police registered an FIR against Haryana police. It became a major challenge for the Mann government as he was accused of being soft on Haryana police and allowing it to target farmers inside Punjabi territory.
As farm unions demanded justice, FODS and Soojhwan Punjab pages sponsored graphics questioning the farm leaders’ motives and highlighting the government’s Rs 1 crore compensation to Shubhkaran’s family.
“While farmers are bearing the brunt of oppression, some farmers are doing politics on Shubhkaran’s death”, video claims, referring to farm leaders Sarwan Pandher and Jagjit Singh Dallewal.
The Nexus
These pages have put out 5,800 advertisements, most of them wrapped in police and government propaganda. Within a short span of less than two years, FODS has amassed nearly 1.89 lakh followers while Soojhwan Punjab has 1.44 lakh followers. But none are unaware of the actors behind these pages that push campaigns in defence of the government and its apparatus. So, who is funding these pages? And why does their content align so closely with the AAP government’s messaging?
Both pages share overlapping content strategies with The Punjab First, a news website created in August 2022, months after AAP’s electoral victory in Punjab. The Punjab First is managed by The Narrative Builders, a Noida-based political communication firm co-founded by Mukesh Bora, a former fellow with the Delhi Assembly Research Centre from September 2019 to June 2022. Fellows are picked to work closely with the legislators and are paid a monthly stipend of Rs 1 lakh by the Delhi government.
The Narrative Builders had created its Facebook page on August 20 2022 and 11 days later, The Punjab First page was created. According to the “about” section of The Narrative Builders, “It provides expert insights and services on various aspects of digital media, political communication, media intelligence, media management, social media management, and audio-video production.” The Narrative Builders claims to operate from a co-working space in Noida.
The Punjab First’s website is much more interesting than its Facebook page. There is no proper address of it on its website. Its location is given as Chandigarh. Barring a few, all of The Punjab First’s stories are written by an author named Harsh Pandey. Harsh seems to be a superman reporter who can write on Punjab politics, economy, international affairs, sports and entertainment. Another interesting thing about it is that nearly all of its positive stories are that of actions and decisions of the Punjab government.
The Narrative Builders claimed to also manage the social media accounts of World Punjabi, Dankaram and Hindi Khabar Digital. While The Narrative Builders has openly declared that it manages four news channels, including The Punjab First, it does not make any mention of its involvement with FODS and Soojhwan Punjab, whose anonymity appears deliberate.
A similar anonymity was cultivated about The Narrative Builder’s connection with Rangla Punjab and Sada Mann, which primarily serve as PR vehicles for Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. These two Facebook pages were created on April 5, 2023, just a month before the Jalandhar by-elections. But the giveaway is the Facebook advertising data that shows advertisements on Rangla Punjab and Sada Mann were sponsored by The Narrative Builders.
The Narrative Builders has since removed details of its association with World Punjabi Digital, Dankaram, Hindi Khabar and The Punjab First from its website. But in a video created in YouTube on December 5 2024, the reporter has screen-grabbed these details.
A detailed analysis of content revealed a feedback loop between the pages and The Punjab First. Graphics posted by FODS and Soojhwan Punjab often reappeared on The Punjab First’s page, slightly modified but identical in tone. Conversely, videos produced by The Punjab First—such as public opinion clips praising police encounters or criticising farm unions—were amplified by the Facebook pages.
On December 5, at 12:20 pm, FODS and at 12:21 pm Soojhwan Punjab posted a similar graphic about Amritsar police’s seizure of 5 kg heroin and arrest of three smugglers. At 12:22 pm, The Punjab First page shared the same graphic. It is not the only one, there are many such copycat graphics in all the three pages.
Punjab government, police and The Narrative Builders haven’t responded to our questions.
Weaponisation of Sikh Sentiment
Between November 2023 and March 2024, Punjab witnessed 55 police encounters, with 15 alleged gangsters killed. While encounters in Punjab are historically contentious due to their association with human rights abuses during the insurgency years, these Facebook pages worked overtime to justify them.
Sponsored graphics hailed Punjab police’s “Singham avatar”, showing the DGP as a hero restoring order. One advertisement featured a graphic comparing Delhi Police (portrayed as communal) with Punjab police (depicted as secular and fair).
Sacrilege, an issue that deeply resonates with the Sikh community, was another recurring theme. FODS and Soojhwan Punjab posted advertisements praising the Mann government for arresting sacrilege suspects and attaching properties of accused individuals. These posts aimed to rebuild trust in a government accused of inaction on such cases.
The family of slain singer Sidhu Moosewala too was targeted. Moosewala’s parents, vocal critics of the Mann government, became targets in March 2024 after the Union government questioned Moosewala’s mother about the birth of her second child via IVF. Advertisements in both the Facebook pages accused the family of “politicising” both the death of their son and the birth of their second child. One caption read: “First father did politics on his son’s death and now on the birth of another son.”
Gaining Foothold
The deployment of Sikh symbols, emotional rhetoric, and divisive storytelling was no accident—it was a calculated effort to embed state messaging into Punjab’s cultural consciousness while silencing critical voices. These pages leaned on a potent combination of religious iconography, regional pride, and community-focused narratives to build credibility and trust before pushing propaganda. For instance, FODS’s first advertisement prominently showcased the Guru Granth Sahib, while Soojhwan Punjab launched its campaign with imagery of the Golden Temple.
‘If you respect Guru Granth Sahib, Like this page,” read the first post and advertisement by FODS page with the image of Guru Granth Sahib. This advertisement had nearly 1 million impressions.
This advertisement was later repeated by The Punjab First.
The same way, Soojhwan Punjab page started its first post and promotional ad with this. “If you are proud to be a Punjabi, then like this page,” read the advertisement by Soojhwan Punjab with the photo of Golden Temple and Sikh khanda in the background. It also got nearly 1.5 million impressions.
The parallels to global propaganda campaigns are hard to ignore. In 2024, reports emerged of Israel using Google advertisements to discredit the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Punjab’s Facebook campaigns followed a similar playbook: use propaganda messaging to discredit critics, create the illusion of widespread public support, and flood the digital space with positive content about the government.
