SAD says will screen film ‘Satluj’ across Punjab

Days after the removal of the film Satluj from an OTT platform, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday (July 8, 2026) declared that the party will screen the movie across Punjab, even as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accused SAD of “consistently siding with those responsible for the injustices committed against Punjab and the Sikh community.”

The film, which was earlier titled “Punjab ‘95” and details the life of activist Jaswant Singh Khalra in Punjab in the traumatic phase of militancy between the mid-1980s and early-1990s, was released uncut on ZEE5 under the new title of “Satluj” on July 3.

SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said that he has directed every worker, every office bearer and every leader of the SAD to stream this film in every nook and corner of every village, town and city of Punjab.

He said the aim is to ensure that today’s youth and our coming generations know about the unspeakable tragedy and repression during the then-Congress governments. This film presents the agony of Punjab during that phase, and now, the Punjabis, especially the Sikhs, are being stopped from recalling and recording that era in the form of history, he said, adding, “SAD will never remain a mute witness to this injustice.”

AAP’s Punjab Chief spokesperson Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, in a statement referring to the statement made by Paramjit Kaur Khalra, wife of late Jaswant Khalra, said, “She has revealed that Sukhbir Badal wrote a letter to the Central government seeking a ban on the Punjabi film Satluj. If this is true, nothing can be more shameful. This exposes the Badal family’s real face before the Sikh community and the people of Punjab.”

“The Congress committed these atrocities, the BJP government is now preventing this truth from reaching the people, and the Badal family is helping them suppress it. This clearly shows that all three have worked together whenever it came to hiding the truth about Punjab,” he said.