India
Hindu: Trouble in Trudeau party as Hindu MP takes on pro-Khalistan camp, Sikh MP accuses India of ‘excesses’
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Disquiet in Canadian PM Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party over his alleged coddling of the pro-Khalistan constituency came to the fore Thursday when Hindu MP Chandra Arya from his party declared that the “vast majority of our Canadian Sikh brothers and sisters do not support the Khalistan movement”.
The statement came amid a section of Sikh MPs, led by Liberal Party’s Sukh Dhaliwal, railing about “excesses” against the community in India.
Arya accused US-based separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun of the outlawed Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) of trying to provoke Canadian Hindus with a hate video asking them to go back to India, and drive a wedge between the Hindu and Sikh communities in Canada.
In an implicit condemnation of PM Trudeau and his own party’s government, Arya tweeted, “I can’t understand how glorification of terrorism or a hate crime targeting a religious group is allowed in the name of freedom of speech and expression. There would be an outrage in Canada if a white supremacist attacked any group of racialised Canadians asking them to get out of our country. But apparently this Khalistani leader can get away with this hate crime.”
Fellow MP Dhaliwal, on the other hand, claimed in parliament that he had been refused an Indian visa for speaking up against “excesses against Sikhs” in India, which he dubbed “a so-called democracy”.
“Its (India) government intimidates our parliament, let alone the public,” he said, urging Conservatives, Liberals, NDP and all other Canadian politicians to condemn this.
NDP’s Jagmeet Singh said that when he was a member of the provincial parliament of Ontario in 2013, India denied him a visa to visit Amritsar that December. He told TOI from Canada that the Indian government seemed to be annoyed with him “for seeking justice for the victims of the anti-Sikh riots of November 1984″/
Fellow Sikh MPs Harjit Singh Sajjan, Randeep Sarai, and Iqwinder Singh Gaheer also spoke in parliament against “foreign interference” and measures to “protect Canadians”.
Arya argued that while most Canadian Sikhs might not publicly condemn the Khalistan movement for several reasons, they were deeply connected to the Canadian Hindu community “through family relationships and shared social and cultural ties”.
The Liberal MP advised Canadian Hindus to stay calm but vigilant, and “report any incident of Hinduphobia to the local law-enforcement agencies”.
Hindu Forum Canada wrote to minister of public safety Dominic LeBlanc to “recognise the go-back-to-India threat” from Pannun and ensure the community’s safety. “With the support of over a million Canadian Hindus, we beseech PM Trudeau and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh to recognise the threat as a hate crime, not classifying the threat as an exercise of freedom of expression,” the letter states.
With inputs from Yudhvir.Rana & IP.Singh
The statement came amid a section of Sikh MPs, led by Liberal Party’s Sukh Dhaliwal, railing about “excesses” against the community in India.
Arya accused US-based separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun of the outlawed Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) of trying to provoke Canadian Hindus with a hate video asking them to go back to India, and drive a wedge between the Hindu and Sikh communities in Canada.
In an implicit condemnation of PM Trudeau and his own party’s government, Arya tweeted, “I can’t understand how glorification of terrorism or a hate crime targeting a religious group is allowed in the name of freedom of speech and expression. There would be an outrage in Canada if a white supremacist attacked any group of racialised Canadians asking them to get out of our country. But apparently this Khalistani leader can get away with this hate crime.”
Fellow MP Dhaliwal, on the other hand, claimed in parliament that he had been refused an Indian visa for speaking up against “excesses against Sikhs” in India, which he dubbed “a so-called democracy”.
“Its (India) government intimidates our parliament, let alone the public,” he said, urging Conservatives, Liberals, NDP and all other Canadian politicians to condemn this.
NDP’s Jagmeet Singh said that when he was a member of the provincial parliament of Ontario in 2013, India denied him a visa to visit Amritsar that December. He told TOI from Canada that the Indian government seemed to be annoyed with him “for seeking justice for the victims of the anti-Sikh riots of November 1984″/
Fellow Sikh MPs Harjit Singh Sajjan, Randeep Sarai, and Iqwinder Singh Gaheer also spoke in parliament against “foreign interference” and measures to “protect Canadians”.
Arya argued that while most Canadian Sikhs might not publicly condemn the Khalistan movement for several reasons, they were deeply connected to the Canadian Hindu community “through family relationships and shared social and cultural ties”.
The Liberal MP advised Canadian Hindus to stay calm but vigilant, and “report any incident of Hinduphobia to the local law-enforcement agencies”.
Hindu Forum Canada wrote to minister of public safety Dominic LeBlanc to “recognise the go-back-to-India threat” from Pannun and ensure the community’s safety. “With the support of over a million Canadian Hindus, we beseech PM Trudeau and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh to recognise the threat as a hate crime, not classifying the threat as an exercise of freedom of expression,” the letter states.
With inputs from Yudhvir.Rana & IP.Singh
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