New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar Thursday criticised the Canadian authorities for allowing radical Sikhs to hold a demonstration that appeared to glorify the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
“There is a larger underlying issue about space given to separatists, extremists and people who promote violence. It’s not good for the (bilateral) relationship and it’s not good for Canada,” Jaishankar told the media in New Delhi.
Hours earlier, Canadian High Commissioner to India Cameron MacKay had condemned the demonstration held in Brampton on 4 June, to mark the 39th anniversary of Operation Blue Star, which saw the Indian armed forces storm the Golden Temple to flush out Sikh extremist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers from the premises.
Four months after Operation Blue Star, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards.
The Brampton demonstration featured a tableau of Indira Gandhi with blood on her clothes and a poster that read: “REVENGE OF ATTACK ON SHRI DARBAR SAHIB”.
A similar tableau appearing to glorify Indira Gandhi’s killers had been driven through the town of Sacramento in California in April this year, as part of a series of “pro-Khalistan” events that have taken place over the last six months.
In March, India-UK ties came under strain after radical Sikhs attacked the Indian High Commission in London to protest the Indian government’s actions against extremist Amritpal Singh.
Protests in support of Singh, who tried to project himself as the next Bhindranwale before his arrest in April, were held in Australia, Canada, the UK and the US at the time, too.
The demonstration in Brampton is described by participants as an annual “Sikh Martyrdom Parade”. Such parades are held in various parts of the world, most of which feature large posters celebrating Bhindranwale and other Sikh militants.
These events are at times endorsed by local politicians. For example, during last year’s “Sikh Martyrdom Parade” in Brampton, Mayor Patrick Brown had given a speech.
“Pleased to speak at the annual Sikh Martyrdom Parade this evening in Brampton. 38 years ago this week, Harmandir Sahib was attacked. Let us never forget the thousands of innocent lives lost in the 1984 Sikh Genocide,” he had tweeted on 6 June 2022.
Such demonstrations cannot be held without city permits.
The Brampton city website indicates that road closures for parades require a letter of intent to be submitted at least a year in advance while community events require six weeks’ notice. Once the road closure application is approved, the City of Brampton issues a road occupancy permit to event organisers.
History of ‘martyrdom parades’ in Canada
For years, radical Sikhs abroad have held annual demonstrations to mark the anniversaries of Operation Blue Star, which went on from 1 June to 10 June 1984. These demonstrations are usually termed “Sikh Martyrdom Parades”.
Analysts say such demonstrations have been normalised in Canada.
“Such grotesque displays have been normalised in Canada — not just by their frequency but by the silence with which they are greeted in the political mainstream,” Canadian author-journalist Terry Milewski told ThePrint.
“All the main political parties in Canada are guilty in this respect,” he added.
On 4 June, the day of the protest in Brampton, the clock tower in the Canadian city was lit orange and blue “in recognition of the Sikh Martyrdom Parade”.
Such annual parades have created friction between India and Canada in the past.
For example, on 7 April 2007, a radical Sikh parade was held in British Columbia’s Surrey that included militant Talwinder Parmar in a poster of Sikh “martyrs”.
Parmar was the alleged mastermind of an explosion aboard an Air India flight in 1985 from Canada to India via UK that killed 329 people.
A Canadian minister later regretted the participation of Canadian MPs in the parade, a PTI report stated.
In 2008, Ashok Kumar, India’s then consul general in Vancouver, criticised a parade in western Canada that allegedly displayed images glorifying Indira Gandhi’s assassins.
In April 2010, an annual Sikh “Vaisakhi” parade was held in Surrey, which drew a strong reaction from then-mayor Dianne Watts. She expressed disappointment over a float in the parade honouring Sikh extremists as martyrs, according to a report by CBC.
In November 2013, an Indian deputy consul-general in Canada objected to the alleged glorification of Parmar in a protest at the time.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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