Leave Canada: Outrage over threat from pro-Khalistan elements

The Khalsa Day parade featured floats with pro-Khalistan propaganda, pro-Pakistan banners and imagery targeting Indian leaders

Toronto

Indo-Canadian groups have expressed outrage over a speech made during a Khalsa Day parade in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) on Sunday calling for the community to be removed from the country.

The speech was made in the backdrop of floats featuring pro-Khalistan propaganda, including pro-Pakistan and anti-India banners.

A raw video of the speech was shared with the Hindustan Times and authenticated by the person who had taken it.

While parts of the inflammatory rhetoric is unintelligible, the unidentified person giving the call using a megaphone says that “eight lakh Bharti” should be taken back to Hindustan (India).

Banners on display also featured the words ‘Kill India’, imagery attacking Indian leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and solidarity between proponents of Khalistan and Islamabad.

There was no evidence that these floats were part of the procession sanctioned by the organisers. The nagar kirtan started from the town of Malton and travelled to Toronto’s Rexdale area.

Condemning the provocative statement, the Canadian Hindu Chamber of Commerce said: “History teaches us that calls for mass expulsion leads to unthinkable acts. This dangerous rhetoric must be denounced by all leaders.”

Community leaders pointed out that while there are approximately 1.8 million Indo-Canadians in the country, of them about 800,000 or eight-lakh are Hindus.

The group Canadian Hindu Volunteers said: “These are not the actions of activists. These are the tactics of radicalised ideologues, many of whom have exploited Canada’s asylum and immigration systems, presenting false claims of persecution to enter the country and build networks that fund, promote, and glorify violence.”

“Let us be clear: This is not a conflict between Sikhs and Hindus. Millions of Sikhs and Hindus live side by side in Canada and across the world in peace, brotherhood and mutual respect,” it added in a post on X.

The National Alliance of Indo-Canadians called upon Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to “nip this evil in the bud”.

This is not the first time such rhetoric has been employed by radical elements in Canada. Last year, during the annual India Day parade in Toronto, a pro-Khalistan group gathered at the venue for the event, and were heard shouting, “Canadian Hindus go back to India,” among other slogans.

That demonstration was part of the so-called Khalistan Rally, and flyers circulated in the days preceding it called for a “face-off” between “Khalistan Sikhs” and “Canadian Hindus”.

In a video that went viral in September 2023, the secessionist outfit Sikh for Justice’s legal counsel Gurpatwant Pannun said, “Indo-Hindu leave Canada, go to India.”

“You not only support India but you are also supporting the suppression of speech and expression of pro-Khalistan Sikhs,” he said, adding they were “also promoting violence by celebrating” Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s “assassination”.

That reference was to the killing of the pro-Khalistan figure in Surrey, British Columbia on June 18, 2023. Three months later, then Canadian Prime Minister stated in the House of Commons there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the killing. That sparked cratering of ties between India and Canada as New Delhi rejected the accusation as “absurd” and “motivated.”

Four Indian nationals, all Sikh, were arrested in connection with the murder and charged in May last year are currently undergoing trial in connection with that murder in British Columbia.

India lodges protest with Canada

India on Monday lodged a protest with Canadian authorities over the “threatening language” and unacceptable imagery of the Indian leadership featured at a Khalsa Day parade held in Toronto, reflecting the strains in bilateral ties over the activities of pro-Khalistan elements.

The Indian side lodged a protest with the Canadian high commission in New Delhi, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.

“We conveyed our concerns in the strongest terms to the Canadian high commission regarding the parade held in the Toronto, where unacceptable imagery and threatening language were used against our leadership and Indian citizens residing in Canada,” one of the people said.

The Indian side again called on Canadian authorities to act against “anti-India elements” who are spreading hatred and advocating extremism and a separatist agenda, the people said. The development comes at a time when the exit of former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and his successor Mark Carney’s victory in the general election had raised hopes for an improvement in bilateral relations.

India-Canada relations tumbled from one low to another since Trudeau went public in September 2023 with allegations that Indian government agents were linked to the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a charge dismissed by New Delhi as “absurd”.

Under the Trudeau government, Ottawa and New Delhi repeatedly clashed on the Khalistan issue, downgraded diplomatic ties and expelled each other’s diplomats. India also accused Canada of providing safe haven to extremist elements.