With radical Sikh elements in the city of Surrey insisting on the right to display images on Vaisakhi Day floats of alleged Air India bombing mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar and the assassins of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Gen. A.S. Vaidya, the mayor of Metro Vancouver's second largest city has decided not to particpate in staged events.
Instead, she will “be with the community and the children” during festival celebrations Saturday.
The so-called Vaisakhi “boycott” by Mayor Dianne Watts left phones ringing off the hook at Surrey City Hall and at local Indo-Canadian radio stations Friday.
Respecting the city's huge Sikh population, the mayor said she would walk alongside the participants but would not join the organisers in stage events during the harvest celebration marking the birth of Sikhism, which is expected to draw 100,000 attendees in Surrey, which boasts Canada's second largest Indo-Canadian community.
The inclusion of the politically-charged figures was an embarrassment for several federal and provincial politicians who attended last year's event.
Last year there was also a celebration of slain leaders of the International Sikh Youth Federation and the Babbar Khalsa, both banned groups in Canada.
Some Sikhs in India have long been battling the Indian government to create a separate state called Khalistan. Last year's parade also contained Khalistan flags and logos.
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts said she would stay away from this year's official events, as the organisers insisted on displaying the floats of “shaheeds (martyrs)” during the parade.
The floats bearing Sikh gurus, hymns, and other figures are quite common in Vaisakhi parades in North America. The parade in Surrey is one of the largest in North America.
Watts said she was very disappointed by the decision of the organisers to honour the perpetrators of violence at the parade when a vast number of participants wanted it to be a cultural event.
Interestingly, only two weeks ago the organizers had promised to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) that no such floats will be displayed at the event.
But at a meeting last week they said such floats will be part of the parade.
A local newspaper quoted Dasmesh Darbar Sikh Temple trustee Satinderpal Singh Gill as saying that the parade will include floats of the assassins of Indira Gandhi and Gen. Vaidya who supervised the 1984 army action in the Golden Temple.
Even before the parade begins, the photos of Sukha and Jinda and other victims of “Sikh genocide” by the Indian government are already on display in the temple's parking lot.
"I'm very disappointed because this is a community event, a cultural event and religious event," Watts said. "It shouldn't be made political."
-IANS
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