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Out Loud! With Gurpreet Singh
Wed, October 15 2008
vaisakhi_ copy A number of politicians skipped the annual local Vaisakhi parade (a cultural and religious festival of Punjab, India) organized by the Dashmesh Durbar Sikh temple in Surrey this year. But during the federal election campaign at least five candidates of the Liberals and the NDP visited the temple to seek the support of the Sikh community.
The pro-Khalistan management of the temple, a group that believes in the fight for an independent homeland for Sikhs in India, honours Sikh militants who launched an armed struggle against the Indian government in the 1980s.
Every April during the Vaisakhi parade, pictures of slain militants are displayed as a visceral homage to “martyrs” of the Khalistan cause. This year’s parade was most controversial, as a picture of the 1985 Air India bombing suspect, the late Talwinder Singh Parmar, was displayed.
The ensuing political firestorm caused a number of prominent provincial and federal politicians to skip the parade. But election season saw party candidates lining up at the same temple to seek the support of its congregation.
The temple secretary, Inderjit Singh Bains, confirmed that Liberal candidates Sukh Dhaliwal, Brenda Locke and Marc Muhammad visited them, as did NDP candidates Rachid Arab and Nao Fernando. He said some of those candidates participated in the parade, and that they are always welcome at Dashmesh Durbar.
Interestingly, this past Sunday, only two days before the federal election, the Dashmesh Durbar organized special prayers for Harjinder Singh Jinda and Sukhdev Singh Sukha, the two assassins of A.S.Vaidya, former Military Chief of the Indian Army.
The two men were hanged on Oct. 9, 1992. They killed Vaidya to avenge the infamous Operation Bluestar launched to flush out extremists who had fortified the Golden Temple complex, the holiest shrine of the Sikhs in 1984.
While the federal election has passed, the B.C. provincial elections are due next year. It remains to be seen whether these politicians will go to the Dashmesh Durbar while campaigning.
In the past, politicians belonging to the B.C. Liberal government have skipped the Vaisakhi parade and tried to sidestep the Khalistan controversy in order to build good trade relations with India.
Even the staunch opponent of the separatist ideology, Ujjal Dosanjh, visited the same temple after becoming the premier of B. C.
Will his political peers follow suit in their bid to secure the Sikh vote in the coming months? It appears our politicians can look past the lessons of history in their search for votes.
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Report adds confusion
Hounded in life, honoured in death
Outloud with Gurpreet Singh