BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir, (the Hindu temple) in Edmonton, Alberta Canada was vandalized again. Chandra Arya, and Indian origin MP from Nepean has called for those responsible to face justice.
During the last few years, Hindu temples in Greater Toronto Area, British Columbia and other places in Canada are being vandalized with hateful graffiti. Khalistan supporters also openly celebrated the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and brandishing images of deadly weapons.
It is public knowledge that the Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun (of Sikhs for Justice) last year publicly called for Hindus to go back to India.
“As I have always been saying, Khalistani extremists seems to get away with ease with their public rhetoric of hate and violence. Again, let me put on record. Hindu-Canadians are legitimately concerned. Like a broken record, I again call on Canadian law enforcement agencies to take this issue seriously before these rhetorics get translated into physical action against Hindu-Canadians”, Chandra Arya, Liberal MP for Nepean wrote on X.
He said the country was being “polluted” by Khalistani extremists who were “abusing” the freedoms guaranteed under the Charter of Rights, days after a Hindu temple was vandalised in Edmonton.
In what has come as a threat to Chandra Arya, the Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun (of Sikhs for Justice) has specifically targeted Chandra Arya in a video threat and called on all Hindus to pack up and go back to India.
Writing on his X account, Chandra Arya shared the video threat in which the separatist leader is seen demanding that Arya and his Hindu-Canadian friends go back to India after he (Arya) condemned the vandalism of the Hindu temple and other acts of hate and violence by Khalistan supporters in Canada.
“We Hindus have come to our wonderful country Canada from all parts of the world. From every country in South Asia, many countries in Africa and Caribbean, and many other parts of the world, we have come here and Canada is our land,” Arya, a member of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party, wrote.
“We have made and continue to make immense positive and productive contributions to the socio-economic development of Canada. With our long history of Hindu culture and heritage, we have enriched the multicultural fabric of Canada,” he said.
“Our land is being polluted by Khalistani extremists abusing our freedoms guaranteed by our Canadian Charter of Rights,” Arya added.
All this is taking place against the backdrop of severe strain in India-Canada ties after the killing of Khalistan extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down in June 2023 in Surrey, British Columbia.
The relations between the two countries deteriorated to the lowest possible level when in an unprecedented move Justin Trudeau made allegations against the government of India, claiming in the Canadian parliament in September last year “potential” involvement of Indian agents in Nijjar’s killing.
It was not only unprecedented departure from the stated norms of international relations, it was also irresponsible capitulation by Justin Trudeau, who showed politics, and not the best interest of the country was more important for him.
In one way, it is one of the greatest failures of the Indian foreign affairs. The much-liked external affairs minister Dr S. Jaishankar has not had much success with his Canadian counterpart.
Meanwhile, the vandalism at the BAPS temple was criticised by other local elected representatives too.
The Consulate General of India in Vancouver had said in a post on X on Tuesday: “We condemn the defacing of BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in #Edmonton with anti-India graffiti. We have requested the Canadian authorities to investigate the incident and take prompt action against the perpetrators.”