Fundamental right to free speech and expression is something which stays in news in every country of world every now and then due to the risen use of social media and the era of Internet which took all the domestic and local issues to a global stage. Some groups in the world are regularly challenging the world peace and misuse the expression to defame and glorify the unhuman acts and try to influence people especially the youth.
A parade organised by pro-Khalistani groups in Ontario’s Greater Toronto area on June 4 saw a tableau depicting former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination along with a sign saying that it was “Revenge for Attack on Shri Darbar Sahib”. The first reaction after seeing the video was that of shame on so called liberals who allow the expression to glorify violence that too of the Prime Minister of some other country on its streets. This only tells that these values are being given to the young canadian irrespective of its race or nationality. Just imagine, if in India some group on the name of freedom of expression glorifies the death of head of some other country. The liberals of India would have started to lecture the government and these western nations would definitely have brought this issue in United Nations through some means. This only shows the hypocrisy and let me tell the western nations specifically the Canadian government that the era where their hypocrisy was a compulsion for the world to accept, is no longer the same. The world has changed now and India has changed now. Their have been incidents of regular attack on the Indian embassies recently and earlier (80s, 90s, 2000s) these kinds of acts of attack on any countries embassy used to take place in Afghanistan, Iran or Iraq so the western nations need to introspect if this is the path they chose to move on.
As the video of the parade went viral on social media, Indians took notice. Even for Canada, where radical Khalistani groups have been allowed to flourish with relative immunity, this is a bridge too far.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was right in linking this episode to the larger issue of the “space that Canada has continuously” provided to Khalistani elements, “to people who advocate violence”. Arguing that “it’s not good for the relationship and I think it’s not good for Canada,” Jaishankar retorted that it was difficult to comprehend “other than the requirements of vote bank politics, why anybody would do this…I mean, you would imagine that they learn about history and they wouldn’t like to repeat that history”.
Previously a statue of Mahatma Gandhi was vandalised in Ontario last September and the word “Khalistan” inscribed on it, New Delhi, in a rare move, issued a travel advisory, underlining rising incidents of “hate crime” and attempts to “terrorise the Indian community” by Khalistani extremists in Canada.
But, one was wandering that what would happen on breaking a statue? How will Indians get hurt due to this, this is only a shame for the nation in which this is happening. It also shows that the political system and institutions of canada are hijacked by violence supporters which indicate the digging ones own grave.
It is important to mention that the majority of the Sikh diaspora in Canada has no sympathy for the shenanigans of the handful of extremists but their outsized presence in shaping the responses of the authorities has allowed them to hijack the whole situation. The Canadian government, instead of robustly standing up to extremism, has found it easier to pander to some of the most violent and aggressive groups. This is partly because of the manner in which these extremist groups have increased their influence over state institutions. They have used their muscle and money power to shape policy decisions by targeting key individuals and parties. The rise of Jagmeet Singh, a known India baiter and Khalistani sympathiser, in Canadian politics is just one case in point.
For Canada, this should be a warning bell that short-term vote bank politics will not only damage its ties with India but will also challenge the image of Canada as a responsible peace-loving nation.
Another thing is these nations leave no point in lecturing other countries on human rights and free speech and expression sadly to thier behavior the world has changed now and it will no longer take that.
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