1984
The New Delhi Pavilion
by T. SHER SINGH
DAILY FIX
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Toronto. May 1986. I am a young lawyer working in the heart of downtown Toronto.
I'm a recently appointed Chair of the ‘New Delhi' pavilion, at an annual Caravan Fest that entertains literally hundreds of thousands in the metropolis for ten days every summer through approx. 30 ‘pavilions' scattered around the city, each representing and showcasing a different culture, roughly corresponding to the various countries from which immigrants to Canada hail.
The fest is due to commence in a couple of weeks.
I am in my office one morning, working on a file, when my secretary announces a telephone caller - a 'Brigadier Lal!'
I know of the name, though I've never met him. I take the call.
"Good morning, Mr. Singh. This is Brigadier Lal."
"Good morning ... how can I help you?"
"Well, I'm calling from the Indian Consulate here in Toronto ..." Pause. "I'm the Vice-Consul here."
I say nothing. I wait for him to continue.
"How're you today, sir?"
"I'm fine. And you?"
"Very fine, sir."
Pause. A long silence. Then he speaks again ...
"WeIl, I'm actually calling about, you know ... I understand you're in-charge of the New Delhi pavilion this year?"
"I'm the Chair, yes."
"Well, you see ... er - Who is the chief guest at the opening of the pavilion this year?"
"It's Donald MacDonald."
Silence. Long pause.
"Who?"
"Don-ald Mac-Don-ald!"
"Who's that?"
"He was Defence Minister of Canada not long ago. Also, Finance Minister for a while. Some say he might be our next Prime Minister, who knows?"
"Oh, I see."
Long pause.
"Well, Sher Singh ji, why are you not inviting the Indian High Commissioner to be the chief guest?"
"Because we decided to invite Mr. Macdonald this year. He is a wonderful man. The Pavilion Committee made that decision."
"Yes, Sher Singh ji, but that cannot happen."
"What cannot happen?"
"You cannot ... well you see, the Indian High Commissioner has to be invited. He must be the chief guest!"
"He's welcome to come if he wishes to attend. All are welcome. But he cannot be the chief guest because, as I've just told you, we have another chief guest."
"But that cannot be allowed! You know that, Sher Singh ji."
"What cannot be allowed? By whom? No, I don't know what you're saying."
"What I mean, Sher ji, is why Indian High Commissioner won't be chief guest? He's always chief guest who cuts ribbon during opening."
"Well, let me explain. He is welcome to come. And we'll be glad to have him there. But our committee decided to have another ... a Canadian ... chief guest this year."
"But, why?" he snaps.
"Simple. Our committee did discuss this and decided not to have any guest whose presence would arouse political issues or raw emotions. Things are pretty hot, politically. You know that ... with 1984 and with the Air India tragedy last year ... we've decided to stay away from a politically-charged guest."
"But that simply cannot happen, sir!"
"You keep on saying that, Mr. Lal. What do you mean, 'It cannot happen!' What cannot happen?"
"I mean, the chief guest MUST be, it HAS to be the High Commissioner! We will not accept it otherwise."
"Mr. Lal, why don't you send me a letter requesting that your High Commissioner be invited and I'll put it before the Committee. Please take down my fax number ..."
"No, no, no!" His voice has risen by now.
Silence. A long pause.
"Mr. Singh, can we get together today. We can have lunch ... or a drink ... and we can talk this over?"
"I would love to, but not until later this month. As you know, the Caravan is coming on fast, and I am simply too busy, what with work and all the other things on my plate. We can fix a time ... let me get my diary ..."
"No, No, NO-O! It has to be today!"
"It won't be. I'm too busy today and for some time."
"Okay, then sir, let me be blunt with you, Sir! We will not allow you to have the pavilion if you will not have the High Commissioner as chief guest."
"Who will not allow ..."
"I will not allow. The Indian government will not allow!"
"What? You will not allow what?"
"We will not allow you to proceed with the pavilion?"
"Yeah? How? Why? What are you talking about?"
"Surely we can meet and talk about this in a friendly manner."
"I've already told you I cannot meet with you today or for a while."
I can hear him breathing hard. His voice gets higher, rougher.
"I will not allow you to call the pavilion 'New Delhi' then!"
"What are you talking about? Allow? Not allow? Who?"
"The Indian government will not allow you to call it ‘New Delhi Pavilion‘."
"It's been the New Delhi Pavilion for a decade. It is too late to change this year. I would actually love to change it to "Amritsar". But who are you to tell me what we can do or cannot do? I just don't understand where you're coming from?"
"What do you mean, where I'm coming from? I'm coming from India. I'm from the Indian government!"
Silence. Long pause. Heavy breathing from him.
He breaks the silence. "So, will you invite him, or I will shut down the pavilion?"
I laugh. "Now, Mr. Lal, didn't you call me?"
"What do you mean?"
"Wasn't it you who placed this call?"
"Er - Y-e-es!"
"So, when you decided to call me, you must know that I'm a lawyer. Do you know I'm a lawyer?"
"Yes, I do. So, what do you mean?"
"What I mean is: I know the law, especially Canadian law. I would like you to tell me if you have registered or copyrighted or patented, whatever ... the words, ‘New Delhi‘? And in Canada too! Let‘s start there ..."
"Come on, Sher Singh ji, come on. Let us resolve this amicably. We're both Indians and we want to do what is best for India. I will send you my chauffeur and he can pick you up ... we can talk this over a ...?"
"Wait a sec! Let me clarify something. I'm not Indian ... I'm a Canadian. I was born in India. But I‘m a Canadian and N-O-T an Indian. Please do not call me an Indian. Of Indian descent, yes, but not Indian. So, please answer my question first: have you registered these words?"
"You know, Mr. Singh, the PM will not be happy about this!"
"The PM?"
"Yes, the Prime Minister!"
"Which Prime Minister? Yours or mine?"
"Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi!"
"That's YOUR PM! But I'm flattered. You mean to tell me that YOUR PM, Mr. Gandhi, is personally involved in this? Wait till I tell my committee about this! They‘ll be thrilled."
"Yes, he'll be very angry."
"So, who cares! But I‘m pleased that what we‘re doing here is being personally monitored by Mr. Gandhi. Are you in daily touch with him. Hourly?"
He starts screaming at the top of his voice. "This is preposterous. I'm going to tell External Affairs about it right away."
"External Affairs? Your External Affairs or mine?"
"In Ottawa!"
"That's MY External Affairs! You deal with YOUR External Affairs, I'll deal with mine. So, go ahead ..."
A lot of shouting and screaming. Unintelligible.
He hangs up.
* * * * *
I sit back and mull over the exchange I've just had. I know who he is. He touts himself as ‘Brigadier Brij Mohan Lal'. I know that he is a Vice-Consul at the Indian consulate in Toronto. I also know that he is a key spy - ‘intelligence‘ operative - posing as a diplomat. And his mission is to disrupt the local Sikh community.
So, I realize he has the capacity and all the time in the world - and resources - to disrupt our plans at the pavilion.
So, I decide to take preventative measures. I pick up the phone and call Zena Kossar. I get her answering machine. I leave her a message to call me ... urgently!
I am worried ... I know what Lal will do. All he has to do is call the organizers of the Caravan and declare me, us, as extremists, terrorists, Khalistanis ... which he has already been doing around town vis-à-vis anyone who raises his/her voice re 1984 or the mystery around Air India 182.
Zena Kossar is the inimitable founder and Chair of the Caravan. She's a friend, but I worry that she'll panic if she hears the drivel from Lal.
The phone rings ... its Zena.
"Hi Zena ... thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I have a situation. I just had a bizarre conversation with this guy at the Indian consulate and I thought I should apprise you of it ..."
"I know all about it!" Zena interrupts me. "He called me ... and I just spent ten minutes ..."
"Oh, lord! Let me explain ..."
"You don't need to explain anything, Sher. Remember, I'm from Europe. And I don't think you know how much my people have been hounded here by old-country government agents! I've been plagued by my own country for years! Let me handle this guy ... I know exactly what to do ... Let me go ... I'll call you back!"
She called me back that afternoon.
She told me that she had, on her own volition, called the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and filed a report with them regarding interference by a foreign diplomat in a local, Canadian matter. She had then called External Affairs and had lodged a formal complaint against the Indian government ... the rest, she said, don't worry. She assured me that she would pursue the matter to its logical end. And that I wouldn't hear from him or the Indians again on this.
I didn‘t.
But I did read in the papers a few months later. Mr. Brij Mohan Lal, India's Vice-Consul General in Toronto, had been yanked back to India after being declared persona non grata by the Canadian Government!
The 'New Delhi Pavilion'? Oh, it was a massive success! One of the highest attendances out of all the pavilions that year, and one of the most succesful 'New Delhi" pavilions in the Caravan's history. Probably because the ethnic media paid by the Indian consulate - a common practice in Canada, then and now! - had been widely circulating the allegation that the New Delhi pavilion had been taken over by Sikh extremists! I learnt a invaluable lesson then: any publicity is good publicity!
* * * * *
This was one of my many encounters with Indian ‘intelligence‘ in the post-1984 era! More later ...
Re-published.
Conversation about this article
1: Ravinder Singh Taneja (Westerville, Ohio, U.S.A.), June 12, 2010, 2:16 PM.
Thanks for sharing. Makes my blood boil.
2: Mai Harinder Kaur (Seattle, U.S.A.), June 12, 2010, 8:21 PM.
Shall I laugh or shall I cry? Such unrepentant arrogance is truly almost an art form. I find this piece, standing by itself, hilarious. And the good guys won this encounter. I laughed so hard I can barely breathe. But I am also aware that this same arrogance has led to the death, torture, imprisonment of numerous of my sisters and brothers. Most such encounters end with new names added to our list of shaheeds. I do not cry; I am all cried out many years ago. There must be more that I can do than live in impotent anger at the continuing injustice.
3: N. Singh (Canada), June 12, 2010, 8:48 PM.
T. Sher Singh ji: In your own way, you are a hero! This is what all of us individually need to do by playing our own small part in ensuring that injustice is no longer done to our community! Instead, we have individuals and in particular leaders who are all so willing to 'sell' their souls in exchange for fame and fortune! It reminds me of an incident when I was traveling and returning home to British Columbia. I struck up a conversation with the taxi driver who 'appeared' to be Sikh! I was commiserating over the state of the Punjab and Sikhs in general. I remember him saying that the Sikhs were so easily 'purchased' with a few bottles of whiskey ... that they were cheap and easy to bribe! He commented on the so-called 'martial' race that is now scattered all over the world ... afterwards, I had an uneasy feeling about him because he became rude and wanted to know why I was so concerned about the state of Punjab!
4: Sangat Singh (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), June 12, 2010, 11:51 PM.
Old Brij Lal should have known that he was facing General Sher. What bloody arrogance. There is no dearth of sycophants.
5: Raj (Canada), June 12, 2010, 11:58 PM.
Thanks for sharing your story, even though there's nothing new in Indian govt's tactics. By the way, I'm sure this fellow was replaced by another "similar" agent, and he managed many "other talents" for hire for bottles of whiskey while poor people in India were starving ... Talk about Indian govt's priorities.
6: Gurteg Singh (New York, U.S.A.), June 13, 2010, 1:27 AM.
Most of the Indian embassies generally have RAW agents (spies) under the cover of various civil/ consular titles. Canada, U.K., U.S.A. and West Germany are staffed by senior intelligence operatives specially trained in infiltration into Sikh communities with the sole aim of destabilization and act as catalysts for many confrontations/ fights in gurdwaras. In 1984-85, Sikhs in the West were protesting the atrocities in India. To a question from an M.P. about Sikh activities abroad, Raghunadan Lal Bhatia, the Indian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs assured members that their Government was doing every thing possible and that they have a budget of almost Rs.1000 crores ($250 million U.S. roughly) to deal with Sikhs in the western countries. Vast number of these RAW operatives like Surinder Malik in Toronto(1984-85) and Maloy Krishna Dhar (Ottawa) are members of Hindu terrorist organizations like the RSS.
7: Taran (London, United Kingdom), June 13, 2010, 5:05 AM.
Thanks, T. Sher Singh ji, for sharing this incident. In fact this is the norm with each and every state department in India and Indian consuls and any other offices abroad. In Punjabi, we call them "sarkari kuttey" - the government's dogs. This is a true example of that. But the bad news is that some of our Sikhs or fellow Sardars are also in that league. Mr. Lal thought that he could bark at you and influence you. But he got a good lesson!
8: Jodh Singh (Jericho, New York, U.S.A.), June 13, 2010, 11:41 AM.
Thank you, Sher ji, for telling us this telling story. It should remain a good lesson for future and it must become part of Sikh annals. RAW has done, in various shapes and forms, much to defame us Sikhs and we did suffer. I was not permitted to visit my family for five years, and I did not know why? When I found out about it the ban, it was done by none other than India's Consul-General in New York. But I also found out at the same time that he himself had been demolished in an air-crash while going to Korea as ambassador for India ... as a reward for his crimes? [Man proposes, God disposes!]
9: Parminder Kaur Dhillon (Raleigh, NC, U.S.A.), June 13, 2010, 12:27 PM.
A good one! Sher Singh ji, thanks for sharing. It has got me thinking back and recounting my own encounters!
10: Peejay (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada), June 13, 2010, 2:20 PM.
Many thanks for exposing Brij Mohan Lal. A piece like this should appear in the mainstream media so that everyone can be enlightened by the deeds of these Indian government agents.
11: Guri Dhanoa (Australia), June 18, 2010, 6:42 AM.
They call it the Singh style! It also a shows true Singh (Sher Singh) vs. the ugly face of a wolf (Lal). Put some more stories like this one. I'm loving them.
12: Jasleen Kaur (New York, U.S.A.), June 05, 2012, 3:37 PM.
Thank you very much for sharing this. Awesome!
13: Bhupinder Singh Liddar (Ottawa, Canada), June 08, 2012, 1:32 PM.
Bravo ... T. Sher Singh!