Columnists
Indian Mischief is Afoot, Challenging Times Are Coming Our Way:
We Need To Be Alert, Vigilant …
And In Chardi Kalaa
T. SHER SINGH
I have been receiving a lot of questions and inquiries about some items of TV news making the headlines in India during the last two weeks in particular. Some callers have expressed alarm and concern, others appear confused.
I therefore want to review with you what has happened and what is being said, and then explore with you what I believe is actually happening.
It is no secret that the Modi-led and
RSS-inspired Hindutva/BJP government in India, where the majority of
Sikhs in the world still live -- 30 million, and counting -- is bent on
attacking Sikhi from all sides, and intent on what Hinduism has
historically already done to Buddhism and Jainism: virtually obliterate
their independent identity and thought from the subcontinent.
['Hindutva'
is the warped philosophy of Hindu fundamentalism which uses terrorism
as a tool to achieve its goals, and cites the Nazis as their favoured
role-model. It was directly behind the murder of Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi
in 1948. Its central organization, the RSS, was thenceforth banned, but
was allowed to reorganize recently. It is officially the underpinning
of the Indian government today.]
It is no secret either that
India’s government bristles at any success Sikhs have anywhere, but
especially in the diaspora where they are beyond the reach of India’s
oppressive approach to its minorities. The most common bugaboo directed
against us, particularly those of us who are Canadians, is the so-called
‘Khalistan movement’ which is no more than the brainchild of Indian
intelligence to give them a cover and leverage to hound Sikhs and
undermine them. I would argue that there is no real Khalistan movement,
that there never has been one.
Yet! But I fear, with the Indians
keeping the idea alive and giving it new energy each time they go on a
propaganda campaign, they will soon be making it an inevitability --
exactly like Hindutva created Pakistan through similar mischief which
ultimately led to the cataclysmic Partition of Punjab and the
subcontinent.
It should therefore surprise no one that stories
emanating from Indian agencies, with no facts or evidence to give them
even a smidgen of legitimacy, have recently been once again flooding the
airwaves, falsely raising the alarm that the ‘Khalistan movement’ is
alive and well in countries like Canada, Britain, USA, etc. -- all areas
where, fortunately, democracy is real and the Freedoms of Man not
easily violable.
I recall the manner and magnitude with which
India sent agents provocateurs to the West in 1984 and the decade that
followed -- I personally witnessed many of their criminal activities in
Canada. It was a desperate attempt by the Indians to sweep out of
the public eye the state-sponsored Sikh Genocide (during which thousands of innocent Sikhs were massacred in broad daylight) by attempting to
silence Sikhs who, by dint of being citizens of free and civilzed
countries, felt they had the right to condemn human rights violations in
India.
The Indian 'intelligence' operatives dispatched to
Canada, for example, used every tool at their disposal: bombings,
beatings and assaults, fake protests, threats, instigated mayhem, false
claims, and howls of victimhood while actually being the perpetrators. They were able to hide behind diplomatic immunity when caught or unearthed ... which happened often enough. The maximum we in Canada did was declare a few persona non grata and ask them to leave ... which sadly happened not often enough.
Armed
with large slush funds, the secret backing of a government back home,
and a loud and pliant Indian media, they labelled Sikhs as
’militants’ and ’terrorists’, and branded anyone who protested their
fraud as ’Khalistanis’.
Sure, they had short-term success, but
fortunately things ultimately never go the way of liars and thugs.
Little did the Indian government realize that they had aroused a sleeping lion by awakening the inherent democratic nature of the Sikh
community.
Sikh-Canadians began to organize themselves - a
miracle indeed, because the community is neither designed nor equipped to look inwards or create self-centred institutions - and lo and
behold, they began to grow as full-fledged citizens and eventually even
participate in the halls of power. Slowly and steadily, they made
progress -- it wasn’t easy, believe me -- and today, as a monument to
their patience, commitment and hard work, there are not only 20 Sikh
Members of Parliament in Canada’s central government, but also four
Cabinet Ministers - including the country’s Defence Minister; its Leader
of the Government in the House of Commons; its Minister of
Infrastructure and Communities; its Minister of Innovation, Science and
Economic Development (that is, Industry Minister).
Many of the
state legislatures also have a substantial number of Sikh members of
parliament, as well as cabinet ministers. Sikhs are leaders of commerce
and industry.
And the reaction of the Indian government to the
rising success of Sikhs in a country where merit and not corruption is
the ladder upwards? A general, nation-wide constipation and its
accompanying pathology!
And what laxative does the country’s
politicians use to relieve their distress? Of course, the usual remedy:
lies, lies and self-deluding lies.
In the recent visit to India
by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, India went through a wholesale
diarrhea of bad behaviour and then congratulated itself endlessly for
having embarrassed him both at home and abroad. The Canadians, being
decent people, quietly went back home to their civilized lives.
India
felt immensely encouraged by its ’success’. And, as they know so well,
dirty drains only fester more putrid matter; they quickly put together a
prolonged campaign to continue the mischief. The goal? To inflict
whatever damage they can and put as many road-blocks they can in the way
of Canada’s emerging prime ministerial contender in the next federal
election, Jagmeet Singh; the political paths of the country’s Sikh
cabinet ministers and members of parliament; and generally tarnish the
Sikh-Canadian community’s well-earned reputation of being hard-working
nation-builders ruled only by an enlightened spirituality, a work-ethic
and unshakeable integrity.
Only a few weeks ago, the Indian media
- Oh, how easily they bend over to their Hindutva masters! - created
(yes, created out of thin air) - a story of how the streets of Canada’s
cities are witnessing protests against “Khalistanis” and demanding dire
consequences for its million-strong Sikh citizens.
The story broadcasted across India and the diaspora through the internet and
Indian TV cable programs consists of little more than a couple of homeless-looking
characters who have apparently been hurriedly recruited with the help of
a handful of dollars to hold up crude, hand-written placards bearing
slogans against Sikh-Canadians.
That’s it. That’s the gist of the headline story being spun by a nation-wide Indian media.
And here in Canada? No one anywhere has seen, or heard about, or read about any such protest.
India’s mischief-makers are buoyed by their success in creating an alarm amongst India’s billion and more lemmings.
So,
Indian operatives -- a plane-load of them has arrived in Canada,
exactly as it did in the 1984 mayhem -- may have, I fear, moved onto the next
phase of their plan.
A few days ago, two hooded figures entered a
busy Punjabi-food restaurant in a popular shopping mall in greater
Toronto (Mississauga neighbourhood) and detonated a bomb armed with
nails and various shrapnel. Fifteen customers were bloodied, mercifully
no one was killed. The restaurant was destroyed.
Now, here’s the
really, really interesting part: within minutes of the bombing in
Toronto, TV stations in India began to broadcast reports of the crime …
and, guess what? Named Sikhs as possible suspects!
The stories
failed to mention that the restaurant is owned by a Sikh couple, in an
area heavily populated by an affluent Sikh citizenry. And also failed to
mention that the police here have found no evidence yet to help
identify the criminals, and the manhunt continues.
But, please
bear with me. There IS some evidence of calculated mischief. In addition
to the curiously immediate and dishonest reportage in India, here are
some more clues:
Not long thereafter, the Consul General of India
in Toronto (Canada!) announced it had set up a help call-in hotline for
the victims of the bombing.
Hm-mm-m.
Simultaneously, the Indian High Commissioner (Ambassador) to Canada, based in Ottawa, stepped in with his own public tweet.
In-ter-es-ting.
Indians stepping up to help Canadians! They rape and murder and plunder
back home but here in Canada they’re knights in shining armour.
A-n-d,
simultaneously, Canada’s High Commissioner to India, a certain
Modi-enthusiast and a fellow-Gujarati named Nadir Patel - wherever he
was located at the moment in the world - tweeted his own condolences.
Really?
A bombing in Toronto had, within an instant, become an international
incident involving India? Yes, I fear this one might actually be an
international incident.
Sadly, the Canadian media is confused. It does not have the capability to do independent, investigative journalism and it often takes them some time to clue into what's really happening. In the meantime, they merely regurgitate what they get from Indian-controlled media and India's apologists - which accounts for the short-term successes that India's dark projects have in these fertile grounds.
There is a mountain of concerns over the badmaashi (Indian word for mischief) being unleashed here in Canada.
But my primary issue is: how dare a foreign government inject itself into the internal goings-on of another country? Would a similar Canadian intervention in India over a bombing in a restaurant selling french fries be okay with the Indian government?
I recall quite clearly how I, and so many others in Canada and around the world, were actually told by the Indians that we would simply not be allowed by them to send any aid such as food, clothing, etc. to the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh carnage in New Delhi. Why? we had asked. Oh, because we are taking care of the situation and it is an ‘internal’ Indian matter, we were told crudely.
You and I know exactly what and how much the Indians did to help the tens of thousands of victims of India’s 1984 Sikh Genocide, don‘t we?
So, here’s my point:
I fear this is only the beginning. Prepare yourself for a massive onslaught against Sikh-Canadians and its luminaries in the coming months and years.
It’ll take many shapes. False stories emanating from India. Rumours of terrible allegations … with no details, no facts. No dates, no locations. Only bald, baseless claims. There could be more bombings or acts of violence. All of it will be blamed on Sikh-Canadians and so-called Khalistanis. There could be concocted protests right here in Canada against some Sikh matter or the other, though mercifully the Indian operatives have no access to the large gangs of RSS/BJP/Hindutva members who, as paid- and instant-mobs, do the organizations' bidding on the subcontinent.
There’ll be an increase of trolls on the internet who will escalate their manufactured alarm and horror at all the “goings-on”. False Sikh names will be used too. Some of them, under strange noms-de-plume, are already claiming to be 'Sikh leaders' and 'spokesmen'.
There will be a proliferation of new and fake Indian groups and associations of ’concerned citizens’ joining in vociferously in the shouting. I have already seen the appearance of a number of fake ‘Punjabi’ and ’Sikh’ sites with the wildest of postings.
If you originate from India or know that society well, you’ll know what to watch out for. Please be alert. Please be vigilant.
And, more importantly, please educate those who are not familiar with Hindutva misbehaviour, and prepare them as well.
We’ll overcome this all, trust me, and we’ll come out on the top. But it’ll require patience, calm and cool, and hard work. And a lot of heartache.
Above all, stay in Chardi Kalaa.
Remember, the last time these goondas unleashed their miserable onslaught against us, we became stronger and better than ever. Once we survive this latest challenge, we’ll be the proudest of Sikhs and Canadians ever!
Finally, am I being paranoid?
Please let me assure you, I am not. I am not one to subscribe to or fall for conspiracy theories. For a simple reason: I am a litigation lawyer by training, and for 20 years did court and trial-work. I am trained to identify and sift through evidence, to separate the wheat from the chaff … and to speak the truth.
I have lived through post-1984 Canada and have been a witness to the worst of Indian mischief right here in Canada. I also know India and Indians well … I grew up in that country and did not leave it until I was 21. I have seen India closely several times since, including during the corrupt days of Indira Gandhi’s dictatorship under the rubric of ‘Emergency’, and more recently, in the period of the rise of an ugly Hindutva terrorism.
I never jump to conclusions. Certainly, I've been careful on the current scenario as well, and I am not jumping to conclusions now.
* * * * *
If you share my concerns, please share this post with all of your contacts in Punjab, India, and around the world, through email, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or whatever social media you use. However, if you think I’m wrong, then I sincerely hope and pray you’re right … then, we’ll all be winners.
May 28, 2018
Conversation about this article
1: Gursharan Kaur (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), May 28, 2018, 9:29 PM.
Precisely my thoughts! I too have lived through India's shenanigans in the post-84 era, and now this. I hope and pray we are better prepared to handle them this time around. They are not the brightest lights, and are bound to make mistakes as they stumble and fumble along, as they always do. We should alert our politicians, our police, our media, our friends, colleagues and neighbours ...
2: Harkirat Singh (San Francisco, California, USA), May 28, 2018, 10:19 PM.
A cursed lot, this Hindutva gang. They will go the way of the Nazis ... and it won't take as long as it took the Nazis to self-destruct either. Any bets?
3: TJ Singh (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), May 29, 2018, 12:53 AM.
T. Sher Singh, Thank you for a very insightful article. As a Sikh-Canadian born here and now in his 40's, I have struggled with the knowledge of such actions perpetrated against my own local Sikh community by the Indian Government since I was 10 years old. I have witnessed one of the strongest, most vibrant and powerful Sikh sangats in the world that was once the loudest voice against India's Sikh Genocide in the 1980's and 1990's - a sangat which has been decimated into a voiceless and empty institution that can barely manage to maintain a weekly kirtan program. A far cry from the thousands and thousands of Sikhs that used to attend the Gurdwara Sahib daily, myself included. Since this Gurdwara Sahib is now run by Indian Government loyalists who only a few years back organized a visit for Modi, sadly, the Indian Government has one significant victory under their belts and they are now hungry for more. It's not paranoia you speak of, it's the TRUTH. Let this be a warning that if the Ross Street Gurdwara Sahib in Vancouver can be silenced, many other Gurdwara Sahibs across this great nation may suffer the same fate if we allow such malicious actions of this Indian government continue. We need a call to action to assemble a national Sikh body of educated, professional, Sikh men and women who understand the reality of the Indian Government threat to Sikh-Canadians such that they can safeguard the interests of our Sikh institutions. We need to attack this enemy with public awareness through all means possible including social media and traditional media and mirror this campaign on the same model as our Sikh brothers and sisters in the USA as they have done successfully through the Sikh Coalition, SALDEF, etc. Is such a task not possible to achieve? Let us not forget that this great country is home to some of the world's most successful and intelligent Sikhs who are devoted to their Guru and community.
4: Tony Singh (Canada), May 29, 2018, 10:37 PM.
I think we are in a better shape to defend our community against Indian government propaganda after PM Trudeau's trip to India and related fake news spread by the Indian media. The media here was quick to quote statements from the Ontario Gurdwaras Committee denouncing Indian mischief relating to the Mississauga restaurant bombing. The intelligence agencies here appear to be cognizant of Indian government methods as Canada's national security advisor stated as much when appearing before the House of Commons committee relating to Trudeau's India trip. So, we Sikhs will be fine but India is suffering a black eye in diplomatic circles (and Pakistan is laughing).
5: Amandeep Singh (Toronto), May 30, 2018, 1:16 PM.
Thank you for writing this fact-based piece of journalism. I wish leading news channels in Canada do some research and then write an article rather than picking up news from biased Indian news channels, which everyone knows are owned by thug Indian politician and bureaucrats. Lately, I have been noticing how CP24 and Toronto Star will so hurriedly present news about a particular Sikh in Canada or India or around the Punjabi/Sikh community, but would not write news about Hindutva and the atrocities the RSS is committing in India (such as the epidemic of gang-rapes, etc.) I was recently reading news featured on Reuters on March 23, 2018 with the title “Nothing Secular in Modi’s India” and was hoping Canada’s leading news channels will pick on this story, but did not find any mention on any news channel. However the same news channel reported stories about Daler Mehndi and Salman Khan (one a Sikh and the other a Muslim in India, and both from minorities) recent court judgments. I would request readers to find these articles on Reuters (you can google them) titled “By rewriting history, Hindu nationals lay claim to India” and “Nothing Secular in Modi’s India”.
6: TJ Singh (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), May 30, 2018, 7:16 PM.
re: Tony Singh (Canada): Tony, as much as I appreciate your optimism about Justin Trudeau and the Canadian media, I have to disagree with you wholeheartedly. The barrage of negative media coverage during and after the Trudeau India trip about the non-existent Khalistan movement here in Canada was quite appalling and potentially set the Sikh community back in Canada. 'Sikh terrorist' was once again a term used throughout news stories across the country. I was so disgusted and found myself agreeing with US President Trump and his opinions on "fake news". The leading proponent of such fake news is none other than Ujjal Dosanjh who still can't get his head around the fact that Jagmeet Singh is the leader of the Federal NDP party. News articles from authors like Sandy Garossino from the National Observer - "The Truth Behind the Story Engulfing Canada's Sikh Politicians" - were ignored by mainstream media outlets. Let's not be naive, we have our work cut out for us to combat the adverse consequences from the continued Indian Government interference.
7: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom ), June 02, 2018, 6:10 PM.
Fantastic article. As a Sikh who has stayed clear of Hindu contaminative practices and traits in my own household and who never puts himself in the 'Indian' or 'South Asian' grouping, I can say with hand on heart if the Sikhs do not ditch Hindu, Indian or all non-Sikh practices and culture, then we are in trouble. We should be on every global platform explaining the fact we have nothing to do with Hindus or Hindutva ideology or culture.
8: GC Singh (USA), June 03, 2018, 10:46 AM.
Request to all Sikh-Canadian Sikhs - please send this article to every single Canadian Member of Parliament, Cabinet Minister and Prime Minister as well as Canadian security agencies. Also, forward it to every single Canadian journalist either by email or through their twitter hashtag to forewarn them of the impending mischief that is entering the Canadian public scene. Canadian agencies need to keep strict vigilance on Indian agent saboteurs and false flag operations planned and directed by Modi Government and his minions planted in Sikh institutions and communities here in Canada.