Amid Khalistan vandalism, Canada's Brampton temple flags ‘rise in anti-India acts’ in letter to Trudeau

TORONTO: A prominent temple in Canada’s Greater Toronto Area or GTA has expressed concern about an increase in anti-India and anti-Hindu activities in the country including defacement by pro-Khalistan elements and sought the intervention of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

In a letter to Trudeau on Tuesday, Jeff Lal, president of the Bharat Mata Mandir in Brampton, said the board of directors of the temple wanted to express their “deep concerns” at the recent increase in anti-India and anti-Hindu activities.

“We are troubled by the alarming increase in hatred and the apparent lack of action by Canadian authorities to address this issue at its roots before it spirals out of control,” Lal said in his letter to Trudeau. It urged the prime minister to “to take immediate and necessary steps to address this issue.”

The letter comes days after a set of posters, titled “‘War Zone’”, were spotted in front of the temple on Friday. These posters targeted India’s high commissioner to Ottawa Sanjay Kumar Verma and consul general in Toronto Apoorva Srivastava and were removed by temple volunteers.

This was the second time in a month that the temple was thus targeted. In June, another poster promoting the so-called Punjab Referendum organised by the secessionist group Sikhs for Justice was also placed in font of the temple. The posters supported an anti-India demonstration outside the Indian Consulate in Toronto on Saturday, July 8.

Lal told HT said he felt the temple was being repeatedly targeted because of its name.

He said priests lived on the temple complex and there were legitimate worries over their safety. Lal added thart the temple authorities will circulate the letter sent to Trudeau to all Canadian MPs and as well as members of the Ontario legislature.

On July 8, violence broke out at pro- and anti-India rallies outside the Indian consulate in Toronto.

About 250 Khalistani supporters who gathered across the street from the building housing Indian consulate over the death of Sikhs for Justice leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Surrey, British Columbia on June 18. The posters alleged the Indian establishment’s role behind the murder. The pro-Khalistan group was countered by a pro-India rally spot across the street. The two sides were separated by the Toronto police personnel,

Nijjar was alleged to be the head of the Khalistan Tiger Force by Indian law enforcement and faced several terror-related charges, while being the principal SFJ figure in the Metro Vancouver region. However, none of the charges against him were tested in Canadian courts and SFJ has maintained it does not use violence.

India on July 3 Canadian envoy Cameron Mackay was summoned to the external affairs ministry in New Delhi over the activities of pro-Khalistan groups, and served a demarche over the threat to Indian diplomats.

“Our sense is that these posters inciting violence against our diplomats and our diplomatic premises abroad are unacceptable and we condemn them in the strongest terms,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on July 6.

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