India takes up Brampton temple defacing with Canada

The Indian Embassy in Canada has conveyed its serious concerns over the defacing of a Hindu Gauri Shankar temple in Brampton, Greater Toronto, by suspected so-called Sikh separatists to Global Affairs, Canada and has separately asked the local law enforcement agencies to act against the perpetrators.

The Indian concerns were conveyed in the form of note verbale to the Justin Trudeau government today in Canada.

The defacing/graffiti incident follows an incident in Melbourne, Australia where Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple was vandalized with hate-filled graffiti by so-called Khalistan separatists with Indian Embassy to Australia taking up the issue with the federal government.

The same group of so-called Sikh separatists have been active in UK, Germany, and US under the banned of proscribed Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) platform and have been collecting funds in local Gurudwaras under the name of non-existent atrocities against the community in India.

While the Modi government has forcefully taken up the issue with the respective governments including the US, the British and Canadian governments tend to justify violence, arson, and terror against the Indian community in the name of freedom of speech. There is strong suspicion within the national security establishment that no action is being taken against the so-called Sikh separatists to keep the Modi government on tenterhooks and defame India by portraying minority communities as victims.

While the situation in Vancouver, where the Sikh separatists have been active, is under control, the anti-India narrative has the support of the Pakistani deep state and even the diplomatic establishment. Several so-called Khalistan terrorists have found shelter in Lahore and are raising funds for terror attacks against India through drug and weapons smuggling.

While India has taken up the issue of action against the SFJ with US national security, it has been very blunt with the UK and Canadian governments on taking no action against the so-called Sikh separatists. Given the number of high-end properties owned by these so-called Sikh leaders, it is quite evident that the internal security agencies at least of the UK and Canada are turning a blind eye towards these Sikh radicals as a long-term political pressure point against India.

It is quite evident from the chain of events including the BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots that a political narrative that the Modi government is against minorities is being built up in the run-up to the 2024 elections. Biased western media is also turning to instigate India’s close allies in the west over the Modi government’s stance on the Ukraine war and buying of oil from Russia for India’s domestic consumption. These pressure points are deliberately being raised to push India down at a time when it is the fastest-growing big economy in the world and the UK is the weakest major economy this year with output shrinking by 0.6 per cent. Clearly, India’s rise is going to be brutally contested by competing western and Asian powers with barbs on minority issue and its strategic autonomy.