"if you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen
the side of the oppressor." - Desmond Tutu.
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Gurpreet Singh

Cofounder and Director of Radical Desi

 

Gurpreet Singh

A huge congregation was held at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey this past Sunday, March 24 to show solidarity with three Sikh men who were recently convicted in the world’s so called largest democracy for merely keeping literature perceived as “seditious” by the Indian state.

Arwinder Singh, Surjit Singh and Ranjit Singh were criminally charged in 2016 under draconian laws. In February, a Nawanshehar court awarded them life sentences, which has been strongly denounced by various human rights groups in India.

The speakers at the congregation were unanimous in their demand for the release of these three men and other political prisoners. They pointed out that the crackdown on political dissidents and state repression of religious minorities has grown under the right wing Hindu nationalist regime. The speakers also agreed that the families of the three Sikh men should be given financial aid for legal help. To show their support with the three men, the temple officials also distributed the copies of the literature that has been used as an evidence to convict them under colonial laws.  

Those who spoke on the occasion, included myself and my journalist colleague from Chardikala newsgroup Gurpreet Singh Sahota, Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara President Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Gurdwara Secretary Gurmeet Singh Toor, a volunteer with Sikh Nation Sunil Kumar, two independent Sikh activists Gurmukh Singh Deol and Dharam Singh, a veteran leader of Gurdwara Sukh Sagar Sahib New Westminster Harbhajan Singh Atwal, Dashmesh Darbar Gurdwara President Moninder Singh and Ranjit Singh Khalsa from Banda Singh Bahadur Gurdwara, Abbotsford.

The event coincided with the first death anniversary of Gurbax Singh Khalsa, a Sikh activist who jumped to his death from a water tank in Haryana, India on March 20, 2018 in protest against the continued incarceration of many Sikh political prisoners. Atwal, who had come from New Westminster to participate in the congregation, had also joined many Sikh activists for public fasting in support of Khalsa at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

I emphasized that this struggle isn’t just confined to the minority Sikh community, as other minorities and leftists are also being unfairly targeted by the Indian state for questioning the power, while Hindu extremists continue to intimidate minorities with impunity. While repressive laws and excessive force are frequently used to muzzle any voice of dissent from the minority groups or left wing political activists, the Hindu fundamentalists enjoy the backing of the state.

The Sunday congregation was followed by a demonstration held at Holland Park in Surrey on March 10 for the three Sikh men by the members of Indians Abroad for Pluralist India (IAPI), which was established in response to growing attacks on minorities in India.The IAPI wants the Canadian government to intervene into the matter urgently. 

Among those who participated in the March 10 demonstration was Federal Liberal MP from Surrey Center Randeep Singh Sarai. Sarai had assured the organizers of the rally to raise this issue at the highest level. 

Gurpreet Singh is an independent journalist and a cofounder of Indians Abroad for Pluralist India.  

 

On Saturday, March 23 Spice Radio honoured two inspiring women for standing up against racism as the world grapples with growing bigotry.

As part of its annual campaign "Raise Your Hands Against Racism", Burnaby-based Spice Radio held this year’s event at Surrey City Hall where Indigenous activist Cecilia Point and former Vancouver Park Board Commissioner Niki Sharma were presented with special awards.

Point has been active in grassroots level movements, such as campaign for justice to the missing and murdered indigenous women, while Sharma had challenged racism directed at her with courage and conviction. These women were presented with the shields by anti-racism activist Alan Dutton and Georgia Straight Editor Charlie Smith on behalf of Spice Radio. The two men were the recipients of the last year’s Spice Radio awards.

The event started with a moment of silence for the victims of the Christchurch attacks on mosques that left 50 people dead. Spice Radio CEO Shushma Datt opened the event with a special tribute to those gunned down by a white supremacist in Christchurch, and the three Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru who were executed on March 23, 1931 for waging war against British occupation of India. Later, Vishaljeet Kaur sang a song dedicated to the three martyrs.

Datt launched this campaign in 2015 on the birth anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr. The campaign aims to link the fight against racism with Holi – a Hindu festival of colours that helps in eradicating caste and class barriers in India. This year, the festival of Holi fell on March 21, which is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Those present on the occasion included BC Minister for Labour Harry Bains, Parliamentary Secretary for Multiculturalism Ravi Kahlon and Surrey Greentimbers MLA Rachna Singh.

Kahlon formally announced the proclamation of March 21 as “Raise Your Hands Against Racism Day” in recognition of the campaign started by Spice Radio. Earlier, BC Premier John Horgan gave Spice Radio a Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Award under the Business category, at an event held in Vancouver on the evening of March 21. Significantly, Horgan had kick started this year's campaign by visiting the Spice Radio studios in January. 

Kahlon emphasized that such campaigns have become even more relevant considering what happened in Christchurch on March 15. Both Point and Sharma also observed that the fight against racism must continue in light of the growing alt right movement all over the world.

Among others who spoke at the event were Spice Radio General Manager and Production Director Sudhir Datta, Newscaster and Talk Show Host Safeeya Pirani, another talk show host Gurpreet Singh, budding radio reporter Sohila, Rochelle Prasad from Camp We Empower, community activist Suresh Kurl and well-known physician Arun Garg.

Kurl shed a light on the significance of Holi and its connection with the spirit behind anti-racism movement.

The members of South Asian Arts and Shiamak Vancouver gave free performances. The event culminated with the participants dipping their hands in colour and leaving their hand-prints on a sheet of white paper along with statements against racism and hate.

 

 

A towering South Asian activist and scholar, the late Hari Sharma, was remembered at an event organized in Abbotsford on Sunday, March 17.

Sharma passed away on March 16, 2010 after losing his battle with cancer.

Punjabi Sahit Sabha (Mudli) – a Punjabi literary group - organized the program at the Sikh Heritage Gurdwara. Significantly, the gurdwara was established by supporters of the Ghadar Party, a radical group of political activists formed in 1913 to fight back against racism in North America and British colonialism in India.

Sharma was among those social justice activists who believed in the policies of the Ghadar Party, which wanted to establish a secular and socialist republic in post-British India.

Sharma was a tireless champion of human rights who consistently raised his voice against the repression of minorities and political dissent in India. He staunchly opposed the Emergency that was imposed by the late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975 and remained a vocal critic of massacres engineered against the Sikhs and Muslims by the so called secular Congress party and the currently ruling right wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) respectively. The attacks on religious minorities have grown in India ever since the BJP came to power with a brute majority in 2014. 

Sharma had been instrumental in inviting activists from India to raise awareness of the prevailing circumstances in India in North America. He was a force behind Indian People’s Association in North America and South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy. He was equally active in campaigns against war and racism. 

The main organizer of the Sunday event, Dr. Gurvinder Singh Dhaliwal, believes that with the rise in populism and bigotry all over the world, including India, Sharma’s legacy has become even more relevant today.

The event was started with a moment of silence for the victims of the Christchurch mosque shootings.

Among the speakers were Deputy Speaker of BC Legislature Raj Chouhan, Surrey Greentimbers MLA Rachna Singh, former BC Human Rights Commissioner Harinder Mahil, Sikh Nation volunteer Sunil Kumar, veteran Marxist activist Gurmeet Singh Tiwana and poet Mahima Singh Toor.

Notably, Sharma was a mentor of both Chouhan and Mahil, while Singh and Kumar shared their personal memories of the deceased activist. The speakers were unanimous in their observation that Sharma is being greatly missed due to the growth of right wing forces all over the world.

 

 

The Sikh congregation at a gurdwara in Surrey held prayers for the victims of Christchurch attacks by a neo Nazi.

The Friday attacks on two mosques in New Zealand had left 50 people dead.   

On Sunday, the congregation at the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple, Surrey remembered the dead and prayed for the speedy recovery of those injured.

What binds the Surrey Sikh temple with those mosques in a faraway country is their own experience with racism in the past.

It is the same gurdwara where temple keeper Nirmal Singh Gill was beaten to death by the skinheads in the parking lot in January, 1998.  

The temple President Hardeep Singh Nijjar told RDNB that apart from that connection, the values of Sikhism demand that we must stand up for everyone without any discrimination.

He pointed out that the daily prayers of the Sikhs end with a verse that calls for the well-being of the whole of mankind.

The development is significant, as a Sikh MLA of the ruling right wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party in India tried to justify the Christchurch incident. Manjinder Singh Sirsa is a legislator from Delhi, and also the head of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee.  

He went on social media to suggest that the attacks were the outcome of violence being perpetrated by Islamic extremists. He shared the controversial views expressed by right wing Senator Fraser Anning in New Zealand.  Anning had blamed the attacks on Muslim immigrants.

Nijjar strongly denounced the statement made by Sirsa, and said that it only reflects the mindset of his party that desires to turn India into a Hindu theocracy, and is known for its anti-minority stance. He believes that a true Sikh will never do that, as the Sikh gurus always stood against injustice and oppression without compromising with those in power.   

He further said that in view of growing bigotry in North America, and the Quebec City mosque massacre that left six people dead in 2017, the Sikh temples are deliberating on increasing vigilance in partnership with other religious minority groups who face similar challenges.

A courageous Indian journalist who exposed a Residential School-like system in her country has been honoured by an alternative media outlet.

Neha Dixit did an investigative report on a pattern behind plucking indigenous girls from the North Eastern states of India, to be taken far away from their families to indoctrinate them into a right wing Hindu nationalist ideology.

Published by the Outlook magazine in 2016, the story enraged supporters of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) who not only lodged a police complaint against Dixit and others in the publication staff, but also attacked them on social media.

Her report revealed how different outfits affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of which the BJP is a part, trafficked 31 tribal girls from Assam, including those as young as three, and sent them to distantly located states of Punjab and Gujarat, where special Hindu seminaries indoctrinated them into the ultra-nationalist Hindu ideology. 

RSS desires to transform India into a unified Hindu theocracy. Attacks on non-Hindus have intensified under the BJP government that came to power with a brute majority in 2014.   

Dixit found that these girls were taught the Hindi language and encouraged to become vegetarians in accordance with Hindu norms, giving up their tribal identity and customs. The idea is no different from the one adopted in Canada by the churches, to Christianize Indigenous children after taking them away from their families as part of their policy of assimilation. The RSS too has similar designs of assimilating various minority communities, including tribals, Buddhists and Sikhs.

But the matter did not end there. Dixit noted that these tribal girls in the RSS-run schools were also brainwashed to become fanatics who hate religious minorities, such as Muslims and Christians.      

Last month, the Punjab-based Suhi Saver which covers alternative politics, invited Dixit to Ludhiana where she was honoured with their annual award for courage in journalism.

Apart from covering the story of these tribal girls, Dixit has also covered the issue of extra judicial murders of Muslim men by the Indian police. Often the Muslims are branded as terrorists, and then killed by the police in staged encounters in the BJP-run state of Uttar Pradesh, in the name of peace and security.  

Suhi Saver is run by Shiv Inder Singh, who was removed by a Vancouver-based South Asian radio station as its news commentator from Punjab for his critical views of the BJP government. He has been running his outlet with the help of independent donors, and every year he invites active journalists to Ludhiana for guest lectures on pressing issues which are generally ignored by the mainstream media.  The focus of this year’s event was the oppression of women, and growing chauvinism and patriarchy under a right wing regime. Others honoured on the occasion were independent TV journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani, who is also a vocal critic of religious extremism, and two activists, Sudesh Kumari and Gurvinder Singh. While Kumari spearheaded a campaign for justice to the victims of sexual violence at a spiritual centre run by controversial godmam Gurmit Ram Rahim in Haryana, Singh was involved in a movement against barbaric rape and murder of a girl in Mehal Kalan in Punjab by some influential people. 

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Gurpreet Singh

Ever since more than 40 Indian paramilitary soldiers were killed in a suicide attack in Pulwama on February 14, the Indian mainstream has gone mad with more hawkish nationalists calling for revenge and war.

The incident took place in Indian-administered Kashmir, where an armed insurgency for independence has been going on for years. The Indian government generally blames neighbouring Pakistan for supporting the movement in Muslim dominated Kashmir, which they claim wants to annex the territory through an uprising.

The lone bomber involved was a Kashmiri Muslim, and the Pakistan-based Islamic extremist group Jaish-E-Mohammad has claimed responsibility for the incident. Since then, supporters of the ruling right wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party and others have started a nationwide campaign against Pakistan and Kashmiri people.   Calls are being made for “Blood for Blood”, while Kashmiris settled in other states of India have come under well-orchestrated attacks by angry mobs.

The anger also spilled over outside India in countries with sizable populations of the Indian Diaspora. Candle-light vigils and prayers were organized for the slain soldiers, and donations for the bereaved families started pouring in from celebrities.

Though it is sad that so many families lost their loved ones in a single stroke, the hysteria caused by this tragedy suppressed the wails of those Kashmiri women who lost their honour on a single night at the hands of Indian forces 28 years ago.

On February 23, 1991 the Indian army cracked down on two Kashmiri villages, Konan and Poshpora, and allegedly tortured 200 men and gang raped 150 women. Because of shame and fear of reprisal many women did not come forward. Close to 40 women dared to step forward to fight for justice, and years have passed, but there is no justice and closure. This is partly because the Indian army continues to enjoy immunity under repressive laws that give protection to the Indian forces in conflict zones.

The anniversary of the incident came and passed without much coverage in the media.  

In an environment of hyper nationalism, any discussion that brings the role of Indian forces under critical questioning is more likely to be discouraged by the political leadership and media pundits. That seems to have happened in this case.

Undoubtedly, we should all deplore the killings of soldiers who mostly came from poor and less privileged families, but are we ready to question the repression of people by the custodians of peace and security?

Konan Poshpora is not the only instance of state barbarity or sexual violence by the Indian forces. There have been many other instances all over India, of how in the name of maintaining peace or protecting the so called national interest, political activists have been murdered through extra judicial means, and custodial rapes have been used as a weapon to punish communities fighting for their rights, including the right to self-determination as in the case of Kashmir.

Those who are spewing so much hatred and calling for revenge against Pakistan or Kashmiris because of the killings of more than 40 soldiers, need to take a moment to remember shameful episodes such as Konan Poshpora, and see how repression has caused more misery and violence rather than bringing permanent peace. If we cannot treat our own people with respect, we have no right to confront our enemies, both perceived and real, for merely taking advantage of a disorder created by us.

For the record, the lone attacker involved in Pulwama was also detained and humiliated by the Indian forces for no fault of his own, according to his family. He was returning home when he was picked up during a protest and forced to rub his nose on the ground.

Those talking of revenge are forgetting that such harsh punitive measures have turned many into separatists and extremists. In the end, ordinary soldiers coming from poor families suffer, not those who incite passions for their narrow political ends.

Konan Poshpora is a reminder, not only that everything served to the citizens as a recipe for peace by the ruling classes can be accepted at face value, but we cannot let them decide in our name what is good for the nation. Rather than mimicking them, we need to make them accountable for the crisis in Kashmir, and ask them to resolve the problem through dialogue and justice to the victims of the Konan Poshpora mass-rape and other excesses committed in the name of unity and integration.   

 

 

The federal New Democratic Party of Canada has expressed “serious concern” over the human rights situation in the world’s so called largest democracy.

In a statement issued in response to growing repression under the right wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party government, Cheryl Hardcastle, the NDP Human Rights Critic, has also urged the Canadian government to break its “deafening silence” and express its objections to human rights abuse perpetuated by the Indian authorities.

This is the first such statement coming from any major political party of Canada in relation to the present situation in India in the last many months.  

The statement says, “the attacks on prominent public intellectuals and political dissent in general, as well as attacks on non-Hindus, particularly Muslims, have grown ever since the Hindu nationalist government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power with a majority in 2014”.

Hardcastle categorically stated that Canada “must use all available leverage to pressure the Government of Narendra Modi to comply with international human rights standards.”

The development comes after the recent illegal arrest and release of Dr. Anand Teltumbde, a prominent scholar and human rights activist who has been charged under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) which is being frequently used to suppress any voice of dissent.

Teltumbde was charged, while other intellectuals were arrested all over India for questioning the power and standing up for the rights of the poor and marginalized.

The NDP has particularly raised its concern over the witch hunt against intellectuals, including Teltumbde, under the UAPA, which according to Amnesty International, “has often been abused and used to detain people peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association”.

Former NDP MP Svend Robinson, a known advocate for human rights and social justice, is instrumental behind the statement. He was approached by members of Indians Abroad for Pluralist India which had organized a rally in support of Teltumbde in Surrey and asked for his intervention.

Robinson, who is aware of the political environment of India, had explained to the office of Hardcastle the gravity of the situation. It is pertinent to mention that Robinson had raised many human rights issues in India and around the world in the past while serving as an MP.

 

Gurpreet Singh

The recent Hindi film Manikarnika is a must watch for those who need to understand the strength of the story behind the first uprising against the British occupation of India.

Based on the story of Laxmi Bai – the Queen of Jhansi, who was a leading figure of the rebellion of 1857 - Manikarnika tells us how the Hindus and Muslims, and those belonging to the upper and the so called low castes came together under her command to revolt against the powerful British Empire.

She not only broke the gender barrier by choosing to go to the battlefield and raising an army of women in a male dominated society, but also embraced a Dalit warrior woman like Jhalkari Bai, who also died fighting against the enemy.

Thus, Laxmi Bai didn’t just fight against the British rule, but also against patriarchy and the brutal caste system that discriminated against Dalits within her society.  

Such a film becomes even more relevant today in India, where the right wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government is not only trying to rewrite the history from a narrow Hindu nationalist perspective, but portray Muslims as traitors and outsiders. Especially, when misogyny has exposed itself under the BJP government and caste-based violence against Dalits has grown, Manikarnika gives a message of hope.

Until now, most historians, including those in India, have seen the revolt of 1857 as a fight of the feudal kings and chieftains against the British Empire. Many continue to argue that it cannot be seen as part of the freedom struggle, while others have repeatedly tried to demonize the participants as violent and fanatics. Thanks to Karl Marx who had recognized it as the first war of independence,while others have overlooked it as insignificant. This can be partly attributed to the Eurocentric influence on the historical documents as British ruled India until 1947. The oral traditions about Laxmi Bai were mostly rejected as “primitive” or “unfounded” due to internalized racism. The making of Manikarnika therefore challenges those myths that were created by the British historians.

In an era of decolonization, such efforts are important to reclaim the history of the people. Particularly when the subjects of such film are people’s heroes, like Laxmi Bai who wanted to rid her subjects from the oppression of the British Empire that drained India out through plunder of its resources, making of such films becomes necessary.

 

 

Gurpreet Singh

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor” – Desmond Tutu

The quote applies appropriately to Canada, which claims to be a human rights leader in the world, considering its indifference toward some recent ugly events that unfolded in India.

Widely known as the world’s largest democracy, India is going through an era of intolerance and blatant repression of minorities and political dissidents under a right wing Hindu nationalist government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Attacks on non-Hindus, particularly Muslims, have grown ever since Modi came to power with a brute majority in 2014. Apart from that there has also been an increase in the attempts to stifle any voice of dissent. Anyone who tries to stand up against injustice and challenges the power through democratic means is branded as seditious and thrown into jail by using draconian laws. The recent attempts to muzzle voices of resistance by the intelligentsia are particularly disturbing. And yet, Canada continues to overlook what is happening in that part of the world. This is in sharp contrast to its rather prompt response to a similar situation in the neighbouring Pakistan.

The latest casualty of this complacency is Anand Teltumbde, a well-respected columnist and social justice activist who is married to the granddaughter of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian constitution and a towering scholar.

Teltumbde was arrested on February 2 in complete violation of Supreme Court orders. He earlier faced arrest after being charged under a draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for raising his voice for the poor and marginalized.

He was charged last year, while five other activists like him were arrested and detained across India. Those arrested were a Telugu poet and a political activist, Varavara Rao, and human-rights lawyer Sudha Bhardawaj. Others taken into custody were two published authors, Gautam Navlakha and Arun Ferreira, and a former Mumbai college professor, Vernon Gonsalves.

Teltumbde escaped the police dragnet as he was away, while his house was raided in his absence.

They were all accused of being the sympathizers of the Maoist insurgents.

Teltumbde’s plea for quashing the police case was rejected by the Supreme Court on January 14. The court had given him four weeks to file for pre-arrest bail; however he was arrested much earlier in clear defiance of the court orders. There are apprehensions that he might face the same fate as Delhi University Professor, G.N. Saibaba, who continues to be imprisoned under UAPA despite being ninety percent disabled below the waist. His continued incarceration under inhuman conditions has already drawn criticism from United Nations human rights experts. A petition signed by hundreds of people in Metro Vancouver asking for Canadian intervention in that matter was also ignored.    

What binds all these individuals together is their deep involvement in advocacy for the underdog, especially Adivasis (Indigenous peoples). They continue to face displacement from their traditional territories by the extraction industry looking for access to mineral-rich lands with the backing of the state.

Maoist insurgents who've been active in tribal areas have a big following among Adivasis, who often take up arms due to the high-handedness of the police and security forces. Many Adivasis see Maoists as protectors in their fight for survival from barbarity of the state.

Police have not only branded those arrested as Maoist supporters, but some of them are being accused of being involved in a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. These allegations have been strongly refuted by their relatives and supporters, who believe that all this is being done to stifle voices of dissent and win sympathy for Modi, who might face a tough general election this year. 

Any genuine criticism of uneven development and growing impoverishment can invite the wrath of the Indian state. Those questioning the power are frequently branded as “anti-nationals” or “urban Naxals”.

Teltumbde has a big following in Canada, where many groups of social justice activists within the South Asian community had invited him in 2016.

On January 27, several South Asians came together to protest against his continued harassment and raise their voices against his possible arrest at Holland Park in Surrey under the banner of Indians Abroad for Pluralist India, which was established in response to growing attacks on diversity in India under a right wing regime. A group of activists also wrote a letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Christiya Freeland seeking her intervention. 

But Canadian government failed to stand up. So much so, the elected officials invited for the rally and urged to make a statement remained silent and never showed up. They included both federal and provincial politicians. This is despite the fact that most of them are of the Indian origin and completely understand the circumstances in the country of their birth. Nevertheless, some of them did show up a night before at a dinner hosted by Indian diplomats to celebrate India’s Republic Day. Unfortunately, some of these politicians had met Teltumbde when he was visiting Canada, but did not dare to say a word when they were approached to show solidarity. It’s a shame that some of these individuals happened to be part of the labour movement before jumping into electoral politics and often projected themselves as supporters of international brotherhood and champions of the underdog on global issues. In fact, they had wined and dined with Teltumbde when he was here, and displayed lot of respect for his good work. But in the end they understandably preferred to remain quiet, to not to annoy the government of India whose influence has been growing worldwide in a free trade environment. It is hard to say if their intervention could have prevented the arrest of Teltumbde, but their deafening silence during the situation leading to his arrest clearly reflects very poorly on them.    

In a McCarthy era-like witch hunt of political dissidents under a fascist regime, Teltumbde’s arrest is aimed at creating a fear among those fighting for social justice.

Canada’s lack of interest only proves one thing - that it has picked up a side and that is none other than the oppressors in New Delhi. If Canadian politicians have any shame, at least listen to the words of Tutu, whose ally Nelson Mandela was given honorary Canadian citizenship by this country, or stop pretending to be the flag bearers of human rights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gurpreet Singh

This past January when India marked its 70th Republic Day, some Sikh and Kashmiri separatists burnt Indian flags in UK and US to protest against mistreatment of minorities in the world’s so called largest democracy.

Unable to tolerate this, the Indian government objected and raised the issue with foreign governments.

While the Sikh separatists have been campaigning for a separate Sikh homeland of Khalistan, an imaginary nation to be carved out of Punjab, Kashmiri separatists too have been fighting for independence.

Not only there was a knee jerk reaction of the Indian establishment to these flag burnings, several Kashmiri journalists were barred from attending the Republic Day parade in Srinagar.

Some time ago, the Indian government blacklisted revolutionary leftist activists who had protested outside the Indian consulate in Vancouver on an Independence Day.  They were merely protesting against the growing repression of minorities and those marginalised in India and for exercising their freedom of expression denied visas to travel back home.  

Barely four days after the Republic Day drama ended, Hindu fanatics in India belonging to Hindu Mahasabha publicly shot at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi and garlanded the statue of his assassin Nathuram Godse.   

Gandhi, the leader of the passive resistance movement against British occupation of India and a strong advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity, was assassinated by Hindu Mahasabha activist Nathuram Godse on January 30, 1948.

Godse is frequently glorified by the Hindu Right. Ever since the current Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government came to power, those who consider Godse as a hero have become emboldened. After all, the Hindu Mahasabha founder Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, who wanted to establish a Hindu nation, is revered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party colleagues. Savarkar was also arrested in the Gandhi murder case, but was acquitted due to lack of evidence. Not only was Gandhi’s brand of Hinduism more liberal, his philosophy of a secular India was in complete contradiction to the exclusionist Hindu state the BJP wants to create.  

The latest incident happened in Uttar Pradesh where the BJP is in power.

While the Indian establishment is too much concerned about the “anti-national” elements abroad and their attempts to insult national symbols, there is a complete silence over repeated attempts to demonize Gandhi, who is widely known as father of the Indian nation.

It is pertinent to mention, that the BJP supporters had used the Indian flag in the past, during their controversial demonstrations in support of the Hindu extremists involved in heinous crimes, such as sexual violence and murders in the name of cow protection.

Taking all these episodes into account, will it be too much to ask the Indian government led by Modi - why has hyper nationalism of the extremists from the majority community never been questioned? Rather than making a big fuss about flag burnings all the time, why not first teach your own supporters to respect Gandhi and the national flag, and not let patriotism be used as a refuge by those involved in hate crimes? It is this selectivity and appropriation of nationalism and the process of othering the minorities who have some genuine grouses against the Indian establishment which is provoking people to burn the flags - which isn’t a big deal really as compared to the mass murders of the Sikhs and the Muslims in Kashmir and elsewhere by supporters of Hindu nationalism. Instead of forcing patriotism on the minorities the Indian state needs to take them into its embrace with honesty.