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Punjabi Press Club condemns manhandling of a TV reporter by BJP supporters in India Featured

The assault on Bhupinder Singh, a journalist in Punjab, by supporters of the ruling right wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has been unanimously condemned by the members of Punjabi Press Club of British Columbia.

The motion was passed during the monthly meeting of the club in Surrey on Tuesday afternoon.  

Singh, who is a turbaned Sikh, feels that he was unfairly targeted by the BJP supporters because of his identity, for merely asking tough questions.

The incident happened in Hoshiarpur on January 26, when the BJP leaders were trying to stop Sikh activists from organizing a peaceful business shutdown in protest against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Brought by the BJP government recently, CAA is a divisive law that welcomes to India only non-Muslim refugees from the neighbouring Muslim-dominated countries. Aimed at polarizing the Hindu majority against Muslims by excluding Muslim refugees from these countries, CAA has sparked angry protests all over India, especially from those who think that it violates the Indian constitution based on the principle of secularism that does not discriminate against anyone on the basis of religion.

More than 20 people have died during violent demonstrations all over India.

The Sikh organizations, including Dal Khalsa, had given a call for business shutdown against CAA in Punjab, to which the BJP supporters responded aggressively. Dal Khalsa has been consistently supporting Muslims and other minority groups who have come under attack ever since BJP government came to power with a brute majority in 2014.

The members of Punjabi Press Club of BC believe that the incident involving Singh was a blatant attack on press freedom and reflects very poorly on a so-called democratic country.     

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Gurpreet Singh

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