Canada: Opposition party leader condemns depiction of Indira Gandhi’s killing

The leader of Canada’s principal opposition party has described the display depicting the assassination of late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on a float, as “despicable”.

Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party, said, “We condemn this despicable display, unequivocally.”

In a release issued by his party, he added, “It is unacceptable to celebrate assassinations, such as the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.”

The display featured on a tableau that was part of a shaheedi diwas or martyrdom day event in Brampton, a town in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), on June 4, marking the 39th anniversary of Operation Bluestar. Indian forces stormed the Golden Temple in Amritsar on that day in 1984 to flush out separatist leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his supporters. Other tableaux at the event had featured posters of Bhindranwale. Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two members of her security detail on October 31 that year.

The only other elected official to have denounced the float is Indo-Canadian Liberal Party MP Chandra Arya.

While Peel Regional Police (PRP) has determined the float did not comprise a hate crime, India’s High Commission in Ottawa is still awaiting a formal response from Global Affairs Canada (GAC), the country’s foreign ministry, to a diplomatic note sent last week, protesting the appearance of the tableau. The police finding was disclosed in a statement issued by the office of Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown on Friday.

In a response on Friday, a GAC spokesperson told the Hindustan Times that it “has nothing further to add to the tweet from Canada’s High Commissioner to India Cameron McKay on June 5th”.

That tweet, the only official reaction from a Canadian official so far had said, “I am appalled by reports of an event in Canada that celebrated the assassination of late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. There is no place in Canada for hate or for the glorification of violence. I categorically condemn these activities.”

The separatist outfit Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) has defended the float and said it “does not provoke, promote or incite violence”. In a statement on Saturday, SFJ’s legal counsel Gurpatwant Pannun claimed the assassination was the “direct outcome” of Operation Bluestar.