'Canada being polluted by Khalistani', says Indian- origin Canadian MP after threats
Ottawa (PTI): A prominent Canadian MP of Indian origin on Wednesday said the country was being "polluted" by Khalistani extremists who were "abusing" the freedoms guaranteed under the Charter of Rights, days after a Hindu temple was vandalised in Edmonton.
Amidst rising Hinduphobia in Canada, the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir was vandalised with alleged hateful and anti-India graffiti on Monday morning in Edmonton in Alberta state, about 3,400 km west-northwest of here.
Chandra Arya, a Member of Parliament from Nepean in the House of Commons, said in a post on his X account that separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun of Sikhs for Justice released a video demanding that Arya and his Hindu-Canadian friends go back to India after he (Arya) condemned the vandalism of the Hindu temple and other acts of hate and violence by Khalistan supporters in Canada.
“We Hindus have come to our wonderful country Canada from all parts of the world. From every country in South Asia, many countries in Africa and Caribbean, and many other parts of the world, we have come here and Canada is our land," Arya, a member of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party, wrote.
"We have made and continue to make immense positive and productive contributions to the socio-economic development of Canada. With our long history of Hindu culture and heritage, we have enriched the multicultural fabric of Canada,” he said.
“Our land is being polluted by Khalistani extremists abusing our freedoms guaranteed by our Canadian Charter of Rights,” Arya added.
Arya's statement comes against the backdrop of severe strain in India-Canada ties over the killing of Khalistan extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down in Surrey, British Columbia, in June last year.
The relations between the two countries came under severe strain following Trudeau's allegations in September last year of a "potential" involvement of Indian agents in Nijjar's killing.
India has been maintaining that the main issue between the two countries is that of Canada giving space to pro-Khalistan elements operating from Canadian soil with impunity.
India has repeatedly conveyed its "deep concerns" to Canada and New Delhi expects Ottawa to take strong action against those elements.
Meanwhile, the vandalism at the BAPS temple was criticised by other local elected representatives too.
The Consulate General of India in Vancouver had said in a post on X on Tuesday: “We condemn the defacing of BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in #Edmonton with anti-India graffiti. We have requested the Canadian authorities to investigate the incident and take prompt action against the perpetrators.”
However, there has been no reaction as yet from the BAPS – the Bochasanwasi Aksharpurushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, the organisation that runs the temple.
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Relief to Mayawati, SC disposes of 2009 PIL against installation of her statues in UP
New Delhi, Jan 15: In a relief to BSP supremo Mayawati, the Supreme Court on Wednesday disposed of a petition filed in 2009 seeking a probe into the alleged spending of more than Rs 2,000 crore from the Uttar Pradesh government's budget on installing elephant statutes and personal glorification, when she was the chief minister of the state.
The development came on a day Mayawati turned 69.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma disposed of the petition filed by two lawyers -- Ravi Kant and Sukumar -- after observing that most of the prayers had become infructuous.
It noted that the Election Commission (EC) has already issued guidelines on the issue and that a stay on the installation of the statues cannot be granted as those have already been installed.
The public interest litigation (PIL) matter filed by the lawyers had alleged that a total amount of about Rs 2,000 crore was used from the state's budget for 2008-09 and 2009-10, when Mayawati was the chief minister, for installing her statues and the Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) poll symbol -- elephant -- at different places.
The petition, filed through advocate Prakash Kumar Singh, had claimed that the installation of 60 elephant statues at the cost of Rs 52.2 crore was not only wastage of public money but also contrary to circulars issued by the EC.
On April 2, 2019, Mayawati had justified her decision and told the apex court that the construction of her life-size statues and the BSP's poll symbol at various places in Uttar Pradesh during her tenure as the state's chief minister represented the "will of the people".
She had told the court that even the Congress, in the past, installed statues of its leaders, including those of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao, across the country.
She had also referred to recent instances of installation of statues by state governments, including a statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, known as the "Statue of Unity", in Gujarat.
Besides, the BSP supremo had said the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government has constructed a 221-metre-high statue of Lord Ram in Ayodhya at the state exchequer's cost.
"Thus, construction of memorials and installation of statues was not a new phenomenon in India," she had submitted.
"Similarly, other political parties in power at both the Centre as well as in states have also installed statues of various other leaders at public places at the cost of the public exchequer from time to time, but neither the media nor the petitioners have raised any questions with respect to them," she had said in an affidavit filed in the court.
The Dalit leader was responding to a notice issued by the top court and its oral observations. The court had, on February 8, 2019, observed that Mayawati should deposit the amount of public money used for erecting statues of herself and her party's poll symbol with the state exchequer.
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister had sought the dismissal of the plea, which had alleged that public funds were misused, saying it was "politically motivated" and was in gross abuse of the process of the court.
"The will of the people was expressed by the state legislature with a proposal to install the statues of the answering respondent (Mayawati) at the memorials to show their respect to a contemporary woman Dalit leader, who has decided to sacrifice her life for the cause of the underprivileged communities, including Dalits, the downtrodden, Scheduled Tribes and economically weaker sections in all the communities," the 2019 affidavit of Mayawati had said.
"In these circumstances, the statues of the answering respondent (Mayawati) came into being as the will of the state legislature to represent the will of the people.
"It is submitted that the funds for the construction of the said memorials and installation of statues have been sanctioned through a budgetary allocation after approval of the budget by the state legislature and the passing of the relevant Appropriation Act by the state legislature in accordance with the Constitution of India and rules," the affidavit had said.
