Brampton parade

EVENTS organised by Sikhs across the globe to mark the anniversary of Operation Blue Star often stir polarising sentiments. But this year’s parade at Brampton in Canada’s Ontario province has overstepped the bounds of decorum with its float depicting Indira Gandhi’s assassination, triggering sharp reactions. Separatist elements settled abroad have kept the Khalistan pot boiling, issuing inflammatory statements and funding the ‘cause’. Countries such as Canada and the US became safe havens for separatists after they were granted asylum there during the dark days of terrorism in Punjab.

Interestingly, the Blue Star remembrance event in India, mainly in Amritsar, has progressively become rational over the years. This year, the Akal Takht appealed for a reform movement in villages plagued by drug abuse and other social evils. Many Punjabis seem to have moved on and are in favour of peace. The ground situation is not in sync with the Sikh diaspora’s efforts to keep secessionist extremism alive. Canada’s political leaders cannot escape culpability for encouraging extremism in a bid to consolidate their vote banks. MEA S Jaishankar has rightly hit out at Canada, saying that the event entailed “a larger underlying issue about the space which is given to separatists, extremists and people who advocate violence.” Earlier this year, concerned over the breach of security in the Indian High Commission in the UK, India had pointed out that Khalistan radicals were misusing their asylum status to aid and abet terror activities in India.

Such disturbances are also not congruent with the efforts being made by the governments of Canada and the UK to boost bilateral ties with India.