The Hindu Sabha Mandir temple within the Canadian metropolis of Brampton lies beside a busy highway in a suburb the place many properties are nonetheless strung with lights left over from Diwali. Standing over the parking zone, a 17-meter-tall statue of the monkey god Lord Hanuman gazes out over the site visitors as worshippers come and go.
A few minutes down the highway, the Gurdwara Dasmesh Darbar Sikh temple sits close to a strip mall with sari retailers, Indian eating places and different companies indicative of the town’s massive south Asian inhabitants.
Save for a couple of safety guards on the Hindu temple, it could be onerous to inform that this quiet residential neighbourhood was just lately the web site of violent clashes between Sikh activists and nationalist counterprotesters.
The confrontation drew condemnation from the town’s mayor, the premier of Ontario and Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau – and likewise from India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, who described the incident as an assault on the Hindu temple.
To this point, native police have made 5 arrests and say extra could come.
However because the mud settles, members of the local people say they worry additional violence between Sikh separatist activists and Modi supporters, a few of whom espouse Hindu nationalist ideologies.
Movies of the in a single day clashes on 3 November present males throwing bricks, kicking vehicles and putting one another with sticks or flagpoles – together with some flying the Indian tricolour and others the brilliant yellow emblem adopted by advocates of an impartial Sikh homeland referred to as Khalistan.
The protests had been prompted by a go to to the temple by Indian authorities officers who’ve been holding consular classes at locations of worship throughout Ontario, together with Sikh temples.
The 4 November go to got here at a second of excessive stress, quickly after Canadian police and Trudeau’s authorities alleged that Modi’s authorities had orchestrated a marketing campaign of violence and intimidation in opposition to Sikh activists in exile.
Inderjeet Singh Gosal, a pacesetter of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) who helped arrange the demonstration, stated the protest was particularly in opposition to the Indian authorities, not the Hindu faith, and that he had liaised with police to make sure it could not disrupt worship.
Gosal was an in depth affiliate of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, one other SFJ chief and Khalistan advocate whose 2023 assassination Canadian officers have linked to Indian diplomats and consular workers.
The Khalistan motion is banned in India, the place officers describe Sikh separatists as “terrorists” and a menace to nationwide safety.
Gosal claimed that it was pro-Modi counterprotesters who instigated the violence, alleging that considered one of them had regarded him within the face and advised him in Hindi: “We’re going to kill you.”
“I went ahead to him and stated, ‘Look, I’m sorry you’re feeling that approach.’ However earlier than I may say something they moved up and punched [me],” he stated.
Peel regional police have since charged Gosal with assault with a weapon; he accepts he has been charged and has not but entered a plea.
The clashes escalated and later that evening crowds waving Indian flags blocked site visitors exterior the temple. Video posted on-line exhibits a person with a megaphone drawing cheers from the group as he referred to as for the Indian military to “storm” Sikh temples in Canada, which he says are “selling terrorism”.
Peel police confirmed the person had been charged with public incitement of hatred.
Jaskaran Sandhu, a board member of the World Sikh Group advocacy group, stated such scenes had been unprecedented in Canada, dwelling to the most important Sikh inhabitants exterior India.
“The sort of Hindu nationalist rhetoric could be very regular in India, the place minorities are focused on this method, however not in Canada. That’s very disturbing,” he stated.
Sandhu stated that the unrest didn’t replicate tensions between Sikhs and Hindus, who’ve traditionally lived alongside one another in Brampton.
“What’s completely different right here is you’ve got violent, pro-India, Hindu nationalist actors on this nation,” he stated.
Paritosh Kumar, an adjunct assistant professor of political science at Queen’s College in Kingston, Ontario, stated Hindu nationalists around the globe have been emboldened by Modi’s authorities – and that this has change into an growing concern in Canada.
However he additionally stated the ideology was engaging to some members of the diaspora who encountered racism in western international locations.
Kumar stated lecturers in Canada have beforehand been harassed after denouncing Hindu nationalism, however the latest violence marked a critical escalation.
“That looks as if a really harmful transition that’s happening,” he stated.
Modi’s framing of the protest as an assault on a Hindu temple by Sikhs may additional inflame the state of affairs, he stated.
“It’s a development that may most likely manifest in additional road violence,” Kumar stated.
That worries Chinnaiah Jangam, an affiliate professor of historical past at Ottawa’s Carleton College who focuses on Dalit peoples, thought-about the bottom rung of India’s caste system.
Jangam is a practising Hindu and identifies as Dalit. After the protests in Brampton, family in India referred to as him to see if he was secure – a sign of how profitable Modi’s supporters had been in casting the protests as an assault on Hindus.
“They’re taking part in into this concept of victimhood. It’s a false narrative … and this is part of a bigger narrative to discredit [the Canadian government],” Jangam stated.
Brampton metropolis councillor Gurpartap Singh Toor stated misinformation revealed within the Indian media or shared on WhatsApp had framed the unrest as a violent assault on the Hindu temple, fanning worry and hatred in each Canada and India.
“It’s unhappy to see it taking place right here in our metropolis. After which to pitch it because the Sikh neighborhood versus the Hindu neighborhood – it’s only a gross injustice,” he stated.
Roopnauth Sharma, the pandit on the Ram Mandir Hindu temple within the close by metropolis of Mississauga, stated the unrest in Brampton didn’t replicate any broader sectarian tensions.
“This isn’t a Hindu-Sikh concern … It’s a group of people that have a sure opinion, they usually’re allowed to [express it],” he stated.
Sharma, who can also be the president of the Hindu Federation, stated he had been working with native officers to create restrictions on demonstrations close to locations of worship.
“We wish to be sure that individuals nonetheless have the proper to protest … however we wish to be sure that there’s a secure distance,” he stated.
Leaders of the Hindu Sabha Mandir temple didn’t reply to a request for remark, however Vasudev Joshi, a pandit on the temple, advised the Toronto Star that the protest ought to have been held exterior the Indian consulate.
Such sentiments had been echoed by political leaders: Brampton’s mayor, Patrick Brown, pushed for a bylaw that might ban protests at locations of worship, whereas Trudeau stated final week that acts of violence on the temple had been “unacceptable”.
However Sandhu stated such statements miss the purpose. “Our leaders are so fast to discuss mob violence … however have chosen to be completely silent on this India violence directed on the Canadian Sikh neighborhood,” he stated.
“Are the visuals not sufficient so that you can notice what’s taking place in Canada?”
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