A day after India protested the display of a float depicting the assassination of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in a Khalistani demonstration in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) last week, Canada reacted to the issue, stating violence is never acceptable.
Cameron MacKay, the High Commissioner for Canada in India, has reacted to the incident on X. His post read:"The Government of Canada is aware of further imagery displayed in Brampton on Sunday. Canada’s position is clear: The promotion of violence is never acceptable in Canada."
The controversial float was displayed in a parade to mark the 40th anniversary of Operation Bluestar. It depicted an effigy of Indira Gandhi being fired upon by her bodyguards with a poster stating her punishment had been delivered on October 31, 1984. It also carried the photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the caption, 'punishment waiting'.
The display also featured images of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a pro-Khalistan figure killed in Surrey, British Columbia on June 18, 2023.
India had sharply responded to the float with India’s High Commissioner to Ottawa, Sanjay Kumar Verma, urging all levels of government in Canada to take exemplary action against the public display of violence and hatred. Verma raised the issue with Global Affairs Canada, the country’s foreign ministry.
"Indian nationals living in Canada feel intimidated by such hatred being propagated. Unfortunately, this has happened in Canada time and again. Canadian systems and society have failed to put any cost on the perpetrators," Verma said.
This isn't the first time that such a float has been displayed. Last year, too Khalistani advocates in Canada displayed a float in a parade depicting the 1984 assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her bodyguards. Video circulated had shown the tableau featuring Gandhi wearing a blood-stained white saree with her hands up as turban-clad men pointed guns at her. A poster behind the scene read: "Revenge".
Then, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar reacted to the issue, stating that was not good for India-Canada relationship. "I think there is a larger underlying issue about the space which is given to separatists, to extremists, to people who advocate violence," Jaishankar had reacted to the incident.
