Sunday, March 17, 2024

Pro-India group faces off against pro-Khalistan elements in Canada’s Calgary city

ByAnirudh Bhattacharyya
Mar 17, 2024 
Hindustan Times

Approximately two dozen Indo-Canadians gathered across the street from the pro-Khalistan protesters, some of whom held weapons, including at least one seen to be holding a sword up.

THEY ARE  SIKH'S WHO WEAR A CEREMONIAL KNIFE CALLED A KIRPAN, AS WELL THE SHEATHED SWORD IS ALSO A CEREMONIAL 'WEAPON' FOR RELIGIOUS RITES


Toronto: 

A pro-India group faced off against pro-Khalistan elements in the city of Calgary in Alberta on Saturday as the latter gathered to protest in front of a venue for a community event welcoming India’s High Commissioner to Ottawa Sanjay Kumar Verma.

Danielle Smith (centre), Premier of the province of Alberta with India’s High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma (left) and India’s Consul-General in Vancouver Manish, during their meeting in Edmonton last week. (Supplied photo)

Approximately two dozen Indo-Canadians gathered across the street from the pro-Khalistan protesters, some of whom held weapons, including at least one seen to be holding a sword up. Local police kept vigil and prevented the two opposing groups from clashing.

The protest was the latest as pro-Khalistani groups have staged similar demonstrations at venue hosting Verma in Surrey on March 1 and Edmonton on March 11.

Given the threat perception, the hosts had already cancelled a scheduled community event in Calgary on Friday but a lunch for the High Commissioner was organised at another location on Saturday afternoon.

The protests have dogged Verma who has travelled to Western Canada for the first time Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated in the House of Commons on September 18 there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the killing of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, three months earlier. A call to “target” Verma at these events was given by the secessionist group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), for which Nijjar was the principal organiser in BC.

However, Verma’s safety has been assured by Global Affairs Canada, the country’s foreign ministry, and he has been escorted by officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), responsible for diplomatic security, with local law enforcement detachments keeping the pro-Khalistan protesters from approaching him and entering the venues hosting him.

Verma described the engagements in the two provinces as “successful”, as he was hosted at the legislature building in Victoria, capital of BC, and held a meeting with the Surrey Board of Trade in that town. He also met with the Premier of the territory of Yukon while in Vancouver. In Alberta, he met with the province’s Premier Danielle Smith in the capital Edmonton and also attended an event hosted by the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce in that city and also held several meetings in Calgary.


Devotees in Canada’s smallest province celebrate opening of first Hindu temple

ByAnirudh Bhattacharyya
Mar 17, 2024
Hindustan Times


The temple in Prince Edward Island has been thronged by members of the community since its opening, evidencing the demand for such a house of worship in a province with population at just 180,000

Toronto: Devotees in Canada’s smallest province are celebrating the opening of the first Hindu temple there. The Hindu Temple of Prince Edward Island (PEI) opened this month and has been thronged by members of the community since, evidencing the demand for such a house of worship in a province with the population of just 180,000.

Devotees at the opening of the first Hindu temple in Prince Edward Island, Canada.
 (Credit: Hindu Society of PEI)

“It was really incredible. There was a gap, obviously,” said Krishna Thakur, an academic from the United of Prince Edward Island, who is also president of the Hindu Society of PEI.
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The temple opened in a rented space in the town of Cornwall, which is part of the capital region. Thakur said devotees come to the temple from the capital Charlottetown as well as neighbouring Stratford, other than residents of Cornwall.

Thakur, who is originally from Janakpur in Nepal, estimated the Hindu population of PEI at approximately at about 1,800. He said nearly 600 people visited the temple on opening day. He said the Hindu population had grown significantly in recent years with an influx of students to the University of PEI, with other newcomers including fresh permanent residents and professionals.

The Society’s secretary Neethin Rao, who is from Kerala, said the temple has been “well received” within the province with the opening being attended by the mayors of Charlottetown and Cornwall, the local MP as well as members of the legislative assembly.

The temple has no full-time priest, and the rites for its inauguration, on Mahashivratri, were performed by members of the Society, with some of the rituals learnt from online tutorials. That it resulted from a community effort was underlined by Rao, who said not only were there donations that enabled renting the space but food for prasad and bhog were donated by Indo-Canadian restaurants of the region.

“The temple is open for two hours in the evening,” Thakur said, and that’s because it is entirely dependent on volunteers.

Rao said the objective is to acquire land and build a permanent mandir in the future. “Everybody is interested in that and they will definitely help us,” he said.

For now, Thakur said, the community is elated to have its own space to worship, after never having had that facility in the province before. To give it broad appeal, there are various deities at the temple. “We tried to make it as inclusive and representative as possible,” Thakur said.

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