Opinion piece by Gaurav Sharma

14^th November 2024 – In an ideal world, citizens of any nation expect their political leaders to be honest, truthful and hope to get treated equally as per the rule of law. But we all know that is an ideal world which unfortunately does not exist, more so in Canada, specially these days, particularly for Canadian Hindus.

Let us analyze how different federal parties reacted to the attack on the Hindu Sabha temple in Brampton. Beginning with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he wrote on X – “The acts of violence at the Hindu Sabha Mandir in Brampton today are unacceptable. Every Canadian has the right to practice their faith freely and safely. Thank you to the Peel Regional Police for swiftly responding to protect the community and investigate this event.”

Next, this what the Leader of Opposition and CPC leader, Pierre Poilievre said on X – Completely unacceptable to see violence targeting worshippers at the Hindu Sabha Mandir in Brampton today. All Canadians should be free to practice their faith in peace. Conservatives condemn this violence unequivocally. I will unite our people and end the chaos.”

Now, let us see what NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said on this issue – “Every Canadian must be free to visit their place of worship in peace. I unequivocally condemn the acts of violence at the Hindu Sabha Mandir. Violence anywhere is wrong. I join community leaders in calling for peace.”

While every Canadian Hindu was watching these leaders with certain expectations including naming and shaming the assaulters of the 3^rd November attack, but they failed to say a word on it. For reason best known to them (and us), they could not identify the yellow flags which the assaulters were holding as they attacked the devotees of the temple.

However, the most unexpected response, for me, came from the People’s Party of Canada. Their leader, Maxime Bernier, wrote on X – “Can you spot the difference between my tweet and that of the three establishment party leaders? Not one of these cowards dares to even name the KHALISTANI SIKHS who are committing the violence. They’re afraid to offend some voters, even though Khalistani supporters are a minority of Sikh Canadians. This complacency explains why Khalistani extremism keeps growing in this country.”

His subsequent tweets on this issue were also encouraging, not for Canadian Hindus, but for Canadians in general. He says “I DON’T PLAY ETHNIC POLITICS. I propose policies that are good for ALL Canadians.” Now, these words are music to ears to someone who is against ethnic politics.

In a recent interview with Times Now, he says that “we want to have people here in Canada that would share our values, that will respect our Charter of Rights and all extremists are not welcome in our party (PPC) and are not welcome in our country…..we have people with us who are from different faith Jewish, Catholics and Muslims, we are not doing identity politics contrary to the establishment political parties here in Canada, the Liberals and Conservatives. They are pandering to ethnic communities and we (PPC) are not doing that”

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE

I see this as a fresh beginning in the Canadian politics. Bernier’s response to the Brampton temple attack can be perceived as bitter but at least it is truthful. Well as they say, the truth is bitter. We want our leaders to be truthful to Canada and its citizens. We want our leaders to not divide us but unite us.

Featured Image: PPC Website