Opinion piece by Gaurav Sharma

8^th November 2024 – Like the past few years, this November was to be a month of celebrating Hindu Heritage Month across Canada. In the past few years, the month of November did bring joy, happiness and an opportunity to celebrate the rich culture and heritage of arguably the world’s oldest known religions. A perfect warmth in Toronto’s November.

The festivities included prayers in temples followed by good food and dance or art performances. Politicians across the party lines would attend these festivities to show their respect for multiculturalism and honor the contributions of Hindus in Canada over multiple decades. Also, it had started to become an opportunity for Hindus of different backgrounds, ethnicity and even different nationalities to get together and celebrate the common heritage.

This November however will go down in history as full of negativity and despair. I guess we should have read the ominous signs. It all began with the Conservative Party Leader, Pierre Poilievre cancelling the Diwali celebrations at Parliament Hill in Ottawa. A non-partisan event which had been taking place since 2000 and this year is its 24^th anniversary. The interesting part of this is that this tradition or event was initiated by another Conservative MP who now is deceased, Deepak Obhrai.

I like to call this as the Diwali scandal.

What was further disappointing was the fact that neither the CPC nor Pierre Poilievre himself ever clarified about the reason/s for canceling the event.  What is my best guesstimate is – because Justin Trudeau accused Pierre and some of his MPs for being involved with the government of India for having facilitated foreign interference in Canada, Pierre possibly decided to be not seen with any Indian diplomats who are often guests at the Parliament Hill Diwali celebration. As I said, this is a pure hypothesis and I have no evidence to back it up with facts. Still, this may have been perceived so by several others as it is to me.

I never thought that Diwali celebrations can get jinxed by prevailing Canada India relations of the day. We were told that politics is not to be mixed with religion. Did not come out like that though this time.

This was all over the news until 3rd November which is when a bigger blow happened to Canadian Hindus. It was around 1 PM on a lazy Sunday when I got a call from a friend who asked me to check a video he had forwarded me on my WhatsApp. The video showed a group of attackers beating people with sticks and abusing in Punjabi. The aggressors were using the sticks of the yellow flags they were holding bearing Khalistan to beat the innocents who looked scared and were running all over the place to save themselves. This video from X told that an attack happened in Hindu Sabha Temple in Brampton.

Although, vandalism and desecration of Hindu temples in Brampton and Canada has become a norm in the past few years, but this physical attack on devotees was unprecedented. Previous vandalism incidents’ investigations have seen the dust and no concrete convictions were ever made nor have steps been taken by the law enforcement agencies to stop this anti-Hindu hate. Politicians across the board have done what they do best; given lip-service and made empty promises. One line which all of them say all the time and whose meaning has surely become irrelevant, for it has not been followed-up by any action, is this – Hate has no place in Canada. Yes that is how it should be but.

The events that unfolded after the attack were not easy to digest. Video after video on social media platforms showed that the police officers on duty were sheer mute spectators and did zilch to stop the assaulters. What was mind boggling was the fact that a police officer was also seen assaulting the devotees of the Hindu temple. Although he was later suspended from his services, whether he is being charged of assault is what the police have not yet made clear.

The general feeling among the Hindu community is the fact that why were the common devotees attacked? If the assaulters had any issues with Indian government or Indian Consulate workers, why did they scare the hell out of a regular temple going devotee?

The mistrust towards politicians and police is at all time high among Hindus. They are feeling betrayed and cheated. The one-sided narrative of the mainstream media has not helped either to calm down the situation. Police has made some arrests and everybody is calling for calm and peace. What I know for sure is that this peace is unsettling at least to me, for now. It is cold like Toronto’s November and not warm.

A lot of events for Hindu Heritage Month are being canceled or modified due to security reasons. This is not my kind of Hindu Heritage Month. This is not.

Featured Image Courtesy – COHHE