Obsessed with a dead movement of Khalistan, an imaginary Sikh homeland, the right wing government in New Delhi needs to follow the case of Jaskaran Singh, who recently won a famous Q and A show hosted by Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan, to reassess their position. The 21-year-old Sikh from Khalra village in Punjab is in the news after his great[Read More…]
Let’s make the world’s so-called largest democracy accountable for incarcerating a disabled scholar. A wheelchair-bound former Delhi University Professor, who is struggling with multiple ailments, is serving a life sentence under trumped up charges, for merely questioning the power and standing up for the poor and marginalized, as well as for the religious minorities who are being persecuted in India.[Read More…]
The brazen murder of the President of Surrey-Delta Gurdwara on Sunday, June 18 has left many of us devastated. Hardeep Singh Nijjar was a tireless community activist and a hardworking family man, who earned his livelihood as a plumber. He was shot to death by at least two unidentified assailants on Father’s Day, when he was heading home to spend[Read More…]
Dear Bapu, Happy Father’s Day to you. Today, I miss you even more than the years when I first came to know about you, growing up as a kid in India. I don’t mind calling you Bapu, even though many of my friends might be outraged for ideological reasons. So be it. After all, I have been taught in school[Read More…]
As the world’s so-called largest democracy heads for a general election in May, 2024, overseas Indians need to mobilize to rid their home country of a Hindu supremacist leader. Narendra Modi first got elected as the Prime Minister of India in May, 2014. He has completed almost ten years in power. A diehard member of the RSS, a right wing[Read More…]
Kshama Sawant, who was declared as Radical Desi Person of the Year 2023 for being instrumental behind the historic ordinance to outlaw caste-based discrimination in Seattle, making it the first city outside India to do so, has carried forward the legacy of two great men. April being the birthday month of the Ghadar movement – cofounded by Sohan Singh Bhakna[Read More…]
Often portrayed as a trigger happy radical, the towering Indian revolutionary should be remembered as a book lover, who continues to inspire many to read even today. Bhagat Singh was executed for waging war against the British occupation of India in 1931. He believed in an armed resistance for not only a liberated homeland, but to establish a classless and[Read More…]
To Rahul Gandhi, the Congress Party MP Dear Rahul, Welcome to Punjab. It is good to see you leading Bharat Jodo Yatra during these difficult times. This initiative was much needed ever since Narendra Modi came to power in 2014. It would have been better had all the non-BJP parties come together to start it. However, it goes to your[Read More…]
Mr. Narendra Modi The Prime Minister of India Dear Sir, Please accept my condolences for the passing away of your mother. I myself lost my father in 2017 and often feel sad about his death five years later. So I can relate with your pain. These must be difficult times for you, and I hope you recover soon. It was[Read More…]
One of the worst developments of 2022 was the electoral victory of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Gujarat state of India. The December 8 assembly polls gave a clear verdict in favour of the BJP, which won 156 out of 182 seats, forming government for seventh term in a row. Like it or not, the[Read More…]
On November 26, the world’s so called largest democracy celebrated its Constitution Day. Not only were special events held by the Indian government back home, several programs were organized in the Diaspora, including one in BC. The Day was initiated by the current right wing Hindu Prime Minister Narendra Modi, under whom attacks on religious minorities, including Dalits and political[Read More…]
November 16 marks the 107th martyrdom day of a towering revolutionary of the Indian freedom struggle. Kartar Singh Sarabha was executed in 1915 in British India for waging a war against the Empire while he was only 18-and-a-half years old. He was a part of the Ghadar movement that was started to liberate India from foreign occupation through armed rebellion.[Read More…]
Some recent political developments in India remind me of a legend associated with the founder of Sikhism. Guru Nanak, whose birth anniversary was celebrated on November 8, is credited for traveling widely, reforming the misguided and encouraging them to follow the path of truth and justice. One of those who came under his influence was Sajjan, the thug, who ran[Read More…]
When Shushma Datt started Rim Jhim (drizzle) radio, she was partly influenced by the rainy weather of Metro Vancouver to pick the name for her station. When she looks back almost four decades later, it does not feel the same. Once known as wet coast or Raincouver, the lower mainland is now constantly grappling with drought-like conditions and heat waves from summer[Read More…]
Close to the 38th anniversary of the Sikh Genocide, two Indian movies have tried to expose the reality of the world’s so called largest secular democracy. Laal Singh Chaddha and Jogi depict the state sponsored massacre of the Sikhs in the first week of November 1984, following the assassination of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. Both are[Read More…]
India has reasons to celebrate after the first man of Indian origin has become the British Prime Minister. Considering how the British Empire once ruled the giant South Asian nation, and Indians had to fight to liberate their homeland from foreign occupation, this means a lot. That the Indians faced racial hatred as immigrants in the UK for years is[Read More…]
You are not just a name on the ballot. You are more than that. A flowing stream. A shady tree. A roaring ocean. A breeze of fresh air. The song of a hummingbird. The sound of the cricket in my backyard that gives me hope of a living earth. Your fight isn’t yours alone. You are an embodiment of a[Read More…]
It’s been one year now and there is still no response from her. Not even an acknowledgement for all those messages I have been sending her way. I am even losing interest in her Instagram posts. Often I prefer to take a break for days from social media, to overcome frustration caused by her indifference towards me. Earlier, I used[Read More…]
The latest Bollywood film brings a breeze of fresh air at a time when India faces a growing threat of Hindu extremism, under which space for pluralism and diversity is constantly shrinking. Laal Singh Chaddha is the story of an autistic Sikh man who is in love with a Christian woman. The two become friends at a school where Laal[Read More…]
It was Sunday, July 31, when some of us gathered outside the Indian Visa and Passport Application Center in Surrey, BC. The occasion was the martyrdom day of Indian revolutionary Udham Singh. Singh was executed on July 31, 1940 in London for assassinating the former Lt. Governor of Punjab, Michael O’ Dwyer, who was instrumental behind the circumstances leading to[Read More…]
The Indian state has constantly deceived the world by concealing its dismal record on minority rights through tokenism Let’s not be fooled by the election of the first indigenous (Adivasi) woman as India’s President. Draupadi Murmu made history after winning the presidential election. She was the candidate of the ruling right wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). Prime Minister[Read More…]
The recent developments in the South Asian region demand the immediate attention of our government. India is rocked by protests by its minority Muslim community after a spokesperson of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) made offensive remarks about Prophet Mohamad. Although Nupur Sharma has been suspended following outrage expressed by the Islamic nations, including the powerful ones[Read More…]
It was the summer of 2018 when I was visiting Berlin with my family. My curiosity for the history of the Holocaust was one of the reasons that took me there. Once we drove to the city from Frankfurt, where we landed for the first leg of our vacation to Europe, I began searching for any landmark associated with Martin[Read More…]
This year’s Mother’s Day must have been the hardest for 92-year-old Anusaya Teltumbde. She has not recovered from the recent loss of her insurgent son, while the other one is locked up in jail for the past two years. Milind Teltumbde, a Maoist leader, was gunned down by the police in November 2021, while Anand, his elder brother, a well[Read More…]
When I immigrated to Canada in 2001, most of my colleagues and relatives in India questioned – why was I abandoning my home country? They had logic. I was a staff reporter with a major northern Indian daily. I had a stable income. My wife too was working. Economically, we were privileged, and gradually I would have started earning more[Read More…]
Pawan Guru, Paani Pita, Mata Dharat Mahatt (Air is the guide, Water is the father, the earth is a mother)”. That’s the message of Guru Nanak, the founder of one of the most progressive and modern religions of the world. While everyone across the globe celebrated Earth Day recently, the idea of respecting nature was never alien to the followers[Read More…]
The recent Indian movie on the conflict zone of Kashmir can be best described as a propaganda tool of apologists for the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP government in New Delhi. Directed by Vivek Agnihotri, who is known for his pro-BJP stance, The Kashmir Files is not really a true and complete story of Kashmiri Hindus, who were forced to[Read More…]
The first woman US Secretary of State has passed away at the age of 84. Madeleine Albright lost her battle with cancer on March 23, three days after the anniversary of Chittisinghpura massacre on March 20, 2000, 22 years ago, when then-US President Bill Clinton was visiting India, 36 Sikhs were gunned down in Kashmir. Those deaths still remain a[Read More…]
The results of recently held assembly elections in five states of India should worry us. In Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) – which has emerged as a third alternative to the BJP and the opposition Congress Party – won with a brute majority, taking close to 90 seats out of the total 117. However, the ruling right wing Hindu[Read More…]
An era has ended with the passing away of an anti-apartheid hero on Sunday, December 26. Archbishop Desmond Tutu left us at the age of ninety. He was in the forefront of the struggle against brutal white minority rule in South Africa. A Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Tutu was famously known for his quotation; “If you are neutral in situations[Read More…]
It was Sunday, November 13 in 2016. We had gathered at Holland Park in Surrey to protest against the growing attacks on religious minorities and political dissidents in India under the current right wing Hindu nationalist government in New Delhi. The keynote speaker at the event held by Radical Desi was the visiting[Read More…]
Thanks to a Vancouver-based body of literary awards, the Dhahan Prize for Punjabi Literature, Balbir Madhopuri’s Mitti Bol Peye has received this year’s award in the “novel” category. Based on the Dalit resistance movement in Punjab, the novel is a powerful commentary on the oppression of the so-called untouchables in a caste-based Indian society. The story of Gora, a Dalit[Read More…]
Currently incarcerated under trumped up charges in the world’s so called largest democracy, Sudha Bharadwaj is one of the dozens of scholars and activists locked up in the Indian jails. Bharadwaj, who turned 60 on November 1, is a lawyer who has been advocating for the rights of the poor and marginalized, especially Adivasis or the Indigenous peoples of India[Read More…]
It was late July this year when some Sikh kids came out with their parents in Surrey, to register their protest against the unjust farm laws passed by the world’s so-called largest democracy without due consultations. Implemented by the ruling right wing Hindu nationalist BJP government in New Delhi, these laws threaten the livelihood of the peasantry, which has taken[Read More…]
The recent outburst against Communists by a spokesman of India’s ruling right wing Hindu nationalist BJP should come as a wakeup call for those fighting against each other over the control of an ongoing farmers’ agitation in Punjab. Harinder Singh Kahlon had asked for throwing “comrades” behind bars for instigating the peasantry struggle. The Indian farmers have been camping outside[Read More…]
From Bujha Singh to Stan Swamy, the Indian state has proved that it doesn’t care for seniors when it comes to suppressing any voice of dissent July 5, 2021 will go down as another black day in the history of the world’s so-called largest democracy. It was then that an 84-year-old Roman Catholic priest, Stan Swamy, died in the custody[Read More…]
June 24 marks the birth anniversary of a revolutionary poet and saint whose rebellious rhymes will always remain relevant. Kabir was born to a Muslim family of weavers in Varanasi, India in 1398. He denounced orthodoxy of both Islam and Hinduism, and was highly critical of blind faith and the brutal caste system within Hindu society. He grew up as[Read More…]
Deepak Sharma has been found guilty by the North Vancouver provincial court. The former President of the Abbotsford Hindu temple was charged for sexual assault of a woman in his cab in January, 2019. Following a trial, Judge Patricia Bond delivered her verdict on Friday. The date for sentencing is yet to be set. Sharma had been driving for North[Read More…]
The hawkish Prime Minister of India, who is generally prompt in denouncing terrorism anywhere in the world, remains quiet over the recent killings of four members of a Muslim family in Ontario. On Sunday, 74-year-old Talat Afzaal, her 46-year-old son Salman Afzaal, 44-year-old daughter-in-law Madiha Salman and 15-year-old granddaughter Yumma Afzaal, were struck by a vehicle in a pre-planned manner[Read More…]
This month marks seven years of Modi in power. Narendra Modi first got elected as Prime Minister of India in May 2014. His right wing Hindu nationalist BJP has turned what has otherwise been known as the “world’s largest democracy” into an intolerant Hindu theocracy. Attacks on religious minorities, particularly Muslims and political dissidents, have grown under him since then.[Read More…]
This year’s birth anniversary of Lord Buddha coincides with six months of the ongoing farmers’ agitation in India. On May 26, when the Indian farmers observed black day to make the deaf government hear their demands, the prime minister of the country was lecturing the people on the philosophy of Buddhism. The farmers in India have been struggling for the[Read More…]
The year 1984 saw two major catastrophes in the world’s so called largest democracy; first a brutal massacre of one single community, and then the biggest industrial disaster of its time, thus turning George Orwell’s imaginative year of totalitarianism into reality. In the first week of November, 1984 thousands of Sikhs were slaughtered across India after the assassination of then-Prime[Read More…]
The recent arrest of a young climate activist in India for her association with a guide to passive resistance movements has once again exposed the true colours of the world’s so called largest democracy. Twenty-one-year-old Disha Ravi was arrested by Delhi Police from Bengaluru under conspiracy charges. Her only fault is her link with a toolkit built by the Canada-based[Read More…]
The Bollywood actor’s support to India Against Propaganda campaign demands prompt action from the federal government. The # campaign is in response to the Barbadian pop star’s tweet in support of agitating farmers of India. Thousands of farmers are protesting near New Delhi, the Indian capital, against controversial farming laws that favour corporate control over the agro industry, threatening the[Read More…]
Those incensed with the hoisting of a Sikh flag on Red Fort should actually be angry over the tableau of Ram temple in Republic Day parade of a secular nation The ongoing farmers’ agitation in India took a dramatic turn on January 26, when some protesters stormed the iconic heritage Red Fort building in New Delhi and raised Nishan Sahib[Read More…]
The recent death of Baba Ram Singh, who shot himself in protest against the repression of agitating farmers in India, has revealed the true colours of those in power. Singh was associated with the Sikh sect of Nanaksar in Karnal, Haryana. On Wednesday, December 16, he shot himself dead, leaving behind a suicide note explaining the reason behind his action.[Read More…]
Ever since the Punjab farmers’ agitation has picked up in India, the followers of the currently ruling right wing Hindu nationalist government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi have started labelling the agitators as separatists. Since the famers from Punjab are predominantly Sikhs, Modi’s troll army and some of his apologists in Bollywood have begun attacking them on social media,[Read More…]
The Indian Prime Minister’s greetings on the birth anniversary of the founder of Sikhism sound hypocritical, considering how his police have assaulted agitating farmers from Punjab in the national capital of the world’s so called largest democracy. The Sikhs will celebrate the 551st birthday of Guru Nanak Dev across the globe on Monday, November 30. In his radio address to[Read More…]
The Indian Prime Minister recently paid tribute to a Sikh martyr who laid down his life in defence of his faith. On the 300th birth anniversary of Bhai Taru Singh, Narendra Modi took to twitter to recall the sacrifice he made in 1745. Singh was arrested and tortured at the behest of a tyrant Mughal governor, Zakaria Khan. He was[Read More…]
Narendra Modi The Prime Minister of India Subject: I wish you a long life so that you can live to see the consequences of your actions Mr. Modi, Hope you are doing well, even under these difficult circumstances when your country is now the second most hit in the world by COVID 19. Too bad that your lockdown did not[Read More…]
Close to the 25th martyrdom day of a prominent human rights activist of India, one of the municipalities in Greater Vancouver has made a proclamation to recognize the circumstances that led to his murder. Jaswant Singh Khalra was investigating the extra judicial killings of Sikh political activists in Punjab, when he was kidnapped by the police on September 6, 1995,[Read More…]
Close to the first anniversary of the scrapping of special constitutional rights given to Indian-occupied Kashmir, a North Delta legislator is seeking global intervention into the matter. Ravi Kahlon, who is known for his strong advocacy for human rights and social justice, has written to the United Nations on behalf of his constituents, who had raised concerns about the plight[Read More…]
If the insensitivity being shown by the Indian state towards a physically challenged former Delhi University Professor is any indication, the government of the world’s so called largest democracy lacks compassion. Wheelchair bound G.N. Saibaba, who is ninety percent disabled below the waist, is incarcerated after being convicted for life after being branded as Maoist sympathizer. He is among several[Read More…]
The news of Chinmoy Banerjee’s death has greatly saddened the South Asian community in BC. 80-year-old scholar and activist of Indian heritage, Chin Daa, as we affectionately called him, was not keeping well for the past several days. He passed away on the morning of July 29, leaving behind a powerful legacy of tireless activism. He previously taught English at[Read More…]
July 28 marks 50 years of the extra-judicial killing of an 82-year-old former Indian freedom fighter by none other than the police force of his own nation. Bujha Singh, who deserved state honours for participating in the struggle to rid India of the British occupation, was instead murdered by the police for his association with revolutionary communist movement sparked by[Read More…]
If the insensitivity being shown towards a senior revolutionary poet by the Indian state is any indication, the government of the world’s so-called largest democracy lacks compassion. 81-year-old Varavara Rao, a well-respected political activist and poet, has been recently tested positive for COVID 19, leaving his family and admirers deeply worried. In spite of old age and poor health, he[Read More…]
Brutish Colombian city passed a motion on Monday, July 13 against the highly discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) adopted by the Indian government. Moved on March 9 by City Councillor Chuck Puchmyar, a well known human rights defender, the motion was finally passed with 5-1 votes in favour, with one city councillor absent. The Mayor Jonathan Cote voted in favour[Read More…]
Ever since the Bollywood star tested positive for COVID 19, the social media is flooded with messages for his speedy recovery. Amitabh Bachchan and three generations of his family, including son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai, and their eight-year-old daughter, were tested positive. This has obviously alarmed their fan following, as husband and wife too, like the family patriarch, have[Read More…]
On the World Press Freedom Day, India has slipped on the global press freedom index. Reporters Without Borders has ranked it at 142 out of 180 countries, in light of recent attacks on journalists and scholars under a right wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Narendra Modi. What could be more shameful for a country that[Read More…]
Annie Ohana, a well-known award winning social justice educator, has sent a letter to the Canadian Prime Minister urging him to stand up for an Indian scholar who is being incarcerated under inhuman conditions. Wheelchair-bound GN Saibaba used to teach at Delhi University before being convicted in 2017 after being branded as a Maoist sympathizer. Suffering with 19 ailments, his[Read More…]
The COVID 19 pandemic has resulted in anxieties and mental health stress for many in an era of self-isolation in places like North America But a group of oppressed people in the world’s so called largest democracy, has been enduring social ostracizing for centuries. Dalits continue to face blatant discrimination under a brutal caste system practised by Indian society, in[Read More…]
It was the summer of 2018 when I was vacationing in Moscow with my family. One of the most memorable parts of our trip was a tour of Red Square, especially the tomb where the towering leader of the communist revolution rests permanently. Lenin, who led the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 that changed the course of world history, was never[Read More…]
Yashveer Goyal has established himself as a role model for the Indian youth in sports and Information Technology, in spite of being born with a hearing disability. Now, he has come to the support of jailed Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Twenty-year-old Goyal of Bathinda, Punjab was born in 1999 into a modest family, to a journalist father, Chander Parkash.[Read More…]
Coronavirus, which has claimed more than 45,000 human lives across the world, may not be discriminating between races, but it has given an opportunity to bigots to scapegoat Chinese people and those with Oriental facial features. The virus which originated in Wuhan, China has now spread to more than 150 countries, including Canada and the US. India, which shares a[Read More…]
India’s Prime Minister, who is known for his oratory skills, recently urged the people of his country to fight Corona with Karuna (Compassion). In a highly emotional speech, he asked the citizens to provide poor and stray animals with meals in these difficult times. The crisis of COVID 19 has created a lot of uncertainty for the most vulnerable, because[Read More…]
Modi government using COVID 19, Afghan terror attack to silence resistance against CAA Canadian author Naomi Klein’s warning to her readers about the tendency of big powers to capitalize on catastrophes has started showing a sign in the world’s so called largest democracy. The right wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been[Read More…]
It was a nice sunny, but chilly afternoon on Saturday, March 15. A perfect day for a rally at Surrey’s Holland Park. The Coalition Against Bigotry (CAB) had organized a demonstration in protest against the recent appearance of racist flyers close to the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple, in Surrey-Delta, where Sikh immigrant Nirmal Singh Gill was murdered by white supremacists[Read More…]
Friday, March 20 marks the twentieth anniversary of the killings of 36 Sikhs in Indian-occupied Kashmir under mysterious circumstances. It happened close to then US President Bill Clinton’s visit to India. The massacre took place in the Chittisinghpura village of Kashmir. The assailants wore Indian army uniforms, lined up the Sikhs from the village, and shot them to death. Kashmir[Read More…]
Following in the footsteps of Seattle City council, which unanimously passed a motion against the discriminatory citizenship law adopted by India, a councillor in New Westminster made a similar move on Monday, March 9. Chuck Puchmayr, who is vocal on social justice and human rights, tabled a motion calling for the scrapping of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) amidst a[Read More…]
Half Widow, a film based on the plight of women whose husbands were abducted and killed by the Indian forces in disputed region of Kashmir, is set to be released in India next week. Made by Kashmiri filmmaker Danish Renzu, it enthralled an audience at the Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival in Surrey in 2018. An armed struggle has[Read More…]
As the federal Election Day gets closer, the surge in popularity of New Democratic leader Jagmeet Singh following political debates is giving anxiety to the Indian establishment and its apologists within the South Asian Diaspora in Canada. The Indian state sees Singh – the first turbaned Sikh leader of any national party in Canada – as a threat to its[Read More…]
In what can be seen as censorship of academic work by the representatives in Canada of the world’s so called largest democracy, the Indian consulate has removed a slide quoting Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy from a presentation on Dr. B.R Ambedkar. Ambedkar was a towering Indian scholar and social justice activist. He was also an architect of[Read More…]
The banning of New York-based advocacy group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) by the Indian state has once again revealed the discriminatory and anti-minority mindset of the government of the world’s so called largest democracy. On July 10, the Indian Home Ministry declared SFJ as an unlawful organization and banned it for five years. SFJ is being accused of spreading terrorism[Read More…]
The campaign for recognition of the 1984 Sikh massacre as Genocide in the Canadian parliament has been launched in Surrey on Saturday, June 29. Thousands of Sikhs were murdered all across India in the first week of November 1984 following the assassination of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. The activists of the slain leader’s ruling Congress party[Read More…]
Today marks 34 years of the Air India Flight 182 bombing that left 329 people dead. The suitcase bomb used in the crime that is widely blamed on Sikh separatists seeking revenge from the Indian government originated from Vancouver. The incident was the worst attack in the history of aviation terror before 9/11. Investigators believe that the episode was in[Read More…]
June 10 was a great day for those who have been fighting for justice to an eight-year-old victim of rape and murder. This is especially true for the courageous Human Rights Lawyer, Deepika Singh Rajawat who stepped forward at personal risk to defend the family of Asifa Bano, a Muslim nomad girl who was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and killed by[Read More…]
Surrey Centre Member of Parliament Randeep Singh Sarai submitted a petition in the House of Commons on Thursday, April 11, seeking Honorary Canadian Citizenship for world renowned author Arundhati Roy. Launched by Indians Abroad for Pluralist India (IAPI), the petition had received hundreds of signatures in Greater Vancouver. Sponsored by Sarai, the petition demands that Canada’s parliament give honourary citizenship[Read More…]
Following sustained efforts of Mehak Punjab Dee TV, Prof. Mohan Singh Memorial Foundation and Indians Abroad for Pluralist India (IAPI), the BC government has proclaimed April 13, 2019 as “The Commemoration of the Centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre Day”. Scores of peaceful protestors were killed in an unprovoked firing by the British troops at Jallianwala Bagh public park in[Read More…]
A huge congregation was held at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey this past Sunday, March 24 to show solidarity with three Sikh men who were recently convicted in the world’s so called largest democracy for merely keeping literature perceived as “seditious” by the Indian state. Arwinder Singh, Surjit Singh and Ranjit Singh were criminally charged in 2016 under[Read More…]
The Sikh congregation at a gurdwara in Surrey held prayers for the victims of Christchurch attacks by a neo Nazi. The Friday attacks on two mosques in New Zealand had left 50 people dead. On Sunday, the congregation at the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple, Surrey remembered the dead and prayed for the speedy recovery of those injured. What binds the[Read More…]
Ever since more than 40 Indian paramilitary soldiers were killed in a suicide attack in Pulwama on February 14, the Indian mainstream has gone mad with more hawkish nationalists calling for revenge and war. The incident took place in Indian-administered Kashmir, where an armed insurgency for independence has been going on for years. The Indian government generally blames neighbouring Pakistan[Read More…]
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor” – Desmond Tutu The quote applies appropriately to Canada, which claims to be a human rights leader in the world, considering its indifference toward some recent ugly events that unfolded in India. Widely known as the world’s largest democracy, India is going through an[Read More…]
This past January when India marked its 70th Republic Day, some Sikh and Kashmiri separatists burnt Indian flags in UK and US to protest against mistreatment of minorities in the world’s so called largest democracy. Unable to tolerate this, the Indian government objected and raised the issue with foreign governments. While the Sikh separatists have been campaigning for a separate[Read More…]
The Pakistani and Indian Diaspora came together in Surrey to celebrate the opening of the Kartarpur corridor, which will provide Sikhs access to their historical gurdwara across the international border. The founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, spent the final years of his life in Kartarpur, located close to the now fenced Indo-Pak border in Pakistan. On the 550th birth anniversary[Read More…]
Considering recent political developments in India, Canada, which claims to be a human rights leader in the world, should stand up for the Sikhs and recognize the 1984 Sikh massacre as genocide. Thousands of Sikhs were murdered across India during the first week of November 1984 following the assassination of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. The innocent[Read More…]
The recent defeat of the right-wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in three important assembly elections in India has refreshed hopes for the ouster of Hindu supremacists from power next year. The ruling BJP suffered humiliating defeat in the provincial elections held in the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The party was in power in these[Read More…]
In one of the worst massacres in the history of India, the world’s so called largest secular democracy, thousands of innocent Sikhs were lynched and burnt alive, while their women were raped during the first week of November, 1984. The Sikh community, which makes up just two percent of the Indian population, was targeted by mobs all across the country[Read More…]
The Nobel Peace Prize committee should immediately intervene and strip a children’s rights activist of the prize given to him in 2014. Kailash Satyarthi not only attended the annual event of Hindu supremacist group Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) at its headquarters in Nagpur, India, but went to the extent of praising the organization. He even suggested that the RSS[Read More…]
This month marks the first anniversary of Indians Abroad for Pluralist India (IAPI). Formed in Surrey, BC on July 8, 2017, IAPI was created in response to the growing attacks on religious minorities in India. Ever since the right wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in India in 2014, violence against minorities has grown in the[Read More…]
Support in Canada continues to grow for a Delhi University Professor who is incarcerated in an Indian jail despite being ninety percent disabled below the waist. After the World Sikh Organization (WSO), the Alliance Against Displacement joins the list of Canadian groups who have raised their voice for wheelchair bound GN Saibaba, who was given a life sentence last[Read More…]
Some self-styled Indian patriots settled in UK have launched a petition seeking action against those who tore the Indian national flag recently. The incident happened during protests against visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The protests were mainly organized by groups representing religious minorities in India that feel threatened under the right wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government[Read More…]
The March 20, 2000 killings of 36 Sikhs in Indian-occupied Kashmir remains a mystery. It happened close to then US President Bill Clinton’s visit to India. The massacre took place in the Chittisinghpura village of Kashmir. The assailants wore Indian army uniforms, lined up the Sikhs from the village, and shot them to death. Kashmir is a disputed territory[Read More…]
I am here to make a case that India, which is known as the world’s so-called largest democracy is currently going through an era of self-imposed media censorship under a right wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government. This has not only made the working environment of journalists in India extremely challenging, but the problem has spilled over[Read More…]
The largest labour group of British Columbia has raised voice for the physically disabled Delhi University Professor being incarcerated in the Indian jail since March this year. On the International Human Rights Day, the BC Fed issued a statement calling upon the Canadians to sign petition seeking the release of wheelchair-bound Prof. GN Saibaba who was sentenced to life[Read More…]
Braving cold weather, dedicated South Asian activists gathered at the Holland Park in Surrey on Saturday to hold rally in commemoration of the 25 years of the demolition of Babri Mosque. On December 6, 1992 the Hindu extremists had razed the ancient Muslim shrine at the behest of the right wing Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) which currently governs India. The[Read More…]
Encounter currently playing at the Cultch theater in Vancouver is a drama worth watching for those who continue to idealize India as the world’s so called largest democracy. Based on Draupadi– a short fiction by the late Bengali author Mahashweta Devi it is the story of a tribal woman Dopdi (played by Dr. Aparna Sindhoor) who is an indigenous activist fighting for[Read More…]
The spectacular victory of Punjab state Congress President in the Gurdaspur parliamentary by-election is a big jot to the advocates of cow politics across India. Sunil Jakhar defeated the BJP candidate Swaran Salaraia by a huge margin of 193, 219 votes. The by-election was caused by the death of sitting BJP MP Vinod Khanna – who represented the constituency for[Read More…]
Suhi Saver– a Punjab based media outlet has made a history as the Zindabad Trust started by world renowned author Arundhati Roy picked it up for the award. Shiv Inder Singh who runs Suhi Saver website that covers alternative politics in Punjab is known for his pro people journalism. Singh has widely covered issues that are generally ignored by the[Read More…]
A birthday message to Prime Minister of India, prepared by Canadian Journalist Gurpreet Sing. Gurpreet Singh is a Canada- based journalist who publishes Radical Desi- a monthly magazine that covers alternative politics.
The Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Berkeley University has once again polarized the Hindu Right and so called secularists in the Indian politics. Gandhi was in US to address the university students where he attacked the current right wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government of India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He pointed out how sectarian[Read More…]
The Vancouver chapter of Malyali Samajam has set an example of how to preserve diversity and pluralism when religious fanaticism continues to grow in India under a right wing Hindu nationalist government. A body that represents Canadian citizens and immigrants from Kerala celebrated Onam Festival inside a Church in Surrey this past Saturday. Apart from that Eid was also celebrated[Read More…]
While the progressive forces were gearing up to celebrate the birth anniversary of Paash – a revolutionary Punjabi poet on September 9, the news of the assassination of Gauri Lankesh shook everyone to the core. Paash was a byproduct of the radical communist movement also known as naxalite movement of late 1960s that united the oppressed communities and the[Read More…]
On August 29, the Vancouver-based Khalsa Credit Union (KCU) donated a cheque worth $ 30,000 to a foundation that was established to help Hindus and Sikhs being persecuted by the Islamic extremists in Afghanistan. At a well attended community awards event of the KCU, Manmeet Singh Bhullar foundation received the money to immediately help the families of the minority[Read More…]
Shortly after the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders of his ruling Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) extended greetings to the nation on Ganesh Chaturthi, violence started by the followers of a controversial god man convicted for rape left more than 30 people dead. The arson took place in BJP ruled state of Haryana where a[Read More…]
While activists across India observed August 25 as Kandhmal Day in commemoration of the victims of anti Christian pogrom in 2008, a conversation was held at the University of British Columbia (UBC) on growing attacks on religious minorities under Modi government. Held at the CK Choi Building in UBC, the conversation was between visiting journalist from India Rana Ayyub and[Read More…]
When former Punjab Police Chief KPS Gill passed away in May, the leaders of almost all the mainstream political parties of India paid rich tributes to the deceased and described him as a national hero who according to them had decimated terrorism in Punjab. At an event organized in his memory, the leaders from both the left and the right[Read More…]
The recent terror attack on innocent Hindu pilgrims in Kashmir has evoked an outrage throughout the world. Seven people died and more than dozen got injured in an attack on a bus carrying pilgrims to Amarnath shrine that houses an iced idol of Lord Shiva. Every year thousands of Hindus visit Amarnath from across India. Due to ongoing armed[Read More…]
The Indian state’s response to New York- based Sikh advocacy group’ s controversial posters asking for the referendum for independent Sikh state in 2020 shows double standards. The Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) is asking for the referendum in Punjab so that the Sikhs can decide their political future. The SFJ supports Khalistan, an imaginary Sikh homeland to be carved out[Read More…]
It was the summer of 2010. This was my first visit to London and I couldn’t resist to go to Madam Tussaud’s famous wax museum. I wanted to see the wax statues of my favorite celebrities. I was so delighted to see them there and came back with sweet memories, but the most cherished memory was not about these[Read More…]
In this powerful two-minute video, Gurpreet Singh, India-born, Canadian journalist asks heads of governments, peace activists, academics, ‘Why are you Silent?” at the Lynchings in India, the targeting of innocents, mostly Indian Muslims, by those in power to turn India into a Hindu State. Why are you Silent? Are You waiting for More Deaths? I wont be Quiet I don’t[Read More…]
When George Orwell published his famous novel “1984” in 1949, he wouldn’t have imagined how his fiction will be turned into a reality in the country of his birth only three decades later. Orwell was born on June 25, 1903 in British India in the state of Bihar. His father was a civil servant posted with the Opium Department.[Read More…]
Arundhati Roy’s latest novel which is being released at Vancouver Summer Festival on June 26 gives voice to the most condemned groups in the world’s so called largest secular democracy. From the transgenders to the tribals and Dalits or the untouchables to the religious minorities, especially Muslims who are forced to live under constant threat in a country currently being[Read More…]
In order to mark 150th anniversary of the Canadian confederation, the World Sikh Organization (WSO) has started a conversation on Sikh settler privilege. To make a beginning, the Ambassador for Reconciliation Canada and a member of the National Assembly of First Nations Elders Council Chief Dr. Robert Joseph was invited as keynote speaker at their annual dinner in Surrey on[Read More…]
An understanding of the political shift of communist revolutionaries into Sikh activists and its relevance today As we mark fifty years of the Naxalbari uprising, there is a need to revisit the circumstances that led to the transformation of ultra leftists to Sikh activists in Punjab to understand the relationship between the current Maoist insurgency in India and other nationality[Read More…]
I Greetings Guruji. We have been waiting for you anxiously since morning. What happened? Why are you so late? Oh, I see. The road accidents have now become daily occurrence. God knows when the new highway is going to be completed. Until then it will go on like this. So how long was the jam did you say? Three hours?[Read More…]
This month marks thirty three years of the death of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale – a fiery Sikh preacher who was accused by the Indian state of being involved in terrorist activities. He died fighting against the Indian army at the Golden Temple Complex, the holiest Sikh shrine of the Sikhs that was turned into a battlefield in June 1984.[Read More…]
“Anti terror law does not apply on those involved in Gujarat riots.” This was stated by the former Punjab Police Chief K.P.S. Gill in response to a question on anti Muslim pogrom engineered by the Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the Indian state of Gujarat in 2002. Gill- who passed away on May 26 is often[Read More…]
The April 24 attack on India’s Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) contingent by the Maoist insurgents in Chhattisgarh state has evoked sharp reaction not only from the Indian leaders but also from Israel. The ambush left 26 soldiers dead. The incident occurred in the Sukma district of the state that remains under influence of the ultra leftist Maoist insurgency for[Read More…]
Union Health Ministry placing a cap on new medical colleges in States on the basis of the population criterion violates federalism 
Reflections on the Revolutionary Legacy of Makhan Singh in Kenya 
Armenian civilians flee Nagorno-Karabakh after new offensive by Azerbaijan 
Manipur: a statement of concern and suggestions for peaceful resolution 
Global Leaders Plead for Peace in Ukraine at UN 
Ghosts of the Past: For Israel, War on UNESCO is an Existential Battle 
Keeping Cattle on Public Land Is Bad for People, Cows, Wildlife, and the Planet 
The United States in the World: Making Sense of the Past Forty Years (1981-2023) 
Canadian Youth At Risk and the Discrimination of Marginalized Demographics 
While Searching Worldwide for Terrorists, Uncle Sam Should Also Look in a Mirror 
American Abrams tanks roll into Ukraine 
An open letter to JNU VC – Your association with RSS defies humanism, anti-colonial struggle Indian democracy! 
From Education to Incarceration 
Tunakataa! Saying ‘No’ to Capitalism and Imperialism in Kenya 
Rising Islamophobia and Communal Discord: An Alarming Trend in BJP-Ruled States 
Speak Truth to Power and Pay the Price! 
USA’s Wars Took 12 Million Lives in The Last 25 Years 
US to send long-range ATACMS missile to Ukraine 
In Jawan, Shah Rukh Khan makes us an offer we can refuse 
Nijjar affair poses an existential dilemma 
On the Brink of Famine 
Appeal to withdraw the notification for the public hearing for the proposed Sijimali Bauxite Mining Project 
“Making a thriller from grain” 
Key Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) Likely To Collapse In 2025-2095 
Global Biofuel Alliance at G20: Land vs Water vs Food Security- Has the government addressed the trade-offs? 
The Nijjar Murder and Indian Government’s alleged “involvement”: Reactions and Reflections 
France Will Pull Out Its Diplomats And Military From Niger, Says Macron 
Imperial Footprints in Africa: The Dismal Role of AFRICOM 
Hunger in Africa has its roots in a History of Colonialism and Neo-colonialism 
The Climate March: Magnificent and Misdirected 
Imagining a Progressive Pentagon 
“Lost Voices of Fentanyl” Rally at the White House 
Indian Government Must First Evict Dalai Lama & his Followers before Admonishing Canada for Separatist Activities 
Peasant-rebels: lineages of insurgency 
Mission to Free Assange: Australian Parliamentarians in Washington 
Bayer-ICAR Collaboration Raises Serious Concerns Regarding Indian Farm Policy 
Place of Minorities as Allotted by Savarkar, Golwalkar and Upadhyaya 
What is in the name? Attempt to stop the usage of ‘India’ by the Government 
Poona Pact: A Reappraisal 
Hate Speech Inside Parliament: Reaching a New Low 
My Amma (Malayalam word for Mother) passed away on August 22, 2023 at 3.10 AM. It is always difficult to deal with the passing of a parent, that too one’s mother. I thought the grief would go away. No it didn’t. All those bitter sweet memories won’t go away. At night I lie awake for hours. My friend, guide and[Read More…]
