Ontario ‘genocide’ motion to lure Sikh voters?

While India was livid at the Ontario assembly carrying a motion last week referring to events of 1984 Sikh riots as “genocide”, New Delhi also believes the bilateral ties cannot be held hostage to parochial politics.

The motion had attracted a strong rejoinder from the Indian external affairs ministry. But the overall view is that India and the Justin Trudeau’s government need each other.

The motion may have resulted from a desperate ruling party in the province using it to try and win Sikh votes in the elections due next year. Support for the government of Premier Kathleen Wynne is cratering and, according to a recent poll by the Angus Reid Institute, she has a woeful 12% approval rating, the lowest among her peers.

It also reflected the division within Canadian political parties in approaching the issue. Member of the Provincial Parliament Dipika Damerla, was the only Indo-Canadian member of the assembly to vote against the motion. In an email to HT, she said, “It is common for members from all parties to introduce motions that have international significance. Regarding this motion, it was a free vote and I voted with my conscience, as did the other members from all three parties.”

Given the sensitivity of the matter, she may have chosen her words carefully, but Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai was blunt.

“Today, there is outrage in the greater Indo-Canadian community that a motion was passed by the Ontario Legislature calling a terrible universally acknowledged criminal tragedy a genocide. To call this tragic event a genocide only gives political fuel to a Sikh separatist movement that has been around for some time now, and will cause irreparable damage not only between India and Canada, but also within Canada’s own Indo-Canadian communities,” he said.

This matter will certainly figure in future “interactions” between Indian and Canadian officials. For now, the effort is to look beyond it, but with the understanding that if this were to become a “template” for other provinces, Indo-Canada dialogue could be hampered.

internet services resumed after two days in the restive Kashmir Valley on Tuesday, though the region remained shut in response to a separatist strike over the killing of eight people in this weekend’s Srinagar bypoll violence.

However, mobile internet services were yet to be restored.

Businesses and educational institutions were closed for the second consecutive day in Kashmir. Roads were deserted; security checkpoints dotted every neighbourhood, and only a handful of people ventured out.

The Election Commission announced re-vote in 38 polling stations in the parliamentary constituency straddling Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal districts on April 13.

Jammu and Kashmir chief electoral officer Shantmanu said these stations are mainly in Budgam district, where most of the violent clashes were reported.

“In 33 polling stations, electronic voting machines were snatched and damaged … hence not usable now. And in another five, zero polling was reported as voters could not reach booths because of the violence,” he said.

He explained that re-polling was ordered for Thursday despite the tense situation because by-elections must be held in the Srinagar constituency before April 16.

Polls should be held within six months of a Lok Sabha seat falling vacant. In Srinagar, the bypoll was necessitated after Tariq Hameed Karra, an MP of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), resigned in mid-September last year when a massive public unrest engulfed Kashmir over the killing of a young militant leader.

Mobs disrupted Sunday’s vote, throwing stones and petrol bombs at security forces, in reaction to a separatist call to boycott the by-elections in Srinagar and Anantnag.

The poll panel postponed the Anantnag bypoll from April 12 to May 25 because of the rough situation.