Ontario passes motion calling 1984 anti-Sikh riots as genocide

Relations between Canada and India suffered a body blow on Thursday in the Ontario Assembly as it became the first legislature in Canada to carry a motion that described the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as “genocide”.

This came as a shock to New Delhi as the motion was moved by a Member of Provincial Parliament or MPP belonging to the ruling Liberal Party of Ontario, which had voted down a similar motion last summer.

The private members’ motion was moved by Harinder Malhi, the MPP from the riding (as constituencies are called in Canada) of Brampton-Springdale, near Toronto. After a debate, the motion was carried with 34 MPPs (the equivalent of MLAs) voting in favour and just five against. Those present at a vote numbered just about a third of the assembly’s total strength of 107.

With the PMO aware of the gravity of this development, the Indian Government is understood to have communicated its concern over the matter in advance of the motion to Canada’s Liberal Party government, including ministers in Justin Trudeau’s Cabinet.

Similar concern had also been conveyed to the Ontario Government. India’s Consul General in Toronto Dinesh Bhatia, under whose jurisdiction this falls, had spent a frantic couple of days trying to prevent this occurrence.

A senior Indian official said this matter could have a negative impact on bilateral ties.

Frustrated over the lack of action by Trudeau’s lieutenants, an official said, “If they can’t manage their own party…they have to own the responsibility.” That was for allowing the MPP to proceed with the motion, thereby creating a platform for attacks on India over its “intolerance”. In introducing the motion, Malhi said the Legislative Assembly of Ontario should “condemn all forms of communal violence, hatred, hostility, prejudice, racism and intolerance in India and anywhere else in the world, including the 1984 genocide perpetrated against the Sikhs throughout India, and call on all sides to embrace truth, justice and reconciliation.”

While speaking on the matter, she said events following the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi could “only be described as genocide”.

Among those supporting the motion was Jagmeet Singh, MPP of the New Democratic Party or NDP, who had unsuccessfully moved a similar motion in June 2016.

Singh, who is considered a serious contender to be the next leader of the national NDP, also criticised the Narendra Modi government.