Ontario’s ‘genocide’ motion to lure Sikh votes?

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.