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Out Loud: Sikh temple nixes Parmar pix
by Gurpreet Singh
The organizers of last year’s controversial Vaisakhi Parade in Surrey have decided not to display the picture of the Air India bombing suspect, Talwinder Singh Parmar this time.
Scheduled for April 12, the parade will go ahead without the picture of Parmar which created a storm last year. While their decision has quelled public outrage, the organizers say Parmar to them, will always be a martyr.
Nevertheless local politicians hungry for the ethnic vote will turn up and join the parade, which will be organized by the Dashmesh Durbar Gurdwara, whose management supports Khalistan, a separate homeland for the Sikhs.
Parmar was the leader of the now banned Sikh terrorist group, Babbar Khalsa as well as an alleged mastermind of the Air India bombing that killed 329 people in June 1985. He had mysteriously died in the custody of the Indian Police in 1992 much before the Air India trial began.
Despite the ban on Babbar Khalsa, a float carrying the picture of Parmar had joined the parade last year infuriating the families of the Air India bombing victims.
The event became a major source of embarrassment for the politicians who attended it. Surprisingly, Conservaities, Liberals, NDP politicians and police horses also joined the parade defeating the purpose of banning outfits like Babar Khalsa, suspected of spreading terrorism.
The president of the Dashmesh Durbar, Saudagar Singh Sandhu has announced that this time the organizers will not display the picture of Parmar. He said that the decision is based on the suggestion given by Parmar’s family. “They feel hurt whenever the media portrays him as terrorist. For us he would always remain a martyr,” he said.
According to Sandhu, Parmar was never convicted for the Air India bombing and was never given an opportunity to plead his case before the court of law.
If Sandhu is to be believed, police and city politicians never objected to displays of Parmar’s picture in last year’s parade – it was only the media that stirred the controversy.
“They rather appreciated it,” he said. In fact, Dashmesh Durbar gurdwara glorifies a number of Sikh militants and will continue to do so. Sandhu has every right to respect Parmar, but there is no justification for police and politicians to attend events that glorify extremism in any form.
The Dashmesh Durbar gurdwara may have a different view of Sikh militancy in Punjab, the Babbar Khalsa and Parmar but their Vaisakhi parade has no place with Canadian politicians lest they be accused of supporting those extremist views in exchange for ethnic votes.
South Asian Post columnist Gurpreet Singh is a talk show host with Radio India (1600 AM). His program airs each weekday from 10 am-noon and every Sunday's from 8:30 am-10am.
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