Farmers Movement Archive

Bitterness on farm laws spilling over abroad

JALANDHAR: Bitterness between anti- and pro-farm laws groups is now visible abroad also. During a pro-farm ‘Tiranga’ Maple rally in Brampton, Ontario, there were acrimonious and abusive exchanges on Sunday. On the same day, a car of Sikh youths was attacked with baseball bats and rods. They have alleged that it was a hate crime and those attacked them were also Indians. The incidents have generated heat on social media, and communal references and slurs are also being used. In Brampton, a Tiranga car rally was confronted by anti-farm law groups. In a video clip already doing rounds on social media, a person can be seen pushing behind a participant of the Tiranga rally who fell to the ground. Somebody shooting the video could be seen hurling abuses and communal slurs in Punjabi. In another video, a car occupant could be seen being abused and mocked, while slogans against PM Narendra Modi’s supporters and Kisan Mazdoor Ekta could also be heard. In a separate video clip, a man is seen taking down a Tricolour atop a car and throwing it down, while also hurling a couple of expletives. After these incidents, Canadian Hindu Advocacy with Ron Banerjee as a director from its twitter handle @canhinduadv on Tuesday tweeted, “Our crew will be visiting Brampton and walking the sidewalks in front of Sikh temples. We will show up with no advance notice and we shall expose evil. We’ve done it before and we’ll do it again.” As there was mixed response to this announcement, including support and criticism, the same twitter handle on Tuesday tweeted: “Our peaceful rally will be staged lawfully on public property. We support moderate Sikhs, like Dr Bikram Lamba, and we will not target any community. Public spaces, beside places of worship displaying images honoring terrorists, are good locations to bring our message of peace.” The same Twitter handle had tweeted on February 9, 2017: “We, in fact, do seminars where we (accurately) portray 1984 and Gujarat 2002 (events as) heroic and anti-terrorist.”It had used hashtags #guj2002 and #celebrate1984 . Reacting to this call to reach outside gurdwara, Canada-based Punjabi journalist Gurpreet Singh Sahota posted on his Facebook page that if they would come outside, then serve them langar or tea and avoid any confrontation as attempts were being made to create a communal binary around farmers protest. Other Punjabis/Sikhs also supported the suggestion to avoid any confrontation. In Australia, a car of Sikh youths was attacked. In Australia, a car with Sikh youths inside was attacked by a group of persons, carrying baseballs bats, rods and blunt weapons, and all its windows were badly smashed. It is suspected to be a hate crime. The group had participated in an anti-farm law protest and one of the youths told TOI that they were either attacked due to their Sikh identity or for their support to the protest in Sydney. The incident took place on Sunday night, when the group was returning from a dinner at an Indian restaurant. All the five are in early twenties and are students. “It seems that someone noticed us at the restaurant and more people were gathered to attack us. “The first attempt to attack us was made by waylaying us, but we escaped,” said one of the students, name being withheld on request, while speaking to TOI on phone from Sydney. The incident has been caught on CCTV cameras in which a group can be seen attacking the car and the vehicle managing to race away and then a car immediately following it. “Then, we had to stop at the traffic lights ahead and the same group of about 12 people attacked us again. It was here that our car was bashed from all sides. The assailants attacked with baseball bats and rods, and at least one axe. Luckily, the lights turned green and we sped away. We could have been seriously hurt or there could have even been a loss of life the way the attack was executed,” said the youth. The student said that one of them had identified one of the assailants on Wednesday evening and given his name to the police. “The suspect had participated in a car rally a few days ago and had streamed a video also from there,” the youth claimed. Australian media has also reported that it was suspected to be a hate crime. A news outlet, while reporting the incident, referred to it as a case of “racial violence within Sydney’s Indian community” as tension had been brewing already and there had been a few of incidents of acrimony or confrontation in the past some time. “We have also told the police that we were attacked due to our turbans – either for being Sikhs or for participating in anti-farm laws protest,” the youth said.

The Times of India

2021-03-04

Chandigarh