The Canadian government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is continuing down a very dangerous path. It must be understood that any bunch of fanatics pursuing a radical cause can turn on just about anybody for any reason. Having played the small Khalistani constituency for a tiny but significant slice of votes, the Prime Minister will find it hard to do a turnaround. If he does, it will take only a single loony to target Trudeau or his compatriots. If he chooses to continue down the road, he will deal a severe blow to Canada, and the people of Indian origin, both, Sikhs and Hindus.
Some in that country may believe that the ‘Khalistani’ activism is directed at India and provides leverage to the western allies in strategic negotiations. However, it must be realised that, in the long run, it is the Sikh community that will be harmed the most. Average Canadian citizens do not know much about India and its people. As is usually seen, it is hard for them to distinguish between orthodox Muslims and Sikhs because of the beards and the turbans. As such, even while they may watch the present goings-on with little interest, sub-consciously the easily distinguishable Sikhs will be placed in a certain category that triggers prejudice. This is much like the bias that is starkly visible against immigrants in the US, who are being categorised as murderers and rapists.
It is important, therefore, that like the Sikhs in India, the community in Canada resists this fanatical interpretation of religion that is serving the interests of a few for reasons other than those being publicly stated. It is not that this is not being done and there are enough leaders of the community who regularly expose how ‘Khalistan’ is a cover for power-play in Gurudwaras, along with money-making rackets such as human-trafficking and the drug trade. They are busy killing each other in Canada and the US and projecting it as assassinations ordered by the Indian government.
It is most important that romanticisation of the Khalistan cause in the folk narrative should be corrected by presenting the actual facts. It is the tendency to brush inconvenient facts under the carpet and develop amnesia regarding what happened in Punjab, which almost entirely destroyed its early head start towards development. The propaganda should be aggressively countered, by the Sikhs in particular, and the larger community, in general.
