'Promotion of violence is never acceptable': Canadian ministers condemn posters depicting Indira Gandhi's assassination

Canada’s minister of public safety has said the promotion of violence is never acceptable in the country after posters depicting the assassination of India’s former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi were reportedly put up by Khalistan supporters in Vancouver. 

In a post on X (formally Twitter), Dominic A LeBlanc, the Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs wrote, “This week, there were reports of imagery depicting the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in Vancouver. The promotion of violence is never acceptable in Canada,” he said. 

India has already made a formal diplomatic complaint in this regard to Global Affairs Canada, the country’s foreign ministry.

Indo-Canadian lawmaker Chandra Arya, who represents the electoral district of Nepean in the House of Commons of Canada, said, “Khalistan supporters in Vancouver with posters of Hindu Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi’s body with bullet holes with her bodyguards turned assassins holding their guns, are again attempting to instil fear of violence in Hindu-Canadians.” 

India has again and again highlighted the issue of space given to separatists, terrorists and anti-India elements in Canada with the Trudeau government. 

“This is a continuation of threats with a similar float in Brampton a couple of years back and a few months back (Gurpatwant Singh) Pannun of Sikhs for Justice asking Hindus to go back to India,” Arya, the lawmaker from Canadian PM Justin Trudeau’s party said, PTI reported. 

Arya called on law enforcement agencies in Canada to take immediate action. 

Last year, on June 4, a float featuring the assassination of the late Prime Minister was part of a martyrdom day event in the Greater Toronto Area or GTA.

Indira Gandhi was assassinated on October 31, 1984, by two of her own bodyguards at her official residence after the army operation to clear Khalistani terrorists from the besieged Golden Temple. With assassination was followed by the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and elsewhere. 

Meanwhile, in a recent report, a high-level Canadian parliamentary committee has labelled India as the “second-biggest foreign threat” to Canada’s democracy. The report named China as the number-one threat. India has moved up from the third spot in 2019 ahead of Russia in the foreign threat perception index. 

Earlier this year, unclassified documents shared by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) alleged interference in Canada’s elections by some countries, including India. 

India had denied Canada’s charges and termed the allegations “baseless”.