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As Canadian gurdwaras ban Indian diplomats, fears of a new Sikh uprising emerge

Toronto: A little over a year ago, Indian consul general Dinesh Bhatia arrived at the Ontario Khalsa Darbar, better known as the Dixie Gurdwara, in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga. He was there to attend a ceremony in memory of a senior member of the community who had recently passed away.

He was accompanied by two members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or RCMP — part of the protective detail provided by the Canadian government to Indian diplomats in the country. As some members of the gurdwara professed anger over the presence of the policemen, the incident set off a chain of events leading to the boycott of Indian officials by multiple gurdwaras across Canada — a phenomenon that later spread to other nations such as the UK, the US, and Australia.

The disquiet may have been caused less by the Mounties and more by an Indian diplomat entering the premises of a place like the Dixie Gurdwara, once considered off limits for New Delhi’s envoys to Canada. It drew an immediate reaction from hardliners such as the activist group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ). By February, the group had sent a communiqué to Canada’s foreign affairs minister Chrystia Freeland, asking her “to take notice of the activities of the Indian diplomats posted in Canada which have the potential of creating disharmony and discontent among the peaceful Canadian Sikh community”. “Approaching the foreign minister is an initial step towards blocking Indian diplomats from attending events in Canadian Gurdwaras,” the SFJ’s legal advisor Gurpatwant Singh Pannun warned.