Canadian Party NDP Faces Backlash After Accusing India of 'Stoking Anti-Muslim Sentiment'
© AFP 2023 / LARS HAGBERG
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Jagmeet Singh's NDP entered into a federal "confidence-and-supply" agreement with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberal government in February. The remarks against New Delhi by Singh, who has an Indian background, came after number of Hindu-Muslim clashes on 10 April during the festival of Ram Navami.
Canadian parliamentarian Jagmeet Singh, the leader of New Democratic Party (NDP), has copped criticism at home after he sought to call out Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government for "stoking anti-Muslim sentiment" in India.
Canadian social media users have reminded Singh of the hardline stance adopted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government in suppressing the truckers-led protest against vaccine mandates in February of this year.
31 January 2022, 08:28 GMT
The protesters had laid siege to Canada's capital Ottawa and were demanding that the federal government withdraw its COVID-related mandates.
Trudeau imposed the Emergencies Act to curb these protests, including ordering the freezing of the bank accounts believed to be funding the protests.
The imposition of a federal emergency was criticised by the main federal opposition Conservative Party of Canada (CPC).
Singh, who at the time hadn't thrown his weight behind the Trudeau government, had denounced the truckers' convoy for pushing "misinformation" via "inflammatory, divisive, and hateful comments".
Canadians react to Jagmeet Singh
© Photo : Twitter
Some Canadians urged Singh to focus on resolving domestic problems before commenting on issues facing other nations.
"I understand, world events can be tragic. But sir, you have millions of people suffering in your own country. The place where you have the ability to make positive change. Yet things get worse and worse here. How can you think about other countries when your own people suffer?", wrote Mark Manning, a Vancouver-based actor.
Many Indian social media users also did not take kindly to Singh's comments, even alluding to the measures adopted by Ottawa during the truckers' protest.
Reactions to Jagmeet Singh's tweet
© Twitter
Another Indian social media user accused Singh of being a "bigot" for "stomping on democracy" in Canada over his opposition to the truckers' convoy.
Trudeau as well Singh also faced massive criticism in India after both weighed in in favour of protesting farmers in the South Asian country last year.
Back then, India had lodged a strong protest with the Canadian High Commissioner in New Delhi and warned that these actions could have a "seriously damaging impact" on bilateral ties.
Singh 'Deeply Concerned' Over Violence Against Indian Muslims
'I am deeply concerned about images, videos, and targeted threats of violence against the Muslim community in India", Singh remarked on Twitter on Wednesday.
"Human rights must be protected. Canada must play a strong role in working towards peace everywhere", stated Singh.
Singh's remarks come against the backdrop of violence between Hindus and Muslims across several Indian states, including Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Jharkhand, during Ram Navami on 10 April. The festival marks the birth of the Hindu God Rama.
At least one person was killed in the violence while several others sustained injuries, as per reports in the Indian media. In all three states, clashes were reported as religious processions passed through predominantly Muslim neighbourhoods.
While Hindu groups have blamed Muslims for instigating these incidents, Muslim groups have accused right-wing organisations of chanting provocative slogans as these processions passed through certain localities.
In most of the places where there’s been violence, the procession is taken through Muslim areas, past mosques with very aggressive sloganeering, and jeering. Invariably reports of stone pelting and then clashes. One person dead in Gujarat. #RamNavami pic.twitter.com/Ytu0mHS8IR
— Gargi Rawat (@GargiRawat) April 11, 2022
Clashes also broke out between Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh's (RSS) student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and left-leaning groups on the campus of India's premier Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on 10 April.
The ABVP says that left-leaning activists disrupted a prayer at one of the university's hostels during the Hindu festival, while the other side claims that the BJP-affiliated group manhandled students who were consuming meat in the hostel canteen.
RSS is the ideological parent organisation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
India's top Islamic group Jamaat Ulama-i-Hind (JuH) has said that "rioters" have "made a pattern" of going to Muslim localities and chanting "hateful slogans".
Several videos on social media purport to show crowds of Hindus abusing Muslims and brandishing swords as the processions passed by mosques.
In the face of the said communal violence, the BJP state government in Madhya Pradesh ordered the demolition of the houses of the alleged rioters, which Muslim groups say is meant to "unfairly" target members of their community.
