Vancouver, Nov 4 Ripping into Justin Trudeau for massively failing to control the rising Sikh extremism, former Premier of British Columbia Ujjal Dosanjh has said that the Canadian Prime Minister, like some other politicians of the country, is pandering to a "well-orchestrated Sikh vote" to tip the balance in close elections.
"Trudeau, sociologically and politically, is an idiot, and you can actually quote me. I really don't care. Because he's an imbecile in terms of understanding how you build nations, how you build countries," Dosanjh told Canada's National Post in an interview that appeared on the day Khalistani extremists attacked Hindu devotees at the Hindu Sabha Temple in Brampton.
The 78-year-old, who also served as Minister of Health in Paul Martin’s Liberal government, laid the blame squarely on Trudeau for fanning the Khalistani separatist movement to the point where it has become a major Canadian problem.
"He's never really understood the vast majority of Sikhs are quite secular in their outlook, despite the fact that they go to the temple. Khalistanis are not a majority, and the fact nobody speaks against them is out of fear. Through intimidation, Khalistani supporters control many of the gurdwaras in Canada. It's Trudeau's fault that Canadians now equate Khalistanis with Sikhs, as if we are all Khalistanis if we're Sikhs," he said.
Born in Punjab before he moved to the UK, Dosanjh emigrated to Canada in 1968. Now settled in Vancouver, he asserts that a "silent majority of the Sikhs" do not want to have anything to do with Khalistan.
"They just don’t speak out because they’re afraid of violence and violent repercussions," he stated in the interview, emphasising that "less than five per cent" of the nearly 800,000 Sikhs in Canada support the Khalistanis.
Having faced death threats in the past from extremists, especially after being highly vocal in his criticism of Khalistani separatists since the 1985 Air India Kanishka bombing by Sikh terrorists, Dosanjh revealed that he has had "long debate" with Trudeau on the issue.
"Justin (Trudeau) and I had a long debate in the lobby of the Commons when I was with him as an MP for a couple of years. We were MPs from 2008 to 2011 together, and I had a long chat with him about identity and religion and all that, with all of these Khalistanis sitting around the table. And he agreed with them, rather than me. Trudeau’s most famous utterance on immigrants is 'You come here, you can be who you are'. I was arguing that this extra special emphasis on uniqueness, exclusive identities, that it would become a deterrent to political, cultural and social integration... That ultimately you need shared values. It's basic, you need shared values," Dosanjh told the Canadian publication.
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