“I can’t understand how glorification of terrorism or a hate crime targeting a religious group is allowed in the name of freedom of speech and expression,” said Arya . In a video message, the Indo-Canadian lawmaker from the Liberal Party, came after recent events where Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, president of the outlawed Sikhs for Justice, openly attacked Hindus in Canada asking them to leave the country and return to India.
Arya said this is an attempt to incite reactions from Hindu Canadians and create divisions within the Hindu and Sikh communities in Canada.
“Let me be clear. The vast majority of our Canadian Sikh brothers and sisters do not support the Khalistan movement. Most Sikh Canadians may not publicly condemn the Khalistan movement for several reasons, but they are deeply connected to the Hindu Canadian community. Canadian Hindus and Sikhs are connected through family relationships and shared social and cultural ties,” he said. Arya said many Hindu Canadians are living in fear after “this targeted attack”. He urged them to stay calm and asked them “to report any incident of Hinduphobia to your local law enforcement agencies”.
Arya also referred to the recent attacks on Hindu temples and public celebration of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. “Canada has high moral values and we fully uphold the rule of law…There would be an outrage in Canada if a white supremacist attacked any group of racialised Canadians asking them to get out of our country. But apparently this Khalistani leader (Pannun) can get away with this hate crime,” he said.
Arya’s remarks come days after Trudeau alleged a “potential” involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June in Surrey. India rejected the charges as “absurd” and “motivated” and expelled a diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official.
Pannun, who heads Sikhs for Justice, was Nijjar’s New York-based lawyer. He was designated as a terrorist by India in 2020. He has called for Sikhs to rally outside India’s High Commission in Ottawa as well as consulates across Canada on Monday.
Putting his weight behind Arya, Maninder Gill, president of Friends of Canada & India Foundation- Surrey, said, “Canada boasts of the Charter of Rights, which guarantees freedom to practice religion without fear or hindrance but a handful of people continue to run amok and vandalise Hindu places of worship. Canada has to differentiate between liberty and licence.” Notably, Arya has been at the forefront of efforts to raise awareness about issues affecting Hindu Canadians. Last year, he had accused “Khalistani extremists” of vandalising Toronto’s BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir temple. In November 2022, he achieved a significant milestone when the House unanimously passed his private member’s bill, designating November as Hindu Heritage Month. Arya marked this occasion by raising a flag inscribed with Om on Parliament Hill, stating that Hindu Heritage Month provides an opportunity to recognise the contributions of the 8,30,000 Hindu Canadians to the country.
In his video message, Arya said, “For over 10 months, I have been attacked for raising a flag with our Hindu religious sacred symbol on Parliament Hill.”
Soon after the flag was hoisted, academics from the Université du Québec à Montréal, Hindus for Human Rights, and the Canadian Council of Muslim Women had expressed concerns that it symbolised the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Arya had clarified that the flag represented the Hindu faith, not any political entity.
Elected to represent the Nepean in the House of Commons in the 2015 and 2019 federal elections, Arya currently serves as a member of the Standing Committee on International Trade. In 2022, he made history by becoming the first MP to speak in Kannada, his mother tongue, in the House. Arya, however, is no stranger to controversy. His criticism of filmmaker Leena Manimekalai for a movie poster depicting the Hindu goddess Kali smoking and holding an LGBT flag had led to a series of protests from over a hundred academics, activists, and community organisation members, who sent a letter to Trudeau.
Born in Dwaralu, Karnataka, Arya has been a resident of Canada for the past 19 years. He holds a mechanical engineering degree from Ghousia College of Engineering, Ramanagaram, and an MBA from Kousali Institute of Management Studies, Dharwad. He is married to Sangeetha, an English teacher, and has a son, Siddhantha, who is a chartered accountant.
According to the 2021 census, Canada is home to 828,195 Hindus, a significant increase from the 297,200 recorded in the 2001 census.
Canadian MP Chandra Arya (Photo via his Twitter page) 
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