India has hit out at Canada for allowing a float in a parade depicting the 1984 assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her bodyguards, perceived to be a glorification of violence by Sikh separatists.
“I think there is a larger underlying issue about the space which is given to separatists, to extremists, to people who advocate violence,” India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told reporters in New Delhi while commenting about the tableau in a parade.
Canada’s High Commissioner in India also condemned the incident at a parade by Sikh activists in the Canadian city of Brampton.
Video circulated in recent days on the internet showed a tableau from the parade featuring Gandhi wearing a blood-stained white saree with her hands up as turban-clad men pointed guns at her. “I am appalled by reports of an event in Canada that celebrated the assassination of late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi,” Cameron MacKay said on Twitter.
Gandhi was assassinated in 1984 by two Sikh bodyguards after she allowed the storming of the holiest Sikh temple. The storming of the temple angered Sikhs around the world.
Credit: Aljazeera.com
