A day after being critiqued severely for cancelling a Deepawali event, Canada’s opposition leader Pierre Poilievre has clarified that the decision was made hastily and the celebrations would proceed as planned.
Earlier this week, Poilievre was criticised heavily for cancelling the Deepawali celebrations at Parliament Hill.
“To be clear, any suggestion that Poilievre has cancelled this event is patently false. This event has always been hosted by a member of the Conservative Caucus, this year being MP Doherty, and has never been organised by the Leader of the Opposition or his office. While there have been changes to the location and timing, MP Doherty will still be hosting an event to celebrate Deepawali and Bandi Chhor Divas in Ottawa with members of the South Asian community and the Conservative Caucus,” a statement read.
Poilievre looks forward to celebrating these important cultural and religious occasions with Canadians in the coming days, the statement also added.
The clarification comes a day after the Hindu community leaders in Canada expressed concerns that the perceived withdrawal from the Deepawali celebrations amounted to exclusion of their community.
Shiv Bhaskar the President of the Overseas Friends of India Canada had written an open letter in which he expressed disappointment over the cancellation of the event.
“It is with extreme disappointment and sadness that I am writing this letter to you to voice our dismay at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition cancelling the 24th Diwali celebration on Parliament Hill. The failure of the politicians to attend this important cultural event, particularly at such a delicate time, sends a clear message to Indo-Canadians: that we are being viewed not as fellow Canadians but as outsiders who are somehow linked to the political actions of a country many of us have ancestral ties to but no direct connection with. This event was meant to be a joyous occasion to honor Diwali. Yet, the sudden withdrawal of political leaders has left us feeling betrayed and unjustly singled out,” Bhaskar said in the letter to the opposition leader.
This was an unwanted controversy in the making especially at a time when the relations between India and Canada have hit rock bottom. Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau accused India of being involved in the murder of Khalsitan separatist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar. This led to the diplomatic tensions and also the expulsion of six Canadian diplomats from India in mid-October. India also recalled its high commissioner and diplomats over the allegations, which have been dubbed as baseless by the Ministry of External Affair.
Meanwhile another controversy erupted when Nathalie Drouin, the National Security Advisor to Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau and deputy foreign affairs minister, David Morrison told a parliamentary panel that they had planted a story in the Washington Post stating that Union Home Minister Amit Shah was behind the violence against the Sikhs in Canada. They were grilled by the panel as to why they chose to go to an American newspaper instead of telling the people of Canada first.
India responded strongly to these allegations, while terming it as a joke.
Former Indian foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal said, ‘ the Canadian deputy foreign minister Morrison admits that they leaked information about the meeting with the Indian NSA in Singapore to a UK journalist and The Washington Post to rally their US and UK allies behind them, Sibal said. Does this mean at government level the Canadian NSA and its foreign office could not rally sufficient support from their NATO and Five Eyes allies and had to use the media to do propaganda to garner support?’
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