'Like a broken record, I am again asking...': Canada MP Chandra Arya alleges Khalistani plan to target Surrey temple

Indian-origin Canadian Member of Parliament Chandra Arya on Monday shared a purported video of a pro-Khalistani supporter giving a call to hold a demonstration at the Hindu Laxmi Narayan Mandir in Surrey next Sunday, claiming that all this is being done in the name of freedom of speech and expression just to create trouble. In a post of X, Arya said," Last week Khalistan supporters verbally abused a Sikh family outside a Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey BC according to some reports. Now it appears the same Khalistan group want to create trouble at the Hindu Laxmi Narayan Mandir in Surrey. All these are being done in the name of freedom of speech and expression."

He said that he has asked Canadian authorities multiple times to step in and take action as allowing these activities openly and publicly is unacceptable. “Like a broken record, I am again asking Canadian authorities to step in and take action. Hindu temples have been attacked many times during the last couple of years. Hate crimes are being committed against Hindu-Canadians. Allowing these things to continue to be done openly and publicly is not acceptable,” he added. This is not the first time such threats have been issued and temples attacked in Canada by Khalistani extremists. In August this year, a Hindu temple was vandalised in Canada by extremist elements with Khalistan referendum posters in August this year. The poster on the temple gate referred to and also had the picture of Khalistan Tiger Force chief and designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was killed in June this year. Earlier in April, BAPS Swaminarayan temple was vandalised with anti-India graffiti in Windsor, in Canada’s Ontario. In February, the Ram Mandir in Canada’s Mississauga was vandalised with anti-India graffiti. The Consulate General of India in Toronto condemned the defacing of the mandir and requested Canadian authorities to investigate the incident and take prompt action against the perpetrators. In January, a Hindu temple in Brampton was defaced with anti-India graffiti, triggering outrage among the Indian community. The Consulate General of India in Toronto condemned the vandalism at the Gauri Shankar Mandir, stating that the act has deeply hurt the sentiments of the Indian community in Canada. Meanwhile, the ties between India and Canada have soured after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, during a debate in the Canadian Parliament, claimed his country’s national security officials had reasons to believe that “agents of the Indian government” carried out the killing of Canadian citizen Nijjar, who also served as the president of Surrey’s Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara. India, however, had outrightly rejected the claims, terming them “‘absurd” and “motivated”. Notably, Canada has yet to provide any public evidence to support the claim about the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Nijjar, who was a designated terrorist in India, was gunned down outside a Gurdwara, in a parking area in Canada’s Surrey, British Columbia, on 18 June. With inputs from agencies