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Storming a Bastion of Khalistan in North America
Title: "Unity Meeting in Area That Backed Khalistan"
(by Ajit Jain)
Source: India Abroad, July 28, 1995, p. 14
Photo: L.M. Sabharwal, left, President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad of Canada,
and Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, right, former M.P. and general secretary of
the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee. They addressed a meeting
sponsored by the Canadian Council of Punjabis in the Toronto suburb of
Malton on July 16. (Photo - Ajit Jain)
BODY:
TORONTO - In what is seen as a shift in popular mood against Sikh
separatism, a public meeting was held in this one-time "Khalistani"
stronghold extolling the virtues of Sikh-Hindu unity.
Sponsored by the Canadian Council of Punjabis (CCP), the meeting on July
16 drew about 500 people and was attended by Consul general Rajiv Bhatia.
The keynote speaker was Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, a former member of the
Indian Parliament, who is also the general secretary of the Shiromani
Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) and a member of the minority
commission.
When Ramoowalia spoke of the need for India's unity and concluded his
speech with "Jai Hind" the entire audience reciprocated with a full
throated cry for unity. The meeting was also attended by presidents of
some gurudwaras and temples.
According to the community observers, sucha meeting in the name of
hindu-Sikh unity in the Toronto suburb of Malton, a hotbed of
Khalistanis, would not have gone unchallenged three to four years back,
with blood spilling on the streets.
Things have changed now with more and more moderate Sikhs coming out in
the public, not afraid of the handful of fundamentalists whose activities
are now confined to some gurudwaras only.
Ramoowalia said "militants have no more courage to stop India's unity,
unity of Sikhs and Hindus."
........
The first speaker, who set the tone for Sikh Hindu Unity, was L.M.
Sabharwal, president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (Canada), and a member of
the executive of Overseas Friends of the BJP (OFBJP)
........
In his speech, Ramoowalia repeatedly challenged the fundamentalists.
........
The meeting was attended by Gurdev Singh Mann, president of North York (a
Toronto suburb) Sikh Gurudwara; Surjit Singh Mahal, president of Credit
River Sikh Center; Shiva Kaula Dhar, president of Guru Ravi Das Temple;
Gurdeep Chauhan of Hindu Sabha, etc.
