sikhchic.com | The Art and Culture of the Diaspora | An Open Letter to Ruby Dhalla: On Canada's May 2 Federal Election

1984

An Open Letter to Ruby Dhalla:
On Canada's May 2 Federal Election
by SATNAM SINGH SANGRA

Honorable members of parliament represent the Canadian values of respect, acceptance, cultural pluralism and harmony within diversity. It is these very values that make Canada stand clearly apart from other parliamentary democracies. As Canadians, we try hard to espouse these values in our daily lives. Maybe this is why Canada is fast becoming the place of choice to raise families for millions of people beyond our borders.

It is very disheartening to see our elected representatives, people who are supposed to model these great Canadian Ideals, conducting themselves in ways which go against the very core of our Canadian values.

During her recent trip to India, Ruby Dhalla (Member of Parliament) praised Indira Gandhi, and posed for photos holding hands with suspected mastermind of genocide, Narendra Modi.

Both Mrs. Gandhi and Mr. Modi are two notorious Indian politicians known for their lack of respect for the law and very poor track records on human rights issues.

The January 13, 2011 edition of the Times of India has reported Ms. Dhalla as stating that she is an "ardent admirer of Indira Gandhi." A close examination of Indira Gandhi's political career reveals a picture of a person with no respect for the rule of law or human life. Here are the hard facts about the woman who Ruby Dhalla so ardently admires:

On June 12, 1975, Mrs. Gandhi was found guilty of corrupt campaign practices by an Indian high court. She was unseated from parliament and debarred from political office for 6 years.
Indira Gandhi displayed complete disrespect for the rule of law by openly rejecting the court judgment. In civilized democracies rejecting the order of the court of law mounts to a violation of political ethics, democratic norms and constitutional propriety.
To save her political career, Indira Gandhi abused her political power by suspending the Indian constitution for nearly 2 years. Indira Gandhi declared a national state of emergency effectively shelving the rule of law and disabling the judicial system. She ruled as an oppressive dictator in violation of all democratic norms.
During the emergency she ordered the imprisonment of 140,000 Indian citizens including elected members of parliament, journalists, academics and students. In Indira Gandhi's India the right to protest or dissent was against the law.
Lawyers in the Indian capital protested Indira Gandhi's highhandedness only to have Mrs. Gandhi order the demolition of 1000 lawyer's chambers in New Delhi.
During Indira Gandhi's imposed state of Emergency thousands of men and women were forced to undergo sterilization as a means of population control. Forced sterilizations are recognized as a crime against humanity according to the Rome Statute.
On July 22, 1978 the Indian courts formally charged Mrs. Gandhi with conspiracy and criminal misconduct. She was expelled from the Indian parliament and sent to prison.
In the 1980's Mrs. Gandhi's government passed several laws denying basic civil liberties to people in the Indian state of Punjab. These acts gave a free hand to police and paramilitary forces to torture and harass people at their leisure. In 1984 Mrs. Gandhi's government further attacked the basic civil liberties of Sikhs in Punjab by giving security forces the power to detain any person without charges and two year imprisonment without trial.
Indira Gandhi directed the Indian army to attack the holiest of Sikh shrines - the Golden Temple complex - to flush out a hand-full of so-called terrorists. Mrs. Gandhi chose one of the busiest days on the Sikh calendar to launch the assault. Thousands of innocent men, women and children were killed mercilessly at the hands of Indira Gandhi's Indian army. According to eyewitness accounts, the Indian army burned down the Sikh reference library, which housed precious and priceless artifacts of the history of the Sikh Nation.

This is a brief synopsis of Indira Gandhi. The woman of whom Ruby Dhalla is an "ardent admirer."

Continuing her absolute disregard for human rights, Ms. Dhalla posed for photos with Narendra Modi, the man standing accused of supporting the Genocide of Muslims in the Indian state of Gujarat. During the days between February 28 and March 2, 2002, violent Hindu fundamentalist mobs let loose a reign of terror on the Muslim populace of Gujarat. This was one of the worst cases of mass murder of genocidal proportions in independent India, next only to the Genocide of the Sikhs in 1984.

Here are the hard facts about the man Ms. Dhalla is seen holding hands with:

In Mr. Modi's Gujarat, grade 10 textbooks portray Adolph Hitler as a hero. (Times of India, September 30, 2004).
Narendra Modi was the chief executive of the state of Gujarat at the time of the Muslim Genocide in 2002. According to the Indian Human Rights Commission, as head of state Mr. Modi had complete command of the police and law enforcement.
Despite this, Narendra Modi stands accused of taking absolutely no precautionary measures to prevent the imminent violence.
The European Union, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and every major Indian human rights organization have held the government of Gujarat (Mr. Modi) responsible for the Genocide of the Muslims.
Independent human rights observers all point to the fact of the mass murder of Muslims in Gujarat conforming to the specifications of Genocide.
Narendra Modi stands accused of supporting, aiding and abetting the Genocide of Muslims in Gujarat. A senior Indian civil servant, Sanjiv Bhatt, deposed in court that he was present at the meeting of senior police officers of Gujarat state called by Mr. Modi on February 27, 2002. Mr. Bhatt states that he heard Mr. Modi telling the police officers to be "indifferent" to the rioters ... that "Muslims be taught a lesson" and that the "Emotions were running very high among the Hindus and it was imperative that they be allowed to vent out their anger" (see TribuneIndia.com, April 23, 2011.)
Eye witnesses state seeing police see the brutality take place and telling the Muslim victims "we have no orders to protect you"
Under Narendra Modi's watchful eye, the genocide of Muslims included the utmost horrific acts of sexualized and gendered violence.
Women and girls were beaten, thrown alive into wells, targeted for rape, gang rape, sexual mutilation and burning. Under Mr. Modi's watchful eye the genocidal fundamentalist mobs participated in the severing of women's breasts and horrific violence targeted at womens' genitalia. Pregnant womens' wombs were torn open resulting in forced abortions. The dead fetuses were displayed on Trishuls by the genocidal mobs (see picture).
Narendra Modi justified all of this by calling it a natural reaction.
Modi ordered liberal media who were actively reporting the genocide of Muslims to leave Gujarat state.
In March, 2005 the United States denied Narendra Modi entrance into the United States. His tourist/ business visa was also revoked.

Ms. Dhalla, how do you reconcile the fact that you were holding hands with a perpetrator of genocide?

It is indeed shameful that an elected official who is supposed to represent the Canadian values of peace and harmony would choose to associate with and eulogize such grave violators of human rights. These actions serve to legitimize their horrid criminal actions and betray the cause of the victims seeking justice. As an honorable member of one of the most respected parliamentary democracies, do you think your actions were reflective of the values of your office? Do you deserve to represent Canadian interests?

Mr. Ignatieff, as the leader of the Liberal party of Canada, can you please tell us if the Liberal party of Canada condones the praise of and association with persons known to be gross human rights violators? Are these actions reflective of the values of the Liberal party of Canada? If not, has there been any disciplinary action taken against Ms. Dhalla for her conduct? It is only fair that you clear the air on this issue before expecting Canadians to vote Liberal in this election.

[Courtesy: Vancouver Media Co-op]

April 30, 2011

Conversation about this article

1: Gurnam Kaur (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), April 30, 2011, 12:46 PM.

It is time for Ms. Dhalla to crawl back into her hellhole and revert to her previous pre-occupation of abusing helpless nannies. Politics is not a game for vacuous socialites.

2: Karnail Singh (London, Ontario, Canada), April 30, 2011, 12:51 PM.

We need to be very careful in not allowing such riff-raff to represent us in parliament - or anywhere, for that matter. This one, sadly, matches the lows reached earlier by Ujjal Dosanjh and his ilk. Hopefully, no matter which tidal wave comes along in Monday's election, these flotsam-jetsam will be taken out to sea ... and oblivion.

3: Raj (Canada), April 30, 2011, 5:27 PM.

Only idiots elect idiots.

4: Peejay Singh (British Columbia, Canada), April 30, 2011, 6:45 PM.

Ruby Dhalla, as a Canadian MP, you should be ashamed of yourself for being an "ardent admirer of Indira Gandhi" and associating with a criminal like Narendra Modi. Canada stands for peace, harmony and human rights. You do not deserve to serve this great country.

5: Gurteg Singh (New York, U.S.A.), April 30, 2011, 7:56 PM.

Ruby Dhalla had refused to oppose the the entry of Kamal Nath, the Indian Government Minister responsible for organizing a Sikh massacre in 1984. Some reports say that she was even photographed with him. I wonder why any one, especially any Sikh, would ever vote for this despicable and unprincipled politician. She is more suited to performing "item numbers" in B grade Bollywood movies.

6: Dalbir Rattan (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), April 30, 2011, 9:46 PM.

Her other hero is Sukhbir Badal. That, coupled with the rest we know about her, should say a lot about her judgement.

7: Kanwar Nijjer (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada), May 01, 2011, 11:39 AM.

Sikh-Canadians have had a number of MP's elected. Most of them act very submissively. Seems like they are there for the pay check and the pension packages, and solely worried about their job security. There is concern also that they are compromised by the Indian government in a number of different ways. None of them have had the courage to go after India's human rights violators forcefully.

8: Morrissey (Manchester, United Kingdom.), May 01, 2011, 11:58 AM.

Politicians are a lot like diapers ... they have to be changed often.

9: Gurpreet Singh (Brampton, Ontario, Canada), May 01, 2011, 8:01 PM.

Rs. 1.1 million were spent on Ruby by the Badal government during her recent visit to Punjab, which included five-star hotel accomodation, vehicle and beauty parlour bills. Here are the details: http://tinyurl.com/68h5a2c

10: Ram Singh (California, U.S.A.), May 01, 2011, 9:06 PM.

The Sikh-Canadian community should use human rights and multicultural pluralism as a litmus test for electing MPs. Pseudo-Sikhs, hypocrites and Indian government apologists should be shown the door.

11: Hari Singh (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), May 01, 2011, 9:06 PM.

Dear Gurpreet ji: This should be reported to the Ethics Commissioner in Ottawa, because this is tantamount to our law-makers putting themselves in a compromising position vis-a-vis a foreign government. If she isn't thrown out tomorrow, this should be pursued with all vigour. We have to stop our law-makers from prostituting themselves before the corrupt politicians of India. Ujjal Dosanjh, Deepak Obrai, and a few others are the worst culprits.

12: Aryeh Leib (Israel), May 02, 2011, 4:15 PM.

Morrisey #8 - Yes, and for the same reason!

13: Simarjit Kaur (London, United Kingdom), May 03, 2011, 5:02 AM.

I hope that this terribly ignorant and prejudiced MP is complained about by the citizens of Canada. How can she exonerate a dictator like Indira Gandhi who suspended and broke Indian democracy through "emergency" for two years and went on to violate human rights and massacre innocent thousands across Punjab? Then she has the nerve, a Canadian MP, to pose lipgloss and all with another mass murderer, Narendra Modi? Her party leader, cabinet and the press, need to be notified. Will she be posing with Nigeria's dictator soon and with some others from Syria, Egypt, too ... many are available in the name of international relations.

14: N. Singh (Canada), May 03, 2011, 10:21 AM.

Glory be to God! Canadians have spoken ... Ruby Dhalla has been politically decimated with 14,231 votes to 24,617 ... Ujjah Dosanjh likewise with 10,808 votes to 13,848. The Liberals with Michael Ignatieff who referred to the November 1984 pogroms as happening 'a long time ago' ... on the verge of disappearing forever! The power of democracy and the power of the people at work ... yes, we can.

15: Kanwar (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), May 03, 2011, 11:31 AM.

So happy to see Ruby Dhalla gone! I hope it is for good. Same goes for Malhi and his 50-word English vocabulary. I cringed every time he opened his mouth. The Sikh community has been so poorly represented by these two to date.

16: Charan Singh (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), May 03, 2011, 1:27 PM.

After having Badal dispatch his aids from India to assist With Dhalla's campaign, the voters have finally decided to oust Ruby! Not sure if Parm Gill is an adequate replacement.