Brampton NDP candidates, Party slam Liberal contender over disturbing pro-India comments condoning Sikh activist’s assassination

Two provincial NDP candidates from Brampton (Centre and East), Sukhamrit Singh and Martin Singh, are calling for the immediate resignation of Viresh Bansal, the Ontario Liberal candidate for Oshawa after he posted inflammatory remarks on ‘X’ condoning the 2023 murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh advocate allegedly assassinated as part of a plot by India’s governing Party. 

The suddenly embattled Oshawa Liberal also used a homophobic comment to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who had implicated India’s BJP government in the assassination and wider plot to murder and harass Canadian Sikhs.

After federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh had posted on September 18, 2023 that Canadians had just learned Mr. Nijjar was murdered by “agents of the Indian Government”, Bansal posted the following reply on the same day:

“@theJagmeetSingh You can thank India for cleaning trash people. Ask your gay friend @JustinTrudeau to do the same.”

Bansal also posted a threatening response on X to Conservative MP Tim Uppal, a turban-wearing Sikh who had condemned the Indian government’s crackdown on Internet freedom. Bansal wrote: "Dekhi kitten tere naal vi kutt khanni na hoje,” which in Punjabi means ‘watch out or you might get roughed up as well’.

Along with NDP candidates, the Ontario NDP and the World Sikh Organization (WSO) also condemned Bansal’s derogatory remarks and demanded the Ontario Liberal Party withdraw his candidacy immediately.

“Bansal’s post is a disgusting endorsement of an extrajudicial killing by India and a homophobic attack on Canada’s Prime Minister,” said Danish Singh, WSO President.

“The fact that the Ontario Liberal campaign has not immediately and unequivocally condemned these remarks is unacceptable. There is no place in Canadian politics for candidates who celebrate state-sponsored killings and use hateful, homophobic rhetoric. Bansal has shown a pattern of anti-Sikh hate targeting Sikh politicians. Bansal’s words are not just offensive—they are dangerous and legitimize violence against minorities in Canada.”

The NDP also called for Bansal to be dropped by the Liberals.

“It’s shocking that the Ontario Liberals are running a candidate who has a public history of anti-Sikh comments and has repeatedly targeted Canadian Sikh politicians with his hateful remarks,” NDP candidates from Brampton ridings stated in a joint statement.

“Viresh Bansal supported the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh leader and Canadian citizen, killed in BC by the Indian government. Bonnie Crombie must drop this candidate immediately. And she needs to apologize and state clearly that she is against violence and racism directed at the Sikh community.”

After his earlier social media posts were published by various media outlets, Bansal wrote an apology on his X account Tuesday.

“I deeply regret the hurtful and thoughtless comments I posted on Twitter in the heat of the moment. I want to sincerely apologize, especially to the Sikh and LGBTQ2S+ communities.” He continued. “Sikhs have long faced discrimination and violence, and my comments only added to that pain. That kind of language should never be used, anywhere, let alone in the context of a Canadian’s murder.”

Ontario NDP candidate for Brampton East Martin Singh is calling for Viresh Bansal, the Liberal candidate for Oshawa to resign after inflammatory remarks he posted on X.

(Y Media) 

Earlier Tuesday morning Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie disassociated herself and her Party from the disturbing posts by her candidate, but when asked about the mounting controversy during the same press conference in Hamilton, she did not address demands to drop Bansal as a member of her team.

"I don't stand for them. They don't reflect who I am," Crombie responded at the presser. "I don't think they reflect the values of the Ontario Liberal Party. And I had asked this morning for an apology, and I believe one has been issued to the Sikh community and also to the LGBTQ community as well. You managed to offend two beloved groups in one tweet, and this is completely unacceptable. It is not who I am. I don't stand for this. It is not who the Ontario Liberal Party is. He does not share our values."

The Ontario Liberal Party was asked later by The Pointer if Bansal will be dropped as a candidate. No response was received prior to publication.

A concern raised to The Pointer Tuesday is Bansal’s loud support of the authoritarian Indian BJP government, while attacking Canadian politicians who raised concerns about evidence of New Delhi’s draconian conduct.

The BJP government was implicated in the assassination plot of Nijjar and a wider plot to kill and harass Canadian and American Sikhs as detailed in a scathing, detailed indictment by the U.S. Department of Justice which includes evidence against the Indian government.

Canadian Parliamentarians were handed a report last year after months of hearings that probed foreign interference in our elections. They were told that after China, India now poses the greatest threat of foreign interference based on its government's recent activity.

One of the main concerns raised to elected officials was the lax vetting process to secure nominees to run as candidates in elections. 

The process to select candidates for elections in Canada is “particularly vulnerable to foreign interference," Liberal MP David McGuinty, chair of the national security committee, said in June, after Parliamentarians received intelligence reports as part of the probe.

Federal officials were told that candidate selection processes were "a particularly soft target for several reasons", including poor vetting and the lack of other control measures by the political parties that approve candidates.

The federal government is now considering new laws under Canada’s Security of Information Act (SOIA), to guard against foreign interference, including the possible influence through Canadian politicians. 

After being forced to testify before a Parliamentary committee late last year, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, who has a long history with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Brown has often called him a ‘brother’) the mayor admitted following orders given to him by the Indian government, led by Modi, when Brown sought the federal Conservative leadership in 2022.

It’s clear that Bansal was not properly vetted, and if simple social media posts that are easy for anyone to find were missed, it raises concerns about him and other candidates. Crombie admitted Tuesday that the Oshawa candidate’s values are “not who I am...It is not who the Ontario Liberal Party is. He does not share our values."

So how, critics have asked, was he selected as an Ontario Liberal candidate who could influence policy and sway opinion inside the provincial legislature?

This is not the first time a Liberal has deeply offended Canada’s Sikh community. Ottawa area Liberal MP, Chandra Arya, who was recently barred by his own Party from running in the Federal Liberal leadership race, previously labeled Sikh advocates who support the creation of an independent homeland to be carved out of India as “terrorists” in a post on X, and he has repeatedly voiced disturbing views in support of Hindu-nationalist narratives pushed by India’s BJP government, while criticizing his own Liberal government. 

After Bansal issued a public apology for his disturbing views, The Pointer reached out to him for further clarification. He was asked if Ontario Liberal Party officials had contacted him regarding a possible resignation or termination as a candidate for the Party. He did not respond.

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