Pro-Khalistan radical groups in Canada organized assassination floats again on Saturday, this time honoring the suicide bomber who killed Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995.
The floats, displayed near the Indian Consulate in Vancouver, depicted the assassination with a bombed car splattered with blood and photos of the slain Chief Minister.
The float had a sign reading “Beanta Bombed to Death” and paid tribute to his killer, Dilawar Singh Babbar, the suicide bomber. The assassination occurred 29 years ago, on August 31, 1995.
A similar rally took place in Toronto, led by Inderjeet Singh Gosal, who referred to the Khalistan Referendum supporters as “offspring” of Dilawar Singh.
Gosal, a key organizer of the referendum and associate of Sikhs for Justice’s legal advisor Gurpatwant Pannun, received a verbal “duty to warn” from Canadian police about a threat to his life earlier in August. The warning came from both the Ontario Provincial Police and the RCMP. Gosal was also close to Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was killed in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18 last year.
The suicide bombing in Chandigarh killed 17 people in total. The terrorist group Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), which is on Canada’s list of banned terrorist organizations, claimed responsibility for the attack.
On June 9, a parade in Brampton, in the Greater Toronto Area, featured a float depicting an effigy of Indira Gandhi being shot by her bodyguards. The float included posters stating her “punishment” was “delivered” on October 31, 1984, the day she was assassinated. The parade was organized to mark the 40th anniversary of Operation Bluestar, when the Indian Army stormed the Golden Temple in Amritsar to flush out Khalistani extremists, including their leader, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
This float was showcased just three days after a similar display during a protest outside India’s Consulate in Vancouver. Responding to this on Friday, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, Dominic LeBlanc, posted on X, saying, “The promotion of violence is never acceptable in Canada.”
On June 4 last year, a similar float was featured during a martyrdom day event in the GTA. Indira Gandhi’s assassination led to anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and other parts of the country, resulting in thousands of deaths and widespread looting.