Stormy clouds move in over the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill, Sunday Sept. 13, 2009. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

The Canadian Press
Date: Tuesday Apr. 27, 2010 6:45 AM ET

VANCOUVER — A Sikh-Canadian Conservative MP is condemning the veiled threats made against Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh and a B.C. MLA over their position on Sikh separatism in India.

Calgary East MP Deepak Obhrai told the House of Commons on Monday the government strongly condemns the comments toward Dosanjh and Dave Hayer.

The controversy erupted earlier this month, when an organizer for the annual Vaisakhi religious parade in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey told a Punjabi-language radio station the two politicians were not invited to the event.

If they did come, Inderjit Singh Bains said, they would be responsible for their own security.

The Vaisakhi parade, which draws about 100,000 people, also featured a float depicting so-called "martyrs" for the Khalistan movement, which advocates a separate Sikh state carved out of India's Punjab province.

The same issue triggered a clash outside a Brampton, Ont., Sikh temple last week.

"The government strongly condemns the recent threats of violence made by extremists within the Canadian Sikh community," Obhrai said in a statement he read in the Commons.

Canada continues to strengthen its ties with India, said Obhrai, noting Prime Minister Stephen Harper's trip to India last fall.

India is the world's largest multicultural democracy, he said, and Canada will not support anything that undermines "a strong, united and multicultural India."

In an interview, Obhrai said the separatist movement is dead in India itself, and the vast majority of Sikhs in Canada do not support it. They tend to ignore outbursts like this one, he said.

"I think the community at large do not take this matter very seriously," Obhrai said.

"They continue doing their business and it does not affect them in their day-to-day living at all. It's a small minority that is vocal.

"But as a matter of public policy we had to put our stamp clearly, and that is what I did."

People attend the Vaisakhi festival in Surrey because of its religious and cultural significance, not for political reasons, he said.

"There are a few people who want to change the agenda and hijack these things," said Obhrai. "The general community tends to ignore it."

The persistence of the separatist movement in Canada has more to do with power within the local community, he added.

"It is their power base and if it disappears their power base disappears," said Obhrai. "It's not about politics at the end of the day."

While the martyrs shown on the parade float may have been members of illegal terrorist groups, Obhrai said honouring them is not a criminal offence.

"At the end of the day this is a free country, with free speech," he said. "The only time when you cross the line is when you espouse violence."

The correct response to such displays is to boycott them, as Dosanjh, Hayer and B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell did, he said. The B.C. premier cancelled his planned appearance at the event.