Pro-Khalistan Groups Spark Controversy With Beant Singh Assassin Floats In Vancouver

Assassination floats were once again taken out by pro-Khalistan radical groups in Canada on Saturday, this time paying "homage" to the suicide bomber responsible for the killing of Punjab's then-Chief Minister, Beant Singh, in 1995.

The floats, which were directed toward the Indian Consulate in Vancouver, depicted the assassination scene with a bombed car splattered with blood and photographs of the slain Chief Minister, as reported by Hindustan Times.

Photo Credit: X

Beant Singh Assassin Floats In Vancouver

The float, bearing the message "Beanta Bombed to Death," also paid tribute to Dilawar Singh Babbar, the suicide bomber involved in the assassination. The killing of Beant Singh took place 29 years earlier, on August 31, 1995.

A similar rally was organized in Toronto, led by Inderjeet Singh Gosal, who referred to the campaigners for the so-called Khalistan Referendum as "offspring" of Dilawar Singh. Gosal, a principal organizer of the referendum and an associate of Sikhs for Justice general counsel Gurpatwant Pannun, had been verbally warned by Canadian law enforcement earlier in August about a threat to his life.

This warning was delivered by both the Ontario Provincial Police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Gosal was also closely associated with Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was killed in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18 last year, as reported by Hindustan Times.

The assassination of Beant Singh in Chandigarh resulted in the deaths of a total of 17 people. The attack had been claimed by the terrorist organization Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), which is listed as a proscribed terrorist entity in Canada.

On June 9, another float in Brampton, in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), featured an effigy of Indira Gandhi being fired upon by her bodyguards, alongside posters stating that her "punishment" had been "delivered" on October 31, 1984, the date of her assassination. This parade marked the 40th anniversary of Operation Bluestar, during which the Indian Army stormed the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar to flush out Khalistani extremists, including their leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.

The float in Brampton appeared just three days after a similar display was seen during a protest in front of India's Consulate in Vancouver. Reacting to the incident, Canada's Minister of Public Safety, Dominic LeBlanc, posted on X, stating, "The promotion of violence is never acceptable in Canada," as per media reports.

A similar float had been part of a martyrdom day event in the GTA on June 4 of the previous year. Indira Gandhi's assassination had been followed by anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and other parts of the country, resulting in the deaths of thousands and widespread looting of businesses.